Smokey Jack’s Barbeque

I asked for my money back without even tasting it.
For $ 12, when I order a brisket platter, I expect sliced brisket. That way, I can see if the cooks know what they’re doing. In this case, a scant cupful of shredded beef is what I was presented, along with measly portions of slaw and beans, and a slice of white bread.
Contrast that with the meal I got at FM Smoke House, not half a mile away: 4 or 5 full slices of smoked brisket, and over-​generous portions of bacon mashed potatoes and cole slaw, all of which was excellent, and cost me the SAME $ 12.
I’m not sure how someone expects to stay in business if this is the best they’ve got to offer, in a smoky, fast-​food environment.

I must first start by saying I grew up in Kansas City, where there are more BBQ places per capita than anywhere else in the world. Most of them world class at that.
Ive been disappointed with most bbq I’ve tried in dallas, but this was definitely the low point. I’ve gone twice and both times the meat was dry and flavorless. The ribs were all fat. And the sauces they have make ketchup taste gourmet. You can’t even smell BBQ when you enter the building. And the fries are greasy.
The Mac and cheese wasn’t great but it was the best thing. Hope they figure out how to smoke meat or just copy someone else’s sauce recipe. Got sick the last time I are here to boot. The search for good BBQ continues.

I had the chopped beef which was less than mediocre. Homemade sauces… Gross
Macaroni… Bland, flavorless.
The fries were good.
Overall I regretted spending my almost 12 dollars at this place and won’t be going back.
Customer service was okay… Nothing special.

VERY good smoked BBQ. Staff is really nice and friendly. Accommodating. The Mac and Cheese is SOO tasty! They don’t get 5 stars because they need an outdoor area to sit at. That part of town is awesome and if they had an outdoor area they would be on fire with the sales! BBQ is awful in that area, they rule the roost! If you are a BBQ fan, go give them a shot, they have some dang good BBQ!

This place rocks!!! I wish it was closer to where I live. The staff is friendly and their BBQ is the best. Try their homemade banana pudding!

I have been to this place twice and unfortunately my experience didn’t improve the second time. The service here is fine and the people here are friendly. I think this is a family owned and operated joint, which is always a plus in my book.
Unfortunately, the quality of the BBQ itself isn’t up to par with the competitors in the area. I’d say the meat is around the quality of Hobbi’s BBQ, but the price is slightly more than Dickey’s. The combination of the BBQ quality and higher price places it in a weird spot since I see most BBQ restaurants being either high quality /​high price or ok quality /​low price.
I can’t say that I’m a fan of their homemade sauces either as the best sauce tasted like a slightly altered Sweet Baby Ray’s and the worst just having a taste that was just disagreeable to me.
I don’t believe that I will be back a third time and my coworker has been very vocal about not coming back either, but you should probably try it first before passing judgment. The service here keeps this place from being lower rated.

I have never been a rib-​eating kind of gal. None I’ve ever had have really tickled my food fancy, UNTIL TODAY. Cooked to perfection, Jack’s ribs have converted me into a full blown lover of (their) ribs and friend of Jack’s. Also delectable was the spicy BBQ sauce and the buttermilk pie. SO delicious!
The staff is very friendly, helpful, and sweet. They offer two complimentary beers with each order. And just when you thought this place couldn’t get any better, it is also BYOB with no corkage fee!
I hope to one day earn my picture on the wall amongst the prestigious po’ boy eaters. I will absolutely be back the next time I’m in town!

Not sure what Mykie is talking about but the food here THE BOMB! You won’t find this caliber of BBQ in the Las Colinas corporate corridor. The Mac n Cheese was off the hook and the $ 7 Pulled Pork sandwich had tons of meat on it… Trust me this is a great lunch spot!

Great customer service and you get a free bottle of beer with every meal. I tried the chopped beef, and the pulled pork. Both were reasonably tasty. They were tender but didn’t have much of a smoked flavor (there didn’t appear to be any bark in the chopped beef and I didn’t ask for any — I’ll try that next time and see if it improves the flavor). There are three types of sauce. None of them were ideal for me but I found a good compromise by mixing a couple of them. I also tried fried okra and it was quite tasty and well-​seasoned. The mac-​n-​cheese is adequate but nothing special. In addition to the free beer, they have the usual soft drink fountain and tea (regular and pre-​sweetened varieties).
My only real complaint is that the sandwiches use low quality bleached white bread buns liked you’d buy at Sams. The buns had no flavor and poor texture. If they upgraded to some higher quality buns made from real bread, perhaps from a local bakery, that might be worth another star. Overall, it was not a bad experience at all and I will probably return for another try before long. I’d rank Smokey Jack’s BBQ as some of the best non-​franchise BBQ to be found in Irving.

Nice little barbecue place in northish-​Irving. I had the brisket baked potato and it was yummy. Husband had a sampler plate — beef and pork — and both were flavorful. They have three sauces — mild, hot and sweet. I recommend mixing them to get just the right sauce. Very friendly staff.
It’s a 3 because it was not spectacular, but it was very good and we will go again.

Okay, update time. I went back and have to say they addressed my concerns.
Food comes out a lot quicker this time. BBQ was good.
I love that it is local (cause I could eat BBQ every day) and locally owned and not a chain. Kudos to them for streamlining.
I will be coming back. Keep it up! next I will try the by the pound and take a chunk of meat home for the bowl games.

Worst. Brisket. Ever. I ordered a half pound of fatty cut and regretted that I couldn’t even get through one bite. It looked pre-​sliced (with the grain) lean cut, possessed that shade of old beef sitting in a vacuum pack, lacked any kind of bark, and held no smoke or flavor. This meat might be fit for sandwiches, potato topping, even grub for pups (which it eventually ended up as)…but not as a standalone protein. The lack of any kind of smoky aroma should have clued me in… this is no place to find Texas-​style smoked brisket. Maybe the other proteins on the menu might have fared better had I given them a try, but one disappointment was all I could handle. Brisket snobs, stay clear.

This is the new BBQ place that is very close to my job. My co workers and I have enjoyed them starting when they had a pre opening and gave away free food. I continue to like the food and service. This is probably the best BBQ you will find north of HWY 183. It is full of flavor and the portions are just right.
The negatives are they run out of menu items regularly and when we ordered a large order to go they could not get it right. I hope the order mix up was just caused by a bad day or short staff or something.
Overall, this is a great option added to the busy Las Colinas lunch rotation.

Disclosure: I have visited Smokey Jack’s Barbecue 1 time.
Smokey Jack’s is a BBQ restaurant in Irving. They serve you standard BBQ fare along with sides and appear to be family owned and operated.
My Overall Rating — 2 Stars (Service, Food, Return)
Atmosphere — Not much going on here. It’s part of a strip of shops, but nothing really screams BBQ or smokehouse. It’s a clean quick service restaurant where you order at the counter and wait for your number to be called, similar to In-​N-​Out. It feels more like a very nice, clean fast food restaurant vs. a barbecue joint. No Star.
Service — I know some reviews complained of speed of service. We came on a lunch weekday (11:30) and didn’t have this issue. There was no free beer promo though, one of our sides were missing, but q short visit to the counter fixed it. The owner/​manager also walked around asking how things were. All in all it was good not great, but not bad either. ½ Star.
Food — I blame Daniel Vaughn and Austin, TX for shaping my BBQ palette. That being said, we ordered a 2 Meat combo (brisket/​ribs + beans/​slaw), mac & cheese, and the brisket potato. The brisket potato was very good, with a perfectly baked potato and generous amounts of chopped brisket. The beans were also a hit. Great sweet flavor, soft texture, and bits of BBQ mixed in. Mac & cheese and slaw were just average. As for the brisket, the good news was it was moist. Bad news was there was little smoke flavor and bark with seasoning. On the other hand, ribs had smoke, but were dry and nowhere near fall off the bone. I only received a TINY container of sweet BBQ sauce. It was good and reminded me of Sweet Baby Rays, but I needed much more. Even though the potatoes and beans were good, the BBQ as average and reminded me of chain BBQ places. 1 Star.
Will I Return? — I honestly don’t know. I’m ok with driving far to get BBQ. I’ve waited in line at Franklin’s in Austin and Pecan Lodge in Dallas, so I guess I might return if I wanted BBQ out of convenience. I think the prices are a little high if you compare them to standard lunches, but if you compare them to BBQ places they’re about average. Las Colinas has FM Smokehouse, Dickie’s, and Sonny Bryan, and those are similar alternatives to Smokey Jacks. ½ Star.
My Unilocal Rating Scale (Sum of all parts):
1 Star — Atmosphere — Is it a cool dive? Perhaps an upscale place? No matter the type, atmosphere plays a big part and I’ll give a star if I like it or thinks it has great charm.
1 Star — Service — You can have a great meal with bad service. But that’s also what can make a five star joint drop to four. It’s important to the dining experience that service is great and on point.
2 Stars — Food — I’ll award up to two stars for the food, since this is the main reason we dine out. Sometimes the extra star is given for value, but it’s really all about the food.
1 Star — Will I come back? — If I know for a fact I’ll return, I’ll give this a star. A place has to make an impression for me to return.
Each Category can be given up to 1 star except food (2 stars) because I consider all these categories important to the overall dining experience. I will sum them up to provide my final Unilocal score

My wife and I were not impressed. The 1 meat plate for $ 10.99 was 2 thin dry slices of brisket. The baked potato was cold and hard. The Mac and cheese was very bland and the beans tasted like Bush’s Beans from a can with more brown sugar and a little meat in them. My wife wrote a review to this effect and here is what the owner wrote back.
Mark Jackson
9:05 PM (1 hour ago)
to me
I can see from the numerous grammatical errors in your email that you are not very educated. However, education is not a requirement to eat BBQ so I guess you’re okay. Since this is a free country you are able to choose Hard 8, Dickies, or any barbecue restaurant of your choice. It really doesn’t matter to me which one you choose as long as you don’t come back to my restaurant. Your review was not even close to accurate bit because you didn’t like the food you felt the need to give a review that trashed my restaurant. Many of my customers love the food so your refusal to come back will not hurt business.
Take care and if you feel the need to continue this conversation come see me…
Thanks,
Mark

Terrible service… it took them 20 minutes to prepare a mediocre chicken sandwich and the explanation was that they were short of staff to chop the chicken. I mean, really?
The chicken was disgusting and it tasted like something prepared in a microwave, out of a can.
Really a shame. I work in the area and this could be a good lunch alternative, but instead it was a true disappointment.
Never going back.

Great BBQ, you can’t go wrong with this menu! But you better try the Baked Beans!!! They are to die for!!!
Staff is friendly and helpful!

Um, hi… free beer with purchase? I think I’m in love.
Ribs were scrumptious. as was the okra and fries.
Only feedback… less salt on the okra and fries. Although delicious, I had to scrape most of it off.

Pet Peeves first: it’s 12:30, lunch time, and they are out of iced tea and syrup has dried up at the fountain. At 1pm nothing had changed. PLUS they only have Sporks: feel like I’m in kindergarten.
I ordered the three-​meat platter, with fried okra (very plump and tasty) and Mac-​n-​Cheese (so little cheese your lactose intolerant aunt would be safe eating it).
Pulled Pork: not a lot of flavor, so sauced it for help.
Sliced Brisket: no smoke flavor but it was cooked well. Sauce helped it.
Ribs: very nice, smokey, tasty, flavorful. No sauce needed for these babies. I’d come back for these and the okra.

This place just recently opened up. There’s not a ton of seating inside, but because they’re so close to offices I’m sure they’re banking on good take out business.
I ordered the Big Jack PoBoy and my brother ordered the stuffed baked potato with brisket. The PoBoy was actually pretty good. It wasn’t anything spectacular as the hotlink wasn’t very hot, but my brothers potato which was literally the size of a football tasted amazing. My dish just seemed like it was missing something. I’ll give this place 3 stars for now as it was a clean and friendly place, but will definitely update this the next time I go. The sauces are pretty decent as well, but making a spicier sauce would be nice.
Definitely give this place a chance.