Key Encounters ..
Yelp
A Sad First (and Last) Visit
Visited: Sept 13, 2025 * Dine-in * Check #23 * $62.81
Las Vegas is a tough city for real barbecue. I went in hopeful when this new spot opened around the corner, but what followed was a master class in how to miss every mark that matters.
Service set the tone
The dining room has a backyard-picnic vibe, which I liked at first. But while taking our order, the two counter staff repeatedly interrupted one another to discuss unrelated tasks. We had to re-state our simple order more than once. It wasn't hostile, just careless and not the welcome you expect when you're ready to hand over sixty dollars.
Food arrived fast -- too fast
Plates landed within minutes. Speed sounds good until you taste it. Quick turnaround in barbecue usually means pre-held meat, and every bite backed that up.
Plate-by-plate breakdown
Friend's 2-meat plate: jalapeño-cheese link & smoked turkey
Smoked turkey: pale, no smoke ring, dry to the point of needing sauce just to swallow.
Jalapeño-cheese link: casing soft and slick instead of tight and snappy. Cheese inside wasn't fully melted, a sign it was reheated rather than smoked through.
Potato salad: mustard so heavy it drowned every other flavor.
BBQ beans: mostly ketchup-style sauce with a token scoop of beans.
My 3-meat plate: lean brisket, tri-tip, beef ribs
Brisket & tri-tip: visually and flavor-wise indistinguishable. No bark, no dry-rub character, no seasoning beyond plain beef.
Beef ribs: the only redeeming item, saved only by natural fat content, not by pitmaster skill.
Mac & cheese: gritty and broken, more like weeknight stovetop than smoked-pit comfort.
Fried okra: acceptable but unseasoned.
Sauces & smoke
Three squeeze bottles--one sweet red, one honey-mustard lookalike, one dark brown--offered no regional identity. No wood pile, no clean smoke aroma, nothing to signal Texas craft.
The clientele pattern
The dining room skewed older and favored extremely mild flavors. It reminded me of Lucille's Smokehouse, another chain that leans heavily toward an older palate and away from bold seasoning. This isn't an accident; it's a theme. If you like true pit barbecue with smoke, spice, and personality, you'll notice the same disconnect here.
The larger problem
Barbecue is supposed to be art: time, fire, and seasoning. What we tasted was rushed and flavorless. Even the Big Red soda, a nostalgic surprise, ended up being the meal's highlight.
If your goal is simply to feed relatives who like mild, underspiced food, this place will do. But if you actually love barbecue, you'll do better in your own backyard or at a serious pit that costs the same and respects the craft.
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Bottom line: Friendly enough staff and tidy space can't offset meats that lack smoke, seasoning, and care. At $62.81 for two plates, this was not a one-off bad cook--just a system built for speed, not flavor.
A one-time visit and a caution to anyone seeking real barbecue.