Baker's Ribs — Restaurant in Mesquite

This is a nice little hole-in-the-wall style of rub place, with basic bench seating and an array of comedic sayings on signs around the counter. It's sweet, it's comfortable, and it's terrific.

It being Monday, I had the rib plate on special, with potato salad and green beans, and a pecan fried pie for dessert.

First things first: The ribs utterly eclipsed my childhood favorite of Split Rail. The meat is good and smoky, with an excellent bark (and a tender bite). The meat was literally fall-off-the-bone tender.

The sauce is much more smoky than sweet. This caters to my preferences, but I know some people prefer a sweeter sauce. You get an entire bottle all to yourself, though I used it sparingly to enjoy the flavor of the ribs.

The potato salad is mayonnaise based. Not my usual (I prefer mustard), but delicious and well-made. No stiff potatoes here!

The green beans were absolutely traditional, right down to the bacon they were cooked with.

A slice of Texas toast served as a vehicle for more sauce. Okay, I'm not a huge fan of most breads.

A large half-sweet tea finished it off and was just right for my level of sweetness.

Finally, the fried pie was big, soft, and full of delicious pecan pie filling.

Absolutely loved every minute, from the attentive host (and free wifi) to the last sip of tea. Definitely looking forward to a...

Overall it seems as though the service declined. I was excited for BBQ and decided to get a drive through order. There was an older Hispanic female and younger Hispanic male who took and gave me my order (okra and ribs). I received my ribs but not the okra. I waited and the female employee comes back to the window and asked if I needed anything else and I told her I didn't get my okra. She said "oh". Leaves and comes back to the window and asked if I needed anything else. I replied "no just my okra". A young male employee came to the window a minute later and handed me a container. I took it and drove home (NO pre snacking). Opened everything (attached photos) to see I only got a pinch of okra and paid full price. It seems as though they were trying to avoid giving me my entire order and I'm not sure if they didn't have enough or was rushing. Either way this was one of the more less satisfying experiences here because...well money paid for services and goods. I will say this - their turkey is the BEST (It wasn't included in this order). It's a 50/50 chance I'll recommend - depends on my next experience. It's advised to double check your order before arriving home. Also be mindful the portions may have gotten a bit smaller with the same or increased prices due to inflation so be prepared to spend a little...

After a terrible experience in the drive through where they gave me dry brisket on more than one occasion I decided to go inside to get something to eat before going to work. I was the only one in the entire restaurant so I figured it would take a couple of minutes at least for them to prepare my order. There were 3 cars in the drive through and 2 that pulled up while I was there. I paid for my food and attempted to find a clean table to eat at. There wasn’t even one. 5 people were there but only 2 were actually working in between the times where they were so relaxed that they were playing around with each other. No masks, no hairnets, no gloves. I waited around 15-20mims until I just couldn’t wait anymore. They served every drive thru customer and never got around to making mine. They gave me a refund and a “sorry bout that” and then they went back to conversing and playing with each other. $17 is a lot to pay for one meal when no one wants to make it or give customer service. I won’t be going back to...