Is Franklin Barbecue worth the wait?

[IdahoJim]

My wife and I are going to Austin for the upcoming solar eclipse. We arrive in Austin late Friday night. We relocate to Temple on Sunday for the eclipse on Monday and return home on Tuesday. That gives us Saturday or possibly Sunday to go to Franklin Barbecue. I would love to go. My wife is kind of OK with it. I just don't know if it's worth standing in line for 2 - 4 hours. Being a weekend and just before the eclipse, the line may particularly bad.

I've never been to Austin before. I'm sure there are other things to see. I would LOVE to hear some good music. We recently went to Nashville, and I loved bar hopping on Broadway. My wife has a coworker that used to live in Austin, and he gave us a few other places we could go instead. So... is Franklin Barbecue THAT special that I should talk my wife into standing in line for a few hours to get some brisket (and ribs, and ...)?

[scottranda]

Yes. Worth it. But it will be more than 2-4 hours for a popular weekend (due to the eclipse). I went Memorial Day weekend and got in line at like 6:45 and ate around 2pm I think.

[IdahoJim]

Wow! As much as I'd like to try Franklin's brisket, there's no way I'm standing in line over 6 hours for it. Bummer...

[Below Zero Smoker]

It would be worth it at another time. I arrived early (6AM) and was third in line. The time passed quickly in anticipation of the brisket and people in line were fun to interact with! I wanted to get there early to avoid the heat, and I was finished eating about noon (I was third in line.) You have other places to go, so I recommend trying Franklin's when you have the time to invest in the experience. There are chairs available if you don't bring your own. BTW, I drove from Anchorage, Alaska!

[Troutman]

There are a ton of other bbq joints in Austin to go to. There will be lines on that weekend I'm sure. Franklin's brisket is excellent but is it worth a 6 hour wait...meh? That said its part meal part experience so I wouldn't dissuade you.

One other possibility is to pre-order a brisket on their website. and do curbside pickup. You get the same result with little or no wait. Just have to find a place to eat it !!

https://preorder.franklinbbq.com/

[IdahoJim]

Yeah, I thought about the curbside pickup, but there is a 5 pound minimum. I am meeting my brother and his wife and my sister and her husband. Unfortunately, 3 of those 4 are vegetarians to some degree, so 5 pounds of meat would be wayyy too much.

[Mosca]

On the other hand, how much is your vacation time worth? Get the curbside and sell 4 pounds to someone waiting in line.

[captainlee]

I know his food has to be fantastic, but I would never wait in a line at any restaurant.

[Troutman]

Then forget most of the better bbq restaurants in Texas, especially Austin. Most of the time you find at the better ones, if you get there just before opening, there's generally a 20-30 minute wait. Franklins and Snows have gotten to the point of absurdity at time.

Most good restaurants on a wekend night in my part of Houston require a 30 to 45 minute wait regardless if it's bbq, Mexican, seafood etc. Guess I'm just used to it. But again, if it's more than an hour, I'm with you, I walk.

[STEbbq]

If I was desperate to try Franklin’s I’d do curbside pickup or Goldbelly. Personally, I’d find another great place (there are a million in Austin) and hit that up for some good food without the wait.

[Mosca]

I did the Goldbelly. The brisket was great, about the same as the best brisket I’ve ever made. Not bad for having been frozen, shipped, and held for a week before reheating; I can’t imagine what it would have been like on the spot.

[Below Zero Smoker]

I found the brisket was worth the wait. I was third in line for the 11AM opening, so five hours for probably the best brisket I ever had at that time was worth it. I wanted to try it to compare to my brisket because I had been following Aaron Franklin in his footsteps. I even designed and helped to build a 1000 gallon smoker after his design. I have steadily improved the quality of my brisket to where a friend from Houston told me it was as good as most of the brisket he had eaten in Texas.

[Clark]

When I got out of the Army in 1962 I made three promises to myself:
1 Never sleep on the ground again (I broke that one within a year, camping regularly.)
2 Never wear a hat again (That one wasn't broken for a couple of years, and then only when fishing.)
3 Never stand in line to eat...anywhere. That one still stands, including Franklins!

[Mosca]

The hat thing: research shows that is one of several reasons for the drop off in hat useage after WW2. When asked, many men answered exactly as you did!

[Donw]

I’d have added to my list never take a lukewarm or cold shower again.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

I will just make my own BBQ.
The only wait is the smoking.

[RonB]

I did it after our Son moved to Austin. I'm glad I did, but I would not do it again. It was great, but there are lots of great places in Austin.

I got there early and it was still ~ 1 PM when we ate. They do have folding chairs and someone comes around selling beer, and there's a coffee stand at the back of the property. It's a fun line. Everyone is expecting a good time and are in a good mood. It's not like standing in line at the DMV. At some point someone will come around and ask what you are thinking about getting, and will tell you if you should be OK or not. The "or not" came 2 people behind me.

I went by myself and called our Son when the line started moving. Son, wife and Son's girlfriend then came to join me.

[SmokeyNate]

Yes, its worth the wait if you haven't ever been there! Its part of the whole experience though. Bring a chair or borrow one of his then sit back and enjoy chatting with others in line. I've been there twice and both times I got there at 6:00am and was eating by about 11:15am. His brisket really is truly amazing in my opinion and worth the wait to try! In the future I would probably order ahead and make sure I had a cooler. If you don't want to make that time commitment there are lots of other great BBQ joints in and around Austin though. I have been to quite a few of them over the years but I still say Franklins brisket is worth the wait.

[Panhead John]

From what I’ve been hearing, many of the towns and cities in the path of totality, which Austin is, are expecting 2-3 times their normal population from visitors that weekend. I would expect the crowds at Franklin’s to be massive. There’ll be a lot of people from out of state doing the same thing you’re thinking about. I’ve never eaten there myself and would like to one day, just to see what all the hoopla is about. But…there’s no way I’d wait in line more than an hour or so to eat anywhere. There’s also a good chance the temps will be in the 80’s or maybe low 90’s that weekend, not fun to wait in line in the heat.

You’ll enjoy Austin, it’s a great town with great live music, BBQ and other types of restaurants. I’d suggest getting your BBQ fix at another location. Expect lines also at the top spots in town, but probably will be more manageable. I visited Austin several times back in the 90’s and we always hit 6th Street in Austin for live music. 6th Street is a bar hoppers paradise! Bars and nightclubs line both sides of the street for a few blocks, live music galore! Just remember to pack your patience for that weekend….👍

[Below Zero Smoker]

I was there in July 2018. I drove from Alaska to go to a Porsche Parade in Missouri, and I had planned a four day barbecue crawl around Austin afterward. I drove down from my brother's place South of DFW and arrived at 6AM. I was under the roof, third in line, and felt the heat build. I left Franklins after eating my meal and headed to Louis Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, TX for the beef ribs. By the time I decided it was too hot to stay, the temperature had reached 106°F! I decided to head north!

[smokenoob]

find a hungry college kid to wait in line for you and feed him/her? 😁

[tstalafuse]

I think I would order enough for 2 meals curbside, borrow or buy a cooler, and get some ice. With as many people that are going to be there for the event, the drive from Austin to Temple is going to slow and every place you think you might eat along the way or in temple will be on a long wait time.

[Jerod Broussard]

Get in line at 3am and hope they don't run out before you get to the door.

[Draznnl]

I have been to Austin twice since Franklin opened. Wife and I went early, waited in line several hours, and really enjoyed ourselves both times. That said, you couldn’t pay me enough to go early enough to assure we got food on eclipse weekend. On the plus side, my wife eats brisket from two people, Aaron Franklin and me. His is so good that even she is willing to have it. Mine she’s kind of stuck with. On the minus side, you probably need to get in line already. Like others, I would bring a cooler and do the curb side pick up.

[LA Pork Butt]

My son and I waited in line with chairs for 6 hours at Snow’s in 2020. I am glad I did, but as enjoyable as the BBQ was, the conversation with the two brothers who were reared as vegetarians was worth waiting in line. However, I wouldn’t do it again since I’m pretty sure I won’t be in line with others reared as vegetarians. LOL