Terry Black's Barbecue
The beef rib runs close to a pound and a half, and the Blacks smoke every bit of the meat on site.42
Why go
Mike and Mark Black were 26 when they opened this Barton Springs Road room in 2014, unaffiliated with the Lockhart restaurant their family runs.6 Their father Terry Black taught them the trade. The brothers say they built the place to honor what he brought out of the Lockhart pits and to cook it in their own style.8 Nicolai McCrary names the brisket and the beef ribs as the standouts, in a dining room he describes as country rather than city: All of the meat here is smoked on-site, with a sprawling, rustic-styled dining room that feels like it belongs out in the country rather than busy Barton Springs Rd.
2 MICHELIN put the room in the Recommended block of the inaugural 2024 Texas guide.9
Order this / avoid
- The beef rib, one for the table. The Infatuation puts it on its list of the dishes that define Austin at nearly a pound and a half.4
- Fill the tray with brisket, smoked turkey and the beef and pork ribs, which is Eater's own order here.5 The turkey and the pork ribs go on with salt and pepper and nothing else.6
- Sides: mac and cheese, and the baked potato salad.7
- Drink: beer or wine, both of which the counter pours. Take a cold lager against a rib that size.5
- Avoid: building the meal around the brisket. McCrary ranks it eighth in Austin and writes that it
might not change your life.
3 - Also avoid: circling the lot at lunch. The line runs out of the building into a parking lot McCrary calls all-too-small.2
What locals & experts say
- Nicolai McCrary rates it 8.1 for The Infatuation, and the practical case is the clock:
they're one of the few barbecue spots in town that stays open well into dinner hours.
His brisket guide ranks this brisket eighth in the city.3 - Erin Russell and Nadia Chaudhury at Eater Austin, on what the guide listing did to the wait:
The line has picked up a bit since becoming a Michelin Recommended restaurant.
5 - MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024, Recommended, in the inaugural Texas edition, alongside seven Austin stars and fourteen Bib Gourmands.9
- Texas Monthly has never carried this door. Daniel Vaughn's 2021 Top 50 lists a Terry Black's at 3025 Main in Dallas, written up under Mark and Michael Black. The 2025 edition carries no Terry Black's anywhere in the state.12
Good to know
- The wood: Daniel Vaughn reported in 2024 that the pit takes its split post oak from Chief Firewood in Smithville, and that co-owner Michael Black was the one who told the yard to build a brand.1
- Counter service, indoors and out, with online preordering for pickup and national shipping.5
- Past the line: the Terry Black's Experience runs an hour, walks you through the pits with the pitmasters and seats you at a reserved table with no queue. It books through OpenTable.8
- Which Black's: this family and the Black's Barbecue family are two businesses out of one Lockhart line. Both trade in Lockhart and in New Braunfels, so read the address before you drive. Terry Black's runs nine doors and this is the Austin one, at 1003 Barton Springs Road.8
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 81 on 18 March 2026, 77 in March 2025 and 87 in August 2024. Nothing is below 70 and nothing here is a failing finding. If you look the street up yourself, the Black's Barbecue score on Guadalupe belongs to a different operator.11
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Not on Jeff's saved list. He named the gap on 20 August 2026 and asked for the entry.
Verdict
should-visit — Walk in and bring people: the line runs under an hour and the room takes a big group, which is rarer here than good brisket. Come for the beef rib, and when brisket is the point of the trip go to Franklin or la Barbecue.