Ellis County BBQ

Went the other day and it was packed. We assumed that was a good sign. When we walked in it was more upscale looking and not typical atmosphere of a Texas bbq. It was so busy the noise level was crazy. There was no parking outside and had to park on the street. That doesn't bother us, we have kids.

when we were seated the upscale chairs had tears in them or the vinyl covering was peeling off. The guy who sat us was very nice.

It took about 10 minutes before our drink orders were taken and the waiter seemed nice. We ordered 2 chicken, kids meals, and a double meat plate for our party of 5. It took another 25 minutes before our food arrived. We chalked it up to just being busy.

When the chicken arrived both plates were DARK MEAT and costs about $12 for the plates with 2 sides. We have been to many others in the area and get white meat for around $9 per plate. So the value is definitely not there if you get chicken. Seemed pretty high.

The chicken was very greasy and did not have a special flavor or anything. The bbq sauce seemed to taste like Stubbs with less of a sweet flavor which is fine for us.

My double meat plate was also a very small portion and the brisket was very lean-ish and dry. It was not that great.

We attempted 3 times to inform our server who kept walking off due to being so busy that we were unhappy with the dark meat chicken for $12 specifically.

We ended up paying and it took well over 20 minutes to get our cc returned to us. Our bill for 2 adult chickens, 1 double meat plate, and 2 kids meals with drinks and tip was over  $80. Complete rip off when comparing portion size and what we received vs. cost. We eat at outback for steaks for around $65 and Dickey's bbq we pay about $45 (no tip needed).

The menu specifically states that you get free ice cream for the kids and the waiter did not bring it. Again we asked multiple times and nothing.

We got home and looked online to see if we had missed something on the menu or how to order specifically the chicken and nothing said it was dark meat. The story online was one of a understanding nice owner who cares about his customers.

Feeling a little ripped off we sent an email to the restaurant to see if maybe they had run out of chicken or what. A few days later we got a reply. Needless to say I got a very immature response telling me "maybe" my kids "were full and didn't want ice cream" and I could do whatever I want because they really "don't care" what I have to say. I never said I was going to do anything. I was just seeking clarification so I knew weather to attempt to come back on a  less busy night to see if it was better. We all have our bad days.

They obliviously don't know my kids who would eat ice cream no matter what. Since they did not like the kids meal they ordered I think there was plenty of room for ice cream. We ended up taking the kids meals home and fed to the dogs.

With all that said I really do not recommend this place. It is nothing special, you have to tip due to table service, and the value is not there for the money. The flavor is not that great and the brisket is lean and dry. I would recommend a chain such as Spring Creek bbq or Dickey's over this. At least at Dickey's kids eat free depending on day/location and you get full (and self serve free ice cream). Here it is not a good value and they clearly do not care about the customers. I have the email.

We don't mind going into busy loud places provided the value for the money is there and the business cares about it's customers.

I went here yesterday for my birthday.  

The atmosphere was pretty good with the Western decor, but the place had an odd smell to it.  I described it as a Thrift store smell and my wife said it was probably smoked in at one time.

The furniture also needs to be updated.  You sit in the chair and the middle sinks where you almost feel like your on the toilet.

I ordered the two meats, with two sides, and Texas toast.  I went with the ribs, chicken, onion strings, and fries.  My wife ordered the turkey breast, mac & chesse, and onion strings as well.  From the time we sat down and had our food serve, it probably had been between 10-15 minutes.  I was pretty disappointed with the food.  The chicken breast was very salty and dry, I had a few bites dipped in lots of bbq sauce but that didn't help.  The ribs were also dry and a bit salty.  The bbq sauced made them somewhat appealing to eat.  The fries and onion strings were pretty decent, not bad, but nothing special.  My wife enjoyed her turkey breast, along with her sides.  She did try my chicken and ribs and was also disappointed.  I expect that bbq isn't going to be made to order, but I think this place has some work to do on there food quality.  

I think the price of the food is a little on the high side.  I had a beer and my wife had a water and our check came out to $32, plus $4 tip.

I thought the service here was pretty good.  This placed had lots of high definition tv's and pretty decent prices on alcohol.  

Probably would be a good place to watch a ball game, but next time we want bbq, we will venture out of Midlothian.

Although it's certainly not the norm for barbecue, Ellis County BBQ is set up as a table service restaurant. The dining room is decorated in a more upscale western motif, which was surprisingly swanky for a place like Midlothian.

I ordered up their Dennis Plate, which comes with three meats, two sides, and Texas toast. After much deliberation, I settled on pork ribs, beef brisket, and sliced sausage with potato salad and macaroni and cheese on the side. I made sure to ask for sauce on the side.

As always, I started my meal by sampling the side dishes. The potato salad had a good crunch from the pickles and pimentos. It also had a nice natural flavor to it without being bland. The mac and cheese, however, was not quite so pleasant. What I received was basically plain elbow macaroni with a little cheese, and it tasted only slightly better than Easy Mac.

From the outset, the brisket looked a little dry and far too lean. It had a decent black crust on it, but no actual bark. I certainly couldn't taste any smoke. Actually, all I could taste was dry meat and salt. I added some of their house barbecue sauce out of pure necessity.

The pre-sliced sausage had no visible black pepper or other spices, which made it look suspiciously like Hormel or Eckrich. It tasted exactly like it looked: grocery store sausage. There definitely wasn't any smoke to it either.

After my first two meat selections, I wasn't feeling very optimistic about the ribs. They looked like they had a good crust, but were lacking much of a red smokey hue. I found some smoke in the crust, but it tasted more like artificial liquid smoke rather than the natural kind. This gave the ribs a really weird taste.

I took the remainder of my food in a to-go box just to be polite, but I had intention of eating any more of it. Ellis County BBQ definitely has some work to do on their seasonings and their smoking process, and getting rid of the liquid smoke should be step one.