The Barbecue Station — Restaurant in San Antonio

I stopped by the bbq station today, 27 February 2024to eat some good-tasting bbq with great sides as I was headed to Fort Sam Exchange. I walked in and the employees attitude wasn’t pleasant. But that’s okay I said to myself. I ordered the 2 meat combo to dine in along with a medium sweet tea. The chopped beef and sliced beef brisket is what I ordered. Now mind you, walking inside, it smells like good hickory bbq. I kept with the beef selections bc if one was bad, I’d get a second chance of eating good bbq. OMG, the brisket was horrible, just down right horrible. Not only did it not have any type of bbq taste, the brisket was tough and pulley. I just couldn’t understand what happened to the smell of good bbq the lobby area had? So I pushed that away and the chopped came in the smallest child looking cup/container. I had told them lean when they asked if I wanted lean or fatty, but gosh darn, it had so many chunks of fat that the plastic fork provided couldn’t even pierce through it enough for me to pick up and put on the stale slice of white bread they had given. I had to get up and get a plastic spoon. Big mistake bc the taste of the nasty bbq sauce smothered the bbq meat and was super salty. It had so much sauce, I had to pour some of it onto napkins. Then I had to dab the extra napkins into the meat to lift the nasty sauce in order to taste the meat. Again, big mistake! No flavor! It was terrible, horrible, and to know my plate with regular drink was $19 made me angry. Oh, I ordered as my 2 sides, cold slaw and cream corn but I also asked for a side of fries. The cream corn was barely warm and was tasteless! The cold slaw tasted like it was already turning spoiled and the fries that were delivered to my table were warm. The drink. The can of ice tea were out so a can that wasn’t marked sweet or unsweet is the one I used and the tea tasted like I was drinking from a dirty lake with barely the flavor of tea, definitely not brewed! Nothing was good! I picked out parts of the chopped brisket enough to put on the bread as a 1 slice sandwich, but I could only stomach 2 lil bites before walking out. I needed something on my stomach in order to take my medication. But people, Please spare yourself, your throat and tongue, along with your teeth, the experience of horrible bbq. I felt like I just donated to Charity. It is The Worst Barbeque Restaurant in all of San Antonio including Boerne, San Marcus, new Braunfels, Kirby, Helotes, Schertz, Universal City, Seguin, all the surrounding towns and cities— for real. B&B Smokehouse at 2627 Pleasanton Rd, is great! And compared to the Barbeque station, it’s the greater difference as in Mars to Earth. One visit to B& B, and you’d NEVER SET FOOT IN NOR ORDER ANYTHING FROM THE BARBEQUE STATION—Period. And no, I don’t work at the other bbq place, nor do I know anyone there. I stopped at the bbq station on my route to the Army base to do some shopping and I needed to eat something in order to take my meds, but my meds were saying, “Please do ever eat at this place and them slide us down your throat bc we get that...

For context, we drove to this place after leaving another restaurant that was a sin against Texas and barbeque. By the time we got here it was after 8 on a Saturday, which means we were hoping they'd have some of the good stuff still available. There were only a couple cars in the lot and one or two other tables seated when we walked in.

Customer service was top notch, and the food was stellar. These people know BBQ and execute it very well. If that's all you needed to know, go here. For details,

To start out, Tabitha (spelling?) greeted us warmly, and the gentleman behind her working the brick smokers offered us each a small slice of brisket as a sample. Hot, juicy, deliciously rubbed and smoked brisket.

We end up with brisket, pork ribs, beef ribs, and a sausage link each.

Things just kept getting better. The sausage is a respectable offering of texture, balanced flavor, juiciness, and just overall comes together well. Would make a great sandwich.

The rub on the pork ribs offered a ton of flavor, there was just enough fat to let you know it was there, overall a strong rib. You can leave the sauce in the bottle for these.

Finally on to my favorite, BEEF RIBS. Cut down to pork rib sized rib pieces to make them more family/sharing friendly, these were a clear best of show for this place. Strong flavor, tender and juicy beef, clear notes from the smoke, and I even got the added bonus of a burnt end piece!

Sides were your usual BBQ joint fair, with the bonus of unlimited refills in frijoles. (They have a sign where they specify that these are not FREE-joles, they are free refills for those who ordered beans as a side.)

Cole Slaw was dressed well without being overdressed, just a quick sprinkle of pepper and it was a winner. I do wish I had tried the potato salad, that's on my list for next time.

As a guy who grew up on Luling City Market, Cooper's in Llano, and Luther's (RIP) or Hickory Hollow in Houston, I'm throwing five stars, two thumbs up, and a few more bucks the next time I'm in San Antonio for The Barbeque Station.

In a world where too many places pop up with a decent brisket or pork rib and half attempt at everything else, the guys here have worked to put effort into an entire well thought out and executed menu over the years. This is a strong restaurant with staying power, and...

"The BBQ Inflation" First time visiting S.A. so naturally gotta hit up a BBQ joint, right? As I approached the front door, I thought, "How could anything possibly go wrong. I mean, Texas has been doing this for ages. They got this!" Uh, I don't think so, Sparky. Not this time. Walk in and there's no one at the counter. Waited, waited, and waited some more. Finally, order hoping the food was worth not only the wait but their asking price. $13 for 2 meat plate +$4 for a drink + tax= The BBQ Inflation(Station). I get it, times are not what they used to be, but it seems these days restaurants want to make up for the operating costs upfront before they even prove their product is worth it. Which is the case here. Maybe it was an off day, maybe short staffed, supply issues IDK. It felt/looked more like a school cafeteria slop. Briscuit was fatty, pork was half fast, and everything was practically cold. Macaroni and cheese were not warm. The flavor was so so. Tasted like outta the box. Beans were okay at best. But back to the meat. So 2 mediocre slices of Briscuit,a scoop of mush pork, a slice of bread, so so beans, and boxed Macaroni n cheese w a $4 coke. We're talking about a overall $20 plate. And this is basically everywhere. Not worth it. Not trying to be disrespectful, but just as it is important/hard for you as owners to make a profit in this economy, I work just as hard to earn mine. So experiences like this are too one-sided. I don't mind paying for something if it's worth it, but I'm not here for charity. Trust me, if you're all about nothing but the profit it shows in your final product. It's disappointing to see that most restaurants these days are offering subpar quality and service but still expect the consumer to pay the same if not more....