Burnet County Bar-B-Que - Burnet

Okay, there's something I should cop to right away - I love BBQ. I'm guessing you already figured that out, but I figured I should restate the fact before I begin with what's going to get a bit ugly. In fact I like BBQ so much I will pretty much eat it in any form. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good, thus I can usually swallow what's given me, wash it down with some sweet tea and happily head home. That was not the case at Burnet County Bar-B-Que.

Something that caught my eye as soon as I walked in the restaurant was a sign that read (and I'll paraphrase a bit here) 'we might not have the best BBQ in Texas, but we are friendly.' This sign could not have been more correct. The people behind the counter where friendly, so much so we actually had a little conversation. I would have gladly traded our friendly banter for a decent plate of meat served with little more than a 'harumph' as it was slammed on the table in front of me.

You see, Burnet County Bar-B-Que's food was just plain bad. The Brisket was incredibly tough. In fact it was probably tougher than the first brisket I ever tried to cook myself and that thing was a disaster. To top it off, at least half of my portion was pure fat. I chewed on the meat I was able to cut away from the fat for a few minutes before spitting it out into my napkin.

As I arrived for dinner they were out of ribs, so I was forced to take a 2-meat plate, my other selection being their sausage. The sausage was passable, but (as I said before) it's really hard to screw up sausage. The sauce, on the other hand was a different story. I'm fairly sure it was nothing more than ketchup with a few spices thrown in. It had little flavor and certainly did not leave me wanting more. To make matters worse, half the potatoes in my potato salad were undercooked and the cole slaw was possibly the worst thing on my plate. It tasted like slaw mix that had been soaked in water. Needless to say, after one bite, I did not dare go near that again.

Burnet County Bar-B-Que did have an inordinate number of deserts. I counted 11 on the menu although not one of them was a cobbler. However, my experience with my dinner was enough to stop me from even thinking about desert so I beat a hasty retreat out of there and headed home.

It was really a shame the food here was not better because the place really looked like it should have good BBQ. It's in an old building which looks like it might fall down on you at any time and the walls are stained with smoke. Unfortunately that's not the case. Because the folks who ran the place were so nice I'd like to recommend this spot to you, but there's no way I can do that. In fact, my advice to you if you find yourself in Burnet in need of a good meal, is to head to Storms. You won't be getting any BBQ, but you will get yourself a nice hamburger and save yourself the trouble of trying to chew that brisket.