Gary Ray’s Texas BBQ

This location is closed and there is a For Sale Sign in front of the business. Drove by to stop in on 10÷25÷15, and all shut down. This is the 3^rd or 4^th restaurant that has been at this location. Too bad, it looked like a good spot. Went just up the road to «Suguaro Corners» Restaurant instaed, at 3750 S. Old Spanish Trail at the corner of Escalante and Old Spanish Trail (near the entrance to Suguaro National Park East. They have an outdoor patio also.

Just ate here on a Friday evening and had such a bad experience that a review was needed. The food we did get was really good, but the selection was very limited. They did not offer the menu that we saw online and the menu they had only offered burgers and maybe 5 entrees. We got to order the meats we wanted but they were out of baked potatoes. After we ordered we overhead several other customers being told they were out of brisket and several other items. The service was also on the bad side, we got no refills of water, and another waiter had to notice how long we were finished with our meal. The place was not prepared for a Friday night crowd and it was very apparent, we will not be back.

The waitress was friendly and efficient. The home made potato chips were the best part of the meal. My margarita was lacking in flavor, but my friend said hers was good. My sandwich was a disappointment as there was a lack of flavor. The pork was large chunks, not pulled, and the brisket dry. The sausage didn’t look like it had been grilled. Kept putting bbq sauce on for flavor and moisture. The outdoor fire pit had a layer of cigarette butts, but no appearance of a recent fire. The saguaro rib ceiling lent to the southwest interior. There are dining tables outdoors that looked inviting. The aroma of mesquite for the bbq was expected but not there. My friend’s pork sandwich lacked flavor also. She mentioned that the ladies room needed attention also.

I really enjoy this place. I’ve been there about 4 times now in the hopes I get a bad meal or a bad dish. Hasn’t happened yet. The staff is courteous, attentive and happy to please. I hate it when a drink goes empty for a longtime. It doesn’t happen here. The bbq dishes are of a sizable portion, you’ll end up taking some home.
Try it, you’ll like it.

What a nightmare. And the saddest part is that this could really be a great place. But the owner obviously isn’t open to any constructive feedback. I believe it’s the same owner as it has been for a while… he just decided to change the name from The Settlement to Gary Rays. We sat in a rounded booth by the window in June. After settling in, we noticed several dead flies in the crevice/​seam at the top of the booth. Not just a couple, which is to be expected from time to time… A LOT. It was clear the booth and window sill hasn’t been cleaned in at least several months. The salt and pepper shakers were also filthy and hadn’t been cleaned in a very long time. If this is how they keep the guest tables, it makes me wonder how clean the kitchen is??? It’s too bad because this place has a lot of potential if the right owners gave it some TLC.

I kept going back and forth on what to rate this place, If they had a 3.5 option I would probably pick that. The service was good, people were very friendly, may have helped that I got there right at opening and was one of the only people in the restaurant, your experience may be different if its during a busy time.
I ordered the two meat plate with ribs and brisket. The beans and Texas toast were good, nothing to rave about but I would eat them again. The ribs left a lot to be desired, they were dry and very tough, I had trouble cutting through the ribs with my knife, I would not order them again.
I didn’t have high expectations on the brisket after trying the ribs but much to my surprise the brisket was honestly the best I have had. In fact it was so good I added two orders of the brisket to go. My rating would probably be a one or two at most if it wasn’t for the brisket.

Ordered the full slab for $ 26 expecting the meal to feed at least four people.
Although the meat was plentiful, it comes dry with a small container of BBQ sauce.
You run out of sauce about a quarter of the way through even if you are being stingy with it. Also comes with beans and toast but only enough for one person.
Won’t be coming back.
We have way better BBQ here in Tucson and much closer too.

I just moved here from the BBQ Mecca of texas itself. $ 16 for one meat? Jesus H. Come on guys. It’s meat, not gold.

Visited Gary Rays this afternoon to try some Prime Rib… Was not disappointed. We had previously stopped in and tried the smoked Brisket, pork, and turkey which were all excellent. Very happy to have this new restaurant near our home.

Changing my review to 4 stars. I emailed the manager Don Beard this morning and he responded right away that beginning immediately all of their music will be played out on the patio. Given that I am very comfortable changing my review to 4 stars.
Ok, here’s the thing. This is a restaurant that wants to be a bar or a bar that wants to be a restaurant, I’m not sure, but the two things don’t mix.
PRO’S — this part deserves 4 – 5 stars:
1. The food is very good. The BBQ is excellent and the sides were very yummy, especially the SW Mac & Cheese.
2. The service was pretty good.
3. The ambience was nice UNTIL:
CON’S — this part deserves 1 – 2 stars:
1. They are WAY out there (past Sahuaro Corners, if you know where that is). It is a pretty drive and we knew it would be a long drive, but my goodness, seeing it on a map and driving it are two different things.
2. At 6pm (yes, right in the middle of the dinner hour for most people) their live music starts and they basically transform into a bar. Except they are not set up as a bar, they are set up as a restaurant, and not a cheap one ($ 95 for four people, no drinks, no appetizers, no desserts). We had expected when they said live music, that like MOST restaurants with live music, the sound would be kept at a level that allowed people to converse and enjoy their meals. Uh, no. We were seated right next to the room where the music was, but there are no walls, so we might as well have been seated on the stage. So then people are coming in and standing next to our table to listen to music AS IF IT WERE A BAR.
We had chosen this place because the reviews on Unilocal were OK and we are always trying to find new, local places to give our business to. Since my husband is partially deaf, noise level is always a consideration when choosing a place to eat out with friends. Well it was nice and quite until the music started, at which point, it got REALLY LOUD (think Club Congress or the Rialto) and my husband might as well not have been there as he couldn’t hear any of our conversations at all.
3. Also, and this is a small thing, but an irritant, they use mason jars for their glasses, which would have been fine if they had used the larger mason jars, but they use the smaller size, so you are constantly asking for a refill for your water. This is Arizona, and people drinks LOTS of water here, so restaurants should really take that into consideration.

This bar is very cute inside, and had a great band playing when we were there last night. Loved the ambience! $ 2 Coors Lights on draft was a great deal as well!
My mother-​in-​law and I ordered the fish fry special, and it was terrible. She couldn’t break through the fish with her fork to eat it, and mine was mushy (.and I ordered it «extra crispy»). The fries were OK, although I also ordered those extra crispy and they tasted like they were warmed up in a microwave and set on a plate. NO crunch at all. We actually feel like the fish was also microwaved, not good. Neither of us ate our food.
My husband got the pulled pork and liked it, and my father in law got the chicken and also liked that! Lesson learned: In a BBQ joint, DONT order the fish special!!!
Minus leaving hungry, I would go back for the drinks — just stay clear of the fish, people! We stopped at Saguaro Corners on the way home for a second meal — you can’t go wrong with their new delicious menu…

I only leave Unilocal reviews for a really great experience or for a regrettable experience. Our dinner tonight at BBQ Gary’s was not good.
My first clue to the caliber of our meal was the prickly pear margarita. Most prickly pear margaritas I’ve had in Tucson are a dark magenta color. This one was bright pink, like Country Time Pink Lemonade. It tasted like super sweet country time lemonade, but with enough alcohol to let you know there’s alcohol in it. This restaurant has the audacity to charge $ 9 for this drink. (Some places charge this much for a drink because their drinks are that good– Union Public House, Jonathan’s Cork, and KEG come to mind. This drink was not that good. It tasted like spiked punch. However, it had alcohol in it, and that helped to dull the buzz in my ears from the live music that was cranked up just loud enough to echo and give patrons the excuse to use their outside voices indoors. So, I drank it.
It was about this time that it struck me that the cook had greeted us at the hostess stand when we entered the restaurant. The staff kept going on about how busy they were, but the cook sure didn’t look a bit concerned about it.
My husband and I were both looking forward to a nice BBQ dinner. As soon as we were seated, but after we had ordered drinks (my husband’s 12oz Shiner beer was $ 3), we were told that the restaurant had run out of half of their menu items, special Valentine’s Day menu of only 5 entrees. Exactly half. At 7:30pm. (So much for ordering beef brisket.) My husband went with the sampler, which was ribs and sausage, cowboy beans and garlic toast– they were out of the turkey and brisket. I ordered the Salmon, which was not edible. The baked potato and green beans were bland, but fine. The fish was played beautifully, but a single bite told me all I needed to know– not only was the jelly on top (I assume it was supposed to be a light glaze gone wrong), was horribly unbalanced but the salmon itself tasted like it had not been cooked properly after sitting in a walk-​in for far too long. My husband’s meal was much better, but was the meat was as dry as my fish was bad. Eventually, my husband tried a bite of my fish and agreed that something was terribly wrong with it.
We had to find our own condiments from a table that had been vacated 5 minutes prior but not yet bussed. This is an understandable nuisance; it’s not everyday that half your tables are filled near closing time of 8pm on a Saturday.
Our server asked us about our food before we tried it (not her fault), but she did not ask again until we asked for the check. She immediately had my meal comped. From looking around at other patrons, it looked like we weren’t the only people there with a bad meal.
The side dishes were ok, but I don’t know that sides are enough to bring us back anytime soon. 1 star for service.

Been to this place when it was old spanish trail steak house and webbs steak house. Name keeps changing but the overall hasn’t improved. The service was mediocre, found a hair in the food and it was undercooked.

Visited on 12÷16÷14
We have tried this restaurant location under various management. So when we saw it was open once again, under a new name we wanted to give it a chance. We will not be going back. We did get carry out, so we gave some slack on the mushy, greasy onion rings, and the Texas toast. But my husband ordered the brisket and rib platter and I ordered the ½ chicken. The ribs were just ok, the brisket was an end piece and was burned and inedible. The chicken was more the size of a Cornish game hen and had little meat. They gave 2 small containers of BBQ sauce which was not enough. We both asked for cole slaw, but got potato salad. The cowboy beans were watery.
It is one of the closest restaurants to us, so we wanted it to be good, but we will not be returning.

Best brisket BY FAR that I have ever eaten. We will definitely be back, and the service was fantastic! Barbecue meat was gluten-​free.

I loved it. I had pulled pork, turkey, ribs, brisket, meatloaf, fries, coleslaw, vegetables and bread. I loved everything. Julie is not a fan of smoked meat, but she did like the meatloaf and turkey. We sat in the bar and watched the game. Good beer choices. Nice bartender. I will be back. This location has been begging for a good proprietor.

Gary Ray’s is one of those hidden gems on the far east side of Tucson, Next to Saguaro National Monument East. Their food is absolutely fabulous all the meats are smoked to perfection. We have been coming here for quite some time now and have never had a bad experience the staff and Don the manager treat you like family, the live music is top notch on Thursdays they have an all you can eat smoked meat dinner turkey sausage brisket ribs pulled pork for only $ 15.00 it is the best deal in Tucson, word is getting out quick on this jewel in the desert each week more and more new found friends are coming through the front door. Come on out and find your new favorite place to eat, Sit outside and enjoy the beautiful mountain views or sit inside their comfortable rustic dining room. Let them know Scott and Kathy sent you

Had not been to the settlement in maybe a year or so? Noticed the different name on the menu but the receipt had settlement so not sure if they have an identity crisis. One thing for sure it was an improvement over last time. Really enjoyed the prickly rita although its very high priced. Pulled pork was great, large portions. Home made chips were awesome as well. Friend had the mac n cheese and it was amazing. I could have just had that for dinner and been happy. To my surprise the service was also very good! Not sure why there were only a few tables seated but it was a Tuesday nite. We will be back for sure!

I hate leaving bad reviews for a locally owned business. However, we have eaten at this establishment several times and this is by far the worst experience we’ve ever had. It took 20 minutes for our server to even acknowledge that we were there. Once we ordered our drinks and they finally arrived after 30 minutes my lemonade tasted like straight sugar and my wife’s Root beer float tasted like watery milk so after another 20 minutes of waiting we had to flag down someone to get us waters. Another 15 minutes went by and we were collecting our kids to leave and our server must have noticed us getting up and came right over to apologize and take our order. Once our order was placed the food arrived within 15 minutes. My meals cooked perfect and didn’t lack any flavor. In my wife’s dinner they seem to have dropped a whole bottle of rub and mixed it in with some barbecue sauce so needless to say it was way too much rub. We were never offered refills on our water during our whole meal I had to flag down a server to refill our waters and I asked for him to refill all of our waters. He refilled my wife’s and left only to come back with our check 30 minutes later. He didn’t even ask if we wanted desert. I didn’t bother to complain because we will never come back.

Okay, The restaurant is no longer The Settlement! I don’t know why it is still listed as such. The new place is Gary Ray’s Barbecue. I thought going in, it would have similar dining. I was wrong! They have really fatty barbecue meat, really bad wings, the «text mex» is the worst I’ve ever had! No more selection of craft beers, there were two to choose from. Of course there were gallons of «Bud Light» if that’s what turns you on. I really felt sorry for the waitress who kept asking if we wanted boxes for the un-​eaten food. The worst thing was that I had invited friends, who were utterly disgusted. I really looked like an idiot! Thanks Gary Ray’s!