Southwest Pit BBQ

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, delicious! We ordered the lunch special and we got hooked up with lots of food. Great service with a small town feel. All of our food was masterfully cooked and perfectly tender. Great sauces and flavors!

Unilocal!, you failed me. Of 37 reviews, this place got 4 stars. How? I will never know. If I could give zero stars, I would. If you like Crock Pot pulled pork, beans from a can, store bought slaw, and Kraft barbecue sauce, well, this is your place. I’m a bit of a barbecue nerd, and I also understand this is a counter-​service lunch spot downtown, but there is little excuse for the meals we were served. My wife and kids ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which had been simmering in a Crock Pot for so long the buns literally fell apart. They had to eat them with a spork. On the employees’ recommendation, I had the brisket sandwich with beans and slaw. The brisket was chewy, dry and smothered with what tasted like Kraft 99-​cent sauce with a little molasses added in. As I was lifting a sporkful of beans to my lips, my wife read my mind and we said at the same time, «straight from the can.» The slaw, which also seemed storebought, was actually the best part of the meal. How sad is that? When I retire, I’m opening a barbecue joint in Lincoln. I’ll be a damned millionaire.

Shut the front door Lincoln!!! This place is off the foodgasim charts. BBQ is my favorite genre of food and this place has taken it to a new level. I had the big hog, 8oz of BBQ pork and a ¼ pound of bacon, yes that’s right, a ¼ pound of bacon on top. The flavor is overwhelming and my tastebuds are in heaven. Please check this place out. The wings are amazing as well and they are huge and juicy. I’ll definitely be back.

I ordered the 2 bbq sandwiches and 6 wings. The sandwich was SOAKED in bbq. If you like that then this is you’re place. I wasn’t too thrilled. The wings were awesome though.

Absolutely awful.
I ordered a 3 bone pork rib, half a pound of brisket, beans and cole slaw. This is a fairly basic BBQ order that should allow for a good representation of a pit master’s abilities.
Brisket. In this case it was prepared in the back and arrived in small half inch squares which were sliced quite thin. They were exceptionally dry, lacked flavor and basic seasoning. The brisket was obviously exposed to some smoke at some point, but you certainly couldn’t taste it. It was served with a side of warm sweet sauce which was unremarkable. This is a sad attempt at a beef brisket.
Cole slaw. The cabbage was nearly minced, it had a strange flavor that leads me to believe they used some miracle whip. Too creamy, too sweet, absolutely no seasoning or texture.
The baked beans were similarly sad. No texture because they obviously came out of a can, no flavor because somebody is afraid of salt, and there was a «lil smokey» sausage floating around in it. It seemed like a half hearted attempt at making bad beans taste meaty.
Pork ribs. Pork ribs arrived at the table covered in the same, or a similar sweet sauce that was provided on the side with the brisket. Previous reviewers were right in the fact that the ribs fell of the bone. Unfortunately they are wrong in their thought that this is necessarily a desirable goal for a pork rib cook. In this case, it seems to be the primary goal of Southwest Pit BBQ, because these ribs were obviously boiled. No seasoning, no smoke flavor, and the fat in the ribs was not rendered at all. The texture would best be described as «slimy.»
There was no salt or pepper on the tables, compounding our no seasoning problem.
The man working there was nice enough. I hate to say bad things about nice people, and it’s got to be tough to run a «great» BBQ place in such tight quarters. That said, it would not be difficult to make better food out of the less than ideal propane cooker i passed on the way in and out of the building.

I used to go here when I lived in Lincoln a couple of years ago and it was amazing, some of the best ribs I’d ever had. This summer I was back in town and made a point to stop by for some ribs. Maybe I went on an off day, or maybe it has gone downhill. I was very disappointed. The service by the two teenage girls was unprofessional and flippant. That could be forgiven, but the quality of the food on the other hand, not so much. The ribs were drowning in watery bbq sauce, nothing like the perfect consistency before. And the meat didn’t seem the same. Maybe it was broiled instead of smoked? Hopefully they fix it because they really knew what they were doing before.

Unilocal had this at 4.5 stars? Ribs tasted like primarily cooked by boiling, a hint of smoke and covered with a thick coating of BBQ sauce…2 stars is generous. Sorry

Delicious food. Meat literally falls off the bone. The owner is extraordinarily friendly as well.

I have had tons of BBQ over the years. All I am saying is that this is as good if not better than the best from the big BBQ areas of the US.

Was in town for work and passed this place a couple time. Figured I would give it a try and oh boy was I glad I did. Most of the time when you read fall off the bone it doesn’t literally fall off the bone but the first bite of a wing the bones just fell out and all I was left with was tender delicious chicken. Great place to eat and would recommend it to anyone looking for real BBQ.

Dead smokey flesh.
If this is what you desire you should eat here.
Brisket was a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ + wings and other tasty things

Had the pulled pork sandwich Tennessee style with spicy sauce and potato salad on the side. It was very good, the sauce was not too spicy, just a little heat and on the sweeter side, though not cloyingly so. No frills, great prices… definitely a good, very small BBQ joint! Recommend!

The best BBQ ive ever had. THE END
All I have to say is try the smoked wings and grab a bbq sandwich.
The flavor all of these items were perfect. The owner knows what hes doing when it comes to BBQ.
Ill be back shortly!!!
I will tell everyone I know to come here when Nebraska football starts again.
The owner is super nice and answered all my questions I had about his BBQ
Thanks!!!

Best pulled pork I’ve had in a long, long time. The wings are amazing too. The meat is so tender that it falls right off the bone!

We enjoy coming here every now and then and I consider it to probably be my favorite barbecue here in Lincoln. The gentleman who owns the place is really friendly. There isn’t much seating at the place and it’s somewhat cramped if there are others ordering while you’re there, but I usually take it home to go anyway.
The pulled pork is my favorite, and the wings are also really good. The cornbread is a little more moist and sweeter/​denser than the cornbread I usually eat with my barbecue dinners, but I love it as a dessert!
or whatever the site is usually has a deal running for this place which is pretty good and saves you at least a couple of dollars, so buy one of those and go try it.

I wish I could give half a star. Nothing impressive about this place at all. The kid working was super unfriendly and unhelpful. The food was not good I could have made better bbq at home, way too much sauce and no real smoke flavor. I had the pulled pork nachos, not impressed the chips tasted old and it was swimming in sauce, if you have to cover your food with that much sauce you may be doing something wrong.

The other reviews are right; this place isn’t much inside or out. But the food is outstanding. My son had wings and raved about them. I had a brisket sandwich that came with bacon too; why more places don’t add bacon to a brisket sandwich, I’ll never know. It was outstanding! The sauces were excellent and I enjoyed the baked beans with pork as well.
The only downside to our visit was that an employee’s child was running around the place, yelling quite a bit. I understand that it’s a family environment, but with a place that small, kids should probably not be running around. A small complaint, and we would certainly go back, but would probably get the food to go next time.

Doesn’t look like much from the outside or inside for that matter, but it’s great BBQ served by an owner who’s just the right amount of friendly and helpfulness.
Our pulled pork and brisket sandwiches came out in foil wrap on soft buns. Great flavor! The cornbread was almost like cake it was so moist.
The parking lot next to them isn’t technically for them, but apparently the owners don’t mind.

A more accurate star count would be 4.5 our of 5.
Little did I know that I would find tasty and incredible bbq outside of the south!
Well, Lincoln, you have a winner!
I tried the wings (smoked, not fried) with some thai chili sauce (not spicy, but tasty at least!). The wings are delicious. They are quite possibly the best thing here.
I came through here twice, so I tried the pulled pork and the brisket. Normally I’m more of a brisket fan, but their pulled pork was better to me. Their brisket wasn’t awful, it was good, but I’ve had better brisket. The pulled pork was very good. The sides? On spot! I loved the baked beans, and the cornbread was sweet enough to feel like you were eating a cake for dessert! Delicious.
The owner here is nothing short of polite and patient and has an awesome attitude. Although it may not look like it has all the «bells & whistles» from the outside, they leave it up to their food to bring on the wow factor. And yes, it definitely does.

Just went back here tonight, and once again I came away extremely satisfied.
I got the Little Pig pulled pork sandwich, which ain’t all that little at 5 oz with a ¼lb of bacon and cheese. It came with a side and a piece of corn bread for $ 7.99, which I thought was really good, plus 2 bucks extra for a drink.
Did I mention they make some of the best cornbread I’ve ever had in my life? Cuz they do.
The only thing is this place is a tiny little hut with like three tables, so seating is extremely limited, but they do offer food to go.
The dude who runs it is pretty friendly, and he cooks up some mean BBQ, so go check this place out.