Jack's BBQ & Steakhouse Bellevue | Redmond — Restaurant in Redmond

Jack's BBQ just opened up in East Bellevue on Bel Red road in the spot formerly occupied by Mayuri. If you are a long-time resident like me, you will remember the former Tu Casa Mexican restaurant that was in this location. This is a limited review of the brunch as I do plan to be going back to Jack's to try a wider variety of their food and will update my review at such time. Brunch review: we arrived at Jack's about 11AM specifically to get in on some of the breakfast tacos Jack has been advertising on Facebook. Was concerned we may be too late for breakfast but was pleased to see they serve Brunch until 2PM. This was a Sunday. Plenty of parking in front and back. Jack did a nice job of updating the outside of the joint with fresh paint, signage, and an area to eat outside on nice days. First impression of the interior was also good. I love the Waylon Jennings flag (am a big Waylon fan myself), large Willie Nelson picture as well as the other Texas inspired decorations. It definitely sets the mood for a Texas inspired restaurant. There is a small bar off to the right and the rest is tables which look like can be arranged for small or large groups. Also a partitioned off back room area perhaps can be reserved for parties or special occasions.

Service was seriously ON POINT. We were greated very friendly and our server always had a smile and was enthusiastic to answer our questions about the menu. Very high marks for the service here.

Let's get to the tacos. We tried two kinds, Brisket and Sausage. The brisket taco had a nice pepper-forward flavor with the brisket bark taking center stage in the bite. They provided two kinds of salsa, red and green. Both complimented the taco nicely. Enjoyed the brisket taco. One bit of feedback would be perhaps just a couple more chunks of brisket in the taco would have been nice. Definitely left me wanting more. As to be expected, I believe these are some spare pieces of brisket so you're not getting Jack's choice slices here. That said, the brisket in the taco was good to my taste.

Sausage taco my son really enjoyed. This is a pork sausage I believe and it has jalapeño and cheddar. It was not spicey. Personally, I enjoyed the sausage taco along with Jack's BBQ sauce which is provided complimentary on the tables. I found this a better condiment for the taco than the salsa. There are other kinds of tacos available, but we tried these 2. I give these a solid 4 out of 5. What would have made this a 5 star taco to me would be a larger portion. That said, 2 came close to filling me up. At the time of this review, they were about 5 bucks per taco.

We were acknowledged and thanked upon walking out by some of the kitchen staff. I look forward to coming back in to try other menu items. I am very curious about the grill portion of the menu where they have various steak and side options. Beef ribs are also on my agenda to try and do believe that is a Thursday item. I am glad to have Jack's in the neighborhood and encourage you to...

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Reed, Jack's BBQ Restaurant's new manager in Redmond. In the lull between lunch and dinner guests, we had a few minutes to discuss Central Texas brisket and ribs. I am from Central Texas and had not found decent brisket in the Seattle area until a few years ago when I walked into the original SoDo location and was transported back home! It is quite a drive for us, so I was very excited when Jack Timmons opened the Redmond location. Robert is determined to make every customer a satisfied customer. And our server Michelle made sure our experience there was welcoming and pleasant. From Robert I learned that Jack's imports post oak from Texas for that authentic barbeque flavor. I was thrilled to learn that because when I smoke brisket at home, I also use Texas post oak which I purchased online. Robert is a well-respected chef who worked for years with big names in the industry and learned from the best. He definitely knows Texas barbeque. We discussed the thickness of the slices, moist vs. lean, and even touched on Jack's sides that I love: Texas caviar, cole slaw, and collard greens. My husband and I were at the Redmond location the second day they opened and have visited regularly since then. We have even celebrated extended family birthdays there. I'm happy this restaurant is managed by someone who cares so much about getting Texas barbeque right and making sure each customer will become a...

There are many reasons why we don't eat bbq from local restaurants and here are some of the reasons why we won't be coming back to jacks bbq in bellevue. We arrived around 1245 and there's were 4 other tables.

Here's everything we ordered,

•Fries •Double trouble w half chicken and ribs w potato salad/mac and cheese •The trinity w chilli and cornbread

The highlight of our lunch were the fries and sodas. The fries were HOT fresh crispy and had flavor.

Everything else came out barely warm to the touch and flavorless. We had to ask for salt and pepper to try and salvage our sides. Wish their bbq sauce wasn't basic, to help the meats. The brisket, didn't taste like anything. Not beefy. Just flavorless fatty in texture, tender and juicy, but not a lick of flavor. The ribs had the most flavor, but they were borderline room tem and dry, so that took away from the overall flavor profile. Nothing had a crust or crisp to it. The chicken wasn't dry and was the warmest of everything we ordered. The skin was past rubbery. The sausages were blah. I've had better sausages off food carts in seattle. We dug in the second everything came out and nothing was close to being warm in temperature. It's like if you were served food at a family party where everything was just sitting out.

Overall, it's a no for us. We wanted to like it sooo much, with all the great reviews and being in our neighborhood. I've had better food at...