After leaving the gym and in the need of some sustenance I visited Texas Hold 'Em BBQ. As you walk in it's a large room that isn't sectioned off like a lot of restaurants, I didn't see any booths just a 4 tops and one long family/large group table. I was greeted by the waitress and sat at the bar (directly next to the cake display showcasing the most humongous carrot cake.....EVA!!!)
I looked over the menu that was very straightforward; unlike most BBQ joints. I decided on the 1/4 chicken dark meat and rib combo platter with cole slaw and baked beans (with help from the very friendly waitress)
My food arrived quickly and since my hands were washed, napkin tucked into my shirt and paper towels to wipe up any foreseen messes; I dug in. It was over quickly, the food never stood a chance. I must say the food was great but the small amount of food for the price I paid ($16) wasn't really worth it IMO. I'll come back for sure but Texas Hold 'Em isn't going on my list for top value BBQ joints. Only because of the price
Well, I would love to give more than 3 stars. Â I have been to this location a number of times and this was the worst of any of those visits. Â Not sure what is going on with them. Â I just saw that the downtown location was closed. Â Arrived on a Saturday night at 7:15 and the place was basically empty. Â Wow.
Ordered pulled pork and brisket combo. Â The pork was pretty good, but the brisket was pretty dry and not all that tasty. Â Side of mac and cheese and fries. Â Fries were standard and mac and cheese was decent.
Portions were less than any other visit as well. Â
Service was fine, except that she got my friend's order wrong, but ended up bringing his ribs.
Broken urinal in the men's room and it looked like it had been that way for awhile
I wish this place well, the food was excellent when they first opened, but I wonder if this really is a cursed location.
Great pulled pork sandwich! I have been there several times in the last few months...overall good food quality, their staff is really friendly, never had bad service here. Get up to leave and the waitress wanted to know if I wanted her to make me a sweet tea to go, was really nice of her, she already had her tip and bill was paid, just being nice! That goes a long way in a satisfied customer!
Review Source:Nice place, okay food!. ....but the hostess who served us was a weird girl. Her name was Kanya and she did not know the word "WELCOME". I thanked her a few times after she got us food and water and things like that and her reply to it is "umm umm"...
Also, I used a Groupon for my purchase and I actually lost money. The girl never showed me the check before she took my Groupon off ! and I ended up losing like 3-4 dollars + I paid her a tip to which she didn't even say THANK YOU!
WTF seriously! I was so mad on the way back for the way I was treated and I treated her nothing but nice. I would NEVER return to this place again.
The 2 stars was for the food.
Went on a Saturday night looking for some decent BBQ since Smokey Bones has gone down hill. At 7:30 we were told they were out of Baby Back ribs. We were told they had just opened a second location an the management sent the ribs to the new location. Really, so I ordered pulled pork, my wife BBQ chicken, and my son had spare ribs. Food took forever to come. While we waited we heard some one from the kitchen yell at one of the servers to "get the F out of my kitchen" loud enough for everyone to hear, including some young kids. Saw a waitress storm out mumbling something. When the food came my pork was flavorful, but very very dry. My wife's chicken was also very dry. Spare ribs were burnt on the outside and likewise very dry.
Bad food and bad service. At least the public fighting of the staff was entertaining.
Im Honestly Shocked at some of these Reviews.
I have been living in Ft Lauderdale for about 3 years now and have been looking for a good BBQ Place.
During tropical storm isaac we were driving and pulled in a shopping center and there was Texas Hold ' Em. So we tried it. I got the pulled pork sand with Mac and cheese and baked beans, my fiance got a rack of ribs , mac and cheese , greens and beans. It was so amazing . The meat was cooked just write and had great flavor . The mac and cheese to die for. Â If we weren't so full we probably would have had more.
We will for sure be going back .
I LOVED the old Texas Hold 'Em location downtown.  It had a nice quaint feel and it seemed like a lot of TLC went into the food, menu and décor.  Everything about it screamed "barbecue" and my food was always delicious. I always got one of their signature sandwiches of pulled pork and sweet potato fries which was SOO good. I was really bummed to see that it had closed a while back.
Unfortunately, the location off of Federal seems to be lacking in all the things that I loved about the original TH'E. Â It just doesn't have as much character and I couldn't distinguish it from any other type of restaurant in the area. Â It didn't even smell very much like barbecue on the inside. Not to mention that the food seemed really off. For example, the barbecue itself was still very good but my sides were yucky. Â I wish I had taken a picture of the mac n' cheese because it was dry, overcooked and looked totally disgusting... Hmm, maybe it's better that I didn't? Â Anyway, it was so bad that if I hadn't have gotten takeout then I would have sent it back (which is something I very rarely do).
I am really hoping that there is a light at the end of the tunnel because a new Texas Hold 'Em location is coming back to downtown.  I spotted it on my way to Publix yesterday in a strip mall off of SW 4th Ave and SW 6th  St.  I'm not sure how it's going to a fare because an Italian restaurant didn't seem to last too long and it's right next to a questionable-looking bail bonds place and Kwik Pic. I'll still give it a shot but I'm going in with low expectations.
This is a great BBQ joint in Fort Lauderdale. I had been to the old location near the court house years ago and was excited when this location opened up. Â The first time I went to the new location on Federal I had a great experience. Â I had asked the server about their brisket and they brought us a sample. I had also asked about their ribs bc I wanted Baby back and at the time they only had St Louis style. Â The chef & owner came out to greet us and told us about how their ribs are prepared. Â
They have a large smoker in the back that you can actually see from some of the seats in the restaurant.  The beef brisket  is my favorite and falls apart... it is absolutely amazing!  They also make their own barbeque sauce which is a vinegar & pepper based sauce, delicious!  The collard greens are cooked with a ham bone or some bacon and are just like my grandma used to make in GA.  The servings are plentiful and the other meat entrees (pulled pork & chicken) are tasty as well.  If you are craving BBQ in FTL try it out!
I am still in shock--this is the only restaurant I can remember that DOES NOT SERVE COFFEE!
We were the only party in the restaurant which is why I generally like to go out for lunch around 2:30. Kanya, the server (and as far as I can tell the only one working in the restaurant except, maybe, for a cook) came over to take our drink order and when she gave me the 'no coffee' news, and I came out of shock, I ordered a diet coke as did Allen and we both had the "All in Sandwich" which consists of pulled pork (or beef) on Texas bread (which should have been toasted) with Cole Slaw and sweet potato fries piled on top and BBQ sauce o-in a souffle cup. Kanya did ask us if we wanted the fries on the side but we said no--definitely should have! The sandwich was just okay and very sloppy.
We had a 'new times deal' for paying $15 for $30 worth of food. We ordered Peach Cobbler with ice cream. Again not listening when Kanya asked us if we wanted separate dishes of ice cream we answered no which was a huge mistake for 2 reasons: 1) being that an individual scoop of ice cream was way too big for one cobbler and 2) made it very sloppy not to mention that a scoop of ice cream was $2.95 plus the cobbler was $4. The cobbler wasn't anything special.
Kanya was fairly new and didn't know how to apply the coupon so she called (I believe the owner Jeremy Armstead) and without thinking I paid the $14.20 (plus a $6 tip) and, as usual, I asked if I could keep that copy of the check.
It was my bad for not checking the check then but when I got home a bell went off and I looked it over. The total came to $28.40 so why did I have to pay $14.20 when, supposedly, I was suppose to get $30 worth of food? I called the restaurant and Kanya answered and knew immediately something was wrong, apologized and asked for my name and number and said she would tell them to call me. I did get a call from Nicole (Bookkeeper? Manager? Co-owner?) who said I was right and that I should come in for a refund. I am unable to make it tomorrow and said she would be off but if I have any problem I should tell them to call her.
I ate at the restaurant the first week they opened and I wasn't impressed then and today's experience was a complete turn off---back to Tom Jenkins for BBQ!
I am still in search of a great BBQ restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, so my wife and I wound up here at Texas Hold 'em BBQ. We went in for lunch at about 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon. We were the only two customers in the place. There were two servers and we got Nicole. She was a very cheerful and helpful server through the whole experience. When she couldn't answer one of my questions, she got the other server to come over to give me an answer.
First I want to say I was happy to see the side dish menu includes baked beans, mac and cheese, collard greens and cornbread. I mention this because this is unfortunately one of the few BBQ restaurants down here that do offer them. The Georgia Pig (gag) is SO revered, but they have bad food and only serve beans on Saturday. The question I asked Nicole was whether their greens were made from fresh or were they canned/frozen. Again, unbelievable that I needed to ask, but there are offenders. I'm looking right at you Tom Jenkins. If those sorry greens I had at your place weren't canned, they were the most over-cooked, and possibly leftover, affront to leafy vegetables I have encountered.
My wife ordered a Pulled Pork Sandwich with Fries and Coleslaw. A good value at $7.50 considering the portion. She found the pork to be very dry. It was when I tried it. Unfortunately, since she doesn't like BBQ sauce, she had no moisturizing option. She will also not apply slaw to the sandwich, despite my encouragement. She ate about half the pork without the bun and all of the very crispy and hot fries as well as the crisp, sweet and tart slaw. Both great sides.
I ordered the two-meat combo platter (pork and brisket) with two sides.Considering that the meal cost $9.45 more than the sandwich meal, it was not as good a value. The amount of pork I received was no more (if not a little less) than what my wife got on her sandwich. So essentially I paid $9.45 for about 6 ounces of beef brisket. My pork wasn't as dry as my wifes, but the brisket was. There was a good smoke ring on the brisket, but it was served in a weird batonnette-cut. It looked like big meat matches on my plate. I expect brisket either sliced into across-the-grain slabs or to be pulled. I don't expect the meat to be cut into bite-sized pieces. I wonder if it was done because the meat was so dry? There is only one sauce offered: I guess it is a house-made version that they are so proud of that they advertise on their menu that you can buy it. Can you yell SWEET? The only real flavor is sweet. Kind of like raspberry. There was a very slight tartness. I added some Cholula Chipotle sauce to try and give it some additional dimension. The heat and the smoky chipotle helped a little, but it remained very sweet.
The side dishes were excellent though. The baked beans were a little wet, but had a nice slightly sweet, smoky flavor. The sauce had definitely been thickened by baking, just not enough. The collard greens were awesome. They were very well cooked with the addition of smoked turkey and some vinegar. They had a slight al dente texture, but were not undercooked. They were just right. I also ordered a cornbread muffin which was nice and moist. It was served with a small dish of butter-flavored oil on the side. I would have preferred some whipped butter or even a foil butter pat. It was not melted butter. I know the difference.
So, what's the verdict? I loved the sides. I said I would go back. My wife said no thanks. The dry meat was a turnoff to her. In retrospect, I think the great side dishes kind of clouded my opinion on the meat. I now realize the meat was no better than average. I'll try one more time. The greens were terrific...
I think I'll fold them.
I ordered the bacon bleu cheeseburger, but they did not have bacon at the time. However, I won't hold that against them, because sometimes things are just unforeseeable. The burger was okay nothing special and it came with relatively simple toppings - BLT. The bun didn't seem to be special, but just mass ordered from a supplier. The quality of meat was okay it started to fall apart as I ate it. For whatever reason the barbecue sauce did not pair well with the burger. Unfortunately, the french fries were undercooked and you could taste the rawness of the potato.
My girlfriend got the pulled pork sandwich. It was obviously not pulled but chopped pork. This should have been the first indication that this was not a truly authentic barbecue restaurant. She got the baked beans to go with her pulled pork sandwich, and they were just a little too sweet.
The atmosphere is nothing special, and the waitstaff are pretty good about getting your orders and refilling of drinks. Â This is what saved it from one star.
I will continue to look for the best barbecue in Fort Lauderdale, but I can definitely cross this off the list.
We've all heard the horror stories of previously unimagineably poor service, but it never seems like it could actually happen.... until it does. Â And this place delivered it with gusto. Â I'm the last person to throw a stink when it comes to customer service - I've been in food service myself, and I generally believe in grace and compassion. Â But to echo KS's comments, the reasoning (or lack thereof) and rudeness demonstrated by Jeremy, and the indifference afforded by the rest of the staff, leads to me to write this review in hopes the rest of the world will read it. Â Seriously - don't go there. Â And oh - the food wasn't really all that.
Review Source:This place is so good.  We love ordering lunch delivered to our shop.  My co-workers get brisket sandwiches, pulled chicken sandwiches and burgers (which were a little charred and spicy with jalepeños - so be ready for it).  I always get the "All-In pulled pork sandwich".  Delicious pulled pork, their house-made cole slaw piled high and a handful of sweet potato fries with soft texas toast style bread (untoasted)...   served with a side of the best barbecue sauce you ever tasted...  They don't have a dedicated delivery guy, so delivery can take a while if the store is slammed...  and they add a delivery charge of $4.00 to our check each time they come.  We really love barbecue day...
Review Source:Went to this place on a sunday evening with a group of roughly 25 football players. Â Mind you, we didnt call ahead... We just showed up. Â So we were prepared for a bit of a wait.
The place was empty, sans a couple at a table. Â Â Drinks ordered. Â Our table of 12 ordered nachos for our table.
Took 20min to receive drinks. Â 20 more minutes to take our order. Â After an hour passes, we inquire about the Nachos...
 Response: "oh, we out of nachos, we sent someone to get some" Â
 Us: "What about the food?"
 Response: "I didnt put the order in since you havent gotten your nachos"
 Us: "Well, what about drinks"
 Response: "What about them? (in a snarky tone)"
 Us: "We've been here over an hour, and no one has asked if we needed a refill or anthing"
 Response: "You need to calm the F down"
It went down hill from there. Â The service was HORRIBLE. Â His name was Jeremy from what was on our bill. Â Â I will be writing a letter Corporate about this experience.
The food was indeed delicious, but the service left a sour taste in my mouth, that over powered the the food.
Ok place, at first I felt like I entered a dive bar. Â So a soda and half rack of ribs was almost $19. Â A lot of black Pepper in the BBQ sauce. Â The ribs were alright with a good amount of smoke but I like a little less smoke. Â Meat falls off the bone but could have been a little more moist.
Basic decor with a wrap around bar with TV's. Â Not sure why they don't take advantage of outdoor seating, probably the City of Fort Lauderdale wants some absurd amount of money for impact fees is my best guess.
I ate lunch there a few weekends ago. Â It was about 2:00 and the establishment was not very busy. Â Anyways, I ordered the all in one beef brisket sandwich. Â Pretty much what that is, is beef brisket, cole slaw, and sweet potatoe fries all in a sandwich. Â When I got the sandwich, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to eat the thing, because it was huge. Â I almost felt like I needed a four year degree to figure out how to eat it. Â Once I figured it out, it was tasty. Â All the flavors mixed in together well, and the BBQ sauce was excellent. Â I did not drink, but I did see a nice beer selection, they also had a few flat screens with the game on, so that was nice. Â Service was good, I will go there again.
Review Source:I ate lunch here yesterday, and probably this was about my 8th visit. Â The food is very good and the bbq sauce is particularly delicious. Â I find the beef brisket (plate or sandwich) to be some of the best around, and the baby back ribs are excellent as well. Â The mac cheese side dish is also highly recommended. Â The servers are also very pleasant and attentive. Â This place should be packed with customers yet I consistently find few patrons dining at this excellent BBQ restaurant. Â Perhaps the seemingly convenient location right at the Sunrise Blvd/US 1 bend suffers from a somewhat tricky access problem. Â (This place hands down beats the popular and very uncomfortable bench seating BBQ place just south of Davie Blvd. that so many seem to rave about).
Review Source:best bbq i've had in a long time! I just moved down the street on Sunrise and I purchased the groupon for my boyfriend and I to try this place for the first time. Our waitress was so sweet and the food was DEElicous! We were back 2 days later for their fall beer tasting and had a great time. Ive recommended this place several times since. I'll be back!
Review Source:Went last night at 6pm, place was DEAD. Â Our server Kashonna was nice. Â I ordered the Texas Potato with Beef. Â
THE MENU SAYS, "A large baked potato with your choice of meat and sour cream".
Mine came out SMOTHERED in nasty cheese sauce and covered in jalapeños. I had a side of sweet potato fries.
She had the pulled pork with baked beans and collards.
First my meal: Â The cheese was so nasty I ended up scraping it and most of the meat it soaked off. Â Potato was nuked and in all it sucked. Â BBQ sauce straight from the bottle, (Sweet Baby Ray's to be exact) no choice and a tiny bit of sauce. Â I'm not at all a fan of Sweet Baby Ray's but it wasn't the worst part. Â Fries came with no ketchup but was brought a small amount in a little cup. Â Moral of the story here is DO NOT LIKE A LOT OF KETCHUP! Â Even though the place was DEAD Kashonna never came to check up or refill the drinks.
My date said the pork was GREAT, beans OK, collards YUCK. Â She gave her meal a C+ I gave mine an F hence the 1 star rating.
My advice to Texas Hold 'em? Â READ YOUR MENU AND PREPARE THE DISHES CORRECTLY. Â Check on your customers more often.
Signed up to yelp just for this review and I feel bad writing a bad review, but it must be done.
-Dry Brisket
-weird tasting bbq sauce
-bad coleslaw
-hard to read menu (grey text on black background) - they really need to change their menu the design is attrocious.
-vinegar bottle was weird, but it actually helped the taste
-better than avg collards
-terrible corn muffin (a good sign of how good a bbq place is how much pride they take in their sides)
Service was excellent though. Food was far from it.
The most consistent and best BBQ in the area is Scrubys.
Really like the new location. Great decor, great service and the food was as good as the downtown location. My favorite is the brisket, which was great as usual, this time I ordered the sweet potato fries, which seem to be hand cut and never frozen, best I have ever had. All in all a 5 star meal.
Review Source:Texas Hold Em' is awesome! Â My boyfriend and I go there often. Â The bartender, Tommy, is a really knowledgable, friendly young man. Â The beer selection is FANTASTIC. Â If you enjoy craft beers, you will enjoy this place. Â Everything is affordable and tasty. Â Their BBQ sauce is delicious and the staff seems to be attentive and friendly as a whole. Â I would recommend the spicy sausage!! SO GOOD! Â People that have given this place low ratings must have been expecting some sort of extravagant environment, or maybe they were just a bunch of shmucks. Â It's a BBQ place people. Â For what it is, we find it to be relaxing and enjoyable. Â Keep up the good work!
Review Source:If I could give this place no stars I would! We went on a saturday night there was literally 4 people there including the 2 of us. The service was awful! We waited of 10 minutes to get a glass of water. My husband & I ordered the all in pulled pork sandwich & it was all fat, no pork! So basically we waited over 40 minutes for a fat sandwich. When the waiter finally did come back to the table to check on us I politely showed him my fat sandwich he didn't respond & walked way. We tried to flag him back down to ask for the check & he totally ignored us! 15 minutes later he returned like nothing was wrong to ask if we would like a box. A box!?! for our $8 fat sandwiches. This place sucks! Everything about it SUCKS! Do yourself a favor and pass this one up. Im fairly confident that texas hold 'em bbq will be out of business in a few months.
Review Source:This place was great! What's with all the low rating reviews?? I read the reviews and didn't see anything bad. I was a little nervous going to a place with a 3 star rating, but I'm glad my boyfriend wanted to try it out! We got there 10min before closing and asked if it was too late order and they welcomed us with open arms. There were 5 of us and everyone enjoyed their meals very much! The sides were sooo good! The mac & cheese has real cheese, the potato salad had great flavor, the spare ribs had plenty of meat, and the corn bread was moist and tasty. Our waitress was super friendly and attentive. At the end of the meal the owner came over to ask how everything was. Can't wait to go back!
Review Source:Really tasty. Â As good as the original location. Â Nice decor, although a bit spartan. Â Needs a few more TVs. Â Nice bar with a great beer selection, but they really could use booze if they're going to really try to attract a bar crowd.
Food is great, definitely the best BBQ in Broward.
Tough plaza and even tougher location, as this location has been a revolving door of places, so I hope they can make it here.
This was my second visit to Texas Hold 'Em at this location. I arrived around 8pm with my girlfriend and 2 friends. It was Superbowl Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised to find no beer-guzzling meatheads in site. The game was on with the volume turned to an unintrusive level. We sat in the far corner next to the rope cactus
Chad greeted us and took our orders. He recommended the Monk in the Trunk microbrew from their extensive beer list, which was excellent, as well as the wings with all the seasonings. Our friends ordered the ribs and chicken. Not only was Chad knowledgeable about the menu, he was genuine and attentive(perched away at the bar throughout our meal, ready to jump to our service at the raise of an eyebrow). The food was cooked perfectly and as always very delicious. When the bill came, we split it 3 ways on 3 different cards, something Chad told us would not be a problem at all. Usually this creates Chinese arithmetic to servers for some reason, no problem here though. On our way out, Chad stood holding open the door for us and bid goodnight.
Love the food, love the decor, the price is nice, and the service is outstanding. Honorable mention: The first time I visited this location, Matt was our server. Another genuinely helpful and knowledgeable server. High-fives all around!
For their food, I could actually give them the four stars like I have their other Texas Hold'em on 7th. However, the blundering management of this operation located at 1025 N. Federal detracts so much from your enjoyment that an overall three star is the best I can do for them. The service is good and friendly, but they are unable to give you the proper change because they don't have it available and the manager is often nowhere to be found. For example, my bill came to $$11.60, I gave the waiter $20 but got $11.00 in change. When I correct him, telling him that he overpaid me, he was told me he maybe couldn't give me the correct change because they didn't have access to it. After a twenty minute delay I settled for $8.00 in change, being short changed by 60 cents, but rather than fuss with any further delay, thanked them, tipped them, and left.
This Texas Hold'em on Federal is located in an "out of sight out of mind' location that numerous restaurants have previously occupied but failed. Because of the bumbling management, this one will most likely fail too, which is a shame because the waiters, wait service and the food are all rather good.
For food,their pulled pork has a real authentic BBQ/smoke flavor second to none and their vinegar based sauce is one of the best. This is, unfortunately, the only sauce so don't go there thinking you will find a wide array of sauces on your table.
I found the chicken to be rather dry, but again full of flavor. Their collards, not nearly as good as Tom Jenkins, but still a three star plus collard.
Apparently this is a new location that just opened in December, but I was not aware of the location near downtown Fort Lauderdale. I've visited Texas a few times and always thought of their BBQ very highly, so when I saw that a Texas style BBQ joint was opening near the corner of Federal Hwy & Sunrise, I made a note to try it. My coworker and I drove over there for lunch yesterday.
The inside is a little dark with a lot of wood but nicely furnished and clean. We both ordered the "all-in sandwich" ($7.25) which is either pulled pork or brisket (we got pork) and is "topped with sweet potato fries and coleslaw." I don't really like coleslaw so I asked to substitute something. They said I could get potato salad instead and asked if I wanted it on the side, which I did. In fact, my fellow diner ordered the same thing. However, when the waitress brought our sandwiches, the fries and potato salad were not on the side and right on top of the sandwich. Doh! We were hungry so we didn't argue, I just used a fork to eat the southern style potato salad, which was pretty tasty and sweet potato fries (kind of bland) off the top of my sandwich. I like how they give you the BBQ sauce on the side, and the sauce reaffirmed my like for texas-style BBQ. The sauce here is delicious! Sweet and just a tad spicy with an excellent flavor. It's similar and almost as good as the Rudy's BBQ sauce I had in Texas a couple of times. The pulled pork was juicy and also had a great flavor. The sauce and pork made the meal. However, next time I'm gonna go with just the regular pulled pork sandwich ($6.00) or brisket sandwich and then get a side of mac or something.
Well, it's good to know there's a Texas-style BBQ joint with 2 locations in Fort Lauderdale. The other one near downtown is close to my house, so I plan to hit that one up soon.
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