DB's Rustic Iron BBQ — Restaurant in Manuel Benavides

I wanted to like this place. I really did. Other than spur of the moment stops, I usually read in advance about BBQ joints I plan to visit. DB’s was no exception. I enjoyed reading about all the work, time, and money that went into setting up this business, and figured that would equate to good BBQ.

We dropped in on Sunday, September 22nd, the evening before heading back home to Central Texas. We’d been in Terlingua since Friday the 20th. The guy behind the bar was friendly, and the place was very clean, with immaculate bathrooms. It was a nice layout. The food, on the other hand, was disappointing.

My wife had the two-meat plate (Turkey & pork ribs) with pinto beans and Cole slaw. I ordered the beef dino rib with waffle fries. Both plates came with a drink.

The turkey was fairly moist and had a little smoke flavor. The pork ribs were cooked decently enough but had scarcely a hint of smoke flavor and no seasoning – Not even salt & pepper…at least none that we could taste. Adding salt & pepper helped. The beef dino rib was big (1.26lbs) but sadly, there was no smoke flavor or seasoning to be had. Adding salt & pepper didn’t help much. The barbecue sauce (which was decent) kinda did, but the rib remained underwhelming; and seemed like it had simply been baked in an oven. I also ordered an a la carte brisket taco, which was greasy, unseasoned, and had barely any smoke flavor. The beans didn’t taste like they were homemade, but they were decent. The Cole slaw was good. Most of the generous serving of waffle fries were unseasoned. The ones hiding under the two store-bought tortillas were seasoned with something unremarkable. They could have been cooked a tad longer as well.

Turkey: 3 out of 5 Pork: 1 out of 5 Beef: 1 out of 5 Fries: 2 out of 5 Beans: 3 out of 5 Slaw: 4 out of 5 Brisket taco: 3 out of 5 Service: 4 out of 5 Value: 0 out of 5

Brisket Taco: $7.00 Two meat plate: $30.00 Dino rib plate: $42.84

Aside from the sales/use tax of 8.25%, there was a 4% CCSF charge on the bill, which is new to me. With tip, the total for our dinner was $98.34. I get that it’s Terlingua, and I could certainly afford it, but man…that’s pretty steep for the quantity and...

UPDATE: Tuesday, March 14. The owner reached out to me immediately after the weekend. He was apologetic and refunded our complete dinner bill, approximately $50. I told him I didn't feel like making a scene about our food when we were there with live music going on. Plus, we ate the food for the protein. 5 Stars for prompt customer service and honest concern for our dining experience. I'm gonna stick with 1 Star for the original food quality, and leaving up the original post hoping they can take this criticism and fix whatever was amiss that day. Hence the 3 Star average. ORIGINAL POST: Friday, March 10. After a long day of sightseeing/hiking in Big Bend, we wanted to try a different place to eat in Terlingua on our 3rd night there. We tried DB's after reading through all of the Google reviews and seeing the 4.8 Avg. This is the worst BBQ we've ever had, anywhere. I don't care if it is a new crew, or the backup crew, whatever, there is no reason for this level of poor food on a Friday night. My wife and I are in our 50s and we've been around a bit, probably eaten more BBQ than most, including all the famous ones you can name. The pulled pork was simultaneously mushy, but with burnt dry sections, and zero seasoning. Bathing it in their BBQ sauce didn't help. The "moist" brisket was also flavorless and overcooked. The pinto beans were watery and also flavorless. The potato salad was okay, The cashier taking orders didn't know anything about the offerings. If you must try it, I suggest getting a 1 meat plate and see if it's OK, then order more if you want to...

Got really spoiled while in grad school in Austin - great BBQ joints all around the city and the Hill Country. After moving to the east coast, we have really been missing the special way that pit masters in Texas have with their rigs, real wood smoke, and cuts of meat. Eating at DBs was very much a throwback to those young days and fine Texas style BBQ.

The difference between all of the East of the Mississippi styles and Texas style BBQ is that Texas style does not rely on sauce. It relies on four things: fresh, quality meat, a dry rub, real wood smoke at low temperature, and lots of time for the smoke to do its magic and marry the other three into succulent, moist yet firm ribs that pull right off the bone, tender smoky brisket, and that unique Texas style sausage. DBs does all of this right - there are chords of real wood piled behind the trailer, they start cooking some cuts the night before and start others at 4 am. If you drive by in the morning on your way to Big Bend or Terlingua, smoke will be pouring thick and steady from DB's chimney.

All this goodness with genuine warm welcoming service, real sugar Mexican sodas that seem colder than usual and that much more delicious as a result, and, of course, endless views unique to this corner of the world.

The only suggestion for improvement would be the dry rub. It was a bit bland and we could not help but wish that we had come by the day before and dropped off some Salt Lick Original from one of those Austin places we...