David L.
Yelp
I have to say I'm a bbq snob. I live in Houston, but we're in Austin visiting family and they mentioned BBQ inside an H‑E‑B. I love H‑E‑B, we go there several times a week, but ours doesn't have any "extras" ( well, If you don't count sushi, but I think that's rented space) - just good meat &fish, fresh produce, friendly people and occasionally, a cooking sample person.
Granted, expectations for BBQ in Austin are very high. Franklin, mickelthwaite, terry blacks. Now H‑E‑B. Curiosity overcame skepticism - you can't make decisions on only three Yelp reviews - and we went for lunch today. It's a very clean bar/restaurant type area. Strangely, you can't see the prep area that's typical in BBQ places, everything is closed off and the only person you see is the cashier. There's a menu overhead, self serve soft drinks and tea, and a full bar for adult beverages. Polished concrete floor, standard four top tables and booths. Very welcoming and comfortable. There are monitors everywhere and this, no baseball games were in, and they were showing HGTV and other random channels. Out the window, you overlook the produce department and the self checkout lanes.
Finally for the food. The girls ordered sliced beef sandwiches - they prefer chopped beef, but cashier said it's pre-chopped and soaked in sauce, and crockpot chopped beef is a definite no. I had brisket, ribs, and sausage. Sausage was H‑E‑B black pepper, just heated and sliced. Nothing special. The moist brisket had very nice bark, but was somehow a little bland and dry, slightly better than your local Rudys, but definitely not Terry blacks. The ribs had a great flavor, not fall off the bone, but a nice "bite" - I prefer a little more "doness", these were pulled at about 197 degrees, 5 or 6 degrees more, they would have been 5/5. Sides and bread were hill country brands, nothing special there. Sauces also hill country brand, not terrible, but not excellent either.
Would I go back? Yes. If I needed groceries and a quick lunch, I'd grab a rib or two. But I wouldn't make a special trip. It's pretty good for what it is, actually, if you compare to other In-store food at grocery stores, it's quite good. 3 stars out of 5.