Chop Daddy’s

Ate here every weekend for a month. Tried every sandwich, every side and almost every drink their amazing soda machine could offer — why doesn’t every restaurant have a drink master like that?
The best sandwich: Gotta go with the pork belly. It’s fatty, you’ll feel incredibly guilty when you eat it but pig gluttony is glorious. The brisket is juicy and pulled pork is decent but they pale in comparison to the pork belly. It’s like my high school prom court standing next to Giselle Bundchen. You end up drooling at only ONE.
Tried the sweet potato taters and the fried pickles. Call me old fashioned but I like my plain white trash taters. Reminds me of old elementary cafeterias, in lip-​smackingly good way.

Sir Mix A Lot would approve of this place, I think, because they got great buns, hon. Tried the pulled pork, chicken, and brisket. Oddly enough I actually enjoyed the brisket the best. Also loved that the bbq sauce is warm when you get it. Also, any place that puts gravy on anything wins in my book (see: The Tip and Poutine Tots)
I need to try the: pork belly and the ribs next.
the mac and cheese was kind of meh to me, which is a damn shame. Also, why does no BBQ place in Socal offer Burnt Ends?

Really tasty BBQ in Culver City. My bo is a big white dude and he devoured it. I like the added cookies to the order.

A lot of waiting for pretty good food. The tater tots were to die for. The rest was ehhh. The bun was a bit dry. The meat was delicious (pulled pork, brisket). They have an awesome music playlist but I’m not going back just for that. Plus it took FOREVER to get my food and they forgot a couple details. May go back if I’m in the area and I feel like waiting 45 minutes for a sandwich.

Not gonna lie. Kind of left disappointed. I’m not from Texas, but having lived in OKC, my BBQ palate has become quite particular.
I picked up my husband at LAX and he kept raving about the BBQ he had in Austin. Being overly jealous and absurdly hungry –after all, I am pregnant and it was 6:00PM– I suggested BBQ. My initial suggestion was Bludso’s, but it was an hour before closing time and I was afraid we’d get slim pickings. Looking through my Bookmarks, I found Chop Daddy’s and off we went. We called ahead to make sure they had brisket left.
It’s on Abbot Kinney, so we got to soak in the culture. We found parking a couple blocks on a side street. The spot was easy to find with the large mural on the wall. The ordering process was goof proof. Just order at the counter and wait. They had those new-​fangled Coke machines, but it only served diet flavors at the moment. Pork ribs were also out. We opted for a can of Coke, The Chop and Qubano. Total with tax was 21 bucks and some change.
Great! Now we play the waiting game. We had three people in front of us. It didn’t take long till we had food in hand (in a brown sack) and walked to the back patio. Two picnic benches stood empty so we plopped down on one side and proceeded to devour our purchase. Personally, I liked the Qubano better because the bread was toasty and crisp. The pickles and pork belly lent more flavor, but the pork by itself was useless to me (sorry Adam Fleischman). While I really do like brioche by itself, I’m not a fan of soggy bread. That’s what you get in The Chop. It had a lot of sauce and the brisket texture was more on the dry side. I also couldn’t taste the smoke flavor due to the amount of BBQ sauce. The slaw was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. The cookies were a nice touch, but I’m a Chips-​Ahoy chewy kind of cookie eater. All in all the prices are reasonable, but the food wasn’t too exciting for me.

EDIT: It is clear that management is willing to do whatever it takes to fix these sorts of issues. I received a personal message about the matter and was assured he would be looking into it.
This is a bit of a bummer to write as I am one of Chop Daddy’s biggest advocates. Let’s start from the beginning.
My friend in I called in our order and were told it would be ready in 10 min. We arrive about 15min after our call and our order had not even been put in yet. I was assured that it would only be an additional 10 min until it was ready. This wouldn’t have bothered me if the place we packed, but we were the only ones there…20 min after we arrived our order was still not complete. When we finally did get our food, the fried pickles were burned to a black charcoal color. We asked if we could get some pickles that were not burned so bad and they replaced them with slightly less black pickles.
Once we got home (we live one block away) our sandwiches were soggy to the touch. The final straw of all of this is that both my friend and I got sick last night and this morning. I hate to say it, but this was truly my worst experience I have ever had there. I used to love this spot but simply can’t support it anymore.

It took an hour for my order to come out and since my fried side was made 20 minutes before the other stuff, it was already cold.
I really enjoyed the Culver City Chop Daddy and was excited to see there was one in Venice. We came on a Sunday after CICLAVIA for lunch and there were only two people in the entire restaurant. Management definitely messed up! (Even if it wasn’t a huge event, a restaurant this size in a tourist area should not be run by two people on a weekend.)
With just one person manning the food prep and the other person doing the cashiering, food was pretty ho hum.
Fair warning that Venice Chop Daddy is a really small shack with no seating aside from two outdoor picnic tables in the back. A casualty of this is no beer. It basically operates kind of like a food stand in Westwood. This would totally work if you were eating your way down Abbot Kinney in hunt for libations, but not so much as a place to meet up with friends. You’ll want go to Culver City location for that.

Had lunch here on my birthday a couple weeks ago.
All the sandwich looked and sounded delicious, and I ended up going with the Belly up. Although it was good, I thought the pork belly was a little hard to bite through. I guess in my mind, I imagined the sandwich to be really soft cause you know, pork belly has a lot of fat and is fatty. Still good none the less. The bbq baked beans complimented the sandwich nicely. Honestly, can’t remember what the mac and cheese taste like, but I suppose it was your average mac and cheese.
If I’m in Venice again, I’d definitely come back to try something else.

A fellow Unilocaler (Joi S.) brought this place to my attention. I didn’t know this place was so close to my house. A new fav of mine and in my neighborhood. Soooooo good! Ribs in my future for sure.

Tried Chop Daddy’s for the first time recently. I was as the rating, ok. The sandwich could be considered a decent size but for $ 9 you’d expect a little more from a sandwich. The chop daddy sandwich came with two pieces of pork belly topped with cole slaw. I would have thought there would have been more meat in the sandwich.
All in all I’d go back if I fine myself down in Venice but don’t think I’d make a special trip, then again where can you get a good pulled pork sandwich in LA?

I caught their food truck at the Food Truck fest in Santa Monica.
My good deed for the the day: Meat eaters. Eat The Chop. It’s good. (is that a good deed every time someone reads this?) Anyway, The Chop! BBQ brisket on a brioche bun w just the right amount of coleslaw. Not that soggy stuff either, this is crisp, crunchy, light and tangy. Balances nicely with the hickory from the bbq sauce… lawdy.
I ate mine with a side of fried pickles. Oooh lawdy! Now I have to go check out the location and have a nice sit down.

Solid, saucy, laid-​back. This sandwich stand (with a few picnic tables behind it) smells great passing by and is a nice unassuming, casual alternative to so many of the too-​cool-​for-​school restaurants on Abbot Kinney.
They have a well-​rounded selection of traditional-​ish BBQ sandwiches, a few with some creative flair. It’s so adorable that everyone thinks this spot is so wildly affordable (around $ 10/​sandwich). Okay, yeah, I am not about to wait for my tax refund to eat here but it’s certainly not dirt cheap in the realm of simple BBQ sandwiches.
I ordered the «Chop» (brisket, sauce, slaw) because… brisket. It was pretty damn respectable. The soft brioche roll held up well with the copious amount sauce (so often I see brioche rolls failing when tasked with a saucy sandwich or burger). The boyfriend ordered the «Qubano.» You will be disappointed if you are expecting a traditional Cuban sandwich, but this was flavorful and a little more palatable in my opinion — the lack of so much sauce made it lighter and less sweet.
They have tater tots (in lieu of fries). Normally that might upset me but the magic qualifying words «cheese sauce» beside it on the menu (for 99 cents extra) made everything better. The thing about tots is they can never be as good as the best fries. Just one woman’s opinion — my boyfriend and I still scarfed the nacho-​cheese smothered tots and left the naked ones.

Chop Daddy’s. I love Chop Daddy’s. It’s sloppy and delicious, and is a nice place to have available on Abbot Kinney, a street dominated by restaurants that only the Monopoly Man can really afford. I got The Pulled Pig, a huge pulled pork sandwich and an order of Super Tots, tots covered in melted cheese and whatever the hell else you want on it.
The pulled pork is fantastic, super tender and flavorful and the tots are so smothered in meaty goodness that you won’t soon forget your meal. Being a barbecue place, it is a little pricey if you’re just looking to grab a quick lunch, but you definitely get what you pay for. Give them your money!

Great bbq! If you want something totally gluttonous, you will find it here, like the mac n cheese pulled pork sandwich.
However, they have some lighter alternatives which I love. I almost always get the salad plate with kale and pulled pork. It really satisfies.
If you get a sandwich be sure to look in the wrapper for a chocolate chip cookie :) Such a cute tradition.
Also, the owner is really personable and nice.

I first heard about Chop Daddy’s through their food truck, which usually parks in Santa Monica Food Truck Alley on Thursdays, but the store is a gem on Abbott-​Kinney. On a street full of so many healthy and organic restaurants, Chop Daddy’s is the shining star, with barbecued meat piled high and a collection of deep-​fried sides. And it is delicious too!
Walk into the restaurant and the smell is overwhelming! It will literally make your mouth water. Chop Daddy’s is «known for» The Belly Up, which is a BBQ pork belly sandwich with homemade cole slaw on a soft brioche roll. If you love pork belly, this takes it to a whole new level: they always manage to get the perfect crisp on the meat without burning it and it’s so tender and flavorful. That being said, my personal favorites are still The Chop (BBQ brisket sandwich) and The Pulled Pig (BBQ pulled pork sandwich). These are some of the best BBQ sandwiches I’ve ever had, especially in the area! But be careful when you open them up; there might be a little surprise hidden in the paper.
On top of that, if you’re a sucker for sides (which I always am), the tots and baked beans are bomb and the potion sizes are massive (not that I’d ever share, but I’m saying that you could). I’ve ordered the Sweet Potato Tots before and maybe I just overhyped them in my mind but I didn’t love those – or the Mac and Cheese – when I tried them. I guess you win some, you lose some.
Overall a super solid BBQ sandwich place in an area where those are few and far between. I’d definitely recommend checking it out or finding the food truck around! Next time I go, I’m dying to try the Super Tots with BBQ brisket that have received such rave reviews, and I’ll update mine when I do.

Seriously an amazing sandwich place. And they have super cheap prices compared to the rest of the street it’s on. Maybe this is because of their lack of a place to sit and eat? Not sure, but the high table they have out front let us stand and enjoy our sandwiches okay.
I ordered the PBLT. It was beyond delicious. Is there such a thing? This very much rivals Earl’s Sandwiches IMHO. The semi-​spicy sauce they used really made the sandwich. The meat wasn’t really lean by any standards, but the flavor and the way they must have cooked it was oh so good. And we even got a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie along with our sandwiches!
If we’re in that area of Venice again, we’re going to be back.

We had the Chop Daddy food truck catered at a work event. Everything that I tasted was absolutely delicious. I love how you can order Combo Meals and you get a entrée, side, chocolate cookie, and drink.
I had The Chop which is a brisket sandwich. It was really good but not spectacular. The fried pickles were amazing! I would definitely recommend those. The Chop Tots were soooo dangerous because they were addicting and delicious. The chocolate chip cookie was also really good.
I will definitely come back next time this truck is around!

The belly up is a great sandwich. Perfect proportion of pork belly to brioche. This is not an over the top assault on your senses where the grease from the pork is dripping down your arms, or the cole slaw is spilling out all over the place. The sandwich is surprisingly restrained. It’s not so big you’ll feel sick afterwards. The bbq sauce is sweet like Lucille’s, but the cole slaw has a hint of horseradish which is awesome.
The brisket was almost as good, but the meat was slightly dry. I got a free side of potato salad since it was their one year anniversary. It was good, but pretty standard.
Also, as mentioned in many reviews, could these guys be any nicer? They were forced to change their name, but everything else stayed fantastic. One of my new favorite sandwich and bbq places.

Who doesn’t love pork belly? Such a creative idea to make dishes using pork belly.
I got the belly up and although I’m not a fan of the crispy pork belly, the cole slaw was sooo good. It was refreshing and complimented the pork belly very well.
The chop tots were just ok. I think it would be better using fries than tater tots. The tots weren’t very crispy.
They took awhile making the food even though there were not a lot of people waiting for their food. No seats inside but there’s a table where you can stand and eat your food.

The Belly Up sandwich is certainly one of the better casual uses of pork belly that I’ve seen in LA. Thick, juicy slices of pork belly are stacked on the bottom bun with sweet barbecue sauce and slaw on top. The combination of the meat with the brioche bun, which was not soggy and the cole slaw, which was made with the right amount of mayo made it a flavorful and hearty sandwich.
With just a couple of adjustments, this sandwich could be a culinary masterpiece. Maybe it’s my Memphis roots, but it definitely needed a little more barbecue sauce. And, the sandwich requires more work than I am used to putting in, particularly to dissect out those large pieces of fat.
For $ 8.95, this is a filling sandwich that even comes with a small chocolate chip cookie wrapped in the packaging for a nice surprise. The place is small so don’t expect to eat there but this sandwich shop is definitely worth checking out.