Ugly’s Barbecue

This place has got some really good ribs. It’s a little out of my way but worth it. Good bbq sauce. The staff is friendly but sometimes not very attentive. overall great place for lunch during the work-​week.

Another Quality BBQ restaurant in the N.E. BBQ corridor (Long Tieng, the Big Bib, Smokin Joes, and Harmons of Cibolo). This little trailer is still smokin the meats for the huge restaurant that they moved into. You can smell the smoke the minute you drive up.
Despite the name, this is some pretty Q. I got two ribs and a side of creamy, candied yams with pecan crumbles on top. The pork spareribs were heavily smoked, had a beautiful bark, but were fatty and probably needed to be rendered more. I liked the heavy smoke, but some would say they were over smoked.
Furthermore, the bone pulled straight out of the meat, and I crunched some of the smaller bones (the tips) and almost swallowed one. This bone pulling out only occurs when someone boils the ribs before cooking, which I doubt they do here, or they wrap them in foil as they are finishing and they steam too much. I suspect the latter.
I love the building; it is huge, and clean; although, today, I think the air was out because it was about 90 degrees in there. Their sweet and spicy BBQ sauce was killer. It tasted like a Memphis style, and then they had a thin orange Texas style, which was just average. I dipped my ribs in that beautiful Memphis sauce.
On the side, their candied yams were sweet, creamy, and oh so rich with butter and topped with pecan crumbles. I did not need desert after those yams.
I suggest you go to both Smokin Joes and here and support these local businesses.
I did like the ribs, yams, and sauce here, but at Joes I will go with the brisket.
Touchdowns:
— Great sweet n spicy sauce
— Excellent candied yams
— Huge dining area and table service
— Excellent bark on meat
Crumbs:
— Meats are over smoked
— Ribs were greasy, under rendered, and fatty

29 August 2014
20. Ugly’s Barbecue, NE San Antonio, 4****
Character: 2**, this ain’t no joint but I think they’re doing the best they can with this location.
Service: 4****, It’s table service here. The staff is friendly and efficient.
Food/​Quality: 4**** Half pound brisket and a side of beans, who’d guess. Wow, this brisket looked good, deep dark bark and a deep 3/​8″ smoke ring. Not to mention as I was walking in I could smell the smoking going on and it was enticing. If I’d been walking by I wouldn’t not be able to stop in. The slices were a little less than a quarter inch thick which is a little thinner than I like but there were freshly sliced, moist, and tender. The marbling and fat left on was the perfect ratio. This is really tasty brisket, a deep smoke on top of great flavor, 4****. They have two sauces, a spicey and a sweet. The sweet was overly runny and tasted like a plum sauce to me, not good at all. The spicey was tolerable with mustard mixed in for the heat. Still, I’m glad this meat held its own without sauce, 1* for the sauce. Pinto beans on the side, again wow, these were the best beans I’ve had in a long time. Nice not to have canned beans for a change, 4****. I got a couple slices of complimentary white bread, fresh, good. Fountain Coke, oh well.
Value: 4****, Brisket goes $ 12/​lb, beans $ 1, coke $?. Total $ 9.50, that was a bargain for such gratifying brisket.
Overall recommendation: Pleasurable, I recommend this and would be back if it was convenient. It’s not for me, I hope they find a better location.
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I’ve had BBQ Atlanta to Kansas City and everywhere in Texas and Oklahoma. Jims Ugly BBQ amazing! Pure Angus beef is awesome. Not salty and no lingering burnt after taste. You don’t need no teeth to eat this meat!
His prices are extremly affordable. You can’t buy better BBQ anywhere.

Well let me start by saying I travel all over the state of Texas and have tried many Barbecue places and this is one of my absolute favorites never over salted never under-​cooked. But the best part about this particular barbecue is that the sides are just as good as the barbecue itself. The owner Jim may have left the original décor of Mama Lees but after talking with Jim a bit I discovered that due to location they have had to overcome 3 Robberies. So in a nut-​shell I love this place.
–Rick–

I didn’t realize how close this place is to my work. The dinning area is big and have few tvs for you to watch while eating.
The service is great, loved my waitress.
The food is great, 3 meat plate (Brisket, Ribs and Sausage) and two sides (Homemade fries and Creole cabbage), the meats are bit sweet/​tangy. The sides are great as well.

Trying out this joint which recently made the leap from food truck to brick and mortar.
The restaurant is at the old Mamma Lee’s location (from Restaurant Imoossible fame)
Pretty nice inside-​they left all the Restaurant Impossible décor in place.
Ordered the three meat plate: brisket, sausage and ribs with side of green beans and pinto beans.
First taste was the green beans. Then the pinto beans. I was praying to Almightee Chuy To please don’t let them jack up either beans-​I didn’t want to be disappointed. Both beans were very good.
Enter brisket. Very tender and moist but there was something about the flavor. It was a mildly smoked but couldn’t quite make the seasoning-​almost tasted like it had a bit of cumin-​comino for spanish speaking peeps. I personally prefer a thicker, more flavorful bark. This just didn’t have quite enough for my taste.
The rib waa equally tender amd moist, very nicely done. Like with the brisket, I prefer my ribs with. More bark and smokyness. The ribs did have a hint of tomato and sweet flavor to them. Brown sugar?
It almost seems as if the bark on both the brisket and ribs was… dare I say it? Lightly coated with bbq sauce then smoked?
The sausage was the one protein I really enjoyed. It was nice ratio of spices to meat. Extremely good.
Another draw back is that they don’t sell beer. Wth. What kind of red blooded American bbq joint owner does not sell beer with their bbq? At least let me bring my own!
Overall, it’s not bad. Even though I have my bbq preferences, this wasn’t bad. Huge portions and friendly service. I still want my beer.

Really good brisket and pulled pork. The BOMB!

I am so glad they finally found a place to finally call home. I really miss them at their old location (it was literally right down the street from where I live, which was a good thing for my taste buds but could have been a bad thing for my waistline) but I would certainly make the drive to their new location for some finger-​lickin’ barbecue.
You see, when we first moved from California a little over a year ago, I didn’t quite understand what the big deal was about Texas barbecue. We tried a couple of places (a chain and a local place) and were never really impressed. But then one day, our curiosity got the best of us and we decided to give the food truck down the street a try. That was a great day because after our first bites of their juicy brisket, fall-​off-​the-​bone ribs, and tasty sausage, we finally decided that Texas does do their barbecue right.
Both thumbs up for service as well. The staff is always so cheerful and friendly. This review is more of a 4.5-star review. Minus 0.5 stars for the size of their to-​go BBQ sauce cups (please make them bigger as I can’t get enough of your sweet BBQ sauce) and for the price of their sausage ($ 12 for ½ lb?). Oh, and please bring back your Mama’s Pie?
Well, until my next bite of Ugly’s Barbecue (drool!)…

Ok… So here’s the deal sadly San Antonio just doesn’t have any good BBQ joints atleast nothing compared to Lockhart, Lulling or Austin but surprisingly Ugly’s is good! Closest to hot sausage I’ve had here and ribs were great. Brisket had no smoke ring but really soft tender and juicy which is not bad! Sides were good I had cream corn and creole cabbage. Corn was actually great! KIU!

Recommend you check out Ugly’s BBQ. This new BBQ joint grew up from a food truck into a more permanent location. They are now open at 6060 Montgomery, Suite 101, SA TX. That is just east of the HEB located at Eagle Crest and Walzem Rd. (Walzem turns into Montgomery as you travel east). Righteous brisket — so tender it almost melts in your mouth, pork ribs have a carmalized coating from a KC type rub (first time I’ve tried them this way — very good), the chicken is moist and has a great taste. Would recommend the cream corn too. We met one of the owners, Laura Garza, when we stumbled into the place. She is very responsive and friendly. I hope this restaurant will make it through the first crucial couple of years and become a mainstay in our neighborhood. The food speaks for itself.

Absolutely the best brisket and ribs anywhere on the northeast side of San Antonio!!!
With so many choices now on this side of town it’s nice to have good que that’s rubbed and cooked properly not hiding the quality of the meat behind a lot of salt!
We are so happy we found them by chance and will definitely stop by every chance we get. Kudos to grandma ugly’s excellent pie!!!

The people who run it? Super helpful! That dessert they recommended was so good! But this is a popular place guys so when I tried it out a few weeks ago, I went around 2 and they were out of almost everything. I did try the ribs but they had too much of a smokiness to them for my taste. Keep in mind, I’m from TN so Texas bbq may be something I’m not used to tho. I’d go again probably just because the people were so friendly

Mhm mhm good barbecue!
I had the rib plate — it had three meaty pork ribs and I chose tater salad and pinto beans for my sides. The ribs were perfectly done and the pinto beans were good too.
However, the tater salad was not very good. It was actually kind of soupy and runny. I’ve never had tater salad like this before.
For desert, we ordered a slice of Grandma Ugly’s homemade pie — it was REALLY, REALLY good!
We will definitely be back!

So tasty! I’ll definitely be back.