On a recent trip to Florida we found ourselves exiting at 571A outside of Tyler Texas to grab a a bite to eat. This exit is home to Texas Best Smokehouse. In reality this is one of those multiple business stops with a convenience store, gas station, sonic and Texas Best Smokehouse. It is a good place to stop as the bathrooms were clean and it offers something for all ages. Being a Barbecue aficionado I wanted to try the smoked meat.

At first glance everything looked wonderful. There were several vegetable choices and they were so enticing my love decided to go with the veggie plate. All of the vegetables looked home made and not from a can or frozen and reheated. Trophy wife decided on the squash, collard greens and Mac and cheese. I went for the sliced barbecue plate (brisket) with 2 veggies. I choose the collards, they had some smoked Turkey meat and some onions in the collards, and the loaded mashed potatoes. The veggies were very good and the trophy wife agreed. The sliced beef sandwich was moist and meaty and was a good portion. The meat, on the other hand, was not a favorable as I had anticipated. Now I understand that there are all kinds of preferences when it comes to BBQ. I also understand that since Texas Best Smokehouse caters to the traveling public the meat is smoked with little flavor to suit the majority. I, personally, prefer a little more smoke and spices rubbed in before it is cooked. I am pretty sure that a large majority of the customers like it this way. They did have lots of customers from the local Sheriff’s to some workers on lunch break, and lots of travelers.

I must say that the people who worked there were very friendly and bent over backwards to please and offer plenty of suggestions for vegetables and dessert. It is a pleasure to be greeted and served by friendly and courteous people as they are few and far between now days. The price was great for the vegetable plate at $5.99. The BBQ plate was high ($11.99) considering a sandwich by itself was only $5.50 and the 2 extra vegetables cost $6.49. I could have bought another veggie plate for a dollar less and would have 3 vegetables instead of 2. I did not think this was a good value or well thought out by the management.

All in all it was a pleasant experience. It is a convenient stop with enough variety for everyone and the rest rooms were great. Although it was not top ten barbecue the vegetables were quite good and fresh. it will do while traveling in East Texas.