18010 N Dallas Parkway
Dallas, TX 75334
(972) 733-1110

This review is long overdue. I’ve been a long-time fan of Rafain, and next to Fogo de Chao, it is the next best source of Brazilian BBQ in Dallas. The changes in their pricing and menu (mostly in the salad bar) makes it more competitive with other churrascaria in the DFW and improved the overall dining experience of thisone-price-smorgasbord. No longer do you have to pay separately for their dessert bar, it comes packaged with your meat-and-salad-bar price. I’m happy to see plentiful selections on their hot-and-cold bar, and their desserts never cease to lure me in. However, the meat extravaganza is the show-stopper at Rafain…from their Picanha and Lamb Chops to their Garlic Beef and Beef Ribs, every cut was a delight and served to our specifications. No overcooked, dried or reheated meats here–when we found a specific meat conspicuously absent from the rotation, we needed only to ask and were visited by a gaucho with a fresh skewer of medium-rare meat or grilled pineapple. I remember visiting when the Dallas outpost of Rafain was barely a few weeks old, and the service has since gotten much better. Our hosts were always observant–quickly refilling our glasses and clearing out empty plates–and always considerate about our requests. For nearly $40 a person, my fiance and I had a most pleasurable dining experience. While the economy might be prohibitive of such luxury, I think it’s for this very reason that we sometimes need to throw caution to the wind and go out to enjoy a meat coma. For me, I’ll have a Garlic Beef coma with my triple-bypass please.

An all-you-can-eat Texas BBQ buffet? Say it isn’t so! When I heard of the buffet at North Main BBQ, I hurriedly packed the fiance into the truck and drove 40 minutes to Euless to see it for myself. And I was not disappointed! For a mere $12, North Main BBQ serves up a good selection of meats, 3 types of sides (on our visit, cole slaw, potato salad and beans), along with the requisite onions, pickles, peppers and sauce. Oh, and for that price your buffet comes with ice/sweetened tea as well…which came as a huge disappointment for us soda drinkers, because the soda machine took only $1 dollar bills (why no soda fountain) and the water came out tasting like unfiltered water (blech). But who cares what you wash down your meats with? North Main serves up fabulous pulled pork (surprisingly smoky) and moist, tasty brisket (not as crusty as it is fatty). Many folks in line also vouched for the shredded beef sandwiches, though I stuck with the standards. North Main boasts it has the best pork ribs in the world; I disagreed, finding them tough, dried and flavorless on at least two separate visits to the buffet line. Their chicken also suffered the same fate, while their sausage tasted grocery-store quality. I did find their peppery coleslaw a little bizarre, and just as cough-inducing as their peppery tabasco sauce (cowboy sauce, they called it). However, one thing that North Main got right: they never overfilled their chafing dishes with food, ensuring that fresh cuts of meats were constantly refilling the empty trays. And the food just kept coming as more and more patrons filled up the restaurant on a busy Saturday lunch. Oh, perhaps that’s another reason for North Main’s success: they’re only open Friday through Sunday, which no doubt generates an appetite for their food. There is no denying that North Main’s buffet is a fantastic deal for good barbecue–but remember to exercise some restraint. I’ve learned that there is a limit to gorging on Texas bbq–and North Main is one place where I learned that there is such thing as too much meat!