Brett's BBQ Shop — Restaurant in Katy

“Austin is the Food Capitol of Houston”, some say. “Maybe so”, I say…”it’s quite possible- a creative and eclectic assortment of traditional and nouveau cuisine”.

THEN they might say, “The BEST BBQ in Texas is in Austin”.

WHOOPS.

That’s where I draw the line. “Profoundly and patently NOT True”, I say.

Wha??? WHY?

Because I have found a local Texas BBQ Hideaway in Katy, Texas, of all places, that simply SMOKES the competition (sorry- couldn’t help myself).

Brett’s BBQ Shop IS the REAL DEAL.

Opened since 2018, the locals ALL know Brett’s has the best Brisket in Houston- hands down. Even beyond Houston…even Texas (don’t believe me? Go TRY it!) Quite possibly Brett’s is the BEST in the Continental US- seriously.

It’s fall-apart good (like others). Good portions (like a few places). But that’s where Brett’s leaves the competition behind. The Density and melt-in-your-mouth Quality rival some of the BEST in Texas and BEYOND- EASILY.

But then Brett’s Brisket offerings take it up ANOTHER notch…or FOUR.

It’s the FLAVOUR: indescribably succulent, tastebud awakening, Wall-to-Wall FLAVOUR.

OFF the CHAIN FLAVOUR (and Brett is currently NOT interested in opening a “chain”, btw, because he is FREAKISHLY committed to QUALITY and, although a mellow, good-hearted guy, cannot- WILL NOT- tolerate the possibility of another Shop with his name on it being anything less than what he knows is possible- he’s already pushing 16 hours a day…and has been since 2018).

And Brett doesn’t stop there.

His Burnt Ends? Chunky and Flavourful- trimmed, yet big and beautiful- tugalicious! His Pork Belly Burnt Ends? OUTRAGEOUS. Any other descriptor falls FAR too short. I’ll say it again- they are OUTRAGEOUS. Get some NOW. (I easily drive over an hour just to avail myself of Brett’s World Class BBQ. Truly.)

His pulled pork? OMG. The satisfying smokiness combined with the juice of ALL juices (and did I say FLAVOUR?) BLOWS AWAY ALL OTHER OFFERINGS.

I was seriously shocked when I bit into my first forkful of pulled pork…and THAT was even after knowing how CRAZY GOOD his Pork Belly Burnt Ends were. I was literally STUNNED. And that just does NOT happen much to me. Unexpected, unvarnished, deep-in- your-soul goodness. Indescribable.

His sides? Creative and masterfully done, whether (my possible favourite)- Cilantro Jalapeño Coleslaw, Creamy-cheesy Mac n’ Cheese (Hip-deep in FLAVOUR! My palate KNOWS his secret…but I AIN’T tellin’!) or Cornbread Casserole (Sweet, Tasty PERFECTION!).

ALL in ALL, it’s easy to see that, for Brett and his crew, it’s ALL about FLAVOUR.

Tried the Rest? Passed the Test? STILL on a Quest? Now…TRY THE BEST.

Brett’s BBQ Shop. Go NOW. You WON’T be...

This was our first time trying Brett's at this location. I tried once on mason road. They were sold out of almost everything and what we did order was not impressive. I also had some burnt ends served on a bloody Mary at Scholars and Scoundrels once and was told they were from Brett's. Those were not good either. This review is mostly about this recent visit to the Kingsland location as the whole menu was available. We went through the line and both ordered separately and then took home to eat family style. I ordered a pound of brisket. I told the cashier that I wanted fatty slices only. I told the man at the station that I wanted fatty slices only. I received a couple slices of fatty brisket but the majority were lean and dry. This brisket had the typical salt and pepper bark seasoning but there was not a whole lot of flavor. At $34/pound this brisket was disappointing. $14 baked potato with pulled pork. Now this is a big potato. But they do the absolute bare minimum to prepare it. Quality restaurants will mash the potato and incorporate the basic fixins for the customer. This potato was barely sliced and had the cheese and meat piled on top. I had to deconstruct the potato, mash it, mix everything together before serving it. This extra step of mashing it is something they could easily incorporate to make the potato better. The pork was nice and for the size, its a good price. The sausage was mid. The mac & cheese was a good, standard, non baked style. The okra and waffle fries were soggy and stale from sweating in the containers on the ride home. The cornbread casserole was good and I think the best of the sides we tried. There were not a lot of people inside and we were first in the line when we arrived. I saw table top games to entertain family and I think I saw a full service bar. This place might be worth a dine in visit if you can get the cuts of meat requested and can consume the sides at peak freshness. We...

We won’t be back… my first truly bad review.

Other than that, where to start?

What they’ve done here is to copy places like Pinkertons in terms of price and ingredients, but they forgot about the food.

1. value- with no drinks and a tip, a 3 meat plate and half chicken with two sides total (not each) was $80. That’s ridiculous. It’s literally half that elsewhere.

2. service - what the hell did I tip for? They call you for your order…. You serve your own sauce from a messy ladle to tiny cups… you serve your own drinks… you bus your own table. Although there were only 3 groups there when we arrived at 1pm on a weekday, we struggled to find a clean table… and the floor beneath ours looked like 4 toddlers had just eaten

3. food - it truly is ‘prime’ brisket…. But even ‘select’ brisket is tender… so that was a waste. The bbq had an off flavor from the smoke… not sure what it was… reminded me of cedar… wasn’t a smoke flavor that I am familiar with, like mesquite or oak or hickory or any fruit wood…. and way too much pepper on the bark. The best item was the cornbread pudding. The potato salad was generic. The rest looked amazing, but only tasted okay. The picture doesn’t do it justice as we had already pulled back the chicken skin…. But it was all downhill from there. The sauce was vinegar and tomato, which I generally like on brisket and sausage. It was decent, but they need bigger plastic cups or a pump. Ladles and tiny cups are a mistake.

4. location- this place was perfect for us so we really wanted to like it…. As we eat bbq regularly…. But we just didn’t.

I understand this is a chain so perhaps little can be done to change things, but this isn’t anywhere...