Bowie BBQ at Whole Foods Market

Whoa! So delish! I am not an avid BBQ eater and so I have a novice flavor palate with bbq. The chicken I had was very good and very moist. The potato salad was A-​ok and was too mustardy for me. I am a mayo/​mustard ratio kind of girl. BUT the potatoes were cooked perfectly and the mustard potato salad recipe they were going for was perfect is you like that type of thing. i find it crazy that the portion of food you get is only for $ 8.99. ½ lb of chicken, 2 sides all for that price… Majority of all the hot side options have pork and the cold options are potato salad, mac n cheese, coleslaw and a cucumber salad. You can buy the chicken alone for $ 5.49, but then the sides are $ 2.00 bucks a piece or more. So makes sense to get the plate. They use Austin’s Best BBQ sauce and you can get onions & jalapenos off the bar. No pickles though :(.
The place is located in the back of the grocery store and next to the wine section. I think it is pretty cool that you can sit at the BBQ area and eat while people watching. The customer service is great and the employees are so nice. I will be back for sure!!!

Solid bbq in the back of whole foods. Walk straight back to find it. Was recommended by a local and didn’t disappoint given we weren’t down to wait in line at the popular places. Comparable to our food and price at Iron Works

I make a pilgrimage here for the short ribs about once a month. I eat smoked short ribs around the state, every chance I get — Cooper’s, Smitty’s, anywhere that sells them — because it doesn’t seem right that the best anywhere are in the vegan-​agenda Whole Foods headquarters. But dammit, nothing can unseat these, and they’re just about the only reason I go downtown.
Good chicken thighs, too, if someone’s misled you into reducing your fat intake.

Surprisingly great BBQ from a Whole Foods! I have been to most of the BBQ joints in Austin, and this place stacks up against the rest, trust me. I always stop in here to pick up some brisket to take with me on the plane back home to Portland, because the other places are either closed, or have a line stretching halfway around the Earth. To be clear, no sauce is really needed, but I am a sauce guy, and I think they have a pretty solid dipping sauce to go along with.

I normally wouldn’t go to Whole Foods for BBQ, as I’d prefer a more «down home» feel, not something in a national grocery chain. But I was over at Waterloo records and had heard the Q was pretty good. So stopped in and was happily surprised. I had a combo of pulled pork and brisket. Both were flavorful and tender. The brisket had just enough fattyness to it to give a lot of great taste, without being gristly. The staff was also very friendly. Not the best BBQ around, but certainly holds its own at a decent price.

In just about any other city this might be the best BBQ around. But NOT in THIS town!
If you pass by the glass case where the meats are kept you might be fooled because everything looks great, lots of color and very well presented.
In this case appearences are decieving. Very dry and rather bland brisket, greasy pulled pork and like almost everything else at Whole Foods it’s EXPENSIVE.
So if you know what good BBQ is then pass on this one.

Little strong on the hot bbq sauce but really good
Feels a little crammed in here people that serve this seemed to know their stuff about their meats and preparation. For me wish it could be a restaurant setting

Sure its not up there with the BBQ you wait in line hours for but its really great BBQ nonetheless. Reasonably priced & friendly service. Its very consistent in quality & I grab it every couple of weeks for lunch. Spicy sauce indeed has some kick. Sides are above most places that service BBQ with the mac & cheese & baked beans & slaw options.

The brisket, while good, has no flavor. It is very bland. The beef short ribs are also good, fall of the bone, but also bland although not as bad as the brisket. If they can learn to smoke better and use a better dry rub they would be awesome.

I am a barbecue snob, and all the 5 star ratings are GROSSLY misleading.
Here are the facts:
CONS
–The brisket here tastes like pot roast– absolutely zero flavor
–The pulled pork is overcooked and way too greasy or way too dry, never just right
–The chopped beef sauce is too acidic for the meat
PROS
–Mac n cheese
–Potato salad
–Their sauce you use to mask the blandness of the meats
Even County Line, which has crap bbq, is better than Whole Foods BBQ

What a find! truly tasty ‘cue inside a Whole Foods. Not all that surprising seeing as this is the center of the Whole Foods Universe– Their Meats & sides were delicious– a notch or so below La BBQ or that other place one has to stand in line for, (Franklin’s) but even then, very respectable. You can wash down your cancer causing nitrite infused meat with a cold pressed Kale/​carrot juice! now that’s what I call balance!

I am a fan of the Whole Foods. They have all kinds of prepared food for people on the run. I can definitely eat my way through the store. I wish they offered an all you can eat option. Whole Foods even smoke their own barbecue on site called Bowie BBQ. You can smell it instantly when you pull into the parking garage at the headquarters location downtown Austin. The only disadvantage would be it does get really busy in the store, and parking can be a pain.
There is a menu, but you are really not limited to it. You walk around the store and pick up anything else you want. Brisket sandwich and clam chowder? Sure why not? I ordered my usual of moist brisket, pork ribs and sausage this day. The pricing is very good, and it also came with sides of potato salad and macaroni and cheese. There was a lot of food on my plate. The brisket was tender but dry. It was smoky, but the bark was boring. It needed more rub and fat. The ribs had a nice sweet glaze with the meat coming off the bone. It was good, tender, and smoky. The sausage made in house did not have a lot of smoke going on. It was a jalapeño pork sausage with a nice snap to the casing. I really liked the sausage a lot. It had a good flavor with a little bit of spiciness to it. The potato salad was bland. It was mustard based with bits of egg in it. The macaroni and cheese was really cheesy, and they used penne pasta. Of course I still liked it. Bowie does not have any bread, but they gave me a bun that they used on their sandwiches. This is one of the rare occurrences where I was not able to eat everything
While your wife is shopping or you need to grab a few groceries and also need a bite, you cannot go wrong with Bowie BBQ. If you were blindfolded, you would never guess this barbecue came from a grocery store. I have had the pulled pork sandwich in the past, and it is quite tasty. +Amber McGee loves the chicken salad where they use smoked chicken in it. If you go out with people who do not want barbecue (obviously there is something wrong with these types of people), they can grab something else in the store.

Minh: Let’s get some BBQ
Me: Where Babe
Minh: It is located inside of Whole Foods
Me: Whole Foods, like the chain Whole Foods. Aren’t they a healthy store? This sounds wrong, maybe you read it wrong. Are you sure, it’s not a food truck that maybe parks in their lot?
Minh: Nope it’s inside the store, now let’s go… I’m hungry!
Me: Okay, me too!
Parking at Whole Foods is not the easiest task in downtown Austin. This parking lot is small and has a weird enter and exit. Cars are parked too close to each other and we probably picked the WRONG time to come and get a late lunch! However, nonetheless we found a parking spot after circling like a wild turkey vulture. The first time we walked into the store, we were rather taken a back, this place is huge! We had no idea where this place was located in the store and after walking, a couple of laps around I suggested that maybe we need to walk all the way in the back it might be back there! Sure enough, we started to small the goodness only known as Texas BBQ!
We stood in the small line and went over the menu like a fine comb. So much to choose from, I pretty much wanted to have one of everything off their menu.
When it was finally our turn a nice gentleman took our order, I ordered the BBQ pork wrap with mild sauce.
Each time I would ask about something I was greeted with southern hospitality; yes ma’am, no ma’am, I loved it!
We took our food outside to enjoy it since it was such a nice day in Austin.
Now let me tell you, he piled this wrap full of pulled pork and smothered it in sauce. It is thick, juicy, and smoky! I wished I had picked the spicy sauce because the mild sauce had no punch! Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it!
I really wish we had a Bowie BBQ at our local Whole Foods in So Cal it would be a nice treat to have every once in awhile!

Nom nom nom! Who would think a restaurant inside whole foods could be so delicious? Feed me more BBQ!!! :)

BBQ at Whole Foods seems counter intuitive. It’s not the greatest BBQ you’re going to eat, but it is highly capable. It’s also fairly priced.
I haven’t tried all of the sides yet, but the mac and cheese is out of control. Not sure what all kinds of cheese they put in there. It has a distinctive flavor and I couldn’t get enough.
BBQ sauce is pedestrian.
They have onions, pickles, and sliced raw jalapenos over on the soup bar. There is nowhere to set your stuff plus nothing to put said pickles, etc in other than all over whatever you got, which is tough because as I mentioned at the beginning of the sentence, there’s no where to set your stuff down.
Give it a try. This side of downtown is light on BBQ choices other than House Park and Lambert’s.

In a town legendary for BBQ I think it’s obviously a bit odd for me to do a recommendation for one inside Whole Foods.
I guess what I would say is less that this is the best brisket in town (because it isn’t) but rather that «isn’t it nice that you can get your fix while doing shopping for some of the best food on earth?»
Reliably good bbq here.

Based on reading other reviews for this place, there are some wildly divergent opinions expressed here. Here is my take on Bowie BBQ:
— Brisket is bland. It’s nice and tender, but I agree that it lacks flavor. You have to really sauce the meat in order to enjoy it, and that’s not a sign of a good brisket.
— Ribs are good, but also lack the flavor you’d get at Lamberts or Salt Lick.
— The beans are good, and have chunks of rib meat in them. Best part of my meal.
— The price is reasonable, and you do get a lot of food for your money.
— It’s convenient. If you’re picking up some groceries and want to grab a BBQ plate to go for dinner, you’re all set.
At the end of the day, it’s the reasonable price, generous portions, and convenience factor that save Bowie from being a 2-​star establishment. The food is merely passable.

You could say that I didn’t plan my trip particularly well, since my only BBQ experience was at a grocery store. On the other hand, it was Bowie BBQ at Whole Foods, so I think it counts.
I usually get asked whether I’m a vegetarian because I’m always ordering a black bean burger or tofu curry in restaurants. Nope, I just don’t like the taste of meat… or at least I didn’t think I did. Pulled pork BBQ = om nom nom! Now I’m dreaming about Texas and going on a quest to find some pathetic local imitation.

I have to agree that Bowie BBQ is one of the best in town. The ribs are excellent, as is the chicken. The mac salad is genius. The sauce is the best I’ve had. I also love that they serve up some tasty samples. I have a hard time going to whole foods without stopping by for a little bit of something something, even if I’ve already eaten.
The only downside to this place is that its a bit pricey, as is everything else residing in «Whole Paycheck».

Bowie deserves its own listing despite being tucked in the back of the flagship Whole Foods. They have about three tables (plus bar seating for 8), serve their own beers (Lone Star, Fireman’s 4, Maine RootBeer), but the biggest reason is that the meat rocks and the sides are all homemade. Anyone Unilocaling for BBQ downtown should have this on their radar.
I had the pulled pork plate last night (easily shared) with potato salad and slaw. It’s crazy-​delicious!
I’ve also done the brisket and chicken — both moist (choose your cut on the brisket) and oozing with flavor. They offer up a number of a number of fixins including onions, jalapenos, and the amazing 365-​brand Bread and Butter pickles mmmmmmmmmmm!!!