These brisket burgers got me through my pregnancy and after! I love tejano grills brisket street…read moretacos with green salsa. Love the sweet tea! And I love their free chips and salsa.. gotta say the fried shrimp are the best on this side of town :)

As close to the Boarder as you can get with Mexico and this is some of the most disappointing…read moreMexican (Tex-Mex) I have ever had. First, of course, the chips and salsa. The chips were hard as rocks and had zero salt. Seriously NO SALT. They felt like they had been made the day before. The salsa was underwhelming. I was hoping the food would redeem the chips and salsa but they did not. I got 2 cheese enchiladas, a taco and a chalupa. The taco shell Was stale. I dumped the meat out (that's all that was in the shell) onto the chalupa hoping to add some flavor. None! The ground beef was bland. No seasoning- just regular cooked ground beef. Mi took one bite of my chalupa- lettuce and what tasted like baby food beans. The cheese enchiladas had a lot Of cheese melted on them and very little in them. Tasted like melted cheese in a flour tortilla. My husband had the spicy flounder. It came with 2 nice portions of flounder, cooked very well, however once again, it lacked flavor. I thought since it said spicy at least it would have some seasonings but my husband had to have the tartar sauce and ketchup to eat it. The food was very reasonably priced. Had the taste been there I would have recommended it. Nice little restaurant if you are sensitive to spices this might be the place for you. However as native Texicans, we expect our food to have at least salt and pepper. Wait staff was attentive and professional. We had ordered a baked potato go for our son before we got our food. I'm hoping I can update this post, but not holding my breath.

We were visiting from out of town for the first time. The service was excellent from the beginning…read more They explained the menu, made suggestions, and didn't rush us to order. The restaurant was clean and there was plenty of seating. We ordered the family menu, it was pricey but worth it. The food was delicious! Homemade tortillas made it better. The Dino rib was fall off the bone tender. We will definitely be back if we find ourselves in Brownsville again. 10/10

To me it's overly priced BBQ. I wouldn't mind if It's pricey but hella good and in this case it's…read morenot like that. I've given it several tries and I could literally say it does not meet my expectations. I've ordered different items and it always disappoints. I had ordered a protein bowl the rice was undercooked and cold, the meat was extremely dry even those meat balls. The corn was also cold and undercooked. It was just a big NO for me. I wouldn't recommend it if you ask me about a bbq place.

Amazing pork ribs and friendly staff here! I had the pork ribs and charros beans on my first visit…read more Highly recommended! They were out of ribs on my second visit, but I tried their turkey and it was also amazing. The sauce made that smoked turkey come alive. We sat and talked in our large group for a while, and the staff brought us chocolate chip and also sugar cookies. The ambiance of this restaurant is mellow and spacious during g the weekdays. Highly recommended!

My buddies and I got off the plane in South Padre Island and headed directly to Smoke for lunch!…read more Gott love Texas BBQ and Smoke eas no exception. Good sized place inside and you order from the friendly staff at the counter and I got brisket slices, which is strange for me, since I usually get pulled pork, but I was on vacation. I got Mac and Cheese for my side. Food was ready pretty quick and all delicious. The mac and cheese was buttery and cheesy and al dente and the brisket was melt in your mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Good stuff. The ambience was your basic Texas BBQ place, all good. Give Smoke a shot!

Excellent brisket and the corn pudding side (think corn bread), if different and delicious…read more The place is light and airy sort of like eating on a big back porch and the staff is friendly.

The food is delicious. Reasonable prices. Great customer service. Close to downtown and UTRGV.read more

Very average, almost basic. The brisket was very tender, so no complaints there, but it had zero…read moreflavor. It was as if it wasn't seasoned at all. I couldn't even taste any smoke flavor on the brisket either. I was very thankful for bbq sauce, which was damn good! I also had the potato salad, which was also basic and very bland. Highly disappointed because in my humble opinion, Texas has the best bbq, hands down. I'm guessing it just isn't good in Harlingen. I will try this place again when I come back to Harlingen in a few weeks for work. Could've just been an off day. Sorry, no toes or thumbs for Backyard BBQ. Happy eating, my foodies!

Starting from excellent service, to the delicious BBQ, an A+ experience. I tried the brisket,…read moresausage, & chicken- all of it was my kind of BBQ. Texas BBQ! IYKYK I got the lean brisket and it was actually lean! No fat to deal with but tender and delicious. The sides, potato salad and charro beans were also very good and it didn't break the bank. Must try.

Came here because yelp showed the highest rating. Looks and feels like a mom and pop shop. Food was…read moregreat. Bbq brisket was good. Gpa loved the Charro beans. Would come back if in this area again for the Regional Convention. Thanks for being a nice small and family friendly restaurant.

This Old Texas Grill is a place we will never visit again. My spouse ordered the fajita/sausage…read moreplate. The fajitas had no flavor or spices what so ever, the fajitas tasted of old burger grease, the sausage was tasty and sweet, the beans were ok, the potato salad was very bland. My daughters enchilada plate came about 15 minutes after ordering and was cold because the waiter was the cashier. I tasted the enchiladas and they were not good. My daughter didn't eat them. I ordered a bacon cheese burger, my burger arrived with no cheese, she took it back and it came about 30 minutes after my spouse got his plate because again the waiter also the cashier. I asked for jalepeños, which were old, my burger had no taste to it what so ever and the cheese that was missing and took forever to get placed on my burger was cold. Customers walked in and had no where to sit because ALL the tables were dirty. Customers were forced to sit at dirty tables. There were no menus only posters on the wall that contradicted each other. Hours said they closed at 3 PM but the kids special was at 4 PM. This establishment was very unorganized, very hot inside, small, understaffed, had no visible restrooms and not appetizing. Not one customer in the restaurant looked pleased, including us.

So glad that we found Big E Smokehouse. We headed there for lunch and they nearly 'sampled us to…read moredeath'. They broke out bites of brisket, brillia, pork tamales, and other awesome bites. We finally settled on a plate of brillia and brisket with flour tortillas, pickles, and onions. They added some bites of sausage for us too. I think if there is anything that is a downfall at this place is that they limit the menu according to the day. Pork ribs are on Thursday. Beef ribs are on Friday. On Sunday, they have several items that are only available on Sunday. But, that's okay. They have a pretty small kitchen and their smoker is not huge - so I get it. With their great flavors and serving attitude, I hope they grow to offer more of their items every day. We're already making plans to go back for ribs Thursday night and to pick up a couple dozen tamales to take with us when we take off for SPI next week.

It is a local favorite and the locals don't want you taking over their favorite smokehouse. It is…read morethat good! Everyone is friendly. You are family just by opening the door. The space is small, two tables, but most people order takeout. I was able to share one table with the family while my order was prepared. It was Sunday near closing time. I ordered Barbacoa and Brisket. Had I wanted something else, tough luck, they were sold out of everything else, another good day. Food was great, as was the service. A very comfortable place. If I lived 500-miles closer I would be a regular. Tell them Ron from Northern New Mexico sent you. Enjoy!

The food here I my opinion is fair! There are places in the Valley that have better BBQ. Also the…read moreprices seem to be a little bit high. Not much to say about the service. You order at the counter and pick your order up. But I did a heck of a job doing that! No comment on the ambiance, didn't really look around.

Teddys BBQ: A Disappointing Experience Unworthy of the Top 50…read moreTeddys BBQ, a celebrated winner of the "Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Awards," arrived with high expectations that were, unfortunately, decimated by the actual experience. Arriving at 11:10 AM, just after opening, we anticipated fresh, high-quality smoked meats and homemade sides. What we received was an uninspiring meal that leads me to question the legitimacy of its Top 50 status--and frankly, its place in the Top 100. This visit was a letdown, especially compared to the twelve other far superior BBQ joints we tasted this past week. The Meats: Misses and One Minor Hit The foundation of the barbecue here was weak, suggesting corner-cutting or, worse, reheating of old product. * Brisket: This was the biggest disappointment. The slice was terrible--dry, lacking juice, and with a bark that was chewy rather than crisp. It looked and tasted suspiciously like leftovers reheated from the day before, which is unacceptable minutes after opening. * Ribs: Nothing special here. They lacked the depth of smoke flavor and suffered from a distracting, undesirable "hammy" taste. There wasn't much meat on the bone, and the glaze was applied too lightly, failing to add any necessary sweetness or texture. * Jalapeño Cheese Sausage: This was the sole highlight of the meat offerings. It was a nice standard sausage with a good peppery snap to the casing and a satisfying ooze of cheddar cheese. It offered a nice, reliable counterpoint to the lackluster smoked proteins. Failed Opportunity: The Texas Twinkie The infamous Texas Twinkie completely missed the mark. While the basic concept of a bacon-wrapped, cream-cheese-stuffed jalapeño is sound, the execution here was poor. The filling was overwhelmingly cream cheese, which completely sucked the flavor out of the jalapeño and bacon. It was a great opportunity wasted by failing to include a bit of smoked brisket or chicken to give it complexity. Sides: Bland, Bland, Bland The sides tasted uninspired, suggesting they were prepared from a can or box rather than crafted from scratch--an unforgivable sin for a purported Top 50 establishment. * Creamed Corn: It was creamy but utterly bland. It needed significant elevation--perhaps charring the corn kernels or adding some diced jalapeño pieces for heat and brightness. * Mexican Rice: This was mushy and flavorless. It desperately lacked the savory depth and spice expected of Mexican rice. A small addition of pork or brisket trimmings would have provided necessary flavor and prevented it from tasting so generic. Dessert: An Unprofessional Finish The Grapefruit Pie was the final letdown. The filling tasted okay, but the crust was clearly store-bought. To be considered a Texas elite, every component should be homemade and excellent. This felt like an amateur concession. Final Verdict Overall, Teddys BBQ was profoundly uninspiring. Given that we arrived right after opening, expecting the freshest quality, and having recently toured 12 genuinely great BBQ places, this location falls far short. It simply does not belong in the Top 50, or even the Top 100. Teddys has a lot of room for improvement if it wants to justify its ranking.