South Winchester BBQ

This is a rating of only the service. I didn’t actually get to try the food. Walked in and sat at the order counter for about 5 minutes before finally a guy from the kitchen let us know that the bar was taking orders. Walked over to the bar and was ignored by the bartender another 5 minutes. He noticed us but avoided eye contact while he made small talk with the patrons at the bar. I guess tips are more important than customers.

OMG !!! I think the are given smokin pig and Sam’s a run for their money. Just sayin !!! Fantastic! !!!

Have take off one star because the set up is bad. The refreshment table is right between the bar and order window which causes a jam. Otherwise the food here is fantastic. Skip the sides and just get what you came for BARBECUE.

Holy Moley this place is so good! They know how to do BBQ. Ordered the combination plate with brisket, ribs, and Tri tip and beans. It was all exceptional! But I have to say, that brisket had me! I have never had brisket that perfect!!! You must try the brisket!!! The ribs and Tri tip were great too. The beans were awesome. I cannot wait to come back here!!! Ah sooo good!!!

Not impressed. I had the chicken salad, which was the driest I’ve ever ate. In addition, they serve the salad in a paper bowl, with large chunks of chicken on top. Because of this, There is no way to cut the chicken. Although the blue cheese dressing is okay, once I ate the two chunks of cheese included, the dressing was pretty much gone.
My date ordered beef which was already sold out by 7:30.
Lastly, the restaurant is configured very clumsy. To get drinks, you have to push past people standing in line to order (both locations are right next to each other) and before I was able to fill my drink, I’d been shuffled around way to much.
I do not recommend.
on another note, Sandra L’s Review below says terrible things about an employee who no longer works at the restaurant. I was served by the same individual and found him very efficient, helpful and full of pride for the company. My service was perfect. What she so ruthlessly described was either a full out lie or an abnormally Regardless. What a rude person. I truly hopes she makes an error and is called out so tasteless, y in public.

I wasn’t impressed by this place despite its 4-​star rating. I thought the meat was a little pricey and not as flavorful as that of Smoking Pig. I also was sad to see only 1 available sauce as compared to the 4 that they offer at Smoking Pig. I guess you can say I like variety of sauces more. They had a good amount of offerings though (but also, sadly no mac and cheese). I liked how they had a patio and cornhole though! The service was pretty good for an order and sit down restaurant. The owner came up to us and made sure everything was good. I think I would give this place another try eventually but for the time being, I’m going to Smoking Pig.

Brisket was tender, I see a thick bark, but bland inside, guessing it’s finished in slow cooker or oven. Same for pulled pork.
Would’ve given 3 stars but the order process and interior space flow dock another star. Another review mentioned the same: having condiment/​drink station next to the order window creates a jam. Ordering anything over a lb requires validation w/​the kitchen — which slows down the process. Food runs short often so it’s hard to count on the place for an event or a simple dinner. Nice and friendly staff though.

We wanted to experience this BBQ restaurant and arrived on a weekday evening. I was excited about trying the meals since I love BBQ.
For starters, we almost drove by the establishment, since the signage wasn’t very evident. The entrance looked dark and uninviting, not a good look. The interior was also darkly lit and didn’t invoke a welcoming atmosphere. Adding a few lights would make a big difference.
The restaurant was ½ full with several people sitting at the bar when we entered. We ordered the Rib/​Chicken Combo Dinner and Pulled Pork Sandwich and sat down at a table. The side orders we chose were Cole Slaw, Garlic Bread and Beans. The meals were ready within 7 minutes. The man (owner?) at the bar came over to say hi and asked if we wanted any cocktails.
The chicken was very tender and the best of the meal. The meat had nice flavor and melted in my mouth. However the ribs were a little disappointing, not as tender (fall off the bone style) nor flavorful. I wish it would have been fantastic but… of the side dishes, the cole slaw rated high with nice texture and not slathered with Mayo. 2^nd were the beans (good) followed by the garlic bread which was not very garlicky. We thought the Pull Pork Sandwich was good, so that made up for the ribs.
I’m thinking about going back to see if the ribs are more tender the second time. As I said, I love BBQ so a second chance may be forth coming.

Ok… let me start by saying this is surely the best BBQ in the South Bay that I have encountered.
I ordered the Brisket meal. Sizable portion of meat and was very flavorful, the spicy bbq sauce actually had some moderate heat to it. The salad they serve is not that BS iceberg lettuce romaine bag mix but fresh leafy greens and vegetables. Garlic bread had some good sized minced garlic on it, great flavor. The side of beans was a small portion in my opinion but hey someone needs to pay the bills. No complaints here.
The atmosphere is cool. Good size flat screen with the Warriors game on, hella beers on tap. Tables outside and friendly staff. I will be back.
Take it from Fat Ralphy, check the reviews son… I grub BBQ all over the Bay. This spot is legit.

Update– bumping up by a star. Appreciate that the manager called us after seeing this review and apologized for the credit card incident. He was nice enough to give us a credit to come try again. I’m glad because I really did enjoy the BBQ. Will update upon next visit.
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The food rates 3 – 4 stars. Service rates 1 – 2 stars.
This is a sister restaurant to Aptos Street BBQ. Since this establishment is sort of new, it still has a lot of kinks to work out. I was happy with the food. My friend and I ordered the 2 meat combo and a 3 meat combo to try everything. My favorites were pork ribs, brisket, then tri tip, pulled pork, smoked chicken, hot links) in that order. The pork ribs were lightly sauced, had good flavor, and not too fatty. The brisket was juicy and fatty but I just cut off the fat. The coleslaw was really plain and would not order it again. The potato salad was good and had diced eggs in it. The garlic bread was fine, nothing to cry home about.
The service was kind of bad. Chris helped us and he raved about himself as being a great manager and prior employee at Applebees. Anyways, he held our credit card as an open tab for the drinks and food. We were the only 3 customers at the restaurant and Chris managed to give my friend’s credit card to someone else when they closed out their tab. Chris ensured us that it’s never happened before but wow… really?! Only 3 customers and you can’t get that straight… By the time we were leaving 2 more customers had come in. Anyways Chris said he’ll get the cc back but he never called my friend even after 3 weeks!
I thought the owner would have been concerned but apparently not…
Fair warning, do not leave your credit card as open tab! Ordering take out would be safer.

So many of my coworkers have talked about this place and we swung by for a weekday lunch. When we arrived around 11:45 AM, there weren’t too many people. However at 12 PM, there was a line out the door. So definitely try to come during non peak lunch hours.
My coworker and I shared the large pulled pork meal which also came with a slice of bread, baked beans, and potato salad. I believe the total was about $ 18. Pretty reasonably priced. It definitely filled two people up. The meat didn’t seem to have too much flavor or I just had high expectations for the place. I relied on the self-​serve spicy BBQ sauce they had to really enjoy the pulled pork. Beans were good. I actually really liked the potato salad, so don’t sleep on that!

This is one of the best BBQ spots in South Bay. My friend and I got the Tri tip and St. Louis ribs combo meals. Some of the best ribs I’ve had. Very tender and fall off the bone. Tri tip was tender as well. Both tasted like quality meats. The sides were good too. Coleslaw was simple but good, bread could have been more toasted but was good too, beans did not taste like they came from a can. To sum it up, everything was good. Portions were reasonable for the regular size meals. We weren’t stuffed but were satisfied. Food came out pretty quick too. Standard BBQ prices
They have about 10 beers on tap. I’d say 8 were IPAs. All reasonably priced at like $ 7 a pint. They also have a good amount of bottled craft beers in their fridge but they didn’t post the prices.
Update: Came back and tried the brisket and pulled pork. Brisket was really tender with great flavor, pulled pork was dry and not good.

If there is such thing as a BBQ hangover, I definitely had one after dinner at South Winchester and also probably #MeatSweats.
I have to say, overall I was really impressed with the offerings here. Me and the S. O decided to share the 4 meat combo dinner ($ 27) with an extra side of garlic bread and it was plenty of food for the two of us. We ordered it with their Tri-​Tip, Brisket and a doubled up on the St. Louis Pork Ribs for our 3^rd and 4^th meat pick so we didn’t have to try and split 3 ribs.
Everything was really good and arguably some of the best BBQ in town. Brisket was juicy, tender (and just a little fatty, which I like), Tri-​Tip was perfectly cooked and super flavorful, and the ribs fell off the bone. Preferentially I’d get the Brisket and Tri-​Tip on my next visit, but that’s only because I’m not normally super crazy for ribs when I go out for BBQ.
Also worth noting that they have an ample craft beer (and cider) menu with both draft and bottle offerings, and we all know how good it is to wash down that BBQ with a cold brew brew.

Their brisket is so good… that I never got a chance to friggin’ try it. Out on a weekend by 5 pm. Why o’ why must bbq places be so notorious for running out of product?! Minus a star because it is just too far away from me to keep trying. Still tried what they did have available and here are the notes.
The Good:
Tri Tip is not bad. It is fully cooked so it is chewier than it has to be. Tri tip is not a tough muscle, so it can be cooked on the medium to medium rare side. The challenge lies in incorporating the smoke flavor without cooking the heck out of the inside. Here the interior got cooked all the way through, but the beef flavor fortunately remained. Decent seasoning on the exterior.
BBQ Chicken is not bad, quite moist actually. But it is a monster breast piece with wing attached, way over half a pound. No leg meat here, but that is an assumption since we weren’t asked for a choice. I usually don’t think of breast meat for bbq chicken, but this was a-​ok.
Potato Salad pretty good. Nice and mild, maybe with a brown mustard background, because it had a brown hue to it. Very chunky and pairs well with their Q.
Garlic Bread is legit, they use ciabatta instead of store bought rolls. Most bbq places use cheap bread. But why am I raving about starches at a Q joint. I should be raving about brisket, right?!
The Sauces are decent. Kinda thick in that commercial way but the flavor is very basic and conducive to smoked meat. Very nice balance of sweet, tang and salt, without the annoying extra flavors of garlic or black pepper to interfere, ahem, cough, cough… Smoking Pig. The spicy is like a medium level and actually does well with the meats.
The Not-​So-​Good:
The Ribs are trimmed spareribs/​St. Louis. The taste was okay but just a little dry. Also the rub is real mild, so there were no pows nor wows. Really had to use their sauce for these ribs. And I can tell if ribs are special, when I use no or minimal sauce. Not here.
The beans need a little work. I think it may just need an adjustment in seasoning because it falls flat. It is not sweet, so you don’t have that as a base. It has good texture, but it just kept you scratching your head as to what it needed.
The order system needs better flow. The food window is too close to some tables that a clusterfuck will jam up if 4 – 6 people get in line. The beer line was no better b/​c one guy was all over the place. I would’ve ordered some beer except it just proved too difficult. This can be improved over time, since they might be somewhat new.
If you’re from the south bay and like bbq, this may be a promising spot. But I don’t want to take the travel and risk not having a represented menu.

Overall:
We have tried plenty of BBQ places. (We smoked our own at home so we have expectations. :) Some are simply not impressive. However, this place is a winner. We would come back to SW BBQ.
Food/​drinks:
— Great ribs. (We got a full rack for 2 adults.) Light smoke favor but tender. The ribs come based on dry rub with a little sauce. If you like your ribs ‘saucy’, just get the side sauce for dipping. Solid spicy BBQ sauce. The original BBQ sauce is kind of average.
— The side beans are really good and homemade. It is almost like chills.
— Cole slaw is light and simple. Nice balance with the BBQ. If you eat it by itself, might be a little blend.
— Great beer selections. Not your regular selections. :)
— Desserts — We didn’t order dessert but they looked awesome.
Décor: causal. You order at the front window. Plenty of outdoor seatings
Kids friendly: Yes.
Gluten Free/​Sensitivity: nothing is labeled as GF. You will have to use your judgement what you can eat.

I’ve been back since the Soft Opening so I can vouch for what a typical dining experience may be like, and it’s definitely 5 stars in my book. The smell from that smoker out back is like a BBQ-​lovers magnet, pulling you in for a tasty meal. Meats are all high quality, tender, juicy, packed with flavor. Sauces are legit, especially the spicy (spicy ALWAYS must be an option). I keep it simple when it comes to sides, Coleslaw and Beans, because they always deliver. Texture is crucial so I can’t stray from that cool Coleslaw crunch.
What separates this place from the crowd is the staff and an awesome beer & cider selection. Unique offerings you can’t find everywhere.
All good things.

Here’s the obligatory caveat to introduce this review. I’m born and raised in Texas, and I take my barbecue seriously. Brisket is king. Low and slow is gospel. Deviations from a salt and pepper dry rub are tolerated, but must be properly explained. OK, go.
I mostly avoid barbecue around these parts since it’s more likely than not to end in bitter disappointment with a tinge of regret, but I was intrigued by newly opened South Winchester BBQ. It’s an outpost of a supposedly successful barbecue joint in the boondocks called Trail Dust BBQ, so there’s precedent of success. Plus, the pictures of the brisket looked good.
The menu is certainly South Bay priced. A regular sandwich meal is $ 10, a single plate $ 12-​$ 14, and the two meat plate I opted for $ 19. I picked brisket, obviously, and asked for a rec on the second one. The bar man recommended the ribs. Had I not already ordered beef, I venture he would’ve opted to rec the tri-​tip, a popular cut in these here parts. I requested the brisket from the point (or fatty) end, and happily for me, the bar man knew of which I spoke and the kitchen obliged. The two-​meat plate came with a heavy-​handed quarter-​pound of brisket and four ribs, along with two sides. It was plenty for a Texas-​sized lunch.
Had it not been a workday, I would’ve been drawn to the robust tap menu, which includes California crafties I have and haven’t heard of like Societe, Fort Point, and Hess. There’s also a solid bottle selection with some large format options. The wood-​based décor and patio setup remind me of a mini-Rudy’s (Go Texan). I strongly recommended swinging by the smoker in the back for a whiff.
I’m pleased to report that, when it came to the brisket, South Winchester BBQ acquitted itself well. They certainly brought the deckle, providing pieces with ample fat glistening. The meat was almost perfectly tender, not quite like the perfection of Snow’s or pure, unadulterated gluttony of Franklin, but fairly close. The bark felt heavy-​handed on the salt, with what felt like a wariness to mask the risk of over-​drying the meat rather than trusting the process and letting the pure flavor of the meat shine. The saltiness factor reminded me of San Fran’s 4505 Meats, which also makes a pretty mean brisket.
The ribs were forgettable. I don’t pretend to be a taste-​testing expert when it comes to midwestern and southeastern favored pork product, but I feel fairly confident in saying there are ribs from Pappy’s, and then there’s everything else. South Winchester’s ribs were relatively flavorless without the sauce, and the sauce is overtly sweet. Of the two sauce options as condiments, I recommend the spicy, which cuts the heavy molasses stick with a kick of spice. The potato salad and beans are afterthoughts, but the grilled bread was tasty and a nice change from my usual Texas Wonder Bread white.
In short, I can certainly see myself going back to get my brisket fix and a beer or three. Maybe I’m coming around on Bay Area barbecue as a viable thing.

Aw man, i’m torn between 3 and 4 stars. Came here last night around 6:30 since we live down the street, we decided to finally try this place out after they replaced the previous place.
I noticed on their menu that the clearly state that they will run out of food, which is strange. but I guess it was true. They had ran out of brisket and something else. We decided to order the St. Louis Ribs & I got the Tri-​Tips. The sides are garlic bread, beans, & a choice of cole slaw or potato salad or a house salad. I decided to go for the salad because I actually dislike the other two. My husband ordered the potato salad.
Funny because at 7:00pm exactly they had ran out of EVERYTHING. We saw them turn down many of people trying to get some BBQ. Apparently, «it’ll be last time because we have a 2^nd smoker».
That wait, was forever. let me tell you. you better have time to spare if you’re trying to eat here. I would say at least 15 – 20 minutes sitting there. But let me tell you, when you sit and observe for a long time. you get disappointed.
There is a hefty, bald bus boy that clears the trays after people eat, but NEVER wipes the table down after. Like, he rocks the towel in his back pocket for looks or something. No joke, every table he cleared would have BBQ sauce smeared all over it and he would never wipe it down. They’re paying you for something. don’t be lazy and do a half job. He bused our table and we had to ask the server to wipe our BBQ covered table down when we finally got our food.
When we got our food, no salad, 3 beans, no bread… «excuse me? we’re missing a salad, potato salad, & bread». He came back, they had ran out of potato salad and that’s why we got 3 beans. ok? My husband asked for cole slaw instead (which was actually really good, and not weird sweet like others) and they brought my bread out and said they ran out of bowls and that’s why I didn’t get my salad.
The ribs were decent I’d say. The meat does not fall off the bones. The chicken was very good as well, not dry and a great smokey flavor. Their BBQ sauce is good though. Their spicy one is NOT spicy at all though. My tri tips were great, moist enough, extremely peppery outside. I finished my meal.
They obviously have some growing pains. I mean, it must be a good problem to have to run out of food, but at the same time. every couple that left is like $ 40 lost (not including their craft beers on taps).
I think we’ll come back, probably earlier so we can try the brisket and such. Seating is very limited FYI.

Came on a Saturday afternoon. The parking lot was packed and their competition smoker cooking away. I knew I wanted brisket, and decided on a sandwich. Chose the large size with garlic bread ($ 15.00), substituted in a side salad ($ 1.50) and a Pepsi ($ 3.00).
The only place left to sit was on the long communal table. After twenty minutes my name’s called, and the food was delivered. There’s a choice of two BBQ sauces; regular, which was too sweet for me, and spicy, which was too hot. The brisket was tender, moist, and delicious. The side salad’s ingredients were all fresh and tasty.
Service was great. I was twice asked if everything was OK. There’s also patio dining with a large kids play area. It’s a good bet that I’ll try them again.

I really wanted to like this place… but it was a let down. The restaurant it’s self and the service is great. It looks like they have a wide range of beers and over hearing the gentleman behind the bar he knew his stuff.
But I wish all that goodness over beers and cool décor carried over into the food. The chicken had a good smoke flavor but the skin was like wet paper. Oddest thing. The brisket seem to old. It was very dry and. I know BBQ is a hard thing to keep cooking everyday but hey… you got into the business. For sure food is prepared days before and served all during the week. The potatoes salad has a funny taste. like they put Rosemary in it?
Anyway…I hope they read this and make little changes to there menu and presentation like serving sides in little cups. That’s off putting! And really work on the bbq and having it freshly made. even if that mean more $$…And it will be a kick butt place!!!