Bad to the Bone BBQ

Had a pleasant meal. Wanted the 3 meat plate, but could not get turkey on it. So I got sliced brisket (lean) sandwich with sauce on the side. It was very good and made to order. I also got the Turkey sandwich and it was not all that great. I could have gotten same quality at the grocery store. The ribs looked good and my friends cleared the plate.
The side dishes I got were very good. The beans were very tasty and the potato salad was excellent. The fries were also very good as well.
They had 3 different sauces available which is nice. You aren’t stuck with one you might not be very fond of. I personally liked the regular one. Had a bit of spice to it and all were vinegar based.
I would recommend.

Loved it, best BBQ food ever. Everyone was friendly and helpful. My tritip sandwich was great and everyone in our party loved their food. Keep it up!

Great restaurant… resonable prices and GREAT food. Would recommend to all my friends and family.

The absolute best BBQ in Orange County! Got the superfeast and the crew was of the highest of quality and care! The BEST period

Amazing bbq food! On occasion they will have burnt ends on the menu, I strongly recommend you order them before they run out! :)

I come here once a week! They have the best BBQ RIBS! Service is awesome. Management is on point.

For BBQ I would say this is top for the area… I wouldn’t say it is the best BBQ I have ever had but for a restaurant it is good for the area. They do not seem to use a smoker to make the meats but it was tender and tasty. No smoke rings on the brisket.

Well, I am torn here. The ribs were very good, but the steak left me looking for more. The truth-​tip was really good, but the chicken was blah. The beans were spectacular. However, the rest of the sides just couldn’t bring it home. Over all it was a good experience. Would come back, but not looking for it as a go to location. Great service. Have to say that. So, if in the area, not a bad place to go.

After spending some time in SJC having drinks, my friends and I were hungry for some dinner — something hearty and something fast. We settled on Bad to the Bone BBQ. I had never been there before but my friends had. We placed our order and got a table right away — the place was packed on a Saturday night. But they have lots of seating and fast service to turn the tables over quickly.
I couldn’t decide what to get and wasn’t really craving typical BBQ so I ended up having the Blackened Catfish. It came with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies on the side. The catfish was blackened but a little luke warm when I dug into it. The potatoes were thick and fluffy. But the grilled veggies were phenomenal, best part of my meal.
Overall, a decent BBQ joint (from what I sampled) with large portions and fast service.

Ordered catering here for a BBQ and the food was prepared nice and hot, and easy to transport. Highly recommend it for large parties when you don’t want to waste time sweating in front of a grill!

This is a really happening place! It’s located in the shopping center off of Ortega highway and Rancho Viejo Rd, right off the 5. The shopping center doesn’t have much curb appeal from the street, but you will be able to find bad to the bone because of the crowd on a weekend. We came here on a Saturday night around 6:00 pm with a party of 4. It was already busy and people just continued to come! On the patio they offer table service so we were lucky to score an outside table. We all enjoyed our food… baby back ribs, tri tip, and the pulled pork sandwich. Their bbq sauce is the perfect flavor, a little bit tangy and not too sweet. The Mac and cheeee was the favorite side dish, as well as garlic fries. We all enjoyed our meals and my husband commented that it blows Lucile’s out of the water, and I agree.

Went here for the first time ever last night and loved it. Best BBQ I can ever remember having!
It was super family friendly. At first, I was a little worried about cheese and bacon smothering the chicken, but the server was right. It was delicious!
I can’t wait to go back. My two girls shared ribs and Mac and cheese. My husband had some beef dip sandwich and my dad had St. Louis style ribs and tri tip.
We were all thoroughly impressed and will add it to our list of restaurants to revisit as frequently as possible.
You won’t be disappointed by their selections of food and beer. My dad had wine but I didn’t look at that menu so couldn’t see how wide that selection was but he really liked his pick.

Wow, that was good!
So I’ve been to allot of BBQ places and my plan was to go with the ribs, but then I saw what was on the hardwood fired grill behind the cashier. Oh My!
LOCATION & AMBIANCE (Rating 4.5) The location is a little hidden away so you may have missed it like I did. But obviously people have found it as there is no lack of customers on a Saturday night. The line forms out the door and as you walk in the aroma takes hold. The menu is huge and you’ll probably have to nudge the people in front of you up to the counter to place their order as everyone spends the first 10 minutes looking up on the wall to the right at the menu. Typically, there’s a server grabbing people from the line to assist with seating which is helpful and works well. There’s a separate bar which is kind of cool and live music (at least tonight)
SERVICE (Rating 3) The servers need some training. Granted, we were a big party of 9, but he came out about 10 times and still didn’t have our entire order. Not saying he wasn’t trying hard, but their kitchen doesn’t always have everything at the same time with regards to orders. The counter gal was sweet and knowledgeable about the menu.
ENTREES ==
PRIME RIB (Rating 5) So I’m at the counter and just over the cashiers shoulder I see a large grill with a hard wood fire under it grilling about 5 huge slabs of beautiful prime rib. The outside was already smoked for 10 to 16 hours according to the cashier, but the inside was pink as could be so the flame broil was perfectly in order and added an additional char-​smoked flavor and seasoning that made this Prime Rib experience so novel. Add to that a TRUE «knock your nose into alignment» horseradish sauce and this was absolutely yummy with a twist. I’ll be yearning for this again shortly I’m sure, but I hope I have the discipline to try the ribs instead so the rating is balanced out for BBQ items. «No promises».
SIDES ====
SWEET CORN on The COB (Rating 5) Absolutely done perfectly. Big, sweet and plump kernels of corn, grilled to perfection with a slight smokey taste rolled in butter. Yummy goodness!
BAKED POTATO (Rating 5) This thing is done right. It’s huge and comes with cheese, butter and sour cream. They are cooked perfectly and all the way through. Not «quick cooked» like some places try to pull off.
DESERT ===
Berry Cobbler Ala mode (Rating 3.5) Served in a iron skillet, while tasty, it wasn’t very warm and there wasn’t any of the crust that wasn’t soggy so I wasn’t as happy as I could have been.

Actually 2.5 Stars.
Right down the middle. Nothing here stood out as far as a great BBQ experience.
Nothing bad, nothing great.
Though I will say I’m a bit disappointed by my fellow Unilocalers for giving it such high marks.
I guess I shouldn’t bother going to many other BBQ places as this is one of the highest rated ones.
Bummer.

Ive been going to this place with my family for the better part of a decade. After tonight I don’t think I will be going back. Yes their food may be good, but the service my mother received was the nail in the coffin for me. She placed our order tonight and had some specific requests (nothing that unusual, just well done and no toppings). The guy taking our order could not have cared any less and wasn’t even writing anything down. He seemed like he couldn’t be bothered with such things. No surprise when our order came out and the food was wrong, and when my mother called attention to it he gave me a bad attitude and was rude. When I asked for a refund he went and got the manager who further continued the display of rudeness. There are lots of great barbecue places in the area the treat their customers with respect. Thanks but no thanks.

Whenever I’m in San Juan Capistrano in my heart I know that bad to the bone is near.
I personally enjoy this place due to the fact that it’s a one-​of-​a-​kind restaurant and atmosphere. I don’t know any other place in southern orange county that serves amazing barbecue like bad to the bone.
I also enjoy the fact that they change the menu every single day in their specialty menu. It’s always fun to give it a shot to the random in the media.
Bad to the bone gets five stars for me!

Okay. Here we go. I thought that this place was going to be one of the typical lackluster OC BBQ joints which really have no clue what real BBQ is. I was wrong. And, very pleasantly surprised.
I ordered the two meat combo with beef ribs and tri tip accompanied by two sides which were potato salad and their ranch beans (bbq beans) all for $ 17.95.
They gave me two fairly large beef ribs with a fair amount of meat on them. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a fair amount of smoke in the flavor of the meat. This is one thing that 99% of BBQ joints in Orange County does not get or get it right. The meat was pretty good as well. The tri tip was moist and had a little less smoke to it but still enough to make it good. And, instead of smothering it in BBQ sauce and camouflaging the meat, it was served sparingly with a little on the side if you wanted more. It did not match what I have had in Austin, for example. But, nonetheless, the BBQ here is some of the best that I have had in Orange County.
The ranch beans side was very good with nice little chunks of meat and a good BBQ flavor. The potato salad was very good as well with a slight hint of dill and it was nice and creamy. They give you a small piece of cornbread which was also good.
I am a fan of this place and I will return.

That’s some good BBQ! The pulled pork nachos are to die for and seriously feed an army. Do not order those things alone! The pulled pork sandwich is amazing and I hear the brisket is really good too.
My favorite is the steak salad. It has a great dressing and it so good and actually healthy for you.
They have a small bar now so you can go have a drink sometimes. Easy, casual and good.

The meat doesn’t have a lot of smokey flavor
The sauce is bland
The mac-​n-​cheese wasn’t cooked fully
The tea was fruity
Sadly, it’s one of the walkable places near our office there…

YES YES YES! This place is so good, and my favorite BBQ place!
I’ve been here many times, and everything I’ve ever ordered has been amazing. Their BBQ sauce is my favorite, and I always have to ask for extra to put on my food.
My favorite thing to order is their fire-​roasted tri-​tip sandwich with grilled onions & swiss cheese and sweet potato fries. I can’t say enough good things about this sandwich! The tri-​tip is so tasty & has so much flavor that it just melts in your mouth. The added cheese & onions in my opinion really makes the sandwich perfect & I just love it! Truly recommend it.
Their baby back ribs are really tasty as well! Meat just falls off the bone & again with the BBQ sauce, it’s just pure heaven.