Dickey's Barbecue Pit — Restaurant in Longview

Short version: Tasty barbecue meal that I'd get again. If you're curious about trying it, give it a shot, you might like it. I ordered a chopped beef (brisket) sandwich and potato salad.

Longer version: Dickey's was on my list to try because new versions of old things can break up the monotony. I think Dickey's works here because it has a bit of a different flavor profile than other BBQ joints here in Longview. I can't determine precisely what it was, but the brisket had a bit of a very subtle peppery flavor, perhaps diverging from the norm of Texas BBQ being without seasoning - smoke only. I think it worked well. Likewise, the bun (potato bun, I think) seemed to have been coated in a buttery sauce that I feel like I detected a bit of garlic in, before being toasted. This added a bit of nuance that I appreciated. The potato salad was good if not life-changing; a sturdy submission in the world of other good potato salads. It struck a balance between the drier, peppery ones and the overtly sweet and creamy ones. If you like potato salad, you'll probably not have anything bad to say.

While my experience was overall good, I do have a few points of critique, because I feel the "bones" are there.

First is that I cannot deny that some of the brisket was simply older than the rest. Perhaps this is a volume issue, but while some bites were tender and moist, others were much firmer and drier. I want to be clear that my sandwich was still tasty, but maybe the nature of it being a sandwich and not just slabs of meat aided in my graciousness. The next was that the potato bun felt a bit stiff, as if it needed to be steamed or something. It wasn't bad, but it started to approach the territory of me questioning if it was an old bun. Not quite there, but headed in that direction.

Finally was the soda. I had better, fresher soda at the soda fountain in Hastings (RIP). This was like if you bought a 2 liter last Friday for pizza, drank half of it, let it sit in the fridge for a few days, then tried to polish it off; kinda flat, kinda "oxidized," if you know what I mean. The Freestyle machines are ubiquitous for a reason and I think it was a misstep to not have one here.

I'll go back because I do expect that new locations take time to get in their stride. I'm supplying this feedback so that the management can iterate and improve upon a formula that I think can succeed, even in a saturated market with places like Boxcar...

We love ALL the Dickeys we've been to in Dallas. This one in Longview was a complete disappointment. We specifically ordered moist brisket and we both got what was 100% pre-sliced lean which must have been just sitting there drying out in the open. Question I have is this: do they think that because we were out of towners, did they think we don't know our meat? Seriously?

The ONLY reason they get 2 stars for food is because they got us moist meat after we complained.

It took 2 people from kitchen plus a couple of snickering employees sitting on tables in the restaurant to fix it. Sad.

I guess an empty restaurant at prime dinner time should have been an indication that this was going to be a disappointing experience.

With a few amazing Bodacious BBQ places around town and all of them being great, we thought we would give Dickeys a chance since we always enjoyed the DFW area establishments. We were mistaken.

Will not be going back. And do not recommend...

Came back a second time the next week, and I had to change my stars to three. If not even a two… I got the same thing and I was highly disappointed. This time I almost said something about it, I know brisket is supposed to have some fat on it, but this was like 70% fat needless to say , I only ate half of it and there was so much fat on this I couldn’t even enjoy it. Pretty bummed! I’m guessing they had a complete whole new cook today because the first time I went it was amazing

—-Just went there for lunch and I actually got the brisket kids meal and I was very very impressed, will definitely be going there a lot more lol I did think it was a little pricey for a kids meal, but it actually came with quite a bit of food considering a kids meal, so overall, I was really pleased with it and the brisket was so tender, I loved every bite of it 😂 5 stars for this place for sure....