Houston Barbecue Company — Restaurant in Houston

Best Texas Hill Country BBQ in the area. The homemade sausage and brisket are my favorites. I have been going there ever since he opened.

I simply don't understand all of the negative reviews here. Granted, most of them seem to be posted at the same time, by the same anonymous coward, and one of them says their waiter gave them bad service...um, they don't have waiters. Were you confused and reviewing the wrong place maybe?

One reviewer says the sauce is East Coast. Hardly. Carolina sauce is mostly vinegar, almost clear with a little extra rub and spices, usually some meat drippings added. It has almost no color and is there to give very little flavor, the goal being to just enhance, not actually flavor the meat. It was made specifically to go with pork, and they put it on everything else. Houston BBQ has an authentic Texas hill country sauce, it is still vinegar based, but has a lot more mustard, and pepper flavor, a bright orange color with some real kick to it. Texas is about the only place that cooks mainly beef brisket, and that is what the sauce is designed to go on, and then we put the sauce on everything else.

Now, about brisket. There is a dry end (lean), and a "wet" end (fat or marbled). If you want to make sure you get what you want, just tell the cutter you want it wet or dry. If he doesn't understand what you mean, then you are not at a real barbecue joint, get the chicken or ribs instead.

And on sides...in general, side items at Texas BBQ joints are almost always just average. Why? Robb Walsh, the food writer, thinks it is because if you go back to BBQ's origin, it was cattle drives cooking tough cuts of meat to make it more tender. Then, it was mostly butcher shops selling cooked meat to workers. Brisket, on butcher paper with a couple of slices of bread. Cattle drives didn't have side items, and neither did early Texas BBQ joints, and since then, it has kind of stuck. Also, it's always the same items, beans, cole slaw and potato salad. At least Houston BBQ makes theirs in-house. Most BBQ places in Texas don't even try, they just open the Sysco Foods can and warm it up. That is starting to change, but that is what Robb Walsh thinks, and it makes...

If i could give a comment without rating it I would. This establishment does not deserve the rating of a star unless it was a negative. I will NEVER recommend it to anyone. Not even my worst enemy(if i had one). My friend and I total experience was not worth of the cost. My friend sent a detailed letter to their corporation. She became ill close to the end of her meal. All that she had eaten was emptied in their bathroom. My food was cold and dry. The service was deplorable. We arrived an hour prior to their closing. It took us, well me, a few moments to decide what i wanted to eat. It was my first time dining there. Nevertheless, as I stated previously, prior to the end of our meal my friend had to use their lavatory for a little bit of time. Well, as she was in there i got up from the table to get some more to drink and I began to watch something that was on the T.V. Much to my surprise, the "hostess" comes over to the tv and TURNS IT OFF. Never speaks a word to me the customer. I then return to my table, sit down and the kitchen person comes to the table and removes the trays that have our food left on it. Again, she NEVER spoke a word. At this point, I'm waiting for my friend to come out of the bathroom so that we can leave and I can write this review. Obviously there was ABSOLUTELY no one in management working at that time. It is my opinion that these actions are...

I had high hopes after reading some of the reviews. I was looking for a neighborhood Bar B Q place instead of driving out to Katy for Rudy's or near Downtown. I'll make the drive next time. The place smelled great and the staff was really nice but that is the end of the positives. Everything tasted like it was prepared that morning and sat all day. My visit was around 4:45pm. I tried multiple things. Brisket (moist) was very bland. Smoked Pork Butt was actually pretty good. The Smoked Chicken (dark) on one hand was moist and flavorful on the inside but the skin was like leather and inedible. Weird. I kept chewing like it was gum and then had to spit it out. The worst were the Pork Ribs which are my fave and I get them every BBQ place I go. They were EXTREMELY overcooked and dry yet glazed in sauce so the looked good at first glance. I took two bites and had to toss them. The sides I tried were mediocre at best- Mac & Cheese was bland, overcooked, mushy, and over processed. The potato salad was okay. The Peach Cobble was the second worse item behind the Ribs. It was cold and the crust or breading had no texture or flavor. Not warm and flaky yet moist crust like other places. While a couple of items were okay, overall I wasted $35. I'm glad some ppl like it but there are multiple reviews that report the food lacks flavor overall and is not fresh and I...