One of Texas’ most popular names in barbecue will soon open a location in Houston. Anticipation has been building for a while over the incoming restaurant, and it seems we’re not too far from seeing lines form outside the smokehouse door.

Terry Black’s Barbecue announced an expansion to Houston in 2025. The Austin-based restaurant chain is currently seeking applicants for an assistant general manager. The restaurant published a job listing March 26, noting that the role would train in either Austin or Dallas before the Houston location opens. The restaurant has yet to respond to Chron’s request for updated information about the restaurant’s opening date.

Terry Black’s Barbecue’s expansion to Houston has been in the works for years. Black Family Hospitality started buying up properties and parcels of land on the 1300 block of North Shepherd Drive in Houston’s Heights neighborhood in 2021. As the company made their purchases, rumors flew about an eventual landing spot for the restaurant chain with locations in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lockhart and Waco.

Meanwhile, the Memorial Heights Redevelopment Authority started work on its $100 million Shepherd-Durham infrastructure project, which has dramatically altered the walkability of that section of the city. 

Black Family Hospitality finished buying up the block in 2025 and officially announced Terry Black’s was in fact coming to Houston. But not only is the restaurant going to be on the 1300 block of North Shepherd, a boutique hotel composed of one- to two-story bungalows and an on-site bathhouse will also be constructed. 

Mark Black, a co-founder of Black Family Hospitality, told Chron last year the barbecue restaurant could open by the first half of 2026, while the hotel will likely not be ready until at the earliest 2027. According to permits submitted to the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration in 2025, buildout of the barbecue restaurant was slated to end this summer. 

Terry Black’s Barbecue is well known across Texas and is arguably the most famous chain barbecue restaurant in the state. Black Family Hospitality formed and started its restaurant chain amid family drama.

Edgar Black Sr. opened Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart in 1932. The business ran strong for decades, but a leadership battle took place in the 2010s between Edgar’s sons Kent and Terry. With Kent Black taking control of Black’s Barbecue, Terry and his children started up a new restaurant that would become Terry Black’s Barbecue; a first location opened in 2014 in Austin. Black’s Barbecue then became the Original Black’s Barbecue, and that has locations in Austin, Lockhart, New Braunfels and San Marcos. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk recently stopped by the Austin location.

Terry Black’s Barbecue is opening their own New Braunfels location soon, along with a San Antonio spot and even a restaurant in Nashville, Tenn. The Austin location of Terry Black’s has been a popular place for celebrities over the years.