Yelp Says Five of the Nation's Best Barbecue Spots Are in North Texas. We Feel Dissed.

For better or for worse, Yelp helps a lot of consumers make more informed decisions on everything from dentists to dinner reservations. Crowd-sourced opinions from users (and ads from businesses looking for an extra leg up) have turned Yelp into a billion-dollar business. But the platform is in constant battle with fake reviews (both positive and negative), as well as claims from small businesses who feel pressured to buy Yelp's services in order to deal with inaccurate reviews.

So it's with a healthy dose of skepticism that we read Yelp's 2024 list of the top barbecue restaurants in America and learned that just five of them are in North Texas. A total of 12 Texas spots made the list. Any Texan worth his salt-and-pepper rub would agree that the number is on the low side. Everything is bigger in Texas, after all, including our opinions about how our barbecue is best. If you don't believe us, just look at the eight restaurants on Yelp's list with "Texas" in their name that aren't even in the Lone Star State.
First, let's review the list of North Texas spots that Yelpers believe are noteworthy. Tender Smokehouse has been popular on Yelp since we first wrote about the Celina location in 2018, and it tops the local spots at No. 16. Hurtado Barbecue serves up stellar Mexican-cue and, perhaps only coincidentally, the Texas Rangers became World Champions once they added Hurtado to the ballpark concessions. That's good for only 26th place in Yelp's rankings.

The most recent Texas Monthly Top 50 list names Fort Worth's Goldee's Barbecue as best in the state (to which we resoundingly said, "Hell, yeah!"), but such high praise is only worth 66th place according to Yelpers. Smoke 'N Ash, the unique Ethiopian/barbecue hybrid in Arlington, checks in at 83, and the Patriotic Pig in North Richland Hills rounds out local spots at 84.

Earlier this year, Yelp launched Recognitions, which highlights reviewers who write three or more reviews for businesses in the same category. Dallas ranks third behind Los Angeles and Las Vegas for "BBQ" Recognition, meaning we've got a lot of Yelpers sharing their smoked meat opinions.

Big Names Absent

But for the love of everything holy and smoky, where are the other stellar spots in our own backyard? Many of the big names in Dallas-Fort Worth are left off, which leaves us scratching our heads instead of rubbing our bellies. Do Yelpers need some help with suggestions? One need only look at our Top 100 Restaurants for assistance. How does a spot like Hutchins, which invented the Texas Twinkie, not make it into Yelp's  Top 100? What of Cattleack, whose praises we've sung praises for a decade? Have the fine reviewers of Yelp never had a brisket and tortilla from Zavala's? Or anything that Kris Manning turns out at Smokey Joe's in Oak Cliff?

Beyond our Top 100, there's a plethora of barbecue spots that we're simply shocked haven't earned more love from Yelp. How is Terry Black's in Deep Ellum missing, with 2,300 reviews and a 4.5/5 rating on the platform? And given the dearth of Cowtown spots on Yelp's list, we're left to ask: do Yelpers even Fort Worth? Where is the love for favorites like Panther City, Brix Barbecue or Dayne's?

Yelp may have some insights, but the details are light. In its story, Yelp bigwigs laid out their methodology for the list: "We identified businesses in the Barbecue category with a large concentration of reviews mentioning “barbecue,” then ranked those spots using a number of factors, including the total volume and ratings of reviews mentioning those keywords," the site explained.

So, if the reviews of your favorite barbecue restaurant mention "succulent brisket" or "killer ribs," that's not enough to make the list because the review doesn't specifically say "barbecue". That feels inherently flawed, but without knowing what the "other factors" might be, we're left to speculate.

Yelp is certainly one of many tools at the disposal of the discerning diner looking for the latest restaurant gems, but It shouldn't be the only resource. Sure, scour your social media feeds for opinions, but don't forget to add your local media to your lists. Texas Monthly's barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn is based in Dallas, and oversees the magazine's Top 50 list every four years. The Dallas Morning News' Sarah Blaskovich is a professed barbecue lover who often shares a lot of smoked meat content via her Twitter feed.  Eater Dallas maintains its own list of essential barbecue, with regular updates.

And, of course, all of the contributors here at the Observer offer up plenty of barbecue opinions on the regular that aren't bought and sold, all without a paywall (although we'd love it if you considered supporting us with a membership). We won't even badger you for five stars on Yelp, either.