CJ’s Barbecue & Fish

Me and my family have been coming here for years ! We get the fried fish
Delicious pork ribs. I love their sauce. The German chocolate cake is simply divine. The customer service is excellent. We will continue to support this restaurant

I had the bbq ribs, bbq chicken, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, corn bread, and greens. (Shared a player with co-​workers). Everything was bomb. The sauce on the meat can be ordered mild, medium, and hot. We got medium and it was the right amount of kick for all of us. The perfect combo of sweet and spicy. I’m not a big baked beans fan, but these are the best i’ve had. They were out of greens when we went, but they replaced the greens with cabbage for us (and I think laced them with crack). I’m not sure what they did to that cabbage, but I’m hooked for life. Gotta go back for the greens, though. The coleslaw had something different going on too. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s unlike any coleslaw I’ve ever had. It’s a savory mayo based sauce with 2 parts magic and 1 part crack. Love this spot. The owner’s hella sweet too. :) Definitely will be back!

CJ’s has the potential to be very good, but they absolutely lack consistency. Once again their beans were undercooked. The potato salad was good but the last time I had it the salad had turned. The ribs were greasy but had a lot of meat and good flavor. I was bugged because I ordered Tri Tip but got small chopped up pieces of meat… some seemed to have joints. I told the woman but she told me it was tri tip. Usually it comes in slices. The pecan pie wasn’t great and I wouldn’t order desert again. The prawns were good, but greasy so I’d get more but wouldn’t say they were the best.

Great BBQ! The links are the best I have ever had. I crave them. So good! The ribs were good. I like how they separate the rib tips which are amazing. BBQ sauce is very sweet but is very flavorful. Beans were great. This is real southern pit style Q’. The area is very sketch. If your not from the area make sure you park in front and not on the side street. The lady at the counter was very nice. The guy on the other hand seems to name his own price sometimes. Comes with the territory… hood.

Amazing BBQ! We had the ribs, beef and sausage, all very tasty. The sauces were some of the best I’ve ever had, and hands down the best beans. CJ and the guys working there were super friendly. We can’t wait to go back!

Okay, these guys are the best. I needed my turkey smoked at the last minute and they took me in spite of not really having room or time to do so. The smell alone in this place will let you know all you need. I’ve had their bbq before and it’s incredible. Now I’ve had their smoked turkey and it’s out of site. If you want to go somewhere, eat great food and experience great people. Go check them out. It’s worth the drive if you are coming from a few cities over. The portions are also nice…

Good BBQ !! Got the ribs and beef with fries, potato salad and baked beans and I highly recommend getting those. Family-​run business with personable and friendly staff !

This place has the best ribs I ever had, the area is a little rough but I still go and get my ribs. The best thing from this place are the bbq pork ribs, they give you loaf breaf that is so soft like if it was just baked and the fries are good too!!! I definetely recommend this place, it;s the bomb!!!

I love this place. Its very affordable and the food is great. This place is one of the best bbq place i have ever been.

Ok, I get this place is pretty much in the heart of central, but for reals though everyone here was super friendly. I seriously was craving for some smoked brisket after work, and this place delivers some of the best fatty briskets for sure. It not that super soft girly brisket, but that nice bark crust and tender inside type stuff.
On top of that all the Richmond locals were pretty cool. We were all there for some freaking good bbq, and this place is awesome. Also get the slaw side if you can. Coleslaw is off the hook!

I went to this store at today’s noon with my husband and mum. This place is awesome. The food is yummy. The waiter is courtesy. We all love this place.

Wonderful food. Great place to get your BBQ fix! I recommend everything. Seems a little pricy but you get a TON of food.

I do not know what happened. Their prices went through the roof for half the amount of food. I originally ordered sliced beef and two sides $ 21. I asked how many people can it feed; just one. I eventually got 6 wings and two sides for $ 16. The wings were actually wingettes (those half wing things), and the small sides ($ 2) were nothing more than sample cups. That is unacceptable. You would think with all that money they’re charging, they could afford to buy a mop and some pine-​sol and clean the floors.

Every Time I’m greeted with a smile. The ribs this is my favorite rib joint. 3 way is the best way, all ribs

I went last week to order a catfish dinner and what I received was 5 strips with the consistency of fish sticks. For $ 18.00, you would expect heartier selections and a discount if they were low on catfish. Very disappointed.

Something is different… ownership, pitmaster or something because this place has gotten WAAAAAY better. Takeout is preferred as seating is slim although listening to the banter between the guys working there is worth the price of admission. Some say the prices are high but the servings are also huge. I usually get a three way (23 bucks IIRC) and easily get 2+ meals out of it and I eat A LOT!
Some people complained about the neighborhood. It is fine; especially during the day but it really is fine. Run down as that area of Macdonald is but no big deal.

Working in Richmond (and being a serious foodie) I have been constantly searching for great lunch spots. I had been eyeing CJ’s BBQ & Fish for the past year, but every time I drove past (I swear) they were closed. So today I happened to be across the street and noticed they were indeed open! Yay! I normally go to Mississippi Catfish on San Pablo, but lately they have not been consistent. So my search for the perfect fish fry continued and I decided to give CJ’s a try. This place is a hole in the wall but I ain’t scurred (lol). They had a variety of items on the menu and I was equally impressed with the variety of sides. But I couldn’t help but wonder if they were all actually available. Anyway I ordered the 3-​way combo w/​Fish, Ribs and Links. I know it’s a weird combo but I wanted to try their BBQ since I was there.
The Filet Catfish — Was fresh and pretty darn good. It didn’t taste farm raised but it didn’t have a nasty fish after-​taste either. It was hot out the grease and still hot by the time I got to work to eat it. So far so good.
Potato Salad — I love homemade potato salad, and I hate when restaurants serve store bought potato salad. Thank God this was not the case here. Although the texture was a little weird (half creamy with large chunks of potatoes here and there) it was seasoned well and they made it with The Works (mustard, relish, pickles, onion, and is that a lil olive in there???) which I LOVE. Overall I enjoyed it. Great 2 out of 4 not bad.
BBQ Links– Sadly this is where my story took a turn for the worst. In my opinion there are only 2 ways you can fuck up Links. You pour nasty BBQ sauce on it, or even worst you purchase the wrong BRAND of hotlinks. Sadly this was the case here today. I mean these taste like the BAR brand of Hotdogs they sell at Grocery Outlet. The link itself tasted so bad it overpowered the sauce. Does the sauce taste good? I don’t know, I’m still getting over the fact that they purchased a brand of hotlinks they must have never tried themselves. I was so looking forward to these damn links I want to cry. I ended up giving the links away. Far away. Didn’t have the heart to throw away and waste food.
Pork Rib — Due to the links I haven’t even tried the ribs yet, I’m too afraid of disappointment. But I dipped my finger in the BBQ sauce and it taste good. Real Good.
I will return here again for fish (yay), maybe even some ribs one day. Oh and they serve packaged tarter sauce (YUCK).And you already know I advise AGAINST the LINKS… Unless they change the brand. Please change the brand, pleaseeeee. The sauce was sooo good.

It’s not in the best neighborhood as you’ll probably run into a few panhandlers and they do have a parking lot around the corner. Although the appearance of this place is a turnoff, they got some damn good food!
The staff here are genuinely hard working and very friendly. Their menu can be misleading as it doesn’t tell you how much food you get and everything appears expensive, but it’s not. I ordered a rack of ribs (I think it was for $ 22.00) and I was shocked at the amount of food you get. The box was completely full to the point where the lid wouldn’t stay closed. I walked in and told the cashier (I think he was also the owner) and just told him I want enough food for five hungry adults. He made some suggestions and I went with it. Total bill was under $ 55.00 (average to $ 11.00 per adult for lunch for BBQ) and we had lots of leftovers. Their brisket had good smoke flavor (they have a big smoker in their parking lot) and the meat on the ribs were so tender it practically fell off from the bone when you bit into it.
The «hot» spicy sauce was real good. It didn’t burn your mouth but it had a slow lingering hot taste that slowly builds heat. It was just «hot» but it had real good flavor to it. For some odd reason they don’t sell drinks (they have a vending machine there) or what I did is walked across the street to the 7 – 11 store.
One thing that I didn’t quite like was the cleanliness of the place. I think it could’ve been better. My suggestion is if you do try this place, order to go.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself here. Just moved to San Pablo, and have found delicious food in the hop and skip into Richmond; this is one of those places.
Very warm staff, and the food was delicious, and affordable. Got the three way combo (great deal!) with ribs, beef, and catfish. The spice was real. Ribs were tender. Good sides, though I wish they had greens that day.
Definitely coming back. A tip if you want soda: bring cash; they only have a vending machine.

I’ve only been at the Vallejo location but the ribs are the best I’ve had in the East Bay. Great sides too and the sweet potato pie is wonderful.
They treat you great and don’t play the race card attitude with you. Actually we got treated very respectfully and were the same to the friendly staff.
Just go. Get the ribs and some pie. Last year when we were there and we found it was no longer Michaels Ribs we said we liked Michaels and a woman said «Do you want Michaels ribs or the ribs made by the woman who taught him how to make them, his Mother? «Woosh, Sign us up!