Amazing food! We had the two meat plate with cream corn and Mac and cheese. Wow it was the best! Also, the Brisket loaded potato is to die for! Nice on the inside as well. Will be back!
Fabo Martinez
poor customer service as soon as I called in. If yall don’t want to work just close down ya place like rich beem one. Placing an order here is tough. I’m placed on hold for 5 minutes before someone can take an order and then make me feel weird for wanting to use a gift card that someone gave me. Customer service is bad I did not get the woman’s name but just by her tone and demeanor I can tell the bbq ain’t worth it.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
James Ivey
UPDATE: Desert Oak has completely changed their in-house dining experience to a sit down and order style and the management comes by to check on how customers are doing and they are friendly and attentive. So I am upping the stars on Desert Oak service and atmosphere from two stars to five. Fair is fair and good job Desert Oak. The best BBQ in El Paso. I will leave my original review here following this sentence for completeness. Notice how good things can change in a year:"The service and amenities go down and price goes up every time I go back (the last time I went I promised to never go back but the food is excellent). Slow lethargic employees who can't even find sauce cups for to go orders. Dirty tables. Not enough signs and directions for the casual diner. Ice on one end of the store, ice tea on the other side. You will get your exercise in filling your cup. Cash register employee visiting with other employees and laughing with a long wait line. The restaurant could use a good redesign for efficient flow and happy customers. The saving grace is the quality of the food which, unlike the service, has not changed since their first location on Zaragoza. It just kind of feels like a ship without a captain."
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chopped Brisket to Go, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork Sandwich, Potato Salad
Manny Mo
It was my first time there. I read other reviews prior to going. The people were nice, and the service was quick. I had build your own sandwich with sliced brisket. Was very good and moist. I did order fries with it but they brought chips. Still tasted good. Took some some brisket home.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chili Rice
Areddwolf
Ordered online, and I ordered wrong, but the girl was very helpful, and they still got my order ready quickly. The food was awesome! It was recommended to me, and I can see why. Fantastic Texas BBQ!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chopped Brisket to Go, Mac & Cheese
Patti Croxton
Super slow service, appetizers came after the meal, but good made this an amazing stop!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Creamed Corn, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Texas Trinity
vida Lagunas
Staff was very friendly. However this place is run by teenagers that don’t know how to bbq. The brisket felt like I was biting into a wet cold sponge. The beans were pinto beans straight out of a can with no seasoning. Mac and cheese was good. Pulled pork tasted like it was straight out of a microwaveable package from Walmart. Don’t get my started on the portions. We ordered 3 meats and 2 sides for 2 people. It came with 3 bite sized slices of brisket, a small scoop of pulled pork and an over cooked sausage drier than dog food. Price came out to $50! The AUDACITY!!!! With that price you can buy your own brisket and smoke it better than this place. The sweet tea was good though it had fantastic ice. I do not reccomend this place. Save your money.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 3
Cynthia Salas
Our brisket was barely warm, which made it lose it’s taste. Very disappointed at the fact I couldn’t order the blue Hawaiian. I was told your bartender was new and you weren’t serving any cocktail drinks at the moment. There was a petite blonde young lady, who stared at us the whole time making our experience a bit awkward.Kid-friendliness: My son was bit bothered that his fries portion was smaller than his siblings. He wanted nachos however your nachos come with too many toppings. He likes plain chips and cheese.
Went for the first time after a lot of recommendations from friends and can say they definitely did not get it wrong...food was great..serving quantity is A+..will be back the only reason it's not 5 stars this visit is due to waitress was slow getting to my table after we were seated and the place was not even full...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chili Rice, BBQ Sauce, Fries, Pickles, Texas Trinity
Nick Swenson
Was driving through El Paso craving some BBQ, and this hit the spot just perfectly. All the meats we tried had a great balance of texture and smokey flavor.We can recommend all we tried: the brisket, pulled pork, sausage, and spare rips, and it's hard to imagine going wrong with any of their meats. If you can't figure what to get, get the Texas Trinity!The sides we tried were all delicious. Creamy Mac & Cheese, classic Coleslaw, novel Green Chilli Cheese Rice... all epitomes of their class. And the Nachos was absolutely loaded, the picture posted is actually just a "half" portion.It's unfortunate I don't live closer to buy, I'll be craving this again for some time.Vegetarian options: Not a great place for vegetarians.Kid-friendliness: Has a kids menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Green Chili Rice, BBQ Sauce, Pork Ribs, Texas Trinity
Gaby Smith
Completely over priced for being dry and not good. I know BarBQ is pricey but if it's juicy and good then it's worth it. This was not. Asked for a extra portion of meat on the bowl bar waitress had a attitude and said she couldn't do it and if she did it would be more. When asked how much more she said she didn't know. Ticket came the extra half portion was the price of another bowl. Meat was not that good for the prices honestly, If it's juciy and good I'll pay. They give you barely any brisket and it's all mostly fat. Disappointed honestly I was excited to try it at first.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
D'Andre Dumas
Desert oak off of I-10… NO GO!!!!! I rather go to Rudys…. I hate RudysThe burnt ends look and tasted like jerky. The baked beans taste like pinto beans from the can. The brisket and pulled pork came from a crock pot. The turkey was amazing!!!Better options in El Paso - Rib Hut, Famous Daves or your friends cooking
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
Pat Cruse
We saw advertising on America Test Kitchens and decided to try it. Waitstaff was wonderful but took quite a while to get food even though it was not that crowded. When we did get it, it was not very hot. The ribs fell off the bone and the brisket was tender, the sausage was dry, but what makes BBQ good is the sauce. I know eateries take pride in their sauces, but I don't like vinegary and this was very watery and vinegary. I wish they would offer a good hickory or mesquite bottled BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray or KC Masterpiece. We won't be going back.
Amazing food! We had the two meat plate with cream corn and Mac and cheese. Wow it was the best! Also, the Brisket loaded potato is to die for! Nice on the inside as well. Will be back!
poor customer service as soon as I called in. If yall don’t want to work just close down ya place like rich beem one. Placing an order here is tough. I’m placed on hold for 5 minutes before someone can take an order and then make me feel weird for wanting to use a gift card that someone gave me. Customer service is bad I did not get the woman’s name but just by her tone and demeanor I can tell the bbq ain’t worth it.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
UPDATE: Desert Oak has completely changed their in-house dining experience to a sit down and order style and the management comes by to check on how customers are doing and they are friendly and attentive. So I am upping the stars on Desert Oak service and atmosphere from two stars to five. Fair is fair and good job Desert Oak. The best BBQ in El Paso. I will leave my original review here following this sentence for completeness. Notice how good things can change in a year:"The service and amenities go down and price goes up every time I go back (the last time I went I promised to never go back but the food is excellent). Slow lethargic employees who can't even find sauce cups for to go orders. Dirty tables. Not enough signs and directions for the casual diner. Ice on one end of the store, ice tea on the other side. You will get your exercise in filling your cup. Cash register employee visiting with other employees and laughing with a long wait line. The restaurant could use a good redesign for efficient flow and happy customers. The saving grace is the quality of the food which, unlike the service, has not changed since their first location on Zaragoza. It just kind of feels like a ship without a captain."
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chopped Brisket to Go, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork Sandwich, Potato Salad
It was my first time there. I read other reviews prior to going. The people were nice, and the service was quick. I had build your own sandwich with sliced brisket. Was very good and moist. I did order fries with it but they brought chips. Still tasted good. Took some some brisket home.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chili Rice
Ordered online, and I ordered wrong, but the girl was very helpful, and they still got my order ready quickly. The food was awesome! It was recommended to me, and I can see why. Fantastic Texas BBQ!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chopped Brisket to Go, Mac & Cheese
Super slow service, appetizers came after the meal, but good made this an amazing stop!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Creamed Corn, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Texas Trinity
Staff was very friendly. However this place is run by teenagers that don’t know how to bbq. The brisket felt like I was biting into a wet cold sponge. The beans were pinto beans straight out of a can with no seasoning. Mac and cheese was good. Pulled pork tasted like it was straight out of a microwaveable package from Walmart. Don’t get my started on the portions. We ordered 3 meats and 2 sides for 2 people. It came with 3 bite sized slices of brisket, a small scoop of pulled pork and an over cooked sausage drier than dog food. Price came out to $50! The AUDACITY!!!! With that price you can buy your own brisket and smoke it better than this place. The sweet tea was good though it had fantastic ice. I do not reccomend this place. Save your money.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 3
Our brisket was barely warm, which made it lose it’s taste. Very disappointed at the fact I couldn’t order the blue Hawaiian. I was told your bartender was new and you weren’t serving any cocktail drinks at the moment. There was a petite blonde young lady, who stared at us the whole time making our experience a bit awkward.Kid-friendliness: My son was bit bothered that his fries portion was smaller than his siblings. He wanted nachos however your nachos come with too many toppings. He likes plain chips and cheese.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Fries
Fast service & good food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Really disappointed ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Went for the first time after a lot of recommendations from friends and can say they definitely did not get it wrong...food was great..serving quantity is A+..will be back the only reason it's not 5 stars this visit is due to waitress was slow getting to my table after we were seated and the place was not even full...
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chili Rice, BBQ Sauce, Fries, Pickles, Texas Trinity
Was driving through El Paso craving some BBQ, and this hit the spot just perfectly. All the meats we tried had a great balance of texture and smokey flavor.We can recommend all we tried: the brisket, pulled pork, sausage, and spare rips, and it's hard to imagine going wrong with any of their meats. If you can't figure what to get, get the Texas Trinity!The sides we tried were all delicious. Creamy Mac & Cheese, classic Coleslaw, novel Green Chilli Cheese Rice... all epitomes of their class. And the Nachos was absolutely loaded, the picture posted is actually just a "half" portion.It's unfortunate I don't live closer to buy, I'll be craving this again for some time.Vegetarian options: Not a great place for vegetarians.Kid-friendliness: Has a kids menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Double Brisket Plate, Mac & Cheese, Green Chile Cheese Rice, Green Chili Rice, BBQ Sauce, Pork Ribs, Texas Trinity
Completely over priced for being dry and not good. I know BarBQ is pricey but if it's juicy and good then it's worth it. This was not. Asked for a extra portion of meat on the bowl bar waitress had a attitude and said she couldn't do it and if she did it would be more. When asked how much more she said she didn't know. Ticket came the extra half portion was the price of another bowl. Meat was not that good for the prices honestly, If it's juciy and good I'll pay. They give you barely any brisket and it's all mostly fat. Disappointed honestly I was excited to try it at first.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Desert oak off of I-10… NO GO!!!!! I rather go to Rudys…. I hate RudysThe burnt ends look and tasted like jerky. The baked beans taste like pinto beans from the can. The brisket and pulled pork came from a crock pot. The turkey was amazing!!!Better options in El Paso - Rib Hut, Famous Daves or your friends cooking
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
We saw advertising on America Test Kitchens and decided to try it. Waitstaff was wonderful but took quite a while to get food even though it was not that crowded. When we did get it, it was not very hot. The ribs fell off the bone and the brisket was tender, the sausage was dry, but what makes BBQ good is the sauce. I know eateries take pride in their sauces, but I don't like vinegary and this was very watery and vinegary. I wish they would offer a good hickory or mesquite bottled BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray or KC Masterpiece. We won't be going back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 5