Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse are the two oldest, highest-profile Dallas-born barbecue chains (with Dickey’s being the larger, by far). Seven members of the D Magazine staff conducted a blind taste test of the two. Each food item was rated from 1 (poor) to 5 (amazing), meaning 140 possible points could be scored. Sonny Bryan’s squeaked out the victory, besting Dickey’s by just 2 points in aggregate. But both restaurants served up unimpressive fare in comparison to even the last restaurant on our list of the top 20.
Sonny Bryan’s: 67 points
Brisket: 1.7
Ribs: 2.3
Beans: 2.6
Potato Salad: 3.0
Overall rating: 2.4
Dickey’s: 65 points
Brisket: 2.1
Ribs: 3.1
Beans: 2.3
Potato Salad: 1.7
