Rib Nest1766 W El Segundo Blvd
Gardena
310-329-6378
The Rib Nest is just west of the 110 Freeway on El Segundo Blvd. There are a few tables to sit and eat there but it mostly take out orders. I order the half slab of pork ribs with sauce on the side. The ribs are very good. They lack any kind of rub but there is a good smoke flavor and the BBQ sauce is good. It starts out sweet but then the spices hit and makes for a wonderful combination with the ribs. One of the better ribs places I've been to in a long time. And after having skinny St. Louis style ribs the past few times I've had BBQ, it was good to see huge pieces of ribs.
I would go back to Rib Nest if somebody else worked behind the counter. ATTITUDE with all capitol letters!!! She was OK enough taking my order but I only ate two pieces there and wanted to take the rest home. I asked for a wetnap and very rudely she said they don't have any. So I asked her to wet some napkins so I can clean my hands. After a couple minutes to think about she finally went and watered down a couple napkins.
Then I want to put the ribs in a syrafoam container. As the picture shows, the ribs came in a paper basket. I know that won't travel too well. I saw people with the syrafoam containers and asked for her one. She said I can give you a bag. I told her, you gave other people those containers. She saidwe don't put the half racks in those containers and if we did it for me, they would have to do it for everybody. Well duh. She finally relented and gave me the container.
I enjoyed the ribs, one of the better ribs places in LA. But the terrible service and attitude isn't something I want to deal with. If you can put up with the attitude, you will have some of the best BBQ in LA.
Update April 26, 2009
I finally went back to Rib Nest, three years after I first enjoyed their great ribs.
I got the lunch portion ribs with mac and cheese, $8.15. The ribs still had the great smoke flavor, a wonderful bark, and were tender. But this time the ribs had a lot more fat and grizzle!! Not sure why, maybe the Rib Nest is using lower quality ribs? Not sure what the exact reason is, but I didn't enjoy these ribs as I did before, because they just had too much fat.
The mac and cheese was pretty good but I think they could have had more cheese. Tender, well cooked pasta but not much cheese. The small amount of cheese was nicely melted and tasted good, they just need to add more cheese.
Service was much better. A young man was very nice and friendly. There wasn't a fork for the mac and cheese and the guy was nice about giving me a fork. No attitude. He even said sorry for not putting a fork in the bag. Service was much improved.
I still would go back to Rib Nest, they smoke their ribs right. But I wasn't impressed with the amount of fat on the ribs, during this trip.
