I was in the mood for some BBQ this week and having heard some pretty decent reviews of Rudy’s BBQ, I decided to try them out. I’d never eaten at one of their locations before. According to Wikipedia, Rudy’s has 47 locations in the Southwestern United States. They’re located in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and 1 location in Florida. The vast majority are in Texas. From Rudy’s website, here’s a short history.
A little about us...
Just north of San Antonio, at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, sits the small community of Leon Springs. Founded in the 1800s by Max Aue, Leon Spring's cityscape changed when Max's son, Rudolph, opened a one-stop gas station, garage, and grocery store.
Bar-B-Q was added to the operation in 1989, and Rudy's "Country Store" and Bar-B-Q has been serving up tasty food ever since. The same original recipes that built Rudy's Leon Springs' reputation are now available throughout the Southwest.
Our pits are 100% wood fired with oak, a slower burning wood than the mesquite used by others. Along with time and oak, we cook with a dry spice that ensures each plate of Rudy's Bar-B-Q is perfectly ready for you. Apply some of our famous " Sause" and dinner is served. END OF WEBSITE QUOTE…..
Living in Texas, I consider myself blessed and lucky to have eaten some of the best BBQ on the planet. [no, not at my house 🥸] Because of having attended 4 Texas MeatUps and living in Houston, I’ve sampled some of the best BBQ there is. Is it fair to compare food from a big BBQ chain to a single standalone operation? I think so, what else am I gonna compare them with…Dickey’s?
Anyway, here’s my thoughts and a review of the Rudy’s BBQ located in Katy, Tx., just about a 20 minute drive from my house.
The first thing I do at a new place is drive around back and look for wood splits and smokers…Bingo on the wood!
Rudy’s has a nice old time BBQ joint atmosphere…..
An employee was nice enough to show me their wood fired smokers located inside the restaurant behind the kitchen area. This is just one of the many rotisserie style cookers they had. She said they are all wood fueled, no gas. Briskets are smoked 12-14 hours.
They had plenty of their BBQ sauce they make, for sale to take home.
When I first entered the restaurant I could detect a little bit of “BBQ smoke” odor. I attributed the faint smell to their ventilation system doing its job. I walked up to the counter and placed my order….1/4 lb. of point brisket slices, 2 pork ribs and a link of their jalapeño sausage. My sides were a cream style corn and pinto beans, with a small Dr. Pepper to drink. Total damage was almost $30!, ….$29.50 to be exact, a little pricey I thought.
After sitting down, I was impressed with the looks of my brisket and ribs! Nice peppery looking bark on the brisket, as well as a decent smoke ring. The ribs looked pretty nice as well…..but, looks can be deceiving. My first piece of brisket was cut from the outside, with lots of bark and some good fat to go with the meat. It was actually pretty good and I could definitely taste the smoke. On to some sausage….I was not too impressed with the sausage. It wasn’t bad, but just a tad dry and a little bit tough. It was helped a lot by applying some of their pretty darn decent BBQ sauce. Next I tried one of the pork ribs. The ribs had a nice bark on them and were also tender with a nice smoke flavor. While the crust tasted good, the meat inside the ribs was a little bland. They also benefited from some BBQ sauce. Surprisingly, the next 2 slices of brisket I tried were dry and not as tender as they should have been, and remember, this was from the point and not the flat.
My side order of cream style corn was pretty damn good, it tasted like it could be homemade, not sure. The beans were a BBQ style which were ok, but did taste like something out of a can and not from scratch.
The brisket and ribs looked better than they tasted.
FINAL GRADES:
Brisket C+
Ribs C
Sausage C-
Creamed corn A
Beans C+
I was actually expecting a little better than this from Rudy’s, as I’d heard some pretty decent comments about them previously. All in all it wasn’t bad, I was just hoping for better. I won’t be back though, there’s way too many killer Q joints in Houston with much better food for the same or not much more $.
A little about us...
Just north of San Antonio, at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, sits the small community of Leon Springs. Founded in the 1800s by Max Aue, Leon Spring's cityscape changed when Max's son, Rudolph, opened a one-stop gas station, garage, and grocery store.
Bar-B-Q was added to the operation in 1989, and Rudy's "Country Store" and Bar-B-Q has been serving up tasty food ever since. The same original recipes that built Rudy's Leon Springs' reputation are now available throughout the Southwest.
Our pits are 100% wood fired with oak, a slower burning wood than the mesquite used by others. Along with time and oak, we cook with a dry spice that ensures each plate of Rudy's Bar-B-Q is perfectly ready for you. Apply some of our famous " Sause" and dinner is served. END OF WEBSITE QUOTE…..
Living in Texas, I consider myself blessed and lucky to have eaten some of the best BBQ on the planet. [no, not at my house 🥸] Because of having attended 4 Texas MeatUps and living in Houston, I’ve sampled some of the best BBQ there is. Is it fair to compare food from a big BBQ chain to a single standalone operation? I think so, what else am I gonna compare them with…Dickey’s?
Anyway, here’s my thoughts and a review of the Rudy’s BBQ located in Katy, Tx., just about a 20 minute drive from my house.The first thing I do at a new place is drive around back and look for wood splits and smokers…Bingo on the wood!
Rudy’s has a nice old time BBQ joint atmosphere…..
An employee was nice enough to show me their wood fired smokers located inside the restaurant behind the kitchen area. This is just one of the many rotisserie style cookers they had. She said they are all wood fueled, no gas. Briskets are smoked 12-14 hours.
They had plenty of their BBQ sauce they make, for sale to take home.
When I first entered the restaurant I could detect a little bit of “BBQ smoke” odor. I attributed the faint smell to their ventilation system doing its job. I walked up to the counter and placed my order….1/4 lb. of point brisket slices, 2 pork ribs and a link of their jalapeño sausage. My sides were a cream style corn and pinto beans, with a small Dr. Pepper to drink. Total damage was almost $30!, ….$29.50 to be exact, a little pricey I thought.
After sitting down, I was impressed with the looks of my brisket and ribs! Nice peppery looking bark on the brisket, as well as a decent smoke ring. The ribs looked pretty nice as well…..but, looks can be deceiving. My first piece of brisket was cut from the outside, with lots of bark and some good fat to go with the meat. It was actually pretty good and I could definitely taste the smoke. On to some sausage….I was not too impressed with the sausage. It wasn’t bad, but just a tad dry and a little bit tough. It was helped a lot by applying some of their pretty darn decent BBQ sauce. Next I tried one of the pork ribs. The ribs had a nice bark on them and were also tender with a nice smoke flavor. While the crust tasted good, the meat inside the ribs was a little bland. They also benefited from some BBQ sauce. Surprisingly, the next 2 slices of brisket I tried were dry and not as tender as they should have been, and remember, this was from the point and not the flat.
My side order of cream style corn was pretty damn good, it tasted like it could be homemade, not sure. The beans were a BBQ style which were ok, but did taste like something out of a can and not from scratch.
The brisket and ribs looked better than they tasted.
FINAL GRADES:
Brisket C+
Ribs C
Sausage C-
Creamed corn A
Beans C+
I was actually expecting a little better than this from Rudy’s, as I’d heard some pretty decent comments about them previously. All in all it wasn’t bad, I was just hoping for better. I won’t be back though, there’s way too many killer Q joints in Houston with much better food for the same or not much more $.
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