Baker's Ribs - Dallas (NW Hwy)

Was craving some barbecue this evening so decided to give Baker's Ribs a try. It's been a long while since I last ate here, at least five years and probably longer. I do know the last time I ate at Baker's they were located on Greenville Avenue between University Blvd and Lovers Lane. That location apparently has now moved to NW Hwy and Skillman.

I got there around 7:15 p.m. and the place was mostly empty. There was a group of ladies who looked to have gathered for some meeting and were finishing up. There was an older couple sitting on the opposite side of the area. For all intents and purposes, it was dead! Not a positive outlook to start.

I ordered the three meat plate. It comes with a choice of two sides and either Texas toast or dinner rolls. I chose brisket, pulled pork, ribs, mac-n-cheese, green beans and dinner rolls.

I guess the ease of ordering was the best part of my visit. Here's my thoughts on the offerings I was served:

• Dinner rolls look to have been pre-purchased versus baked in-house. They were soft but had no butter or any kind of flavoring added. They were served at room temperature in saran wrap.
• Green beans tasted like they came straight from a can. No seasoning or anything. I mean simply adding salt and pepper would have made a flavoring difference. Instead it looks like there were white onions and almond slices which added nothing to the flavor.
• Mac-n-cheese was quite runny. Watery cheese is not desirable. It too had no seasoning or even a cheesy flavor. After 7-10 minutes on my plate, the "cheese" started to show clumps which is a sure sign of too much water and not enough cheese.
• Pulled pork was fairly dry. It had a little bit of smoke flavor but nowhere near enough to make it tasty or overlook the dryness. I had to add in quite a bit of barbecue sauce for some taste.
• Ribs were tastier than the pulled pork. The meat pulled off the bone with ease. Ribs seemed to have a kind of peppery rub because I could feel the "burn" on my lips after eating one.
• Brisket was much drier than the pulled pork, if that was possible! Marbling was nonexistent in the slices of meat I was served. The same slightly smoky flavor of the pulled pork was present. Due to the dryness, I tried adding, almost drowning, the brisket in barbecue sauce. However, it was still difficult to swallow the bites of brisket because of how dry the meat was.
• Free soft serve is still offered. Many comments I've read speak of this as a final "blessing of the good eats" to have the free soft serve. I went to the soft serve machine and when I raised the lever, liquidy white stickiness sprayed all over my cone and hand. I guess my time was just not meant to end on a good note!

Things I take away from my visit:

• It really reminded me of sub-par, quick, catering barbecue meal that serves hundreds at a big corporate meeting or company picnic because no one is paying attention to or cares about the true quality of the meal anyway.
• The addition of a drive-thru window should have been a flag of expected quality. Quality cannot be served in a fast, drive-thru manner. To me, a drive-thru is for producing quantity.
• Another flag. Even though the 'cooks' are right behind the 'cashier', they write my order in pen on the edge of the styrofoam plate so the 'cooks' know what to put on the plate. I was the only customer in line so how difficult was it to just tell the 'cooks' to add brisket, ribs and pulled pork to the plate? I'm not a freak about germs and poisoning but some people might be. As you can see in the photo, the brisket is splayed over the ink writing on the plate. If the meat was hot, it could cause the ink to run and/or seep into the food. This just shows me a lack of presentation and care from the business.
   
  

That's my experience. Take it as you will. I'm no "food expert" but I know what I like and what tastes good (to me) and there are too many other barbecue joints serving a better quality and much better tasting product, especially for $18.00! Therefore, I will not be returning to Baker's Ribs (at least the NW Hwy @ Skillman location) to fulfill my barbecue craving.