Meshack's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Garland

03/13/21: The bbq is better the day after. Still not the best.

03/12/21: On my day off today, I decided to finally try out Meshack’s Bar-B-Que. I arrived around 10:45 am and the line was about 8-10 people deep with about 5-6 people waiting for their food that they ordered. While I was waiting in line, I decided what to get from their menu. After reading online reviews and being my first time trying Meshack’s, I decided to have a variety. The woman at the window was nice and she took my order. My turn to order was around 11:10 am. I missed the pulled pork on the menu and didn’t want to try the potato salad (per online reviews and preference), so I ordered 2 sides of baked beans, 1 lb of sliced beef (brisket), 1 lb of links (sliced sausage), and 1 1/2 lbs ribs (pork ribs). My total was $60.50. This total is the menu price with tax. You will be asked your name when you order and your name will be called out when your food is ready.

You can order “orders,” which I believe are plates of your choice of meat and sides. There are only two sides: baked beans and potato salad. They also have sandwiches as well. I didn’t ask what Da’ Jasper order or roll ups were. Everything else is self-explanatory.

After I ordered and paid for my food, I just waited like everyone else. They have a bench in front and there are a few stumps to sit on. That’s about it. I stood waiting the whole time. I let the older people sit down. It was a mild day, but it did sprinkle a bit. Luckily, I had an umbrella in the car. I don’t think I would come during the summertime, because I would not want to wait in the heat. No thank you.

So, I waited and waited. No one in front or behind me complained one bit about waiting for their food. I waited an hour and fifteen minutes to get my order. I left at 12:30 pm.

The meat is pecan smoked and today it was really heavily smoked. I liked the brisket a lot. The smoke ring was there and delicious. The bark was nice and the meat was moist. My brisket was right in the middle of lean and fatty, which is perfect for me. The sausage had a nice spicy kick to it. The snap wasn’t too snappy. It was more of a slight bite/snap. The flavor was good, but the sausage wasn’t as moist/juicy as I would want it to be. The pork ribs were tender, but a little bit drier than I would like them to be. My significant other thought all three meats were overly smoked. I could see what he meant. All the meats had a lot of smoky flavor and that flavor lingered in your mouth after you had a few bites. The two sides of baked beans were really generous compared to most barbecue joints. A side was about 16 oz. In my opinion, the baked beans were nothing special. At home, I added some brisket and sausage to my beans to added some oomph to them. One more thing, with my order I got four slices of white bread per meat (twelve total). They also gave me some napkins and two forks.

Overall, I’m glad I finally went and tried Meshack’s. It was experience for sure. You need to have a lot of time and patience for their food. I was a little bit disappointed with the barbecue I got today, but I wouldn’t right them off at all. I would want to try other barbecue places around town before going back to Meshack’s. Maybe today was a little off.

Tips: To Go - Meshack’s is to go only. Parking - You can park in the abandoned fields east and west of the building. No parking right in front or next to the building. Business hours - They open at 10:30 am Wednesday to Saturday and stay open until the run out of meat. Payment - You can pay with cash or credit card. They accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Waiting - Be prepared to wait at least 30-45 minutes. I waited an hour and 15 minutes. Luckily, I was off today and could wait. Weather elements - Be prepared for the weather. It may rain and there is no place to go to get cover. If it’s hot outside, there is zero shade. You’re warned. Barbecue sauce - My order (meat by the pound) didn’t come automatically with barbecue sauce, so if you want sauce you better asked for it. Luckily, I had some at...

How are you going to be out of ribs when you open?? I rushed over and drove many miles (over 20 min) to try and get there as early as possible to be met with a voice from behind the screen window (no visible face) say “we had a party we out of ribs, come back tomorrow”… Why would I risk driving 20 min both directions, almost an hour of driving to be met with rudeness and lack of product..?

Response: So you take large orders over priority of a potential new customer? Got it! I also love how you told me my experience wasn’t what I said it was, discrediting is a form of gaslighting. It’s surprising you’ve stayed in business this long while treating customers like this. Only problem is you don’t have any competition around, once there’s some decent competition you’ll surely suffer from lack of customer service.

I appreciate that you invalidated my entire experience then basically called me a liar by stating no one was rude to me. If no one was rude, it wouldn’t have been left in the review!!

Final response: no one stated it was an unexpected party. All I heard was muffled words telling me “we out of ribs, we had a party and don’t have no ribs, come back tomorrow”. Yes the tone was off setting and considered rude. I was a real customer with real money and all I wanted was a rib sandwich with some baked beans. I worked hard in the heat to try to get there as early as possible, if you saw me you saw I was dripping wet with sweat and dirty from working hard outside. You also would’ve noticed I’m about 350lbs and am a real human/customer but obviously y’all don’t care and think you can just treat people however you want to and they’ll keep supporting your business. You don’t worry about competition and “stay in your lane” cause there’s not competition around. You would be very worried, I guarantee you would, if there was any half decent bbq places around as people would flock there just to be treated kindly. You must be the person that the other negative reviews are written about with poor customer service and hanging up on people. You’ll learn one day that you can’t just treat people however you want and expect them to spend their hard earned money with someone that acts like their entitled to receive that money for some bbq that probably isn’t even that good in the first place. Best...

So my family has this group text and my brother posted a picture of some East Texas hot links, and from them on I went searching. That first week I was talking to myself- Do I need those like? Or don't I? Well I search even harder craving got stronger. So ask Google where I can find some links. I even asked people when I went for a walk if they were born and raised in Texas to know about these East Texas hot links. I kept calling numbers from Google and nobody was in the area that was close to Garland Texas. I even posted on Facebook who would know about these links. Some people told me to go way out and boondocks 1 hour away, I am not about to do that. I know it's an old school thing but I was wanting them. And then something told me try that guy , that guy that always had firewood on the side of their building. I grew up in Garland, born and raised in Garland Texas 41yrs. If anybody knew I was going to try Meshack's barbecue. So I waited till he was open, and behold, he doesn't have these links on his menu often but when I asked if you made them or where can I find them he said he did. My search was over and when I received those links before I even got in the car I had to try one. And man oh man they were the bomb 💣💣🔥🔥🤤🤤. I found the place that makes them and now I know for sure I'm going to this place from now on. It brought back so many memories. And what I really like about him it has a smoky taste . Because he has a smokehouse. I made it look all fancy and pretty. 25$ for 2 dozen, I got 4 dozen because my sister wanted some. 😻🥰🥰. However as long as I lived in Garland I think this is my maybe third time going to him. I don't know why it took me so long🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♀️. I will try the his other items also. And I will tell you about it later. But for now I think I'm going to order more East Texas links again. Thanks Mr...