Dickey’s Barbecue Pit

The food is always delicious but the service is consistently terrible. Been here three time in a month and all three times the wait was ridiculous for only having two customers in front of us. They only have two employees working. Won’t be back here as the wait is not worth the food at this price.

Being from Texas it was refreshing to finally have some good BBQ. The brisket was tender pretty much fat free. It is brisket so expect some fat. Fried okra was cooked perfectly. Baked potato was perfect. Highly recommended!

Went in at 4:58pm today, and entire staff was super nice and one even carried my tray to the table, because my hands were full.
The food was so-​so flavored, not hot enough, and very plain for the Prices they charge.
If it wasn’t for the friendliness of the staff, I’d of given this experience a 1 rating.

This BBQ place was a lot of fun. Mainly it was the cook, Nacho, who made it fun. We got there late and ordered late. There was no one else there. I ordered a Baker with pulled pork and tangled onions. They were out of the bakers but Nacho had an idea. Put everything on the mashed potatoes. «Want to try it», he asks? Heck yeah! It was fabulous! And huge! No way to finish all that but it was fun trying. He put everything on those potatoes.
Then the cashier only charged me for two sides of potatoes plus meat. Crazy! On top of that we all scanned a QR code and got free Big Yellow cups and unlimited drinks.
We closed the place that night and the two guys let us stay to eat while they cleaned and closed up shop. Nacho asks, «You want to take the rest of the Mac n Cheese home? We can’t save it.» Yes!!! Are you kidding?!?
Best employee ever! Love this place! We’ll be back!

Great service, people behind the counter were attentive and i had my order and got out the door in under 10 minutes. Great BBQ. Not the best quality but, i think what makes it special is it tastes like good home BBQ! I had the Westerner with brisket and pulled pork accompanied by two sides of Fried Okra and Green Beans & Bacon. Very filling meal. I’d say the price is a little high for the quality, but, i understand the place has got to make margins in congruence with other restaurants. About 13.75 for my meal. No drink.

Unfortunately my wife went to this so-​called BBQ place. What a waste of money. The beef ribs were very dry almost like beef jerky but in a very bad way. The side dishes were just as bad.
Please don’t waste your time and money. Go next door to Project Pie.

Oh Dickey’s…I was pulling for you to be the one good BBQ spot in LR so bad! I used to go to one in Irvine about 5 years ago that closed and it was my fav spot to grab some bbq and partake in the free whole dill pickles and ice cream. The nostalgia of that place made me forgo the warnings on Unilocal and give this new location a fair shot. The people that worked there were nice, and my to go order came out fast. So far so good. Alas I get my 3 meat combo (brisket, pulled pork and cheddar sausage) home and take that first bite of pure fat… yes that’s right just a nice big slab of fat and gristle. I spit that bite out and tried the next doused in BBQ sauce. Dry, stringy and unappetizing meat accosted my taste buds. The meat was tinted gray and the pulled pork was indistinguishable from the beef brisket. I am sad to say that I couldn’t choke down my $ 15.00 plate of weird and chewy meat. I have to wonder if the owner purposefully buys the cheapest and fattiest cuts of meat to save money. The cheddar sausage was almost too spicy to eat even though it didn’t state «spicy cheddar sausage» on the menu. I would have rather eaten a McRib sandwich with extra pickles than eat this plate of mystery meat. It pains me to say this, but unless management makes some big changes I don’t think this business is gonna last.

Loved coming here on Sunday’s but for the past two weeks there has been a sign saying closed due to power outage. I’ve tried calling for an update but no answer.

This is my second time at Dickies and today I tried the westerner sandwich with brisket and pork.
Atmosphere felt country but for some reason it felt like it was put up in three days something didn’t seem right. Everything was printed out in black-​and-​white paper and just felt like I was in the school cafeteria.
Now that I’ve got the issue that bugged me the most out of the way… I can now complement their meal. Their Barbecue is always delicious. The staff was friendly and made my meal pretty fast which I was very thankful for as I was super hungry and starving.
David have complementary ice cream next to the sodas those was pretty smile that everyone’s face after their meal.
4 star for quality of food minus 1 Star for how cheap and dirty it felt.

Slowwwwwww. You have to ask if you can order — otherwise you’ll just be standing there in front of them for 20 minutes.
They will never acknowledge you.
Food is just OK. This is the second time I was in there to see if the first time was just a bad day — it wasn’t — this is there standard service.
There were just a few people in there at prime lunch time. Now I know why.

Second time,
Will not b a third. …
We were greater w/​a friendly smile.
I asked wat waz good
The server recommend
Pulled pork
Wound up trying Thursday’s
Special. …
Pulled pork plate
Cheese sausage…
2/​sides
Sorry
Not in to
Subway style prepared slop.
1^st time cold
2^nd time cold
Sorry & good luck
Will not come back.
If I wanted cold food
I would enjoy a frozen dinner
Lol…

We just walked out. The people behind the counter were completely rude. Wouldn’t even look up or acknowledge us. I asked twice if they would like to take our order. He would take 1 person’s order (there were 5 of us) and then ignore everyone else. I told the cashier and she didn’t care either.
Perhaps the food is good — I will never know because the staff is rude and simply doesn’t care.

I’ve been to a few Dickey’s and this one is sort of in the middle. Not the worst and not the best. The daily deals are the only worth getting since the prices are high for a fast casual chain.
This location is laid out a lot better than the Aliso Viejo location, but I still don’t like how the order starts at the entrance with big plexiglass in your way when taking to the worker.
The order taker was busy carving and didn’t really greet me. He just kept cutting the meat and finally asked what I wanted when he was done.
I ordered the daily deal which was a pulled pork and spicy sausage sandwich with two sides and a drink. The pulled pork was towards the dry side so I added more BBQ sauce. I got Mac and cheese and green beans as my sides. Both fairly bland to balance out the sauce and spices.
It wasn’t horrible, but I’d much rather drive down to San Juan Capistrano to Bad to the Bone and have real BBQ for about the same price.

Tried this new bbq joint in Ladera this «week.» Well… I guess I can use the word «weak» to describe this place.
Upon entering, there was one worker who was trying very hard to serve everyone. If you come here ask yourself, is it me or did I order from a werid spot!!!
I ordered the daily lunch deal that came with pulled pork and jalapeño/​cheese sausage, two sides and a drink.
I thought it was weird that all their meats were wrapped in saran wrap to maybe keep it juicy? The food I got was luke warm at best. I chose macaroni and cheese and baked beans as my sides. The pork was average, the sausage was pretty good but very luke warm, macaroni and cheese was sub par but the beans were actually very good. The dinner roll that came with the meal could have been used as a baseball.
I thought it was odd that there was only one worker at noon. The manager was at the bank getting change I guess. But shouldn’t that be done anytime but lunch rush!!!
I think this place is pretty pricey for the quality of food.
Disappointed!

We have been in twice and this last time was so disappointing. It was 8:00, the restaurant was slated to close at 9pm. The 2 employees (a young man and a young lady) working had already prepared to close. The food we were served was cold, the sauces were put away, the ice cream machine was turned off and cleaned out already, so it was clear that they had started cleaning up quite a bit earlier.
There was a notice on the register that advertised a free drink with a Unilocal review. (see photo) It had several misspellings. When I pointed them out, the girl on the register said she knew and then blamed it on the owner. Poor form to throw your boss under the bus like that… especially when you had at least 4 customers come in after us and not get what they wanted because you were closing up early!

This is a hometown southern BBQ place right in Ladera Ranch. Me, my wife and our little peanut have been here a dozen times already with our most recent visit just a couple of day ago.
Here’s my (revised) breakdown:
TIP: Kids eat FREE on Sundays, so pack up the little ones and head over for weekend family dinner.
TIP 2: The first time you come it’ll seem like it takes a while to order if there’s people in front of you. It’s because they slice each order fresh and it takes a few minutes. Power through it and you’ll be glad you waited… oh and try the brisket !
GOOD 1: The food was really good. Me and my wife split the 3 meat plate with Brisket, Pulled Pork, and Jalapeño sausage. Our daughter had the kids pulled pork sandwich. The Brisket was amazing, very flavorful and nicely portioned. The pulled pork was really good too, just not as good as the brisket. The sausage was good, not amazing but good. We had the waffle iron fries, mac-​n-​cheese, and potato casserole as sides. All the sides were very tasty and prepared well.
GOOD 2: They have a FREE (yes, totally free) soft serve cone station for a nice dessert. Our little one REALLY enjoyed that. I’ve never seen this before where it comes with the cone and not just the soft serve. Big props to the owners for putting this in, especially in Ladera where everyone has kids.
GOOD 3: The place has a real county fair BBQ feel inside. Drink stations and sauces are nicely laid out and easy to get to. The Kitchen and smoking machines (pit) is all in plain view so you can see them carving up the meats as they prepare your order
GOOD 4: The staff were all energetic and happy to be there. The manager (didn’t catch her name) was super helpful to everyone and really seemed to care about the customers.
BAD 1: The flow can be a bit slow since they literally carve up your meat new for every order.
Overall we really enjoyed the food and especially the soft serve dessert. The food was delicious, the staff were really friendly, and most importantly our little peanut liked it too. I’ve already told several friends about this place and strongly suggest you give them a try.

I am a LADERA resident and also a southerner at heart so I love BBQ. My family and I read all of the reviews before trying Dickey’s. The reviews were mixed and may were written within days of them opening so they were negative comments on the organization of the place. I think they have been open for a few months so here goes…
First all of the pork dishes we had were very good. I had the Baker with Pork and tanglers (baked potatoe with shredded pork and thinly sliced fried onion rings). This was very good and once I added the spicy BBQ sauce it was extremely tasty. I had the Jalapeño BBQ beans and fried okra as my sides. The beans were ok — nice kick to them and I loved the friend Okra (if you like Okra you will like this)
My husband had the one meat plate and he enjoyed his shredded pork but thought the green bean side was lacking but not so bad that he could be eat them
All in all we liked Dickey’s and will go back as we want to try the ribs and the brisket next time. My daughter also liked her pulled pork sandwich and the southern sweet tea (which is true to its name).
Lastly (but very important)… The soft serve. It’s pretty cool that they provide this treat for free. It’s very tasty and you get a cone to put it in as well. Yummy…
I recommend paying Dickey’s a visit

It must be me. I don’t get it. I want to like Dickey’s, I want better and more BBQ options but all I feel at Dickey’s is fraud. Maybe I am wrong, I don’t know. Here is my conspiracy theory, they fill the inside of the restaurant full of smoke smell to fool you. Seriously. I’ve been to a ton of BBQ joints (recently Bad to the Bone and Smokey Fred’s) and you walk into those and can smell the smoke but you don’t leave smelling disgusting. Like Vegas in the 90’s is how my clothes smelled hours after I left Dickey’s and I was only in there for 5 minutes which is weird because I swear they don’t smoke meat, just your clothes.
As for the food, my prior complaint with the Irvine Dickey’s 4 or 5 years ago was that I didn’t buy it was really smoked. Maybe they «smoke» it for an hour to say its smoked but I would swear 90% of the cooking methods for their meats are not via smoke. The meats lack the proper smoke ring, color and flavor in my opinion. On this visit to a totally new location that I wanted to love, I had their 2 meat sandwich with brisket and pulled pork. The pork was terrible. A grey lifeless pile of stringy meat. The brisket was tough and little flavor. The roll tasted less than fresh too. I like their free access to BBQ sauce that is warmed (maybe a little too warm), the free ice cream cone for dessert and their sweet tea is good but otherwise the food does not impress. I don’t know what the OC Register review guy is thinking loving this place. Sorry

I’m not a huge pork lover but this place converted me!!!
Came here last night with the hubs and we ordered a three meat plate (turkey, pulled pork and brisket) with two sides (fries and Mac n cheese) — plenty to share! The turkey and pulled pork were amazing but the brisket was out-​of-​this world!!! The fries were crispy and seasoned and the Mac n cheese was Delish! The staff was super friendly!
They have a few kinks to work out, hence the 4 star rating instead of 5. They ran out of chicken and the soft serve machine ran out of ice cream while we were there. It’s a bummer because I was looking forward to the soft serves! Can’t wait to go back and get my ice cream!

Today was Grand Opening Day and I stopped by with my Dad. I grew up in Texas, and Dickey’s is an institution for solid BBQ. I’m happy to say this location was no disappointment.
Dickey’s is Texas BBQ (think smokey not super sweet) so I sprung for the 3 meat plate, double ribs (you get two per portion on the plate, I wanted 4) and Brisket. You get two sides (I chose fried okra and slaw) and a honey biscuit.
Everything was fantastic with a true smoke ring that indicates it’s been done correctly. My dad got the Pork Sandwich and was very happy. For me, the stand out was the Brisket. Just about freaking perfect.
This is a walk up establishment, it’s not as fancy or sit down as places like Lucille’s but for my money and just straight up, this is the best in the area for Brisket. Everything I had was great, and I’ll be coming back, regularly. I don’t want to oversell this — we’re not talking competition level BBQ but better than almost everything I’ve had in SoCal and most certainly fantastic for a walk up spot. A very welcome addition to the Ladera food scene for this Texan!