Blacksheep BBQ Smokehouse & Grill — Restaurant in Yellville

Other than the annual Turkey Trot (which has vastly changed from my younger years when the town of Yellville would throw live turkeys out of airplanes), I never had a reason to go to Yellville. And now I do. My parents first suggested going to Blacksheep for dinner and it was the first time I remember my parents driving anywhere that far "out of town" for food. Not me. If you've read my other reviews, you already know that I would, and have, driven 2+ hours and into a different state if the craving is strong enough (I'm lookin' at you Dutch Pantry). Ok, back to Blacksheep and it being worth the drive. Assuming you're reading this review en route, I'll get straight to the point. Even though the people are extremely lovely (they'll pepper in the sweethearts and darlin's) and the service goes above and beyond, let's get down to why you're reading this – the food. The hands-down item that you should order from the menu every single time is the beef brisket. I, like a fool, thought I'd give the sampler platter a go, being it was my first time there. The only bright side to this bleak story is that I went with my parents and my daughter and she (my having raised her right) selflessly allowed me to eat 4/5 of the brisket. I'm not saying the other meats aren't good (I'd italicize here if it were an option), but it is absolute rubbish when compared to the brisket. In a world where niche and, ahem, unique restaurants open every other day, it's nice to find a home grown, drag 'em out by the roots of their hair go-to BBQ joint that over-delivers each and every time. I, as you have probably surmised, reco the beef brisket platter. I know it costs more, but it's worth it. It comes with 2 heavenly pieces of Texas Toast. They are so buttery and fried tasting that you can feel your arteries give a slight twitch and you don't stop. For the two side items I get their baked beans (which has pieces of BBQ meat in it, as God intended) and their French fries. I've gotten their tater tots (meh) and they're tater tots all right, but they are nowhere near the super crispety deliciousness of the fries that come to your table still sizzling from the fryer. Hold up, that brings me to another huge reason to go, the food is always hot. I know, seem obvious, right? Then why are we all eating subpar French fries a good 80% of the time! Now typically when I order fries I say, on the down low, can you make sure the fries are right out of the fryer? If I'm going to eat those calories they better be worth it! But after I made my request to the sweet girl, she looked at me in total confusion. That's right. It was inconceivable to her that the food would be anything but mouth-scalding hot. The only reason I'm not bolstering up this review to a full 5-stars is because each time I went there was a bit too much fat on the meat. If you like fat, you're in luck! But if you don't, you'll be hunting for your knife or, as I am wont to do, switching out the fatty pieces with my less picky meal companions. Wait it just dawned on me that I could ask for that when I order! Curses!! Why did I not think of that before?! Actually what a fantastic way for me to end...

We just went to dinner at Black sheep afternoon being back since they opened to give them a second chance. I will admit the food was better this time so all in all average experience in that form other than a few things that are more personal taste with food than quality issues more than likely.

My issue is the fact that I attempted to tip the hostesses/servers who not only brought out the food to our table while I was getting condiments but just about every person that walked around the dining area checked on us at least once making sure we had everything we needed and even offered to remove anything we were done with like typical servers. So I felt like I would leave a tip for them for the service they provided.

Apparently they do not get to keep the tips, instead they go to the cook who at this point I have to assume is the owner. I was appalled by this and even called to complain. Which one of the nice hostesses answered who was even nice then saying there was no reason to worry and even tried to discourage me from giving a bad review. And she was one of the ones who they money should have went to.

As far as I'm concerned that money was stolen from the ones who deserved it. If the cook is the owner then they make money off of profits, if the cook is not the owner and needs tips then the owners need to pay them better, but when someone leaves a tip, 99% of the time, they are leaving it for the person who provided the service not that cooked the food.

The food is only average BBQ and higher priced than average as well. There is no reason to pay the cook even more to do their job . Again food isn't bad but it's not worth paying even more than the establishment already charges

Will...

We arrived at 6:15 and placed our order for brisket and sausage with okra. We were told it was a 30-minute wait. The restaurant was not even half full, so I asked why we were waiting 30 minutes since the brisket and sausage should be sitting in the back waiting to be placed on a plate. The restaurant serves items that are also grilled or cooked, and we were told that it was not fair to serve our meal when other people were waiting on theirs. This still confused me because our food simply required being placed on a plate and shouldn't require us having to wait for folks who ordered a complex dinner needing to be cooked first. After an hour wait, and watching numerous individuals picking up to-go orders, our food was finally delivered at 7:15. The long wait was exacerbated by the quality of the food. Portions were small. The brisket was sub-par, and the sausage tasted like it was bought from the local grocery store. The "Texas Twinkie" was about the size of a small finger. They should consider renaming it "Arkansas Twinkie" to avoid future confusion.

I do commend the staff for trying their best. They were very apologetic.

Nonetheless, there was an apparent lack of management skills and an obvious absence of a qualified Pitmaster. If someone wants to serve barbecue, they should invest in a skilled Pitmaster.

In summary, next time I float the Buffalo, I will make the trip to Mountain Home and try this again. Who knows, I may just be a spoiled BBQ snob from Texas, but if you've tried...