Leon's World Finest Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Galveston

This is our first trip to Galveston (my first trip to anywhere in Texas since I was 13) and since we are headed out on a cruise tomorrow, and we flew in 2 days early, one big requirement was to find QUALITY BBQ while we were here. Our biggest requirement was that it had to be a Mom & Pop shop... no chain restaurants for us. We discovered Leon's after some Google searches before coming to Galveston, and based on photos of the place, we made the decision to check them out. Right on the main drag into Galveston, I spotted it when we drove in the evening before... very easy to locate, and the sign, while small, is indicative of everything we hoped to expect from their BBQ. We all agreed to hit them up for lunch the next day.

When we showed up, they weren't seating in the dining room - but that's okay - we had decided to take it back to the hotel lobby to eat lunch beforehand. We met the daughter, celebrating her birthday and she took our orders. (Happy Birthday! 🎂🥳)

When in doubt, you ALWAYS GET THE NAMESAKE DISH! My hubby, our friend, and myself all chose the "Leon's Cut" - a juicier brisket cut, with the fat - 1-meat dinner which came with two sides. I chose the mac & cheese and red beans & rice, my hubby got the mac & cheese and potato salad, and our friend picked red beans & rice and coleslaw. All the dinners come with a choice of white or wheat bread as well as pickles & sliced raw onions.

They let us sit in the car in our AC while they packed up our meals and brought it out to us. With the heat warning, we appreciated this, although we could have hopped out to get it when ready. They were all super nice and very helpful at picking out items. When we unpacked the meals at the hotel, we were not disappointed! The meat was juicy, full of smoke, salty in all the right ways, and the flavors were top-notch. And the 1-meat portion is HUGE! I loved the homemade mac & cheese, and the red beans & rice were packed in a separate bowl, so it didn't slosh in the containers. I appreciate this little step.

I got to try my hubby's potato salad and quite enjoyed the tangy flavors. We were surprised that we each got two slices of bread, so our friend asked if he could have the bread to make his own little sandwiches. He later told us that he was SO HAPPY to have brisket sandwiches while he was here.

Oh, and their BBQ sauce was nice and thin, with a great vinegar base. I don't normally use BBQ sauces because they tend to be too sweet, but this had the PERFECT balance. I'd buy that sauce to use at home if I could sneak it back on the plane. 😅

For those who aren't sure about hole-in-the-wall, or Mom & Pop shops that don't generally advertise their businesses, my best advice is when you know their business hours, plan to go earlier in the day, closer to when they open. You get fresher cuts and more choices from the menu. You won't be disappointed.

If we come back down here for another cruise, and we bring my In-laws, we will make sure we come to Leon's again. We noticed the "for sale" sign on the building, though... so hopefully, that just means a new location in their...

Let me start off this review with I've been going to Leon well over 10 plus years including family and friends. I've always enjoyed the food, the staff and Mr Leon. Today 6/3/2023 most definitely was the last day my family, friends and myself will ever patronize this black owned establishment which I absolutely use to love. The reason being due to the unprofessional and disrespect shown by Mr Leon today. I was in town and as I usually do stopped by for a rib sandwich. Ordered my sandwich to go and went to the seawall to indulge. Well to my surprise 2 of my ribs were not fresh and dried out. I decided to overlook it and proceeded to open my onions and pickles only to find the onions were brown and old. At this point I decided to take my food back to request fresher. I arrived back at Leon's. I explained/showed the young lady at the cashier the brown onions and the dried out ribs, then another lady came out they both acknowledged it and said we will take care of it. Well out of nowhere Mr Leon comes out the kitchen asking what's wrong. As I proceeded to explain to him the onions are old and brown and the ribs are not "fresh" , they're dried out. He instantly became agitated, walked up into my personal space, put his finger in my face and said don't say my food is not fresh and called me a flat out liar and began to argue with me. The downright disrespect and unprofessionalism he displayed absolutely floored me. I told him you must not be having a good day because you will not talk to me like that but due to my mother raising me correct I will not disrespect my elder. Mr Leon continued to act unprofessional and argue with me. Smh. I was on my bluetooth with a family member while the verbal altercation took place and she asked who was that and I told her the owner Mr Leon. She stated oh that's unacceptable they don't have to worry about our business anymore. The young ladies apologized and brought me out fresh ribs and onions. Their customer service was superb and I appreciated it very much. Mr Leon should have took lessons from them. If the first disrespect wasn't enough Mr Leon comes back out the kitchen a 2nd time to argue yet again. I told him you do not argue with a customer and walk up on them and put your finger in their face, he flat out lied and said he didn't. This is not the legacy Mr Leon and his business should want to be known for after all the years, its truly sad. If you don't know how to talk to a customer stay in the back cause no one has a right to talk to anyone the way Mr Leon did less known to a customer. I'm attaching pics of the dried out ribs and brown old onions. First rib pic is the dried out ribs, the last pic is of the fresh ones given to me after...

Fair warning: this is a long, favorable, review. Leon's deserves 6 stars out of 5. I will start by saying we (8 of us) were the only family to stay and eat - on Tuesday nights I guess most of the business is carry-out. But every person who came was greeted by name or treated like they were close family.... we were no exception. Towards the end of our supper Leon himself came out and chatted with us. Among the stories he shared he told us he honed his craft in the military (25 years in the army and 2 tours of duty in Vietnam, thankyouverymuch!) and it totally shows. He also served/catered Ruth Bader Ginsburg's supreme court inaguration supper. So we each had different combinations of meats (brisket, sausage, turkey, and yard bird [chicken]) along with sides. My nephew ate all his mac & cheese, then ate his sister's, then proclaimed Leon had ruined all others for him - it was the best mac of his life. The turkey was tender, moist, and oh-so-delicious with just the right amount of peppery flavor. The brisket was perfect. My mom, who is tiny, ate almost all of hers (which is saying a lot!), all the while saying how filling and tender and juicy it was, then asked me if I was going to eat all my potato salad. The greens were by far the best - if you've ever hesitated to try them anywhere else, don't, here! My dad had the stuffed potato and it was huge and according to him & my mom, superb. My brother-in-law had the sausage & brisket and I think he said maybe 2 words the entire meal: "mmmmm" and "more." My neice's boyfriend had the yard bird sandwich and if you've ever seen a 17-year-old muscular boy reach "full" then you have an idea how fast that disappeared. I think he said even less than my brother-in-law. Then Leon offered us desserts. He brought out a rice pudding cake (I think that's what he called it) with rum sauce for my dad to try. He liked it so much he ordered it for all of us, but we wanted brownies, buttermilk pie, and pecan pie instead. I'm allergic to buttermilk but the bite I had was so worth it. Bottom line: everything, and I mean everything, on the menu is so delicious there is no wrong choice. I'm adding a photo my sis took of Leon (left) and my dad. If you've ever felt like you're being treated like long-lost family then you know why it wasn't just the food, but Leon and everyone there, that made this a most incredible, memorable,...