Pok e Jo’s

I love this place. The food is generally fresh, tasty and the staff is so nice. The catering team is fabulous, I have called them for work events and they are more than responsive to your needs, they are lovely. The 3 stars is for my 4 sides dinner from last night. I was there right before 7PM (2 hours before closing) and the sides were all dried out like they had been sitting since lunch. Now lunch is a different story. I have bought lunch for my team and every side tastes like it was made just for me. I’m guessing that everything is made early in the day and perhaps dries out during the day. I will continue to love the potato casserole and other sides during the lunch hour only! Delicious stuff but maybe not at night!

I’ve been eating a Pok e jo’s ever since they opened their first joint in far North Austin some 35 years ago however tonight’s meal at their Capital of TX Hwy and So. Lamar location was absolutely the pits (not B-​B-​Q Pits). Room temperature, fat beef that looked and tasted like it was cooked in an oven a couple of days ago. The sausage had a good taste but it was also room temp. This was the day after Christmas and maybe they were just serving left overs from a Christmas Eve party.

Excellent brisket and chicken. Potato salad creamy and broccoli casserole cheesy.excellent. Friendly and humorous staff. Just what the doctor ordered on a cold and rainy day.

Great assortment of sides and meats, I typically go on Friday and get the half bbq chicken plate which is the special and it’s delicious! Creamy mac and cheese is always good and the slaw is crisp and fresh. I love this place because they are a local Austin company that produces consistently great food and they aren’t so proud that they have to over charge. It’ll keep me coming back for more!

I was there for dinner last night around 4 and I must say that they’re brisket is very dried out and nasty the ribs were kind of burnt and weren’t very good there general manager there John is a pompous ass and is full of himself I wouldn’t recommend this place to anybody theres is better BBQ in the state of Texas then pokey Jos

I’ve been coming here for years, and love, love, love the variety they have. My usual favorites are the pulled pork and lean brisket. For sides, they have the best cheesy potato casserole and black bean pico. Today, I overhead them say there was a new recipe for the banana pudding, so I tried it. It was AMAZING! Not that the original recipe tasted bad, but they now have a homemade recipe to get rid of the trans-​fats in the original. Good move! I’ll order it again.

Way, way better than I’d ever have expected. Your standard Texas meats and sides offered here competently and quickly, at reasonable prices. No, nothing here is going to win any state awards and I suspect this place isn’t even on the cool radar of Austin’s hipster squad. The brisket, turkey, and ribs all were enjoyable and really no complaints about them. The sides though were above-​average and… wow that is some serious mac’n’cheese…definitely needed a sunday nap after that. I did have an issue with the banana pudding — whoo, someone got a bit too feisty with the vanilla flavoring.
But the best thing is – we were warmly greeted by a staff who genuinely seemed to want to help us and made sure to stop by and check on us. That sort of service is increasingly rare here. Well that and maybe I’m getting too old to stand in cattle lines for my food ;)

Ummmm not really into a school lunch room set up.
But service was friendly, food was okay … The best part was the huge glass of wine and cherry cobbler !!

Thursday Ribs are awesome. Best in town and I love BBQ.

So Thanksgiving weekend I was craving BBQ. Went to the usual spot Vic’s and saw they were closed. Roommate mentioned this place. At first I was a little iffy and down on it but I decided to give it a try. I got the 2 meat plate which comes with 2 sides. I got brisket and sausage and for my sides pinto beans and potato salad. I also decided to get a little peach cobbler. The meal was pretty expensive at the price of $ 14. First off their sausage was so yummy and spicy. My roommate is not a big fan of sausage but I am and I let him taste it because when I took a bite I loved it. Even he liked it. Their pinto beans were really good but I wasn’t a fan of their potato salad. I have to say hands down Vic’s has the best potato salad. Now they do give you a lot and I mean a lot as far as your side portions. I had enough food left over for the next day so that was a plus. Their brisket was a little dry but it was still good. The peach cobbler I didn’t care for because that was way dry and had no taste. The BBQ sauce was meh. The spicy one was OK although it wasn’t that spicy. All in all I like this place and I can say whenever Vic’s isn’t available this will be my go to place for BBQ.

So disappointed! We love Pok E Jo’s– been eating their tasty BBQ for years, but today, when we stepped up to the counter to order lunch, we were ignored… by all three employees… for over five minutes… It was crazy– nobody was even helping another customer– they just stood and stared.
This has never happened before, but was quite bizarre– maybe we forgot to take our invisible suits off?

This place is great. It was our first time here. We ordered the Five Pack to go with brisket, pork loin, & sausage and the casseroles as sides, plus mac & cheese, and beans. With tip, it was close to $ 70. And we placed the order online in advance – ordered at 3 to be picked up at 5. When we arrived, I ran in to get it, and it hadn’t been made. A tall guy behind the counter (kind of looked like the manager, but who knows) said it’ll be a second, they accidentally gave me turkey instead of brisket but then I watched him put my entire order together right in front of me. Poor guy, I bet he hoped I wouldn’t notice. I can understand how it would be easy to forget an order that was placed hours in advanced. Anyway.
The funny part was when we got home. The 30+ lbs of food came in a large paper bag and my husband the genius thought it made sense to hold the bag by its two tiny string handles. Naturally, the bottom gave way and our food spilled out all over the driveway. He started cussing up a storm, cursing Pok-e-Jo’s, saying it was all their fault and that he should sue. I tried so hard not to laugh because he was really furious. But I mean, come on, it was totally his fault. So a warning to all: don’t do what my husband did! Use common sense!
What was salvageable was delicious. Thank goodness the bbq sauce and beans containers were wrapped in plastic wrap. In short, we’d come back the next time we crave bbq.

From the outside it looks like nothin special, the inside décor is really neat. You feel like you’re at a Texas BBQ. You grab a tray, and go through the line cafeteria style, and then pay at the end. I tried the turkey and brisket. I wasn’t too keen on the BBQ sauce, not my style. I enjoyed my side of cheesy mashed potato casserole more than I enjoyed the meat. It wasn’t horrible, it just didn’t have that special somethin.

Had a large group for a gender reveal party. They were very accommodating! Food was wonderful as always!

Solid food for a semi-​fast-​food BBQ chain restaurant! Good prices and basically no wait for pretty decent BBQ. Huge selection of sides and nice desserts. I had the mac-​n-​cheese (very good) and the baked potato casserole (decent, but nothing special) along with a 3 meat plate of pork ribs (excellent with a great sweet rub), brisket (pretty good), and turkey (decent, but nothing special).

Love Pok-e-Jo’s.
Smoked chicken is awesome (and so is the chicken sandwich!)
Love the lean sliced brisket and the chopped beef.
Huge selection of side dishes… love the fried okra, beans (have brisket chunks… yum) and green bean casserole.
Fresh brewed iced tea… strong and dark.
Everyone who works here is always so nice…
Love this place, just wish it was closer to my house, but then my bottom would def be larger :)

5 stars for extra-​mile service and killer brisket.
We went in on a Saturday night at about 9:10, not realizing they close at 9pm. The manager saw our crestfallen, jones-​for-​bbq faces and said they’d serve us if we didn’t mind if they cleaned up while we ate. Deal!
The brisket was excellent, and I was dining with 2 brisket connoisseurs.
That’s the kind of friendliness and accommodation that makes Austin what it is.

Yikes. Here’s hoping she gets us something better next time my boss buys us lunch. If you *have* to eat here, I’d suggest splitting your time between the turkey and the sausage as those were the least offensive of the four meats I tried.
Though I wouldn’t say no to more of that mac & cheese.

Okay so lets be honest. other than Bill MIller’s this is pretty much the worst case scenario for BBQ. Everything is either dry or tasteless or just not that great.
I’ll give them one point for the sausage as it tasted like a better beef sausage but it seemed to have been soaking in grease. not sure what was going on there.
The brisket and tenderloin were both dry … so dry. I wanted to stay away from the sugary sweet sauce but this meat was like cotton.
Don’t go here. Don’t Eat here. Don’t waste your time thinking about it.

Had the 2 meat, ribs and brisket, green bean casserole, and corn bread. The ribs were very small ribs, but tasty and mild for those of you who don’t like Rudy’s spicy rub. The brisket was cooked perfect and also tasty and mild. This place is perfect for 2 of my family members who can’t take Rudy’s rub.
The sides were plentiful and served generously. The cornbread is more of a cornbread casserole or cornbread pudding, however you want to think of it. It’s not anything you can hold in your hand. They scoop it onto your plate.
I will be back.