Hungry Farmer Barbeque

This a great local BBQ joint… It real Texas BBQ that is not commercialized but has tons of flavor… The portions are very generous… I always leave with a to box… The area and the service is kind of shotty but this is a hole in the wall gem tucked away in the northside and the employees have if down but are obviously making a low wage… True local small business… They have a menu for large groups I have not tried it yet but the prices seem just right…

Although this is a BBQ joint, I was in the mood for a burger. I order the ½ lb Burger plate which came with fries and a drink. The price on the sign was $ 7.95 however I was charged a dollar more without any explanation.
The burger was huge. I couldn’t finish the whole thing. I was disappointed that it lacked the smokey flavor I expected from a BBQ place. The overall taste was mediocre at best. The fries were not as crisp as I would have liked them to be.
I may visit again to try the BBQ. I hope it is better than the burger.

Since I had to come down for business for this side of town and craving some BBQ… I was debating between Papas or this place. I decide to come here since its always pack today not so busy. Well first off all the lady taking your order is RUDE no customer service at all. I order a chop BBQ bake potatoe… the BBQ had no favor at all. It taste like bbq and tap water. I should just gone to other place at least they have nice people working and you can put your topping.

Serving size and price were great. The fries were nice and crispy and you received more than one could eat. However, the bun was hard, and the chopped beef was mostly fat. I am thinking they chop up the parts they cut off for sliced beef and use it for the chopped, because every bite was extremely fatty.

I haven’t been here in years and I probably won’t go back based on the lack of customer service alone. Idk why the person taking my order had such a difficult time processing my order but it was very annoying having to repeat myself when she kept asking me if I wanted the exact opposite of what I was trying to order. Like seriously, I was speaking loud, clearly and looking her directly in her eyes just couldn’t understand why she wanted to change my order. The person who told me my order was ready had an attitude and was very rude when I asked for silverware. She simply wasn’t pleasant at all. My food was okay but not good enough to make me want to go back and deal with them.

I used to live within stumbling distance of Goode Company barbecue in Rice Village. As a result, that place became my standard for barbecue and all other joints are compared to them. However, if I lived in this neck of the woods, I certainly would stumble to Hungry Farmers on a regular basis. I came for lunch on a Monday after 2 PM and the line was out the door. I can’t imagine what a more reasonable noon time feeding must be like. The lean sliced sandwich had a great smokey flavor and the sauce was good but I prefer one a little thicker (ie. like Goode Company’s). The coleslaw was scrumptious and had a nice tang to it. The thing I really enjoyed – like GC – is this place has a Texana kitschy-​ness to it… so it is easy to see why HF has been in business since 1975.

Unforgettable. The baked potato topped with bbq was so gross that I could not make myself eat at least half without wanting to gag. I gave my dog the rest. Poor dog.
Goode Co. bbq is top notch but expensive. This place is affordable but that should be no excuse for what seemed like mushy and watery brisket.
The bbq sauce was watery, sweet, and had very little seasoning. It had no spice to it. So sad.
I really wanted this place to work out for me because I used to come here as a teenager many years ago. But it didn’t and have learned the hard way.
Go across the street and get Panda Express instead. It may be fast food but at least they have some standards.

Horrible! Me & my Co workers got take out I had chicken fried steak meal. It had no flavor, mashed potatoes tasted like water, corn tasted plain also. I even added 2 packs of salt and it still didn’t help. My other Co worker had the shrimp poboy, the shrimp were fried too hard and didn’t mimic the picture that was on their site. She said the fries weren’t good neither. This place is garbage I even heard a family complaining leaving out as we were going in. You couldn’t even smell no pleasing aroma of the food. This place needs new cooks or new management! !

I’ve been coming to this place since I was a kid. I remember being 5 or 6 and my grandpa taking me here. This place hands down has the best baked potatoes in the city of Houston. Picture a large size to-​go container. This potato will fill the ENTIRE large size to-​go container!
I will literally drive clear across the city just for their baked potatoes!
Their sausage sandwiches and brisket sandwiches are delicious also. I always order them dry with the sauce on the side because if not they drench them in sauce!
During the holidays you can bring your turkey here and they’ll smoke it for you.
I was super sad when I heard this place burned down, but I’m happy to know they’re back in business!
I heart Hungry Farmer!
BTW… The prices here are super cheap compared to a lot of other BBQ places!

This review is solely on the loaded baked potato.
I went here with a coworker for lunch and it was my first time here, especially in this area on 45. It’s a pretty small BBQ joint, yet popular. Apparently they’ve been open since 1976 and just recently they had a fire and burned down, but remodeled and are still running.
This place kind of reminds me when you’re driving on the highway to another city, this BBQ place would be the only place to eat. There’s lots of license plates as the décor, bottled caps, and even stuffed deer heads in the restaurant. There’s patio seating as well.
Moving on to the baked potato. It’s a loaded baked potato with your of chopped beef, turkey, ham, or sausage. Also they add in sour cream, green onions, and cheese. It’s actually really huge and can feed at least 2 people. I could barely finish it. It wasn’t too bad at all. I got the chopped beef and there was a lot of it. It looked so good with the BBQ sauce.
The soft drinks are pretty large and cheap. A 20oz is 1.54 while a 32oz is 1.99. They’re huge cups and if you fill it with soda, you’ll just be drinking a lot of sugar. But for that size, it’s worth the price.
I was taking pictures to post on Unilocal and a customer saw me. They told me that this place gets busy on the weekends with long lines and they were so sad that this place closed for renovations after the fire. I guess this place is pretty popular.
Would I ever come back? Probably not. But the loaded baked potato was pretty darn good!

Amazing fries, the best baked potato I’ve ever had and incredibly generous portions. Good service, clean restaurant and great prices. I tried baked potato with chopped beaf for the first time here and loved it. It was huge!!!

Eh, forgettable…
The first time I drove by this place was under construction. Apparently there was a remodel going on. The sign said it had been there since 1975, so I figure this place was pretty good. When they finally opened back up, I made my way there to see what it was all about.
IT’S ALL ABOUT CRAPPY FOOD AND SHITTY SERVICE.
When I first walked in I was not impressed. It wasn’t dirty or anything, it just looked old, wore out, and had seen better days. Had they not just finished remodeling I probably wouldn’t have thought anything about that. It is the Northside after all, everything is old and dated there. But we got in line and waited to order.
We ordered:
1 lb brisket
1 side mac/​cheese
1 side mashed potatoes
Service
The woman taking our order was rude. It was like we had inconvenienced her by coming up to the counter to order. After she finally got our order and placed it, the food didn’t take too long to get ready, but it was by no means fast either. We sat there for about ten min until it was ready.
Brisket
Dry and without much seasoning. It wasn’t horrible, but it was what I might expect from a grocery store deli hot case.
Sauce
Very watery and without much flavor. Imagine taking some Kraft BBQ Sauce and mixing it ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ with tap water. That is what you get.
Mac/​Cheese
ZERO taste, runny cheese, avoid.
Mashed Potatoes
ZERO taste, could really have used some salt/​pepper. Or gravy, gravy would have been nice!
Bread
All BBQ places have some bread right? Rolls or something? They gave us two slices white bread from a generic bag. It was a bit hard and ended up feeding the birds outside.
¹⁄₅ only because I cannot score them ⁰⁄₅. You’d think after 40 years of being open they would know how to prepare food. Instead it seems they just take it out the frozen package, cause no way this was fresh, heat it up without seasoning, and then charge money for it.

Maybe it’s because I’m a country girl where everyone has a pit (not a grill a pit!) in their yard and BBQ is almost never purchased at restaurants but I’m not impressed. I had heard so much about this place but yet again my quest for worthy restaurant BBQ in Houston came up short. A friend and I shared the farmers platter/​plate which is an array of meats and 2 sides. We doubled up on potato salad and got 2 desserts: apple cobbler and carrot cake. The meat, while smoked pretty good had no, none, zero zilch flavor. I’m pretty sure the meat wasn’t seasoned at all. Texture was great on all meat, sausage, brisket, and ribs but seriously lacking in the taste category. The sauce is weak and the potato salad was blah. It could’ve been bought at walmart for all I know. The best part which solicits 2 stars was the carrot cake. The cobbler was mediocre but the carrot cake was delicious! This place was super packed so obviously there is a loyal patronage of people that I’m guessing never had much BBQ exposure in their life because this food was a total disappointment.

This is the original Hungry farmers and not the same as the other one on Airline.
It’s all in the bbq sauce!

Wanted to get some good ol’ Texas BBQ before hitting the road back to Jackson, Miss — so I ordered the two meat Po-​Boy sandwich — with pulled pork and hot smoked sausage. Damn good sandwich with plenty of meat on the sandwich.
Sauce was o.k. — not bad, but not great either.
I noticed one customer was grabbing Sunday dinner for the family — he spent $ 50 — but they loaded the man down with meat and sides. He literally had to make two trips to his truck. I felt like we should have went to his house, LOL!!!
Anywho — the Hungry Farmer was solid — worth another trip back on my return to Houston.

Wow. Reviews make this place sound like another one of those rare finds as I got lost and searched nearby for some food. I didn’t think 4 star Unilocal could go wrong. I ordered a 3 meat plate and my coworker got the catfish plate. Brisket: definitely not smoked. Oven cooked but not w wood which would not qualify this as bbq. Sausage: ground up bologney in sausage casing. Ribs: this is straight boiled, no smoke what so ever. They should call this Hungry Farmer Grill, NOT BBQ! Sauce is decent but not much better than Kraft. Co worker didn’t finish his fried catfish… he said Long John Silver would have been a better option for him. Can’t really say much about this one as he got catfish at a supposed bbq joint.

You know when you’re in the part of town with title loan companies and rent to own rim shops you’re probably not in the safest neighborhood.
But they do know barbecue! And if you want to know where to get the best barbecue in Texas, check out John B’s reviews.
I’m from the South, so not Texas. To me barbecue is made from a pig. Well these Texans know how to pull pork and put on the sauce. The pulled pork sandwich and shoestring fries were delicious. The sweet tea was also good.
Why not five stars? The banana pudding may be assembled on premises, but it used imitation pudding.
If you’re looking for an outstanding dining experience, this is probably not the place for you. They seem to specialize in large food orders to go.

When I first moved to Houston from Chicago in 94, this was one of the first places that I was taken to eat for BBQ. To this day their food is still good and the value is great. Just like with any place you will have some who hate it, some that love it and some that are on the fence. IMHO the BBQ potato is the best. I can eat almost 3 meals off of just one potato. The 2 meat plate is enough for myself and my 10 year old son to split.
Restrooms are around back, but are clean. Line at lunch time can be long.
Bottom line: Stop by and give it a try and review this place yourself, especially if you work downtown/​live on the north side. It’s a great place to stop and eat dinner while waiting for the traffic to die down.

12÷20÷13 12:06pm — Is this BBQ really 5 star good? That question has been on mind since my first review. To earn the Grand Champion Texas BBQ title the holy trinity must score 90 or better. I have wanted to return back to Hungry Farmer and score it again. Did I catch them on a good day or was this some killer ‘que?
I scored Hungry Farmer a 90 out of 100. This is still Grand Champion Texas BBQ. When measured against a standard, this joint serves up some of the best BBQ in Houston. Dont trust me, trust the lines of hungry patrons. The community loves it.
Smoke: Hickory. There is a cinder block smoke house in the back with ancient wood fired Olyers. I love it when the pit boss comes out the side door for a cigarette and blue smoke bellows out of the door. It reminds me of Spicoli and crew falling out of the van in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Brisket: Very Good. A dark red ¼in smoke ring beneath a black smokey bark. Near perfect snap apart tenderness. No teeth needed. Full intense smoke flavor. The fatty slices having more smokey goodness in the rendered fat. A great slice of brisket in this Houston BBQ desert. No sauce needed, but it did finish a little dry so don’t skip it.
Ribs: Excellent. You ever wonder if Owners actually read reviews and make changes? These were not the same ribs I had back in March. These were St Louis cut ribs and near perfect tender. Clean bone, soft bark and no tearing. The first thing i noticed was the subtle sweet glaze. Maybe fruit juice spritz. They had a rosy red interior and full smoke flavor. No sauce needed for these ribs. Finger licking is unavoidable.
Sausage: Good. Once again this is not the same sausage. This was a fine ground pork and beef link with bold traditional spice and a great peppery aftertaste. No much smoke and little grease. No sauce needed.
Sauce: Good. Once again it was not the same sauce but similar. A thick brown tomato based sauce with brown sugar and butter flavors. Its still bland in overall flavor and average by itself. It does a great job enhancing the meats. Nothing here needs sauce but don skip this stuff. You will dip every bite.
I love the vintage look of this place. This place looks just like the day it opened 38 years ago. From the longhorn steer on the roof, to the big retro old sign out front and the truck stop cowboy interior. The taxidermy needs an update. Geez how old is that nasty stuff? Try not to stare too long or you will lose your appetite. This is an iconic Texas BBQ joint and a hidden Houston treasure.

Ordered the sliced brisket sandwich combo with fries and a drink for 10.31. There was a long line to order at the counter but it moved quickly. I thought that with so many people eating here for lunch it would be good.
WRONG!
The brisket lacked any flavor. It was so bland. I haven’t had brisket that flavorless in a very long time. So I tried to out extra BBQ sauce on it but it didn’t change anything because the sauce is bland also!!!
The fries were ok and large enough for 2.
I would give the sandwich a 1 and the fries a 3.
It seems their most popular meal is the BBQ baker which is a very large potato with brisket on it. With the meat so bland, I couldn’t understand why so many people would eat it… oh well.
I cannot recommend this place.