Big T's BBQ & Smokehouse

Excellent food and service

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Amazing food, great service, large portions. Five of us had the platter for 3-5 and a large salad, and left with enough for lunch the next day. Pulled pork was a little dry but everything else on the platter was cooked to perfection. Highly recommended.

Been here before but as usual ribs that knock it out the park.

Great venue and food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Half chicken dinner with marinated coleslaw and beans. Absolutely delicious and tried the chili cheese fries and they were good. Every time we visit Calgary, we make sure to stop here!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

St Louis ribs with original sauce was tasty and fall off the bone tender. Yummy homemade mashed potatoes and steamed El dente veggies to boot... Only thing missing was warm butter for the corn bread. My son got the baby back ribs w original sauce and fries. Loved every morsel! Waitress was pretty friendly, but run off her feet as she waited on the entire restaurant solo. Would be nice to see hostesses helping out the server, but she was doing it all including bussing her tables as people completed their meals. Great central location near McMahon Stadium and U of Calgary.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Baby Back Ribs, Half Rack, St Louis Ribs

Simply perfect. The platters are a great value!

I had the nachos with Brisket. The staff was very friendly, The atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. The brisket was so tender and soft, it as if you wouldn’t need teeth to eat it!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Half Rack

automatic tipping

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Full Rack of Ribs

Food was okay the ribs where all fat no meat. Service was good. Was a small restaurant.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Fried Green Tomatoes

Great food and fast!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The ribs were grilled to perfection and super delicious!
The mashed potato is the best mashed potato I have ever tasted. It has a dense texture and a special creamy aroma. Highly recommended!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

After an exhaustive multi year search, I finally found my new favorite BBQ place. Staff and food are the best.

Kid-friendliness: Kids welcomed and high chairs avaliable

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fried Green Tomatoes, Smoked Poutine, Smoked Meats

Our server was amazing, good atmosphere and absolutely amazing food. Definitely recommend

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Service was excellent, food was great only complaint was I found the brisket a little dry....but then I'm kinda picky about brisket lol.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fried Pickles, Burger

TL:DR version – Good food and good service, followed by horrendous experience with management and thus a bad overall restaurant experience. Long version: This review is based on today’s late-lunch visit to Big T’s BBQ McMahon. By no means does the rating reflect the quality of the food or the attentiveness of the wait staff (both of which were very good). The score reflects the condescension and apparent dishonesty that the restaurant’s manager heaped upon my table following a quibble with the bill. We noticed a $2 upcharge for substituting a side (we changed from coleslaw to steamed veggies, as well as from baked beans to a gravy, and declined the cornbread altogether) on the $185 Elvis platter, and asked the wait staff if we could discuss it with the manager. The wait staff informed the manager and he came to our table. We mentioned to him that we had never been upcharged for substituting any of the sides (context: to this point, we had been a loyal customer for 10+ years, and in the last 17 months alone, had ordered the Elvis platter 15 times with the exact same side dish substitutions – from regular side to regular side, and NOT from regular side to upgraded side – with no upcharge), and that we were not informed that we would be upcharged when we requested either of the substitutions. He then asked us condescendingly if we had gone to the grocery store recently and, without giving us a chance to respond, he went straight to explaining that the cost of the fresh vegetables is now more than the coleslaw. And that he knew we were regular customers, having seen us in the restaurant many times before. And that if he waived the $2 upcharge, then he would have to do it for us next time, and the next time, etc. (Which is not true – he can rightly upcharge all he wants, and I would be willing to pay… as long as the upcharges are transparent in the menu or at least when the order is made.) I asked him if the steamed veggies side was more expensive than the coleslaw side in Big T’s menu, and he claimed yes. (A quick check of the menu online shows that they are the same price [see photo accompanying this review], so as mentioned above, he was clearly dishonest.) Anyhow, in an effort to de-escalate the situation (the manager was getting pretty huffy), I agreed to pay the upcharge, and then he went away without even thanking us for our patronage. Due to the manager's horrendous approach to the post-meal customer experience, Big T's can consider this long-time, loyal customer to now be an ex-customer, and I will be relaying this experience to everyone that I had ever recommended Big T’s to. Congratulations on destroying this customer/restaurant relationship over an opaque $2 upcharge on a $185 platter, Mr. Restaurant Manager – the whole thing just leaves me shaking my head in bewilderment.