Beach Pit BBQ128 N. Glassell St
Orange
714-633-7427
I reviewed the Beach Pit in Costa Mesa and was not impressed at all because I got terrible service and the ribs were average at best. The owner, Tim DeCinces, even made a comment on my review.
Well to show how lacking the snotty jerk people of the Orange Curtain can be about real BBQ, Beach Pit has expanded to three location and even has a BBQ stand at Anaheim Stadium. Beach Pit is real BBQ, they just don't do a good job of making good BBQ.
I figured I should give Beach Pit another try and went to their new Orange location. I actually went the day before, a Wednesday, for their all you can eat ribs deal but they were sold out of ribs. So I came back for lunch. The Orange location has counter service instead of table service. So I placed an order for the spare rib plate, $12.95, with double mac and cheese.
I find a table and when my plate arrives two small, skinny pieces of spare ribs are on my plate. The ribs are pretty fatty and a little oversmoked. Ribs shouldn't be falling off the bone, that is the suburan way. It should have a bit of a pull. The smoke flavor really overwhelmed the ribs. Smoke should enhance not overpower ribs.
The mac and cheese was creamy, smooth, with nice bread crumbs topping. Though it was a bit bland overall it was pretty good.
Service, unlike the Costa Mesa location, was good. When I went on Wednesday the guy taking my order was nice and helpful, apologizing several time for being out of ribs. It may come as a surprise to some people, since I got such terrible service at their Costa Mesa location, that I won't rip Beach Pit for running out of ribs on Wednesday. But, I understand BBQ places will run out of meats and usually don't hold it against the restaurant, unless it happens every time I visit a restaurant. People should also understand that a real BBQ restaurant can't just cook up an order of ribs since it takes six or more hours to smoke ribs. 8-12 hours for tri tip, brisket, and pulled pork. So it wasn't that big of a deal that Beach Pit ran out of ribs, but the guy taking the order handled the situation the right way; apologetic and nice with no attitude.
The young lady taking my lunch order was nice and friendly. The food arrived quickly. So Beach Pit the service at the Orange location is very good.
I was impressed with the mac and cheese and I got very good service at the Orange location. But I wouldn't go back to Beach Pit, expensive for very average food. I wouldn't go back even for their all you can eat ribs. Yes, it would have been a much better deal, $15.95, for all you can eat compared to $12.95 for two pieces of ribs. But the ribs just aren't that good. It maybe great for the clueless people of Orange County but the ribs aren't that good at all.
