[Mark]

A new Mesa BBQ joint I just saw via a Groupon email. Anyone tried it?

http://www.allisonstexasbbqrestaurant.com/

http://www.groupon.com/deals/allisons-bbq-phoenix

[tbonejc]

Found a few reviews for the place on Yelp.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/allisons-texas-bbq-mesa?sort_by=relevance_desc

I'm a little skeptical myself but I would give it a try.  It seems like they've been getting better b/c later reviews are better than earlier ones.

[beavis]

Allison's is often good, but inconsistent. On a "good" day, their stuff is in league with most anywhere in the Valley. But, on a "bad" day, the meat is cold or dry. It's kind of a one man show, but the guy running it is a real nice dude. Corn souffle and pecan pie are the best accompaniments.

[Corvidae]

It's been awhile since I went there.  I remember enjoying the pulled pork sandwich but was disgusted with the ribs.  This was when they were only doing ribs a couple times a week.  Tasted dry, and the texture was like it had been reheated a few times.  One of the bones had zero meat on it.  But they may have improved over the months.  I'll give them another shot.

[Corvidae]

Alright, I stopped in at lunch today for another try.  There were lots of people.  I'd say at least 75% of the seats filled.

I got a slab of ribs, beans and souffle.  They ended up giving me potato salad instead of the beans, which I requested.

There was a big difference between the last visit and this one.  The food was very fresh.  Meat fell off the bone, was seasoned well, smokey and tender.  I very much enjoyed the ribs this time around.  Not the best ribs that I ever had but definitely worthy of a $20 bill.

The only question is, will they be consistant?