Balboa Bar-B-Que

Good food, fast service, enjoyed the Mac & cheese, fries and green beans! The ribs are really good the pulled chicken is okay

This place is pretty cool. Right on the pier and of course has outdoor seating. Really polite service and pretty quick. The food was okay. I expect better when I eat on the pier. Maybe it was an off day eh? 3 stars for great service

When you think of typical beach food you imagine sacrificing quality food for the view. That is NOT the case here. The BBQ is authentic, smoked to perfection. The burgers are amazing cooked to order juicy patties. Opt for the smoked bacon on your burger, you’ll love it. If you’re in the area, stop by for a great BBQ fix.

Today was our first time here and it’s safe to say we will be back. We had Pulled pork Texas fries and oh man… that plus we had a half rack of ribs… smoked to perfection. Even the coleslaw was fresh. The owner stopped by our table on his way out to make sure our meal was to our liking. He was kind enough to give us a little information about there recent redecorating of the place! We are total foodies and will recommend this place to our friends and family in the neighborhood… thank u balboa bar b que we are full and satisfied!

I’ll start with the location… Great view of the harbor! I was scared to try a barbecue restaurant by the harbor, cause you really don’t see a barbecue place in this area. But for a small place a kicks a lot a punch in the barbecue department… The The prices are very fair for the food that you get and the barbecue was on point.
I have the Texas fries with the brisket… They were just great… Wanting more after… The hamburger was good and my favorite the big pig sandwich was on point… Love this place will be back for sure!

I’ve been performing at restaurant venues and catered events since the 1970s so with ALL of these MANY years of taste testing LoL I’m not easily impressed. But now after experiencing several events excellently catered by Balboa Bar B Que I decided to make an effort to recommend and to share this tip for anyone else like myself who previously avoided because they don’t serve wine or beer. The friendly and personable owner Stoney notified me that you can place your order and take it or have it delivered to Balboa Saloon or Class of 47 bar located just a few steps away.

This place was great. Awesome local spot to have some fresh food. Get the Big Pig sandwich and the Texas Fries!

I was totally skeptical about eating down here, but I’m glad I did. Ordered up the 2 meat plate. I chose pulled chicken and pulled pork with a side of Mac n Cheese and Texas Chili. It comes some two slices of bread as well. I’d have to say I was surprised that the pulled chicken had a TON of flavor and super tender. Nice and moist with a great black pepper and smoke flavor. Same goes for the pulled pork. BIG smoke flavor and a greet BBQ sauce. The only reason they are not getting 5 stars is due to the sides. The Mac n Cheese was kinda bland and the Texas Chili was greasy. Nest time I’ll just stick with the slaw or baked beans. 100% solid BBQ choice of you are in this area. I’d eat here again.

Great spot to sit relax and stuff your face with some amazing home style bbq and sides. Awesome views of the canal with indoor and outdoor seating available. Service with a smile.

Probably one of the more touristy places/​traps of Balboa Peninsula, but hey when exploring Newport do as the tourists do and have some BBQ.
This place is pretty good and I love the meat platters! My friend and I ordered 2 of these with 2 different meats and 4 sides total: 2 Briskets, Pulled Chicken, and Pulled Pork. The Brisket and Pulled pork were great with the pork being a little on the fatty side but the chicken was so dry even if the sauce doused. For the sides, we got corn on the cob, mac n cheese, coleslaw, and fries.
The price for each is about $ 15 which isn’t bad as it gets you a lot of food. The seating area is quite casual and a great place to just catch up and people watch from the window area.
Why this place gets 4 stars instead of 5 is that service was very slow as I only saw maybe 1 cook and 1 staff taking orders — it was kind of crazy in the kitchen.

Their wings are out of this world delicious and crispy! They are nice and crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Not dry as other places. Gotta love their Wednesday 50 cents wings special!

If they have the white chocolate chip macadamia cookies buy them all! Try the chicken wings with the death sauce on the side its crazy hot and still flavorful.

Love this place!
It’s great to have a place you go to, remember you and be friendly like this one! Those are always the lasting impressions I look for.
The view from here is great, can watch the boats float by, fill the tummy and enjoy the cool bay breeze!
Also the food is very scrumptious.

I’ve always been skeptical about trying any restaurant near Balboa Fun Zone because they all look like they would be mediocre and overcharge just because of the location. This one actually was better than I thought. Not quite a 4 for me but definitely a strong 3.
Menu is actually split between BBQ items and other items like burgers, fries, hot dog, etc. BBQ meat options are pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken, char-​grilled chicken breast, smoked sausage, Louisiana spicy sausage, and fried shrimp. You can order as a plate (one or two meats) or as a sandwich (no fried shrimp and $ 1 extra if you go with brisket). Meat plates come with two sides of your choice and white bread.
I went with two meat plate and got Louisiana spicy sausage and char-​grilled chicken breast. Both came drizzled with house BBQ sauce. The chicken breast was tender and juicy. The sausage wasn’t that spicy but had pretty good flavor. For sides I got coleslaw and corn coblet. They tasted fairly standard, nothing unusual.
Service was slow. It took a while for me to place my order and took a while to get my food, even though it wasn’t that busy.
I wouldn’t mind giving this place another try next time I’m at Balboa Fun Zone. I would like to try the brisket and some Texas Fries on my future visit.
It’s located right by the bull shark ride.

We stopped by this place while waiting for the Christmas Light Cruise, I was pretty shocked to see the price of hot cocoa then watching the lady behind the register pour hot water into a regular size cup then shake a powder of hot cocoa mix into it. Highway robbery, if you ask me. But I can’t blame them I blame the fool who buys it lol… On another hand our cook and host who was alone when we first walked in, good looking young kid… Now his positive and helpful attitude plus the mean delicious hamburger he made for me got this place 4stars from me. I’m terrible with names but he was great and also recommend the Texas crinkle cut fries and boy was I in heaven… More business need a good looking lad like him with his positive personality.

Really excellent food. We each got a ½ rack of ribs plus a variety of sides, including mac & cheese, chili, potato salad, and baked beans. We knew it was good when the local mailman said «it’s good».

Omg… Where do I began? Best BBQ in California. Nicest people ever! BBQ sauce is the best flavor. Great customer service ! Will defiantly be back

The search for great OC BBQ ends here! Brisket that will knock your socks off. The people that work here are very no-​nonsense but very friendly. I always order to go and the food is always still good when i get home. FRESH FRESH FRESH. i will return to this review when ive tried everything on the menu!

We ate here before our Holiday Cruise. The food was not great but good. I had the ribs which where good, not dry and had a good flavor. I’ve had better ribs but for the $ 14 price it is a great deal considering it comes with two sides! The Mac and Cheese was ok and the chili was good, for included sides you can’t expect too much. If you are in the area and looking for an affordable good quick bite I definitely would recommended for lunch or dinner!

Worst Customer Sevice!!! Down right the rudest owners!!! Male employee was kind and very personable. Just don’t bet on the owners being just as kind. Bbq was dry and tasteless. The restaurant was completely empty. The beans were canned beans. Do not take your money here. Go elsewhere.
I am only giving a one star for the employee. Other than that I would give them no stars. Overpriced! You are better off at a real BBQ restaurant.

Family owned business, quality food and excellent customer service. The location has a great atmosphere with local photos, beachy vibes, good music and seating. The owners are such kind people– I worked on the Balboa ferry boat for two years and they would bring us free food on a regular basis, hot chocolate, and even water bottles on a hot day! To me that says a lot about how they run their business– their priority is serving people the best they can.

Good lunch, great location. So much happening nearby.

We were in the area on vacation and my guy was in his usual mood for BBQ so we started doing some research. Found this little place on Unilocal with pretty good reviews and we saw pictures of brisket that had the smoke ring and ribs looking smoked so we thought we would give it a try.
We came on a weekday night so parking was not too bad. The restaurant is facing the waterfront, which was equally deserted aside from cars lining up to cross the bay via boat.
The first young man was helpful in taking our order, answering any questions, and even made suggestions. I was impressed and left him a tip, which is something I generally do even for takeout orders for employees who earn it. There was another young man sitting at a table in front of the pick up window and laughing while on his phone; we thought he was a customer waiting for his food. Turns out he was an employee who was either on break or waiting to start his shift or something.
We ordered a 2-​meat plate with hot links, brisket, macaroni and cheese, and texas chili. We also ordered a full rack of ribs with potato salad and macaroni and cheese-​along with a large order of texas fries with brisket. The food was okay-​the sauce had an overwhelming flavor of liquid smoke, which ruined part of the meal. The potato salad either is storebought or they worked pretty hard at making it taste that way. I enjoyed the chili and just the perfectly cooked crinkle fries. The texas fries need to have the meat and other trimmings like beans, cheese, etc like nachos-​not just chopped up meat and that liquid smoke sauce slapped on top. Both meals came with thick slices of white bread, we could take it or leave it.
The food did not take long to be ready. The second male employee had a scowl on his face as soon as he got behind the counter and was unhelpful. Even when I smiled and thanked him, he just stared while his coworker helped us out. If he was our only server we would have left.
If back in the area and in the mood for BBQ we may give this place another try or just head on straight down to Lucille’a since there are not many BBQ places to choose from.

Decent barbecue brisket and beans. The baby back ribs were definitely undercooked and I paid for this later jn the evening with stomach issues. Ribs were old and very undercooked making them toigh, stringy and they looked raw.
Brisket however was very good and the brisket sandwich is the best item on their menu.

I’m not a BBQ expert by all means, but this wasn’t half bad. Husband and I both got 2 meat platters. I had gotten the Brisket and Pulled pork with beans and coleslaw. Husband gotten Ribs, Sausage, Mac N Cheese and Potato Salad. My meats were both good, neither were dry and the BBQ they serve alongside was good. My coleslaw was just ok but my beans were yummy. Beans defiantly had bacon and some sort of molasses in them. My other half’s meats were both good, loved the sausage and liked the ribs. Tried his potato salad which was just ok but didn’t touch his Mac, he told me it was really good. Prices were decent for BBQ, $ 14 for each platter. This is by my home so I can see myself coming back.

Just ate there. The food was okay at best. I got the Texas fries with pulled pork. It was too salty for my taste. Definitely not above a 3. My husband got the ribs, and he was disappointed. Same price as a traditional restaurant but not the same taste.

Great family run business. Don’t make excuses: get the pulled pork!
While it’s a relatively newer store, it retains one of the last true spirits from the classic Fun Zone era. Give these people your money and enjoy the best pulled pork you’ve ever had! :)

I had never heard of this place and have a generally poor opinion of OC barbecue spots, having lived in both TX and AR, so it was a leap of faith to buy a Groupon and check it out.
First impressions were good — not too expensive, decent selection of menu items and sounded busy when I called. Parking was a snap, it was a weekday evening and spaces were available on E. Bay. We ordered a hot dog for our kid, two of the 2-​meat plates and an order of the Texas Fries. Meats were ribs, hot links, chicken breast and sausage. Sides were mac & cheese, potato salad and fries. They were out of brisket, or we would have tried that, because two ways to tell if a bbq joint is legit is to see how they handle the lowly chicken and if their brisket is any good.
Service was prompt, the only complaint was they forgot the hot dog, but it was only $ 3.00, I should have checked, and we had way more than enough food, so it was no big deal, just irritating.
The food smelled great on the drive home, and we were pleased with everything. It wasn’t the best barbecue we have had, but it was pretty good — a hell of a lot better than many other places in and around OC. I was really pleased with the chicken — a boneless skinless chicken breast grilled and basted with be sauce. It was moist and very flavorful, not dry and bland. The ribs were perfectly cooked and nice and meaty. The pulled pork on the TX fries was quite good as well, and the sausages were everything you like about sausage. Potato salad was great, mac & cheese nice and cheesy. The fries are hardy krinkle cut deals and very good.
For the price and food, this is a pretty good option for bbq in the Newport Mesa area. We’ll try it again and see if they’re any better or worse.

The baby back ribs are really juicy and tasty, bbq’ed to perfect and super soft.
Came here for lunch one day and ordered a full rack of ribs with 2 small sides $ 23.95. The ribs were already cut and each one was pretty big although you get fewer of them compared to the other bbq places. We got the green beans and Texas chili for our 2 sides. Neither was very good, the beans were very bland and mushy, and the chili was very watery and overly salty. The restaurant is cafeteria style, so you order at the counter then you pick up your food and either each at the few small tables inside the restaurant or outside.
There’s an outside patio with seating which was very nice. Parking is a nightmare in the area so plan accordingly.

Dirty, rude, unsanitary. The trash cans are overflowing with trash, the trash can behind the bar area where they are cooking the food is overflowing– the girl behind the counter is handling money– scratching her face and then filling up cups of coleslaw and wiping down trays with a dirty washcloth. Not to mention she’s yelling for people to come pick up their food. She’s rude, rushes you along and I’m not super thrilled we just dropped 30 dollars on this place. The food is like the kind you get at the carnival.

Came here because I had a Groupon and ordered 2 meat plates ($ 9.95 each).
Pulled Pork: meat was SUPER dry. How is that one of the highlights on their page?! Stay away from this.
Baby back ribs: It was just A OK. But compared to the pulled pork it was good.
Mac & Cheese: Surprisingly pretty cheesy. Not too shabby.
Potato Salad: Pretty good also.
Fries: I hate crinkle cut fries but these fries turned out to be crispy and well seasoned.
Overall, the sides were better than the BBQ meats. A little sad because this restaurant specializes in BBQ.

I discovered this place through a Groupon deal. Balboa Barbie-​Q is located conveniently in the heart of the Balboa Fun Zone. We arrived around 6pm and the place was full but not overly busy. As my wife claimed the last available table I stepped up to the counter to order. Unfortunately the ordering process was slow as they appeared to only have two employees working.
I ordered the ½ rack of baby back ribs which came with two sides (I chose bbq beans and corn on the cob). My wife went with the bbq brisket, bbq beans and side salad. Both meals came out promptly and were hot, flavorful and cooked perfectly. What surprised me the most is how reasonable the prices were on the food. Don’t let the fact that this place sits on the boardwalk be a deterrent, the food is on par with higher end bbq restaurants. All the options you would expect are available from brisket, ribs, chicken to burger, hot dogs and wings.
The service may be a bit too slow but the food is worth the wait. I look forward to my return visit and hope it is soon. I can’t wait to try other amazing items off the menu. If you are visiting the area give this place a try.

This place was yummy!!! I’m happy that my husband purchased a Groupon for this place and remembered about it and mentioned going.
Now with Balboa and Newport Beach, you don’t have to take the ferry. We noticed on the side it was on that we had already been in this area before. If you take Newport you are on the same side as this place. If you take Jamboree to Park and Agate, you will use the ferry. Ferry is $ 1 per person per trip. I parked and we walked on the ferry to travel over.
This place was great. It was a small place, not a big restaurant. They had so many choices, one and two meat meals with a slice of bread and two sides. They had stuff ranging from brisket, to pulled pork, to chicken, to sausage, ribs, etc.
I had brisket with a garden salad with blue cheese, and bbq beans. Everything was delicious! I got all that and a slice of bread for 9.95. My husband had bbq ribs with bbq beans and corn. His was a little more. He got the rib meal.
They also have other options such as fish and chips for 7.95 and a hamburger for 5.95 and a hot dog as low as 3.00.
Service was a little slow due to only two people working. One was cooking and one had to take orders while putting the food together. It was worth waiting though. Once the food was ordered it did not take long. Everything was delicious and I hope to be back real soon!
Here is a picture of my meal.

We were walking around and about looking for some new restaurants to try and we saw a BBQ joint. It’s the beach and we’re thinking to ourselves how good can this place be. Located closest to the mini ferris wheel, you can’t miss their play on words, named BARBIE Q, get it?
Anyhow, we ordered a 1 and 2 meat plate. I had the brisket with a side of chili and my husband had the rib and pulled pork with slaw. The brisket was tender and surprising not overdone with sauce or seasoning at all. The ribs were finger licking good with little fat and again was fall off the bone tender. The pulled pork will never match any kalua pig, but still it was tasty.
We were both satisfied with our meal. I was fairly surprised that a little kitchen like that can generate such great tasting barbecue.
It appears to be a family run joint. There was a middle age couple working the kitchen, preparing the food and a young lady in her late 20’s working the cashier. We came to visit this place during early May and the cashier definitely was not inviting nor have a cheery attitude. I get you’re busy, but it’s not like the lines are out the door.
I just noticed the other reviews in June and I’m glad we didn’t have the same bad gasy tasting experience with our food. I’m not sure if they changed out their cooking facilities, but I’m sticking to my review.
1 meat $ 10 and 2 meat is $ 13 and it comes with a small side.