Smokin' Mo's BBQ
301 Main St. #107
Huntington Beach, California
(714) 374-3033
I went to Smokin' Mo's BBQ in Huntington Beach today, Saturday July 9th. They claim to be a combination BBQ. Santa Maria style (tri tip and beef ribs cooked over oak wood) and Memphis style BBQ.
I order the half slab rib combo. Six ribs, two each of Mo's Memphis, Philthy's Phil's and Sweet Carolina, pork ribs for $15.03, tax included. Baked beans, corn muffin, potato salad and coleslaw were included.
The ribs did not have any smoke flavor at all. The were baked in an oven and finished over a gril. But I was impressed with all three sauces and Iusually hate that mustard based sauce. I really liked Mo's BBQ sauce. Nice flavor, not too spicy and not too sweet. In another surprise, I liked the sweet BBQ sauce. I'm not sure why I liked them. But they weren't too sweet, some sweet BBQ sauces are as sweet as jelly. This sauce was thick and had just the right amount of sweetness. e sides were typical sides. Nothing special. They claim they copied the recipe for their coleslaw from The Counter in LA.
Overall Mo's was good but not great. Prices are on the high side. I was expecting more of an real BBQ. Slowly smoked not slowly cooked in an oven. But I didn't see one smoke ring on any of the ribs. If I'm in the area, I would go back again. I wouldn't make a special trip.
Update Jan 10, 2009.
I went back to Smokin Mo's and got the tri tip sandwich, $8.45. The sandwich was on a French roll. The meat was a bit salty and lacked smoked flavor. It was tender, very tender matter of fact. But then again it's tri tip, a sirloin cut. I thought there was a pretty good portion of tri tip on the sandwich, but I still thought the $8.45 price was a bit high. The menu says BBQ sauce and salsa come on the side but as you can see they put the BBQ sauce on the meat. I wasn't too impressed with the sandwich.
Service was good and quick. Nice people.
I know it unusual to see me review anything other than ribs but since I've already been to Smokin Mo's and didn't care for their ribs, I didn't want to waste, $15.99, for their ribs. I wasn't impressed with their tri tip sandwich.
During January and Febuary, Smokin Mo's is having a special on Mondays. An all you can eat BBQ special, ribs, chicken and pulled pork for about $16. Not a bad deal but don't expect great ribs. Even with that, I won't go back to Smokin Mo's.
