silver star smokehouse

bestbbqin shreveport-bossier. absolutely, the bestbbqin town. great food, great service...i like the southern style sandwich, au gratin potatoes, and the smoked turkey (or steak) salad. great food and service.

so here's the objective honest truth...this is a very mediocrebbqjoint. i ordered the 3 meat plate. i paid an extra $1 to upgrade to brisket for one of the meats. i got 4 1" x 2" rectanges of brisket. they were very dry, and it took a lot ofbbqsauce to add the moisture needed to consume the brisket. the plate came with 2 very small ribs, they were ok. good bit of sausage, and it was good...the sides were pretty good (i got beans and au gratin potatoes), but the quality and quantity of meat was not worth $19. i kind of felt jipped. if it were a $11 meal, then ok.

probably not a good choice for people that really know and like their bbq. bummer.

nice scenery and great bbq. wait staff is attentive and friendly. my go to is the two meat plate with brisket and ribs. their ribs are up there at the top of my list. potato salad and beans are really good as well. i'm not a big salad eater but their grilled chicken salad is great. everyone i have taken here has really enjoyed even the texasbbqsnobs. definitely my favoritebbqjoint in shreveport/bossier area.

this was my very first time here and i was not impressed. a local recommended it to me as one of the best in the area and it did not live up to the hype. i ordered a ribeye which was $30+ but i was okay with the price based on my expectations, but boy was it a let down. i've had better ribeye's from chain restaurants. i ordered my steak medium and it came out medium rare(cool red center) in case they didn't know lol. for the price i was expecting it to wow me and that wasn't the case. i can't speak for thebbqwhich seemed to be the favorite once i observed what others were eating. my server was quick and attentive but not the friendliest. i come visit the area once a month for business and to be honest i will give this place another shot but try thebbqinstead.

travel all the western states, and love this joint!. my job carries me to all the western states, and i eat out almost every night at lots of restaurants. a friend in long view tx said i had to try the silver star. so we went for an early diner before i left for oklahoma the next day. well, i mean to tell you, i lovebbqbrisket - and i wasn't disappointed! tender, juicy and flavorful. the service was great, the au gratin potatoes were fantastic, sweet tea was most excellent. i can say without any reservations, if i'm within 100 miles of the silver star - like arnold, i'll be back!


-----29 sep, 2014-----

brisket plate. tated great, and was a tender as can be!

stay away from this awful place!. i had been here because i have enjoyed meals at the country tavern and texas st. tavern/steakhouse, which the proprietor either used to own or perhaps still does. the restaurant does not have its own webpage. while both of the other places the people have been dressed in an appropriate manner and were friendly, the waitresses here are scantily clad, most in in daisy duke style shorts. all of the employees i came into contact with had horrible attitudes. for abbqplace in the south and particularly in louisiana, they need to work on the way the young staff treats customers. they also sound as though they are out of breath and are not willing to spend any time answering questions. the goal is to quickly turn the table and get you out of there. the food was nothing like the high quality food that i have had at mr. alvis' other restaurants and was not very diverse as at the other restaurants. there were several people in our party and no one was impressed. it is extremely loud in there and is in a very unappealing location. it is out of the way, only a portion of the parking lot is paved and the rest is gravel. the grass has not been mowed near the entrance to the parking lot in obviously quite some time. save your money or go to a really goodbbqplace, of which there are many in the shreveport/bossier area in nice locations. it is disappointing to see mr. alvis is allowing this business to be run this way, which he has previously been known by his successes. this will likely not be one of them, except for people who prefer to have a meal in a loud and undesirable location with rude staff, many of which are barely clothed. unfortunately, i had not read the awful reviews on numerous sites before trying this place. i will not ever go back and would not recommend that anyone do the same. although i have not used their catering service and have not booked a private room, it is clear that their staff is way off the mark on that front as well, as is shown in so many reviews.

yum!. i must say that i'm shocked at some of the reviews. i've had nothing but excellent food and service each time i've visited silver star. the burgers are the best i think i've ever eaten (and trust me, i've eaten a lot of burgers at a lot of places in the world!). thebbqis awesome - quality! the fried pickles - good, the potatoes - really good! i'm going to dinner there this weekend so will be on the lookout for some of the issues mentioned in other reviews.

food fine, service bad. let's start with the good. burgers-excellent, rib-good, fried pickles-great.

other: baby back ribs o.k., brisket was dry which meant you had to drown it inbbqsauce to enjoy, steaks way over priced ($30-35 for a medium small piece of meat), 20% gratuity automatically added, service - poor (was a friday night but waitress only came by to get drink and food order and bring bill, had to flag other waitress down to get service...asked for second drink with meal, it came as i finished...my kids fries were cold before she brought ketchup...dropped food off at table and ran before we could make request).

don't recommend...i won't be going back...hopefully you have better luck.

go to dickeys. it's cheaper and thebbqis 10 better than silver star...

they don't know what they are doing. i have made a smoked brisket a time or two. i would not feed my guests brisket like this. they advertise 18 hours of cook time i cook my whole packers brisket for close to 24 with a crutch the last few hours to get it to about 200f. it falls apart when i cut it, has good smoky flavor with a good smoke ring. there's is tough with no smoke ring or smoky flavor at all. i use oak they claim hickory but i don't taste it. my guess is they cook there's (probably a point, much smaller than a packer) at 250-300f for an hour or two too long. the wait is too long to get a seat and the service is below average along with the food.

the ribs were good decent with a good smoky moist flavor, had that signature pink smoke ring that i look for.

i suspect the place is only busy because of the attractive waitresses and the abundance of middle aged men who haven't seen their own genitals in several years because of there belly being in the way. i live just down the road from this place and have been a few times, but will stay home or drive to jefferson tx, or alexandria for betterbbq(at a gas station surprisingly).

pretty good .....bbqcan be a polarizing thing with people. what one person thinks is great - another thinks is not good at all. that being said, i thought the meal at silver star was a little above average.

we went at 8:00 pm and they were out of baby back ribs as a stand alone appetizer. dissapointing. however, when the meals arrived, there were two baby backs on the plate and they were moist and tender. the highlight of the meal was the smoked turkey. perhaps as good as i have ever had. the lowlight, the beef brisket. pretty average and relatively bland. i was surprised that there was no pulled pork. i would have liked to seen what they could have done with that.

the service was average and not very inspired. she did what she had to do with very little effort to be engaging or friendly.

if i am ever hungry and in the neighborhood, i would definitely return for the baby backs and the smoked turkey. would i go out of my way to eat at the silver star again? probably not.

pricey. server seemed uninterested in serving us but had a different server check on us. team oriented which was cool!! ordered hot wings and never got them. had the burger which was super dry. hubbs had the two meat platter which was really tasty (smoked turkey was really good). enjoyed the sweet tea and thebbqbeans. bathrooms and whole place was super clean. we will give it another try to give them a fair chance.

good stuff bad staff. same thing as their other place in shreveport; country tavern. the ribs are cooked to perfection, smoked, juicy & served hot. but, the young waitresses can't hang. if i want to look at young girls or ladies bearing skin, i know where to go. when i want to eat, i want great service...regardless of price. i could care less what you look like. male or female. just be clean & serve me well! when this place makes up its mind to be a seriousbbqjoint, instead of a hooter's type smokehouse, i'll come back.

this is hands down the bestbbqin the shreveport-bossier area. the 1/2 smoked chicken is fantastic, the filet is fantastic, the potatoes au gratin are fantastic! the salads are all delicious but could use a bit crispier lettuce at times. they have an incredible huge cheeseburger that is tasty and delicious & it comes on a fresh homemade bun. my co-workers and i eat here frequently. it is always very busy because it is just simply good. the guys love the ribs, brisket and sausage. the only thing i don't like is that they don't have a variety ofbbqsauces. the beans are forgettable. they even have a little eye candy that comes to serve you in boots and little short shorts. love this place! if they added a sweet smokeybbqsauce & a vinegarette dressing this place would really rock! highly recommend!

january 2016 update:
i'm very happy to report this already good restaurant has improved! the quality of the meat is finally back to their pre-move level, very good! the service has also taken a drastic turn for the better. the young ladies mentioned in many other reviews have improved in dress (more appropriate) and most of all in attitude and service quality! i saw the entire staff hustling and taking care of all the customers including families and women. (see other reviews if that doesn't make sense to you) we were cheerfully greeted as we walked in and immediately seated. from there everything was on point beside the brisket being a bit dry. i can finally recommend a localbbqplace without some sort of disclaimer! silverstar, please keep up the good work!

june 2012:
good ribs nice place. ive been a fan of siverstar'sbbqfor some time now, well before their move to this location. it's some of the best to be found in shreveport / bossier, not that that's saying a lot, like mexican food,bbqin the area just doesn't live up to what can be found in east texas or most anywhere else in the south for that matter. that said this is a nice place, lots of wood, cowboy chic you could say. i judge abbqplace by their ribs and sauce and silverstar does pretty good with booth. the sauce alone isn't anything special. it's a thin vinegar based sauce that compliments the slightly sweet dry ribs. the beans where very tasty but the fries where nothing to write home about. good strong tea and i have no complaints about the service thou i came in after the lunch rush was over.