Visitors to Dallas Cowboys or Texas Rangers games in Arlington might be able to smell the smoke from The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque before they pull into the parking lot.
The massive new restaurant, open as of March 12, 2026, is situated between Fort Worth and Dallas on Interstate 30. Its 10 puffing smokestacks beckon tourists and locals alike for a bite of brisket. Crowds are welcome; there’s room for more than 450 people in the restaurant’s five sprawling rooms.
Zack Hutchins, grandson of the restaurant’s namesake and the director of operations, said expanding from Trophy Club into Arlington was important for the company growth.
Beyond football and baseball fans traveling to D-FW, the FIFA World Cup will bring people from all over the world to Arlington in summer 2026. Soccer games will take place less than a mile south of Hutchins.
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“It’s always nice to have regulars,” Zack Hutchins said, “but here, we also have a chance to feed people for the first time — to give them their first Texas barbecue experience.”
If the Hutchins name sounds familiar, that’s because namesake Roy Hutchins opened his first barbecue joint in North Texas in 1978. Two Hutchins brothers operate Hutchins Barbeque in Frisco and McKinney, while another brother owns The Original Roy Hutchins in Trophy Club and Arlington. The Hutchins family members were once tangled in a lawsuit, but they’ve since called a truce.
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They now compete for barbecue bragging rights, said Wesley Hutchins, the owner of The Original Roy Hutchins and one of Roy Hutchins’ sons.
Wesley Hutchins takes a jab that his brothers — unfairly — aren’t here to disagree with: “We feel like we’re just a little bit better.”
When customers walk up to the restaurant, a former Texas Land and Cattle, they can ask for a free tour of the pit room. Behind a rolling metal wall are three honking offset smokers, mostly used for chicken and pork belly. Next comes a rotisserie smoker so large, M&M BBQ named it Zeus. Spend even a few minutes in there and you’ll leave with a smoky cologne that lingers all day.
Inside the restaurant, six smaller M&M rotisserie smokers cook the restaurant’s brisket and beef ribs low and slow for as long as 18 hours. Customers can order pork ribs, house-made sausage, turkey and chicken, and they do. But beef is king.
The restaurant line runs cafeteria style. Staffers will grab one of the big butcher knives magnetized to the wall and slice lean and fatty pieces of brisket to order.
Customers then scoop their own sides, like mac and cheese, fried okra, cold broccoli salad and elotes. Same goes for the peach cobbler, banana pudding and soft-serve ice cream: Dessert is scoop yourself, and you’re allowed to go back for seconds.
“We believe in filling up as much as you want,” Zack Hutchins said.
In this cavernous room that seats hundreds, with buffet-style barbecue sides, we can already hear the “bigger in Texas” remarks from out-of-towners.