Golden Horseshoe BBQ - the good, the bad, and the ugly:
the good - the pickles/pickled onion, wet wipes at the table. honestly, if the person responsible for the pickling wanted to package and sell their pickles, i would be first in line to buy them. any self-respecting BBQ joint is going to have wet wipes at the table, but it's somewhat rare to find a good pickle on the platter.
the bad - literally everything else.
* the sausage was overcooked and had zero jalapeño flavour. the bottom of the pile inexplicably had the driest slices.
* the brisket was simultaneously dry and disgustingly greasy. it had a weak smoke ring only around only three sides, the fourth had none.
* the pulled pork was simply mush. it was the only item on the platter with any moisture, which was a nice change of pace, but it was so lacking in flavour and texture that it wasn't even worth the effort to load up your fork.
* the burnt ends were vile, both texturally and in terms of flavour. the only flavour in them was salt, and way too much of it. the ends were rock hard and nearly inedible.
* the mac and cheese didn't taste like cheese was even in the kitchen when it was made. it contained a weak béchamel at best, and once again wasn't even worth the effort to eat.
* the slices of bread served with the platter were also dry, almost stale to the touch.
* the cornbread was okay, it was more like a corn cake but it at least had a bit of moisture to help replace what the meats had taken from me. the little dollop on top was funky tasting and added nothing to the experience.
* the biscuit was inedible. i get wanting to try something new and inventive, but the seasonings throughout were overwhelming and the biscuit itself was hard as a rock. if you're going to make a biscuit, maybe focus on making a good biscuit before trying to mix it up.
* perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this whole ordeal is that the restaurant touts Texas BBQ... so i feel it's not unreasonable to expect a good BBQ sauce. the two sauces on the table were a thin honey mustard (i assume their attempt at a South Carolina BBQ sauce?), and a Texas style sauce without any of the Texas flavour.
TL;DR - the meats were either under or over salted, all of them were overcooked, they had virtually no flavour aside from salt and beef/pork, and the one thing you expect a BBQ joint to do well (the sauce!!!) was an affront to pitmasters everywhere.
The ugly - lack of seating, a woefully disorganized counter experience, and the prices of everything are not reflected in the execution.
I fear that I have fallen victim to influencer hype with this one. It was just Not Good in any way; so much so that we only made it halfway through the platter before giving up and feeding the rest to the garbage. Maybe they were having an off day and this was just a fluke? For their sake I hope so, but I can assure you I won't be back to find out. read more