Three visits in the last two months and the ribs have been consistently great. I would venture to say they are the best ribs in the mid-cities. No membrane, tender (with the right amount of pull from the bone) and a great flavor the negates the need for sauce. The brisket has improved over my initial visit. It has been moist, with a good flavorful bark. In addition the staff is very friendly and attentive. Highly recommend.
Review Source:I am a BBQ fiend...seriously the biggest critic of BBQ. Â 6 years I have been in TX and found very few consistently good places WITH great sides AND SERVICE.
First visit to new owner/business was great! Â All meats just right and all sides were good. Â I will be back often.
Parking is still cramped but next time I will ride the motorcycle.
Brand new place. Unfortunately they have some work to do. Tried the sliced brisket, German sausage and pulled pork. The sausage was pale and didn't seem to have a very strong flavor. Â They need to take a trip to Central Texas. The brisket had some bark but very little flavor out side of the bark. The most disappointing was the pulled pork. Dry and had been sitting in a warmer way too long the pork was almost inedible. The coleslaw was prepackaged with a thin sauce and not a hint of vinegar.
Review Source:Wow. Waited forever behind large to go orders. Then ordered cardboard dry brisket. Returned it and got super attitude. No apology. They replaced it but they made me feel like a criminal. The dining room server with the tight short shorts was super nice though. Â I recommend this as a pass, simply on how they handle customer complaints....Yes, customers are a pain, and they may not always be right..but grow a thick skin and DON'T TAKE IT SO PERSONALLY!!!! Â Listen and fix it if it is possible or you need to prepare for failure in your business. I won't be back because I felt very unwelcome and I could tell the owner was upset that I complained about the meat. I will look for a better place where the owners care what their customers think.
Review Source:My family and I live just right up the road from Back Forty and have been looking forward to its opening ever since we saw the CLOSED sign for Big Barn BBQ. The food at Big Barn just never made up for the outrageous prices and so we were hoping this new place would...
And we were pleasantly surprised! My wife ordered the brisket plate with a side of green beans soaked/cooked in bacon and although the brisket was a little dry and needed the sauce, the green beans were excellent. The first sound coming out of her was a "Mmmmm...oh yeah, that's how you make down home country green beans!"
I had the 2 meat combo of their smoked sausage and ribs with a side of Ranch Style Beans and Pinto Beans soaked/cooked in bacon as well. The sausage wasn't anything that knocked me out of the world, a little dry maybe, and the ribs were beef which I am not really a fan of. The flavor was good, but it was tough and the beef-to-bone ratio was way off. More often than not I was biting bone and it hurt!
The Ranch Style Beans were sweet and piping hot and everything you would want in a BBQ bean side. My oldest son had the Mac 'n Cheese and according to an avid Mac n' Cheese lover who happens to be 4, it was a hit!
We had a really relaxing time sitting out on the patio and enjoying the sunset while our kids safely ran around the would-be stage. I am not looking forward to, however, the live bands and loud music that I'm sure is soon to invade that quite and serene patio. Unfortunately, that will probably force our visits to be on weekdays so we can enjoy the BBQ and the peace and quiet.
This is their first week open so I'll give it a 2nd chance for sure but based on the initial impression, Back Forty Smokehouse suffers from the same issues that Big Barn BBQ (it's predecessor) did. The service was good when you ordered and everyone was very polite, the restaurant is clean and well kept, the venue is awesome with a big indoor seating area and full bar and a huge outdoor patio with stage for live music on the weekends.
The food however...which is the reason most people come to a BBQ joint...was mediocre at best. I got a three meat plate with sliced brisket, Carolina pulled pork, and sausage. The brisket was lean like I requested, had a good smoke ring, decent flavor, and just a little on the dry side but not bad. The sauce was a little acidic for my preference but had a nice flavor overall and complemented the beef nicely. The pulled pork was fair, it had a decent smoke ring that could have used a little more of a crust but was just a little bland overall. That being said I like the fact that this place offers pulled pork period since most of the local BBQ joints don't and consider it more of a northern thing. The regular sausage was poor, honestly I'd have enjoyed just a simple Eckridge link from the grocery store over it. I got Mac and Cheese as a side and well it was your standard Mac and Cheese like I'd expect from a Luby's, nothing to write home about here. I also got a piece of white bread with my meal.
I'd consider myself a BBQ snob and have eaten at the majority of the great place in DFW as well as many chain places. This place has a ton of potential because of the venue itself, it looks like a place I'd expect to find great BBQ and has other amenities for drinks and music. If they would step up the quality of the food this place would be amazing.
Recommendations:
Ditch the regular sausage you're using and change it up a bit, there is a great 50/50 pork/venison sausage available locally or a cheese infused pork one that would be a huge improvement over the current offering.
It's Texas, a piece of plain white bread is not going to cut it. I expect a thick piece of buttered Texas Toast with my meal. Make it happen.
The sides need a home cooked feel, most of them looked/tasted like they were straight out of a box.