DivBar

I will speak up for DivBar although it’s at it’s funeral. We loved this place. We never had bad service or a bad meal. The prices were very reasonable considering the portion size, quality, creativity and million dollar view. The bar was great, décor was fun & not too crazy & the valet guys were always friendly.
We tried several menu items and I wish we could have tried more. The artichoke dip with Fritos, fried chicken, BBQ ribs, etc. All good! We miss DivBar. It closed so abruptly. I wonder what happened. RIP.

I’m afraid it’s too late. My backed up queue, which is at 95 right now, failed me. Failed DivBar. For that, I’m sorry. I write this review in memoriam.
DivBar was very cute inside. Artifacts, local and aquatic, filled the place. But it wasn’t dusty, or dirty, or too kitchy, it was just right.
The waterview was it, and had me at hello. Spectacular view of the water, boats and dock. Very relaxing. I went for lunch, met my friend early, and little by little the place filled up.
I ordered a Sampler Plate. Brisket, pulled pork slider, pork ribs, cornbread, and bbq beans. Tender was the meat, it was fantastic. The cornbread and beans were good, too. So much so, I would have liked to have gone back.
Farewell and bon voyage.
~12/​19/​2012

Had lunch here again last week, I love the food, the drinks and the service. I still think they make the best burger in the area.

Went with a large group of women, arrived via boat. The service was top notch, they sat us at a nice table overlooking the water. The food was good for the most part, especially the BBQ. Very casual «cowboy» styled establishment with many tv screens for the sports enthusiast.
Nice place to go with a large group for some casual fun, good food and beverages. We will definitely go again.

Reason I love this place, is because its always a hit with our boating friends. Every time we pull up, Jay (dock hand) is always so courteous and smart on how to tie boats up and line them up in the dock. Thank you for that Jay.
Once inside, the vibe, the food and the staff are super friendly.
I’ve read a few bad reviews on here about this place, but luckily… I haven’t experienced that side yet.
I would highly recommend this place and give it a shot.
I mean after all, you cant knock it, until you’ve tried it.

I had to knock off 2 stars for a bad experience with the manager there. Super, super rude. I haven’t been back since. If you can avoid him — refer to my original review. But you won’t run into me — he took a 5 star experience and tossed it away. Too many other places to dine. So sad.

Came here last night to check it out. The location is great! Right next to Joe’s Crab Shack. We got free valet bc my dad is disabled so that was awesome. The décor was fun, lots of random stuff all over the place. We got a great table right on the water. Our waitress was super nice and very fast. The food was okay. I got the Cobb salad. The dressing was a little too much vinegar for me and the lettuce was cut up super thin and was very sharp. My mom got the fish and chips and cornbread which was amazing but there was zero food presentation. My bf got the pulled pork which was decent, the fries were excellent. For dessert we got the vanilla cheesecake in a jar… flipping amazing! Sooooo good, I could have eaten 4 of them. Overall this place is good, I would definitely come back again.

DivBar has great food with a great view. I love BBQ but have never ate at a BBQ place with this type of view.
Even though it’s a BBQ place, I had to try the pizza with brisket and pulled pork. I’ve never had anything like it before. It was really good. There’s a good selection of beers and drinks at decent prices.
I will definitely be coming back to DivBar. I loved the food, view and atmosphere.

Came in on a Saturday afternoon… Sat at the bar and had some beer & ordered a baked potato with everything and the corn
I had a good time, decent service, will come back…
However I do suggest a better placement of the trash cans, We sat on the right side of the bar next to an uncovered trashcan that was just filled with flies… It was so unappealing and I know it was bothering a few people… they make lids or better storage option! I think this is something that kept us from sticking around and having a meal and several more drinks, Nobody wanted to hanging around and see flies while they ate.
please fix this fly/​trash issue

came here at 11AM to grab a drink before a brunch cruise next door. Place had just opened for the day and was empty, hostess wanted to sit us in the dimly lit inner tables section, but i asked her if it was ok for us to sit at a windowside table (where the lighting and view was nicer). she said that was only for people ordering food. then i told her that i would really appreciate it if she’d let us, and told her we’d move if people came in and wanted to sit there. She hesitated, went back to ask another staffer, and then said ok lol. whew that was a lot of work.
After we got a nice table with a view of the marina, waitress took our order quickly. My 7&7 was perfection. my friend had a decent bloody mary. and the free artichoke dip w/​yelp check-​in was so trashy good :) the baked dip was a good balance of cream cheese, artichokes, and spices that had a nice crispy layer on top, and came with a pile of Fritos on the side.
fun chill atmosphere, floor-​to-​ceiling random decorations. self-​described BBQ smokehouse.

Tried a second time after having a miserable first impression of the experience. REMEMBERED WHY AGAIN, food is mediocre, service is still as bad as ever.
Left disappointed yet again. Can’t call something BBQ if your only throwing BBQ sauce on it (or not even bringing the BBQ sauce to the table)
Gave it a second chance and I regret wasting money again

It’s alright.
In all fairness I am not a fan of the menu. I don’t eat fried chicken or much fried anything so CLEARLY this is not the place for me.
With that said. The service was great. The bartender was a sweetheart and the manager was really friendly as well. The ambiance is fun and you can’t beat the waterfront view.
The shisito peppers were tasty and the prices are good. I’m sure if you like this sort of food your experience will be a lot better.

I only give this three stars instead of 2 because of the view, the vibe, and the live band on Country Sundays. The Jalepeño cornbread was great, and so were the baked beans, but man cannot live on sides alone.
My husband’s brisket was dry, not tender and falling apart like the brisket at Lucille’s. My ribs didn’t have much meat and were way too burnt for my taste. I know BBQ is supposed to be a little charred, but when it’s too burnt to chew… yeahhhh no thanks.
And 7 bucks for any draft beer? i could get a whole six pack of most of those beers at Bevmo for that price. I might go back to try the pizza duck fat fries. But i wouldn’t tout it as a prime place for BBQ.
Oh and the service sucked.
UPDATE: to whomever said i need to try it again and change my review, I actually did give it another try, and the service was equally unimpressive, as was the food. I’m sorry, but just because one person’s experience was great doesn’t mean everyone’s will be, and it wasn’t. This only shows that their food and service are inconsistent, and that they don’t realize that with many customers, this is your ONE CHANCE to impress them, and the fact that they did not strive to do so either time only shows that they don’t really care THAT much. so I stick with my original review.

Food quality: 2.5 stars
Price: 3 stars
Service: 3.5 stars
Accessibility: 3 stars
OVERALL: 3 stars
I had high hopes of this place. The location (Newport Beach), the food (BBQ), and the fusion (bar and BBQ). Unfortunately, it fell short of what it could be. I’ll give it this, it’s pretty nice looking and has a nice ambiance if you eat out on the patio (which I was unable to b/​c my party was 7, they could only accommodate up to 6).
TIP: VALET ONLY!!! Best bet to valet or get lucky on street parking across the street (which I was fortunate enough to get)
TIP 2: 6PM is the cut off time for the meters on the street, so if you get a spot at that time, you’re golden!
Price was a bit on the expensive end, but not too bad. I’ll let that go since it’s BBQ (which tends to be in the teen range for combos). You’re looking at like $ 12 – 15 depending what you order.
Food quality… meh. I ordered the burnt ends hoping for some «ahhhhh» moment. Instead I got more of an «awww, shucks» moment. Dry dry dry!!! Cornbread is decent. It’s jalapeño/​corn. Friends got «The Dive» pizza (smoked brisket n’ pulled pork). That looked good. Heard good things about that. The appetizer «fries» are made home fry style. Duck fat fries were not very duck fat flavored. The artichoke dip sounded good, with it coming w/​Fritos. But it’s artichoke dip. Nothing spectacular.
TIP 3: Unilocal check-​in special… free artichoke dip. But it’s supposed to be only on Mon-​Thurs
Service was pretty slow. Granted we sat out front, which appeared to be more forgotten about. It also looks like people tend to sit out front if they’re lounging/​drinking/​conversatin’… so maybe they were slower up front on purpose. Our waitress was kind though. I read some reviews that said otherwise.
All in all, I may stop by again… however, it fell short of what I had hoped. And what I had hoped for was a chic new BBQ place in town that I’d frequent regularly. I could not see myself coming here more than once every few months, at most.

Closed

FOOD CHALLENGE OFFERED HERE
1– 18″ pizza, 2 racks of ribs, 6 pork sliders, bucket of chicken, 2 potatos; it it all on your own in 2 hours and it’s free.
No one I know completed the above food challenge but they do offer it so I had to include it for the fellow food challenge seekers, looks like a tough one though!
Ok now let’s start by saying I’ve been here twice and my first experience was much better than the last, which makes me sad because I really want to like this place!
For our first visit we had a reservation for 4, when we arrived and I gave the hostess my name she was a bit rude and replied something along the lines of «don’t have your name step aside.» While we were waiting my friends were laughing and saying the hostess thinks you’re lying about the reservation. Even though I thought this was funny, a manger must of overheard because he came over and got us seated right away. Plus points for good managers/​customer service.
We ordered a SLICE of the bbq chicken pizza, I know who orders pizza at a bbq place? I was a skeptic too but when you could order one slice to try and share with friends why not! I was pleasantly surprised it was pretty good. I would still never come back just for pizza but not bad. But what disappoints me is when I came back and brought a friend from out of town during happy hour they changed their menu and no longer offered pizza by the slice :/​We split a variety of things and she didn’t really like much and thought the rib flavor was too smoke-​y. I don’t remember the happy hour menu being that exciting I think we ordered off the regular menu even though specials were offered which I rarely do.
Sauce is all on the side and the meat is served dry. They have a few different sauces (spicy/​mustard) set on the table when your seated, the waitress looked mortified the first time we were there watching my boyfriend sample the sauces alone while we were ordering… haha this was hysterical I still laugh thinking about it!!! The servers made the first experience memorable I enjoyed it overall but based on my friends I was with who ordered ribs and the bbq items they all agreed that there can be some improvement. I would be willing to give it another try but not my first choice for local bbq.

if there’s a prize for mediocrity, or underacheiving, this place should get it… driving by so often, finally decided to go in and try it. Happy hour, so that’s safe, right?
This wont be a full blown review, as we only had 3 apps and a couple drinks to try the place out, but you can certainly get a vibe on a place from a 45 minute stay and a sampler of offferings.
So, on the plus side — location. Right on the water/​harbour, sunset… very nice. The décor is like «beach shack meets TGIFridays meets Joes Crab shack»…meh, a bit overdone, overplayed. But, this place LOOKS like it should be fun, and good. Also — much smaller inside than you would think, with the «bar» open area taking up a majority of space.
**note** — postage stamp parking lot (if you can call it that) and valet only, so park across PCH and walk over.
in early, so signs for happy hour everywhere («halvie» hour, to be specific). Patio (covered/​windows) looked inviting, so we asked if that was available. «yes», and we were seated. Great! Took a few minutes to have a server approach, and when i asked what the happy hour consisted of – «oh, sorry that isn’t available out here»… WTF? seriously? what’s the point of patio seating in the sun, early (4pm) and not offering happy hour to the whole (small) area of seating???
Second disappointment: the beer list. This place has location, it’s dressed up to look like fun, yet has the beer selection of a corner mini mart. Coors, bud, a shock top, etc. All common and mostly LAME fare. (in fact, I think the mini mart on my corner may have a better selection).
so some food — ordered:
–macaroni and cheese
–duck fries
–fire grilled shrimp
The mac and cheese was hit-​or miss. While there was some decent flavor, its was just sooooo runny, none of the sauce sticks to the mac. I’m talking like SOUP runny. The cheese blend itself had decent flavor, but would benefit greatly from a bechamel base sauce instead, to add some thickness. I like my mac and cheese HOT, and crispy on top … this was luke warm. Also, WAY WAY WAAAAAYYYY over salted!!! So salty in fact, couldnt finish it – my tongue was going numb from all the salt.
Duck fries — Another close but no cigar dish. The potato in this dish is pretty awesome, more like a cut up baked potato that is fried in big chunks/​wedges. The duck itself is very good as well, a mix of crispy flavorful skin and succulent meat. Where the issue lies, is that they cover it in that «roasted shallot aioli», and frankly it ruins the dish. It adds an odd mouthfeel, and the flavor actually seems to clash with the duck. I think I would have enjoyed this more had the aioli come on the side…
Fire Grilled Shrimp — ok this was a bit odd. While I actually liked it overall, something is lost in presentation. When I hear «fire grilled», I think «HOT»…as in temperature. I’m not sure if this dish is supposed to be served cold, or if it sat so long before coming out. So I’m not sure if they took FROZEN precooked shrimp and threw them on the grill for marks for a minute, or if it’s previously cooked and then just covered in the fire sauce and served on the sweet corn relish. Decent, but for $ 11 you only get 4 shrimp… OUCH. (and these arent u-12’s or anything!!)
So, in short — this place LOOKED like it has the potential to be a cool spot. But it just doesnt live up to it. May return on a lazy afternoon to try a main dish, but if first impressions are what we are to go by… maybe not.

You know what made this joint awesome? The service.
A group of friends and family met me at Divbar for some drinks prior to my wedding. We were waited on by Alexis. Let me tell you, Alexis made our experience great! She was funny and witty.
To be honest, I didn’t like the food. The portions were tiny and the food didn’t taste fresh. But you know what? I’m a man that appreciates service and that was good enough for me on this day.
BTW, the view of the harbor was beautiful.

BBQ on the water? Yes please.
Artichoke dip with Fritos and a Stella before my meal? Heaven.
DivBar was a nice Wednesday night treat. We made reservations and scored a table overlooking their 150-​ft. dock where the occasional boater would park or pull up to grab food to-​go.
I had the pulled pork sliders which were delicious. The pulled pork was flavorful and melted in my mouth. The buns were high quality. Others at our table ordered brisket, which was raved about. The brisket came with some sides including a really yummy cilantro cole slaw which I tried, moist cornbread, and fries with a chipotle sauce.
For dessert, we tried the «kast iron kookies.» Really yummy… lots of choices as far as cookies and ice cream to top it off with. We had a «ranger cookie» which was a chocolate cookie with almonds and coconut topped with butter pecan ice cream. Our favorite was the peanut butter and white chocolate cookie with vanilla ice cream.
We’ll be back for sure. After all, they serve their full menu until 2 a.m. and Newport’s food choices become scarce after 11.

The jalapeño cornbread is the only thing 5 star, moist and delicious! It only goes down hill from here. The brisket is ok. The tri tip was chewy. I make a better potato salad, and the cole slaw sux! I wanted to like this place, but unfortunately this place perpetuates the stereotype that the OC is no place for BBQ. keepin it reelz :(