Mikeska's Bar-B-Q & Catering — Restaurant in El Campo

I always drove by this place on my way to visit family in Houston or on the way back home and I always ask myself I should stop and try it out. Well today on my way home I took my family to eat lunch there. We been to other places like city market in luling and blacks, smitty’s and kreuz in Lockhart and we were always amazed by the service and flavor of the food. First thing I always noticed in those place was the smell of oak smoke meat. When we walked into Mikeska we noticed all the stuffed trophies and the smell of barbecue not existent. I walked up to the young lady cutting the meat. She was serving this gentleman in front of us and he ordered the deluxe lunch plate which includes three meat. He selected ribs, brisket and sausage and as the young was cutting the ribs he made a comment like “those ribs are kind of dry” she immediately threw them away and selected a new rack. I said okay so I am getting some from fresh rack of ribs. It was my turn so I asked the young lady I would like a plate with sausage, a chicken plate and the deluxe lunch plate. She cut up the brisket which I noticed it did not look like brisket that is smoked with a smoke ring like something from city market. It had no smoke ring it was kind of grey and looked dry. I asked her if they make their own sausage and she said yes. I told her it wouldn’t be a good barbecue place if they didn’t. The older lady asked me if wanted barbecue sauce and I said yes except on the chicken no. Well I got all the side for each plate including green beans, Mac and cheese, potato salad, rice salad, beans and the last banana pudding residue in the pan. We took the plates to the table my wife was surprised by the quantity of food. I said to her don’t worry, whatever is left over we will take with us. I sat down and took a bite of the brisket and I looked at my wife and said this brisket has no flavor and the barbecue sauce is not helping. Her sausage plate did not look very appetizing I tasted one of the ribs and there was a tough layer of dry over cooked meat. Usually this is found on ribs that stayed too long in a warmer or it was something from the previous day. My guess is the later. Well the brisket and ribs were a disappointment so I tried the sausage. I said to myself this has to be good. You cannot screw up sausage. Well I was wrong. The sausage was flavorless, cold and lacked any smoke flavor like the brisket and the ribs. I asked my daughter how was her chicken and she gave me a piece of it and I have to say it was also a disappointment. It was dry and flavorless. The side weren’t any better with Mac and cheese tasting bland and the green beans lacking any salt of bacon flavor. The banana pudding residue was okay but even then I was not impressed with the dessert. We decided that we were done and preceded to basically throw everything into the trash. I threw the barbecue soaked brisket, sausage and dry ribs with majority of my sides into trash. My daughter who love barbecue chicken didn’t even eat half of her chicken and my wife and son barely touched the sausage and sides. I was very disappointed by the food. I was hoping for a nice experience but we were disappointed by the food and the atmosphere of the place. One thing I noticed is the amount of people in the place. Considering that the food was not that great there was a significant crowd eating. We will probably not go there again until they improve...

This store has been around for many years, it was good maybe 20 years ago, they have their own way of chopped sandwiches…as in chopping it ,mixing it with barbecue sauce to make it stretch.. but it use to be Texas size buns along with the amount of meat and quality of meat to go with it..and taste was better.. it looks like a sloppy joe. Prices go up all the time…but that does not mean give less food, and lower quality food along with it. There was only the store in town before this large store off the highway. So you walk up to the counter, it’s a kid who doesn’t want to be there, slow as molasses cutting the meat, who moves so slow, who cuts it wrong, and asks someone else “can you do this I don’t know how” (or by the slow movement they just don’t want to do it) You can’t get ribs, chicken, and brisket on the same plate, you have to add it separately which makes no sense. The rack of ribs are so small it’s embarrassing, that’s not Texas Barbecue. So they put the plate on the scale.. and it’s skinny pork ribs and a little brisket which it looks like scraps. On the “three meat plate” it looks like a child’s plate. Overall the service, meat, size of everything needs to be addressed.. as in weight, double ribs or double brisket is way under portion. If the worker doesn’t know how to serve or cut the meat don’t let him distribute the main part of the plate, but the portion size is all on the owner. Prices can go up all they want, but again the quality and taste you put out does not have to go down. This is not at all a great representation of Texas...

8/31/25 I have passed this place numerous times over the years, but finally stopped to give it a try today.

I ordered a pound of sliced beef brisket and the very sweet ladies working the counter pulled a hunk of brisket out and were about to slice it when I noticed it looked as dry as shoe leather. I asked her if they did not have a better choice that was moist and fatty. She chose a different one that didn't look a whole lot better, but at least it had some fat on it.

So if you are a fan of really moist and fatty brisket, this place is not going to be a good vibe for you. It had an excellent smoky flavor that was rich and robust, but the dryness (I don't use sauce) far outweighed the excellent flavor. In my opinion, if you have to use a knife and fork to cut the meat, that is not quality Texas barbecue.

But if you are just looking for a mediocre barbecue experience and are going to use sauce for moisture, you will probably be satisfied. The price per pound does adequately match the quality of the meat as the prices are cheaper than a lot of other...