It’s easy to drive past That BBQ Joint, which opened on a nondescript corner of Willy Street and Cantwell Court with the name only appearing on the door. But, if my meal was any indication, it’s certainly worth looking for.

Let’s get right to it and talk about the ribs (the 1/2 slab entree is $13.95). The tender meat came off easily from the bone and had a delicate, smoky flavor. I enjoyed the ribs so much that I didn’t need to use any of the sauces, which come on the side.

The same goes for the pulled pork ($7.99), which melts in the mouth and comes in a hearty portion inside a nice, soft bun. When you don’t need to add sauce to ribs or pulled pork, you know the meat is well prepared.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go 3-for-3 with the thinly sliced beef brisket ($8.49). My order was overcooked and the meat was a bit tough, which forced me to douse it in sauce to make it palatable.

Speaking of those sauces, you can order mo’ regular, mo’ spicy and mo’ honey mustard. The regular had perhaps too strong of a vinegar flavor, and for that reason I didn’t use much of it. I loved the (not that) spicy sauce, as it can be applied universally to the meats. The honey mustard worked surprisingly well with the meats.

The entrees come with two sides, and the choices are regular slaw or spicy slaw (I prefer the creamy kind, as these didn’t have any mayonnaise), chili (full of big chunks of meat) and collared greens (these were fine, but I’m just not a fan overall). The ribs also came with garlic toast, which didn’t look that appetizing but actually were full of garlic and butter flavor.

Beyond the ribs and pull pork, I’d recommend the hand-cut fries, which had a light fried taste and didn’t need any sauce (that seems to be a theme). I would not recommend the pulled pork spring rolls–a special of the day–which had almost no meat and was bland. The rest of the menu includes sandwiches and yes, tacos.

That BBQ Joint, open Thursdays through Sundays, has some seating, but you’d be best off ordering to go. The staff is super friendly, and they were most apologetic for some computer issues that occurred. For parking, look to the surrounding streets, such as Willy, Cantwell, Rogers or Jenifer.

Tags: BBQ, near east

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 23rd, 2013 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Restaurant and Bar Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.