Chicago For Ribs1637 W 25th St
San Pedro
310-832-7774
There is this myth about Chicago beening the rib capitol of US. Part of it stems from the TV show, MASH. When Hawkeye ordered a couple slabs of spare ribs from a fictional place called Adam's Ribs, near Dearbon Station. There is a Dearbon Station but there has never been an Adam's Ribs. While Chicago was the place for pigs to be slaughtered and shipped, Chicago is not a really BBQ city.
I first went to Chicago For ribs when they had a location in Pasadena back in the mid to late 90's. The Pasadena location is long gone but I didn't realize there were other locations in the LA area. So I went to their San Pedro location to see how their ribs were.
I ordered the half rack of St. Louis pork ribs, $17.99 with mac and cheese and Chicago fries. The ribs as you can see are cooked in an oven and have no smoke flavor at all. I asked for no sauce on the ribs and that's a mistake because to get any kind of flavor from these ribs, you have to drown them in bbq sauce. They are not good without sauce. The sauce is full of vinegar. A little bit of a kick but nothing great. I was not impressed at all with these ribs and they are overpriced at $17.99. When I was leaving I noticed they had a daily special for $9.99. I assume the special would have been a 1/4 rack of spare ribs. Tony Roma's is better and that's not saying much. But somehow Chicago for Ribs has been voted the best in the South Bay over and over.
The mac and cheese tasted like they were made from a box. The Chicago fries, waffle fries, were actually pretty good but they were a bit undercooked. About two more minutes in the fryer and they would have been perfect.
I normally don't get dessert but we had the Lake Michigan mud pie, $5.99. A coffee flavored ice cream cake with a cookie bottom. This was very good but I'm not a big coffee ice cream fan. This would have been better if they used just plain vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
Service was OK. The server had a thick Spanish accent and didn't really understand English. We asked what kind of ice cream was on the Lake Michigan mud pie and he kept answering, Ice cream. After the third time asking, it wasn't worth the effort. They need to train their staff on how to sell their desserts. The second rule being, knowing what the hell is in their desserts. The first rule being, ask customers if they want dessert. Our server did ask.
I would not go back to Chicago for Ribs again. The ribs aren't good at all and they are overpriced.
