Rusty Star

Looking for some good brisket, this is the place. Drove officially 1024.6 miles from Indy to try their ‘sliced plate’. The owners are great people. We stayed after we are to chat with them. Too bad we didn’t get to meet Uncle Ted as well
Anyway. Brisket was amazing. Great flavor and very moist.

I think it is overpriced for a dive in the middle of nowhere. $ 2.00 for a plastic cup of tea and $ 10,00 for a sandwich plate makes $ 13 about your lowest price for lunch there with tax. Sausage wrap for 3.50 is tiny. Meat was okay. Ton of sugar in the Cole Slaw, about the sweetest I ever tasted. The place screams redneck attitude, with Ted Nugent and other right wing memorabilia on the wall — the people weren’t exactly friendly either. I could have a nicer lunch for less other places.

Been here twice, the food is super delicious and the service is always great. The brisket plate is amazing, I get the jalapeño potato salad and beans! Their sweet tea was perfect both times I ate there! I’d recommend this place (And I have recommended this place) to everyone! 5 stars!

Food was was ok not that big a deal. The young lady taking our order acted like it was a problem to take our order. The other two servers were very polite. I ordered the mild sausage it was way to spicy think it was the spicy one. Brisket was tender and moist very small smoke ring it was ok. Brother had the turkey he said it was good but a little dry there beans were good, potato salad tasted like a cheap store brand. Lobby was very clean. Will definitely give it another try later and see if it gets better.

Great local bbq! Jalapeño potato salad is a must here. Pecan pie tastes like grandma made it but with a bbq smoky taste in the crust. Plan to walk out of here smelling just like the food– no sneaking it unless you drive through. Finally, if you’re going to drive through call ahead!

Bbq was average at best. Pea salad was horrible. Cole slaw was horrible. The bread and jalapeño potato salad was the only thing good there. Would not recommend this place to anyone.

It’s a great option for those not wanting to drive all the way into town. The chopped beef sandwich is so good along side the jalapeño potato salad. Also, you must order the deviled eggs!

My family and I drove here after seeing it on food network. I live on Fort Hood and it was worth the drive. I’ve been all over TX and this place offers side that most places don’t. From deviled eggs to jalapeño potato salad. The bbq plate was good too. The people that worked there were friendly as my dad asked a million questions lol. But over all it gave you an old TX feel, and thats what your looking for when you come to visit.
With family in town they liked this place way better than the Salt Lick in Austin TX.

Rusty Star is like a hundred other BBQ places all over the country. It’s neither the best or the worst, but hangs someplace in the undefined middle ground. If it wasn’t in a small or smallish town it might not make it, because any competition could knock it out. I’d assume that if you polled most people dining there they live or work very close.
My brisket was a little dry and was lacking a smoke flavor. It was a little more «Pot Roast» then brisket. The pork ribs were pretty good. They had a sweat taste, and were pretty tender as well. I’m assuming (and could be wrong.) that the BBQ sauce comes out of gallon Sysco BBQ sauce jugs. I also liked the jalapeño deviled eggs, but I’m always a sucker for deviled eggs and you have to screw them up pretty hard for me not to like them.
Don’t try any funny stuff while eating here, they guy cutting the meat was packing a pistol on his hip when I was in there!

I usually order the sausage plate & I’m never disappointed. Their potato salad & deviled eggs are to die for! I tried the jalapeño potato salad the last time I visited after reading about it here… it was good but just a little too salty for my liking.
It’s definitely one of the better BBQ restaurants in town but I think it’s a bit overpriced. The only reason I eat there as often as I do is because it’s near my house & very convenient… otherwise I doubt I’d waste gas driving all the way out there on top of paying so much for the food there.
Also, the service is usually hit or miss. The first time I ever visited, the lady treated me like I was stupid for asking about their menu but since then the service has been decent… not outstanding though.
I’ll definitely return as there aren’t many other options close to home & hope they start offering more dinner specials or something.

This, for you fools is Wacos finest bbq eatery in the middle of no where.
Its lack of tasteful décor and good food is outweighed by its awful customer service. My coworkers have felt so bullied here, that they tend to send our bitchiest girl here to pick up any food that they may order.
My husband and I ate here once, that was the first and last time. They are highly overpriced and most if the sides appear to come from cans or boxes. It wasn’t that great. Plus the owners we weren’t friendly in the slightest.
Never again.

My chopped beef sandwich had fat all through the chopped beef. It wasn’t very good, and was so greasy that the bread was soggy. Too expensive for the quality. The potato salad was meh.

Rusty Star is a little red barn near Lake Waco that I’ve often driven by but never stopped in. Today was the day. We walked in and were struck by the overwhelming redneck kitsch of the place. Camouflage tablecloths, deer heads, metal stars, American flags, and signed pictures of George W. Bush. There was even a shrine to far-​right obnoxious crazy person and gun nut, Ted Nugent, who presumably is a patron. In short, this is not the type of place I would normally spend my money.
I ordered from the camouflage-​clad employees: large brisket plate ($ 9.25) with jalapeño potato salad and deviled eggs. I requested a moist cut of brisket, and the employee retrieved a new brisket from the warming unit and cut my portion from the middle — I appreciated this. I became less appreciative when I saw that a «large plate» only contains of about 3 or 4 slices of brisket — not a good value.
I dug into the brisket. It was tender with a thin black bark, but the meat did not have much smoke. That fat in the meat hung there like a yellow gelatin and didn’t provide any additional flavor. It wasn’t horrible, but I was not impressed. It was a tender version of roast beef. I didn’t try the sausage, but my companion was not enamored with it. The BBQ sauce is a thick molasses variety and tasted very generic — I would not have been surprised if it had come out of a 300 oz jug from Sam’s Club.
The sides inspired some debate at the table. The potato salad is a white variety, pureed into a dense mashed potato-​like consistency and interspersed with a few pickled peppers. My companion loved it. I found the flavor to be too sour for my preference and the consistency was off-​putting. To each his own, I suppose. I will admit however, the deviled eggs were good.
I know there are few good options for BBQ in Waco, and especially at the dinner hour, but I will seek my smoked meat elsewhere. This place is a bust.

Lots of tasty bar-​b-​q for little cash. The brisquet had a nice of smoky flavor. The beans were average but I would definitely recommend the jalapeño potato salad. It was medium spicy and not saucy. The people at the counter were friendly and accomodating. Definitely give it a try.

Good for your standard Brisket and Sausage, but definitely not great. Sides were meh. At best.
Over priced for mediocre BBQ.

Didn’t like it. Brisket had little smoke flavor. More like roast beef. Potato salad is the «white» variety. Ribs were decent. Wouldn’t go out of my way for this BBQ.