Paulo’s Bbq

Appears to be closed… Bummer. Another business closed at this poor location.

We were very excited to have a «Texas BBQ» restaurant opening so close to us, but our first trip will probably sadly be our last. Although there was potential and the staff was friendly, the food was nothing special, and the owner ran away from us rather than trying to schmooze with the local populous. An owner of a new restaurant should be more friendly and welcoming with possible repeat customers. His lack of personality will be the sad, slow downfall of this restaurant.

I live very close to Paulo’s, and was excited when it opened. Finally, BBQ that wasn’t miles away! But having now been to Paulo’s three times, well… overall it’s unremarkable.
To be fair, most of the meat is «average to slightly above average». Which is good since that’s why BBQ places exist. Portions are kind of weird. I once ordered the pulled pork and got a huge portion. The ribs seemed kind of small and anemic however. Portion size seems really inconsistent. But overall the meat is pretty good.
The side dishes are all pretty much forgettable. They’re all unusually bland. I will say the hush puppies are quite good, but they’re just screaming for some hot melted butter, or something to add some additional flavor. Surely they can do better than this with the sides, no?
Prices are a little on the high side considering portions and overall quality. It’s not super expensive or anything, but I’ve certainly had better BBQ for the same or less money. I suppose I’d say that «value» is lacking here.
Service has always been friendly, if not a little confused at times.
And finally, my pet peeve: they don’t have a website. Come on guys… it’s almost 2013. To put up the time, money and effort to open a restaurant, but not think a website might be a good idea, is just bizarre. I mean, even a computer novice can use a «what you see is what you get» website building service and create a decent looking website in under an hour, for less than $ 10/​month. It’s not as if they’d need to spend $ 3,000 to create and maintain a website. And aside from listing their menu (which is why I was looking for their website to begin with), a website could be a potentially good marketing vehicle, giving them a good opportunity to tell their story. EVERY business has a story, and when told well, it can become a great marketing platform. In this day and age, I see having a website as sort of a «duh» thing for restaurants, so Paulo’s not having one just strikes me as profoundly odd. If they plan on staying in business for more than 12 months, they might want to consider letting the world know they exist via a website.
I’d give Paulo’s 2 ½ stars if Unilocal would let me. But since Unilocal considers two stars to be «Meh, I’ve had better», then two stars it is. I probably won’t go here again unless I’m REALLY craving BBQ, and am feeling entirely too lazy to drive another five miles for better ‘Q and sides. If Paulo’s would just tweak a few things (better sides, better value, having a website), the restaurant would be much better than it currently is.

Overpriced and bland, to quickly sum it up.
The prices are way too high for what you are getting. The pulled pork tasted like smoke. Not smokED, or smokY, just like wood smoke and nothing else. There was a lot of meat on my sandwich though, and it is tender. The sauce (I got the red, mild) is ok but I think I should have gone for medium because it added nothing to the sandwich in terms of flavor or spice. And the mac and cheese didn’t seem to contain cheese, just mac in a roux, really.
I came in for lunch at 1:00 on a Wednesday and there was no one — literally, not a single other customer — in the place. The plates were all north of $ 10 if I remember right (and if I don’t, I apologize but I’m sure not far off), which is a bit steep for bbq lunch in the burbs. Dinner, maybe. I think Paulo’s could pull some folks in with some lunch specials — maybe meat, a side, and cornbread or hush puppies for $ 6.95? Hey it’s a start. And I’d suggest some seasoning too.

My second time back to Paulo’s Restaurant. Sadly I have to deduct a star because they don’t carry the Meaty Chili Beans any longer and my husband loved them.
Today I ordered Pulled Pork, two sides which came with the meal I choose Beans and Cole Slaw, I ordered an additional small side of Mac and Cheese, Greens and Yams. I also loved the Hush Puppies from last time so I ordered those.
Overall the amount of food is nowhere near worth the money you spend. The Mac and Cheese is forgettable, Greens seem bland this time. The Yams are still delicious as I remember them. The Hush Puppies now come in a container half the size that they did last time, they might have been worth 5 bucks in the larger container but now surely not worth the money. They need some additional flavor or spice or something, they are bland.
The Cole Slaw and Beans were forgettable as well.
The Pulled Pork was kind of bland I admit but after you sauce them they are quite acceptable. I am a weirdo so I weighed it and we got 8.5 ounces of Pork. Paulo’s was very nice and allowed me to taste two different sauces for the meats and two for the Hush Puppies.
The Cornbread is yummy and tender.
I guess I am on the fence after my 2^nd visit. Overall the food is ok, but they are way overpriced.

service and ambiance were fine. The food was not exciting.
Pulled Pork Sandwich, had almost no flavor and the texture was not right. I expected at least a hint of smoke. Tried all three sauces, none of them really did anything to improve the flavor of the meat, so was somewhat disappointed, reminded me of crockpot pulled pork.
— coleslaw — not home made, definitely resers or similar.
— potato salad was good, homemade, with red potatoes and a good amount of egg in the recipe
I ordered 3 pork ribs, these were very tasty. great smoke to them and the sauce has a lot more flavor and kick to it. I would order these if I come back they were obviously the winners of the meal.
Overall — not a standout, it is not likely I will go back.

I loves me some BBQ. But the Portland area is just streaky as hell when it comes to good Q.
Places I have gone to either start out great and after a few visits go bad or they never had it right in the first place. So when I see another new Q place opened up this time on the Westside off I go looking to see if they have it or not.
Paulo’s seemed a bit different. At the time we went only a few other couples were inside and the staff was hanging out at the front counter playing with their hair and in general not doing much of anything.
From the reviews I saw they had Beef ribs and I was looking forward to them. Country music playing in the background with wild green paint on the walls you hope the food is better than what we have seen so far in this restaurant.
The ribs come out and they are very good. Tender and nice smoke on both the beef and the baby-​backs but the sides are just rotten. Coleslaw fresh from Resers. Fry’s so greasy it was hard to get them down then the Cornbread that was like a brick and Yams that the wife only ate a few bites of.
Paying $ 32 for the two of us for a few good ribs and some crappy sides, I think not. I could tell that they did a good job on the meat but everything else is a letdown including the puke green walls.

I’m giving it a 2.5.
I really should have stayed home and eaten leftover pizza, but when Princess had a playdate, her dad and I headed here for some late lunch.
Iced tea (I think it’s not fresh brewed, we got the unsweetened and it tasted suspiciously lemony… before we put the lemon wedge in it) was not our fav.
Server was friendly enough.
Both of us ordered pulled pork sandwiches, his with greens and mine with candied yams.
They arrived looking good, with coleslaw on top, and there was either a ketchupy sweet barbecue sauce (not special) or a Carolina vinegar style sauce to put on top. The pulled pork had a nice smoky flavor, the bun was pleasant… there were a little wet, but good. Hubby’s was especially wet after the vinegar sauce went on top, but he liked having a different choice than usual.
The greens were very soupy, but had a nice taste also.
My first few bites of yams were good… I was curious about the black speck in mine, hmm, cardamom? cinnamon? char?. um no.
Dead fly.
It was the wings that gave it away.
Now, I am the girl who pulls hair off her food at fancy restaurants and doesn’t make a fuss… but.
Gross me out.
It was deep in the little bowl, not on top, so it was hard to blow off.
(and there was another black spot in there, but I chose not to examine that one).
Hubby flagged the server and said «there’s a dead fly in her yams» very calmly. She said «oh dear» or some such, took it away and came back saying, «he believes you» a couple of times and «but this doesn’t happen.» I explained that I didn’t bring the fly with me to put in my food, to which she said nothing.
She offered me a new side (I chose potato salad this time) and offered to comp us a turtle dessert, which we turned down at first, but she pressured us to take it, so we said ok.
Then she brought a banana pudding. Not the turtle dessert she talked us into.
I hate bananas and I hate pudding. Seriously. Hubby told her that and she sorta shrugged and said, will you eat it? to him. He said ok. And hubby thought it had been around for a while, based on the way the cherry and whipped cream looked… but he ate it and he wasn’t thrilled.
I picked through my potato salad cautiously. It wasn’t too bad, but I had lost my interest a little bit by now.
We took our check up front to pay after waiting for a while (I think the server was afraid to come back), and the guy at the register (is this the owner? I don’t know), said a mumbly «sorry.“I said nothing. I’m nice. My dad would have had a fit, but really, I just wanted to leave.
We went to Dessert Tray to order a birthday cake, and I got myself a coconut lemon bar. It was delicious. It was healing. It was probably a gazillion weight watcher’s points, but I didn’t care.
I really really wanted to like Paulo’s. Hubby liked it better than I did, and said it was better than Duke’s, but we both had to pick through our food with an eye for flies after the yam one surfaced… and that just isn’t fun. I want to have confidence in the cleanliness of my food, and I didn’t.
I also think the restaurant was empty enough that the owner/​manager could have come to our table and offered us a little hospitality after the corpse made itself known.
I would have left with a better taste in my mouth and a desire to return.
After we drove away Hubby and I speculated about BBQ in Portland (we have both previously lived in Texas in different cities) and how it’s not meeting even our most basic expectations. This makes us somewhat sad.
Is it really that hard?

Hubby and I decided to try this tonight. YUCK! The food tasted like burnt rubber tires! They use a smoker wood combination of cherry, mesquite and hickory. The result is not pleasant to the nose or palate. There used to be an awful Mexican food place in this location — now there is an awful BBQ place.
I complained while my hubby did not (just too hungry to care) and the owner said he’d take mine off the tab. When the tab came it included my food, so they didn’t take it off. Liars too! I was tired of complaining so I paid. I did tip because the waitress brought the owner over to address my concerns; the tip was for her!
We will NOT be back — the ribs down the road at Buddie’s are WAY better.
Postscript: That night my hubby got acid reflux from his food and he never gets acid reflux! I didn’t eat most of mine and I fared OK. He also had diarrhea the next morning from the food.

Food was bland! Only finished my food because I paid for it! Don’t go here!

First off, I love barbeque and have been coast to coast and all the hotspots in between eating it. I have visited this place twice and will return. I enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich with Carolina bbq sauce. The meat was tender and flavorful. The brisket was tender but lacked the flavor I was hoping for. I prefer my brisket without bbq sauce. I just want a good rub and a thin layer of fat on top. I agree with another reviewer that they could definitely improve their side dishes. My mixed greens lacked flavor and the baked beans were not what I was expecting. The staff is very friendly and like I said earlier… I will return. It’s nice to have a local barbeque place.

We decided to try Paulo’s for an early dinner on a hot Thursday evening. When we got there the place was quiet with only a couple of families there. We where seated quickly and watched the restaurant fill up. While the place never filled up by the time we left they were probably three quarters full.
For an appetizer we tried the hush puppies with pimiento mayo. The puppies were crisp, hot and tasty when the arrived. The mayo had a very mild pimiento flavor and would have benefited from a little more pimiento. Also the promised jalapeños were absent without leave. Overall the puppies were some of the best we’ve had.
The dinner was a split decision. The meats were all well prepared. The pork and beef ribs both had good «pull» and were tender. The brisket had a great smoke ring and was fall apart tender. The pulled pork was smoky and tender but could have benefited from more char. The sausage was well a sausage. Acceptable but not anything I’d walk across the street for.
The sides were less terrific. The cornbread was dry, the meaty chili beans tasted like it fell off the Sysco truck and the greens were not my cup of tea. The owner worked at Russell St BBQ before opening Paulo’ and the greens were very Russell like. I liked the greens at Miss Delta much better. The coleslaw has promise. The dressing was a little runny and the slaw was not cold and crisp but it has promise.
The sauces were good but not much distinction between them. The mustard sauce was good on the sausage. The spicy tomato sauce was the regular sauce with a little more punch. The good thing was that the spice didn’t overpower the tomato sauce. The weakest sauce was the North Carolina which was really bland.
If Paulo’s can improve their sides I would give them five stars till then they are 3.5−4 star BBQ.

My mom’s friend helps run the place, so we got to go try everything out before their grand opening. The food is amazing! A group of us went, and we all shared out food. I can’t think of a better BBQ place in the Beaverton/​Aloha area. I would drive just to get this food.
The place is a bit small, but the staff and the service is just amazing. People should try it out, cause it is truly amazing!

Okay, the staff is extremely nice and sat us right away. From quick service, to even bringing out a few samples of sides for us to try, the service was great.
So why the 3 stars?
Okay, that’s simple: Food is just okay and already overpriced for the amount you get on the plate. I had the beef brisket and while the quality of the meat (Carlton Farms) was pretty good. Believe it or not, the sides (we tried many) really SUKED! The homemade baked beans were horrible and tasted nothing like baked beans. The store bought canned stuff is amazing compared to Paulo’s. Coleslaw was like a simple milk broth over the slaw, tasted FLAVORLESS! On top of that, the portion sizes were very small and I don’t eat much, but I left here feeling hungry for $ 13.50.
Had we not bought a couple BEEF ribs on the side for $ 6.00, we’d have left pretty hungry. Lastly, the cornbread was hard and tasted stale, was cold and tasteless. I actually choked on some, it was so dry. POOR POOR POOR.
In the Positive column: Okay, the Beef Ribs were pretty great actually. But at $ 22+ are a bit high. In the end, we might go back for a $ 10 sandwich, but it’s very unlikely. PaulO’s doesn’t even come close to the old Reo’s ribs out here, and Busters BBQ really knows what they are doing compared to PaulO’s. I wished I could be kinder, but from the lime green (puke colored) décor to the lack of real umph with their lacking tasteless food, Paulo’s was and probably will be put in our ‘loss’ column.