BBQ Restaurants in Santa Ana
Balboa Barbie-Q
Slow-Smoked Barbecue for Dine-In or Carry-Out at Balboa Barbie-Q (Up to 45% Off)
Bayside neighborhood restaurant slow smokes brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and hot links daily and serves them up as sandwiches and platters
Balboa Peninsula Point
$20 $11
$24 for $40 Worth of Baby-Back Ribs and Chicago-Style Barbecue at Chicago Ribs
Chicago Ribs
Huntington Beach
$40
$24
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BBQ Meal for 2, or BBQ Package for 12 at Texas Pit Bar-B-Que (Up to 51% Off)
Texas Pit Bar-B-Que
Lake Forest
$39.95
$20
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$18 for Two Cowboy Three-Meat Barbecue Platters at Buckboard BBQ ($35.90 Value)
Buckboard BBQ
Covina
$35.90
$18
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Select Local Merchants
Despite their restaurant's moniker, the chefs at Johnny Rebs' Southern Roadhouse aren’t averse to local ingredients. In fact, all their produce comes from California growers. But rather than recreate Southern flavors, they prefer going straight to the source, relying on Virginian and North Carolinian farms to send country hams and Delta farms to send catfish. Said catfish simmers beneath mountains of slaw in po’ boys, one among Johnny Rebs’ many housemade Southern staples, which range from creole shrimp over cheddar grits to pulled pork slow-smoked up to 12 hours.
Though steeped in traditional Southern cooking, Johnny Rebs’ critically acclaimed culinary team puts its own twist on Southern and American staples alike. To wit: grilled cheese made with pimento and jalapeños, as well as deep-fried apple pie, which bubbles in a deep fryer stolen off a Georgia windowsill. Complemented with “suds” and “squashed grapes”—Johnny Rebs’ speak for beer and wine—feasts unfold amidst a rustic dining space made to resemble a cozy, wood-paneled home. Before the table fills up with smoked and fried meats, guests can snack from a bucket of peanuts. They're free, but any quarters diners donate in return go straight to charities such as the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
With a name like "The Rib Trader," you can expect to find meat on the menu. And the restaurant more than delivers on that promise, grilling up their signature ribs in baby back, beef back, or St. Louis styles, all served with house barbecue sauce. Other hearty options include pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, as well as tri-tip steaks and hickory-roasted aged prime rib. On weekends and holidays, diners can dig in and practice on their rib-marimbas while watching the entertaining illusions of Merlin's Magic & Comedy Dinner Theatre.
When something is simply referred to as "the beast," there's probably a good reason. In the case of Blake's Place BBQ, The Beast refers to a monster of a sandwich: slow-smoked pulled pork, pulled barbecue chicken, chopped beef brisket, coleslaw, sliced red onion, and a dousing of Blake's BBQ sauce. All those ingredients teeter between an over-sized bun, and as a whole, The Beast weighs in at 2.5 pounds. If you devour it in 20 minutes or less, you earn a T-shirt and food challenge immortality, and if you make it disappear behind someone's ear you earn lots of attention for your party-magician business.
Of course, plenty of people come to enjoy the food, not just to defeat it. The original Blake's opened in Anaheim in 1996 and has since filled the bellies of more than one million customers. A second location in Los Alamitos was added in 2012. At both, chefs use high-tech wood-burning barbecue pits that are big enough to smoke more than 3,500 pounds of meat at one time?some for as long as 16 hours. The resulting menu features entire plates of baby back ribs, hot sandwiches, and even smoked wings. Homemade desserts round out the Southern-style selection, including peach cobbler and bread pudding. And none of this goes unnoticed: Blake's was voted The Best of Orange County and Best Barbecue in Orange County by the Orange County Register, as well as Zagat-rated in 2013.
Strands of hanging lights illuminate the yard outside Beach Pit BBQ's low-slung bungalow, where guests gather at picnic tables to enjoy Southern–style barbecue. Pit masters smoke the meat for 12 hours over indirect heat from hickory- and pecan-wood-burning ovens that give pulled pork, beef brisket, and whole chickens rich flavors. Diners get a complete rustic meal rounded out by classic Southern sides that range from jalapeño-cheddar cornbread to sweet-potato fries. The restaurant slathers their slow-cooked selections with a variety of housemade sauces, including a golden mustard sauce praised in Orange Coast magazine.
The vibe is laid-back as patrons settle into adirondack chairs around the outdoor fire pit or inside at gingham-covered tables the perfect size for arm-wrestling contests to decide who gets the last rib. Youngsters gambol about a play area enclosed by a white picket fence and sit at kid-size picnic tables to enjoy their meals. The eatery strives to give back to the community by sponsoring fundraisers and catering local events.
Corea Kalbi aims to serve healthy Korean BBQ by using top quality meats that are free from MSG and offering fresh and light options such as seared Chilean sea bass and octopus cucumber salad. Their menu also includes savory dishes such as boneless bulgogi and marinated short ribs that patrons can feast upon or bring home to please their carnivorous pet dragons.