We've been going to Oak'd for several years now and I had previously reviewed it, giving it very high marks in all areas. In fact, I was not even planning on writing this review, but today's dining experience cannot go without my sharing some thoughts on it. Over the years, we've always enjoyed Oak'd and even felt comfortable and confident enough in the quality of food to invite out of town guests to join us for some good Texas BBQ at Oak'd
Prior to today's visit, our most recent visit was about six months ago, and even then we noticed a little slippage in quality. Although then it had mostly to do with the Sides and not so much to do with meat offerings. Today, it was everything, except the service and staff which as always, was excellent!
Today, we sought to order a Beef Rib, but the Ribs were about two hours out from being ready, so at the recommendation of the Meat Man doing the carving, we opted for variety; my wife ordered the Two Meat Plate and I had the Three Meat. My wife chose a double portion of "moist" Wagyu Brisket from the "Point," and I ordered moist Wagyu Brisket, the Garlic and Black Pepper Sausage Link and, Pork Spare Ribs.
Sadly and much to our dismay, all of the moist Brisket lost almost all of its moistness and succulence by the time we reached our table! Likewise, the Spare Ribs ended up also being more on the dry side, rather than moist and tasty. The Garlic-Black Pepper Sausage was tasty and ended up being the highlight of my meal.
For Sides, my wife and I shared Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Cauliflower, BBQ Baked Beans, Collard Greens, and Apple Cider Coleslaw. The Brussel Sprouts had little flavor from the Balsamic seasoning and were quite drenched and oily/greasy. The Cauliflower was hit and miss, with some pieces over-done. The Beans were heavy on the jalapeño spice, about a "3" on the heat scale for me, a "5" for my wife.
The Beans were not what I would consider "BBQ Baked," because there was no real sweetness to them, at all. It could be, that in the past the Beans were exactly like they were today and I just ate them without really expecting any sweetness, since I do like Charro Beans (and the Beans at Oak'd are somewhat flavored like Charros), and previously, I was not missing any sweetness in the meal overall. Today, however, I was missing the sweetness, because the BBQ Sauce was strong in vinegar/acidity and totally lacked sweetness. So, I was yearning for something sweet and it just never really came!
I hoped for sweetness in the Coleslaw, but that too was only minimally sweet, before being overpowered by the taste of apple cider vinegar. And, because neither the BBQ Sauce nor the Beans, nor the Coleslaw had any real sweetness to them, I totally left my Dill Pickle Chips alone and untouched. And, I as well held off dousing some vinegar over my Greens, as I normally would, because I was just done with the acidity level of the meal. Flavor-wise, I think I would have enjoyed the Greens, were I to be eating them apart from the meal with say, a slice of cornbread. But, that wasn't on the menu today.
In addition to that above, the regular BBQ Sauce was also a little bit spicy; about a "1" on the heat scale. I'm not really a fan of Carolina (Mustard-based) Sauce but, to me, even the Carolina Sauce had a hint more sweetness than the regular Sauce. I was really taken aback!
It is noteworthy that the Dill Chips, Onion Slices, and Freshly Sliced Jalapeño that I received were all very fresh! But, I only ate a little of the Onions and Jalapeño Slices.
I would like to think and hope that today's experience at Oak'd was an anomaly or one off, but most of what we experienced seemed more like failings in quality control. And with that, it will likely take a serious hankering for BBQ and us being in the neighborhood, to make us want to eat at Oak'd again... at least for a long while.
I hope should you give Oak'd a try, there will have been some attention given to quality control, including verifying some recipes to ensure flavor profiles are up to par. As mentioned, the staff at Oak'd is and always has been great, so for their sake I would like to see this business succeed!
Best of luck, should you give it a go!
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