Brotherton's Black Iron Barbecue — Restaurant in Pflugerville

Brotherton's is about a mile off IH-35. It sits in a small strip center located on a side road. It was difficult to see as you approach, and I relied on my GPS. Once in the parking lot, there are signs at the top of the building exterior facade.

I arrived at about a quarter till noon on a Thursday. The parking lot is not huge, but there were several available spots. I walked in and was pleasantly surprised to see no line. The staff were very friendly and ordering was straight forward.

I had tried their boudin at the Houston BBQ Festival and knew I wanted more. I also ordered brisket, a rib, and jalapeño cheddar sausage. I went with collard greens and the green chile mac n cheese for sides. I also got a couple more boudin links, brisket, and a pulled pork sandwich to go.

I made my way to the main seating area, which is located on the other end of the building. It was a nice area that belied the building's plain exterior. Though there aren't a ton of tables, seating was ample, and I didn't see any one wait for a seat. The seating area was neat, clean, and had a cool retro feel. I liked looking at the hats from other barbecue joints that were on shelving at the top of the walls.

The moist brisket was excellent, flavorful and, well, moist! The rib was also excellent. It had a sweet flavor and was also moist. The jalapeño cheddar sausage was also very good! I was a little disappointed in the boudin, as it was a little on the dry side. It wasn't bad, but was a notch or two below the other meats. The collard greens looked really good, but had a little bit of a bitter finish. The mac n cheese looked a little dry on top, but once I dug in, I found it moist, with a fantastic creamy cheese flavor!

By the time I finished, I knew I had to go back through and order another jalapeño cheddar sausage link and another rib to go. I told the staff how much I liked the rib and learned they use a mango habanero glaze. The ribs, brisket, sausage, and mac n cheese were definitely the stars of the show! My wife had the pulled pork sandwich later that day and she said it was very good.

By the way, the restroom was also clean.

The greater Austin area has so many great spots, including several great barbecue spots that I likea lot, but this one is well worth a visit! I'll...

TLDR - Add a note to delivery orders to pack BBQ sauce and bread and do not be surprised if it still does not make it into the bag.

The BBQ and the sides are absolutely extraordinary, but your wallet is gonna feel it. The place has gotten very pricey. The staff is pretty rude. We ordered a $280 delivery (incl tip) and it came with no BBQ sauce or bread. When we called they blamed the delivery guy for not packing it and said they told him to, so it was not their fault since sauce is self-service. We ordered directly from the Brotherton's site, not Uber Eats. There is no option to check that will tell the driver to pack the sauce and the bread, and honestly expecting a driver to do that is just ridiculous.

The first person we talked to was infuriating. They kept saying the same thing over and over like I was not getting it. I was getting it perfectly...they were not getting it. I placed a large order and they could not even take an extra minute to make sure we had the basics like sauce and bread. They actually hung up on us as if we were doing something wrong by complaining.

When we called back we got a manager who was much more pleasant to talk to, but even she could not understand at first why telling a random delivery driver to finish packing our order on the way out the door was not a good process. At least she was not as infuriating as the first person we talked to because by the end of the call it seemed like she understood they needed to do better so they get 2 stars for service instead of one.

Bottom line is the BBQ at Brotherton's is amazing and the sides are over the top awesome, but they really need to work on customer service because experiences like this just ruin it. A $280 dollar delivery order should never go out the door without sauce and bread. It really felt like we got only got half the order...I did not want to ruin the meat with some stale store bought BBQ sauce from the fridge so we ate it dry. It's still good, but not the same...

I am a regular customer of Brotherton's BBQ and have done much business with them. I have purchased gift cards for local area businesses also. I haven't visited in a few weeks and was extremely disappointed at the huge increase in prices. I normally order a Brisket Nachos and a Soda. A couple days ago my Nachos and soda came to almost 19.00 but not too long ago the same meal was 10.99. I commented to the cashier about the increase and he said it was due to inflation. That isn't inflation. That is price gouging. I understand economics and running a restaurant and know that suppliers may increase prices or fuel can dictate shipping costs that can narrow your profit margins but this usually impacts menu items incrementally or in a very small way. The increase in costs should line up with the increase in overhead. The man who pulled the brisket out cut off a very small piece of brisket which was more than 50% fat. He chopped it up and spread nasty fatty garbage all over my nachos. I didn't say anything as I wanted to be gracious but I was not happy and I let the cashier know about it. The chips and Jalapeno slices were plentiful but my nachos barely had any brisket and contained mostly fat. This is outrageous and I will not be going back there again. I will take my business back to Salt Lick even though they are a farther drive from Pflugerville. I am extremely disappointed as I have always liked the food/value ratio but they have increased their prices to reflect that of a nationally renowned reputation which they certainly do not have. To add insult to injury, as the brisket cutter was dropping my brisket onto the nachos while the cashier stood there holding them, he dropped brisket onto her feet in which she replied, "You just dropped an entire piece of brisket on my toes". I didn't think to take a photo of the finished product but now I wish I did. Shame on Brothertons for taking advantage of their...