Bad to the Bone BBQ

Critic's Review

After a visit to Costco, I swung by this place for some lunch. They don't have a web site or a real menu you can look at; just the Toast ordering menu which doesn't really provide adaquate description. I was going to order ribs, but they don't have a rib combo. To order 1/2 rack ala carte is $19.95; so a half rack and 2 sides is $28, which is absurd; particularly when there's only a small chance I'd like the sides. So I decided to go for a brisket sandwich.

Parking is difficult; there must have been a class at the Karate school because there wasn't anyone in this place.

They made an effort to hide the storefront ambiance; a counter with covid-era plexiglass separates employees and customers.

Country music fills the air and a dude with a southern drawl greets me. "Brisket Sandwich to go please". A few minutes later I'm out the door, $14.01 poorer.

I came straight home and opened up the box.

Brioche bun; looked like a decent portion. He could have given me more onions; onions are cheap. I never got a pickle before at a BBQ.

I took a couple of bites and then opened up the bun to take a look.

The brisket was chopped, and there were large chunks of bark that created an unpleasant lumpy effect. Also, the sandwich tasted like BBQ sauce; I could barely taste the meat at all.

You might say this was by design; but I'd seen this sandwich on their facebook page; Notice the brisket isn't chopped:

Good brisket shouldn't need sauce at all; most places give you sauce on the side. At least in the staged sandwich, the sauce is only on the top. On my sandwich, it was all mixed in so I couldn't taste the meat at all.

Conclusion

I'm not sure I can get a good read on the brisket, because the sandwich I got wasn't the nice sliced brisket they portray in their advertising. In fact, every picture I've found looks different, which implies yet another issue; inconsistency. The difference between a good restaurant and amateur hour is the ability to produce consistently good results. Combining the poorly conceived menu, lack of a cohesive basic menu and inconsistent results I don't see that the prices this place is charging are justified. I doubt we'll be going back to try the $20 ribs.