Rancho To Go BBQ

The address Unilocal gave me routed me to a neighborhood in Garden Grove. This business is now known as Brew Hawg BBQ.

The food is fabulous and you can taste the love in it. The customer service is outstanding. You won’t find friendlier service anywhere.
That’s really all you need, right?

Have yet to try this location, but have eaten from the Rancho A Go Go truck and also had them cater a birthday party as well. Every time the food has been smoked, cooked, and sauced to perfection.
For the Birthday party, I ordered the ribs, tri-​tip, pulled pork, mac n cheese and baked beans. The food was fantastic… juicy, fall of the bone and just the right amount of smokiness. Everyone complemented how well the food tasted.
I would recommend Rancho BBQ as the first and best choice for BBQ in Orange County. All other BBQ joints have been a disappointment in comparison.

We loved their truck; but this might be even better. Now we’ll always know where to find them!
We ordered our Thanksgiving turkey: Best Turkey Ever! Even won over family members who’ve complained they don’t like turkey.
Can’t wait to try their prime rib this Christmas! :-)

Update:
The food truck is gone, but now he’s open 5 days a week and there’s more seating available both in and outside!
In related news, he’s expanded the menu! The pastrami! Oh gosh, the pastrami.
My wife wants to make a note to say that we would appreciate it if you would be so kind as not to make us fight you for the food here.
.. . Because we totally would.

Barbecue food here is done right. The meats are tender and the sauce is delicious. The guy running the place is also really friendly. He even gave me a free Mexican coke while waiting.

BEST BBQ!
I’m so thrilled I found this place! I got the pulled pork sandwich and it totally just melts in your mouth! I’m very picky with BBQ sauces, and this one is by far the best I’ve had!
Great prices. The owner was awesome. Yummy food.

Heard about Rancho from Unilocal and me always wanting to find new local BBQ places, went to give it a try. Hands down some of the best customer service ive ever recieved. The owner let me try a couple meats before ordering (he wanted me to try them) then proceeded to serve me a HUGE portion of St Louis Ribs and Brisket with sides and a water for only $ 16. Awesome bbq! The mac and cheese is pretty damn good too. Owner is super nice and knows how to cook some mean Bbq. Five stars.

The BEST BBQ I’ve ever had in Orange County, period!
I’ve done the BBQ circuit in OC for years. While there are certainly good restaurants in the county, this tiny little storefront off the beaten food path in Orange, California is — by FAR — just perfect!
The scary thing is that I wasn’t looking for BBQ when I found the place; I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. When I saw «Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese» I knew I had to go. I read a few reviews on Unilocal,and learned that they had some really interesting dishes.
I took my son, and we headed over. I was on the hunt for a Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese and Porky Mac (pulled pork over mac & cheese!), while The Boy was going to have the Texas Beef Brisket and Porky Fries (pulled pork over fries).
The place is neat as a pin, tiny, and the smells, oh, Lord, the SMELLS! It is absolutely BBQ heaven!
Our food was made to order (we got it to go), and had some time to talk to the owner and his daughter.
While waiting on the food, we talked about other places, and how I didn’t see any burnt ends on their menu. Most OC BBQ places don’t; only Famous Dave’s seems to have the stuff consistently. And that was when she said the magic words: «We have burnt ends on fridays.»
So now this just got personal…
We got our food, and took it to go. We only had a few minute drive home, and when we got there the food was still good and hot. The Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese was EXCELLENT! The BBQ sauce was exquisite! The Porky Mac was just HeAvEn! IT was absolutely the best BBQ I’ve had around OC. Hands down. The Boy absolutely RAVED about his food.
So … we had to go back Friday afternoon for the burnt ends. We picked up a pound, and headed back home. The burnt ends were MAGNIFICENT! I HAVE NEVER HAD BURNT ENDS ***THIS*** GOOD EVER! WOW! Just WOW! If you are near the store Friday (after 5!) stop in and get ‘em. This BBQ was just absolute GOLD!
I just cannot recommend this place enough. The food is spectacular, it’s made to order, and it’s the BEST BBQ in O.C. There is none better!
Go! Go NOW! Stop reading this review and GO! :)

We ordered catering for 20 people for my sons birthday party and I was amazed! So good. We ordered pulled pork and chicken with potato salad and Mac n cheese as our sides. We had more than enough rolls and extra bbq sauce which was the best.
I wish I would have ordered pulled pork and ribs in retrospect but thought chicken was good for kids and guests who didn’t want pork or red meat. Next time I’m ordering all three for sure.
We also paid for delivery which was awesome because I can’t imagine trying to carry everything myself. And who needs extra stress when you’re having a party.
Love this place!

Friendly guy. The pulled pork tasted amazing. The mac and cheese was okay. Of course I got the rhino which is a mixture of both. Fries were regular fries nothing special to them. The location is clean and your food is prepared pretty fast. Comfortable in there. I will definitely be back to try some other stuff.

Heard about this place on Unilocal,so I thought I’d mosey over for lunch. Yes, it’s a small location that has somewhat unusual hours and the owner is a friendly chap.
What did I have? Glad you asked. The owner suggested I go with the pulled pork or beef brisket sandwich. Since I knew I wanted the «Porkey Mac» also, I went with the brisket. Got it to go and ate it at work.
Ok, the verdict.
Beef Brisket sandwich:
Overall, fairly tasty, but nothing special. Not juicy as expected, it was rather dry and overcooked. It had some sauce on it, but not nearly enough (I like lots of sauce — especially if dry), thankfully they put an extra container of sauce in my bag. I barely had enough as it turned out. The meat also came on a Mexican torta roll which normally I am ok with, but with dry meat, it just made a bad thing worse. Was just too much work eating something that should be a juicy, wonderful and epic mess. RATING: 1 ½ stars
Baked Beans:
The beans on the side were quite tasty, but lacked a little spicy kick. Maybe some onion bits would help, too. They mix in some pulled pork — and that is a good thing. RATING: 3 stars
Porkey Mac:
OMG! The saving grace. This may be the sexiest thing I have ever eaten. Quality mac’n’cheese underneath juicy, hot pulled pork. Soooo good. I’ll take this dish over fries any day! RATING: 5 stars
Sauce:
Overall, pretty good, but I would like a little more kick to it. Maybe offer mild AND spicy? You could mix the two for a third «medium» sauce. RATING: 3 ½ stars
I still would like to try the ribs and pastrami grilled cheese, but my stomach will have to wait.

I’d give it an Orange Co 5 star for sure. Doesn’t get any better here. Up against your fav Deep South or mid-​west BBQ, still a solid 4 stars mainly b/​c of the ribs. They were good all by themselves!.. no sauce needed. Wish they had served them with slices of white bread though instead of the rolls.
The beef brisket was tender, but lacked some flavor and I didn’t really like the tri tip at all.
Baked beans were phenomenal, and the Mac n cheese was good.
The service was excellent! Chris, the owner was very attentive and even sent my family home with some freebies, which is always nice.
Def going back!

BBQ In OC?
Yeah, Right. But, there is!
I tried several items. My least favorite was the brisket. It was extra fatty and mostly fat on the pieces I had. I also was not a big fan of the sausage. The chicken was AOK. Now, there were two things that would make me come back… the sauce and the pork ribs.
Pork Ribs are super delicious. They are very tender and well seasoned. The meat falls off the bone. The Sauce is super delicious x 2 and makes the meat complete. I am a fan of both these items and would be happy to return any day of the week to consume them.
Everyday is not possible. This shop only opens for business on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Any other day, you will have to catch the food truck for your eats.
They can make a whole turkey which would be an awesome option for a HEALTHY choice in bbq. I will try this next.
Great place for the paleo diet. All sauce comes on the side.
Rancho To Go BBQ, Orange. another reason the OC is the best place to live.

Damn fine BBQ. The owner is super great and kept bringing samples out. I had the brisket — very good flavor.
All of the samples were even better. I don’t know what I’m going to get next time.

Good ol’ standard pork BBQ the way it’s supposed to taste like. The BBQ sauce was sweet and mild (kinda like Cookies). I love how they have a spout out front so you can get as much sauce as you want. The pork was slow-​cooked tender. The mac and cheese was out of this world! Also, just to be clear, I’m not a huge fan of pork or mac and cheese but I LOVED this. I LOVED IT. For the best of both worlds order the Porky Mac. Also ordered plain curly fries. Don’t forget the curly fries. They are battered in this delicious sauce and fried til super crunchy. If I had one complaint it would be that I wish they had crispy bits of skin mixed in with the pork and I want my BBQ to be spicy! Make it spicy!!!

I really hate to do this, but I have to downgrade Rancho to Go to two stars. Here’s why:
Saturday afternoon I decided to swing by to see if they were open. The store is open such limited hours that it is kind of hit or miss. Fortunately, on this day they were open. I was pretty happy that I was going to get some BBQ to take home with me.
Then I saw it. A hand-​lettered sign on the door that said «Out of BBQ Today.» Whaaaa? It was early afternoon. Already out?
I went in anyway to get my boys ice cream and popsicles (very good here). I asked the girl about BBQ. She said she didn’t know whether they would have any BBQ this week end because the owner was really busy with other stuff. Other stuff? WTF?
It is one thing to be open limited hours. I get that the trucks are the main business here. It is also understandable that you run out of BBQ because you can’t just whip up a new batch. What I don’t get is when you tell the public you will have something and then just don’t show up.
I am not going to bother coming by here any more. Too bad. I really would like to find a reliable BBQ take out place and support local business. Unfortunately, I can’t do that when the business is so undependable.

There is no other BBQ in the OC that I will go to. Rancho, you’ve won my heart and soul. Sauce is the boss, i would bathe in it if I had the chance.+ Ordered a rack of the pork ribs (which was HUGE) and some of the tri tip for to go, and definitely was not disappointed. Wood Ranch, Rib Trader, Johnny Rebs, Famous Daves, Tulsa Rib, Newport Rib… the list goes on and on and I will never go back to any of those places as long as Rancho is in town. Dont let me hype you up. I hope this place stays a secret till my day in the grave.
YOU ARE THE BEST, Rancho to go.

Holy smokes is this great!
We got the pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich’s for the kids and they scarfed them! Not even a nibble for good ol’ Mom & Dad! dad got the pulled pork sliders… Mmmm mmmm… sooo good & the big girl shared the porky mac with Mom… another home-​run! Now, we got all of this off of their food truck at the farmers market. we’re just happy that the store is just around the corner from our place. AND the store sells the most Delicious popsicles! The kids love, love, love them! The people on the truck were awesome too! Super friendly and very quick! we’ll walk in next time…

This is the to go /​catering location that is only opened a few hours on Friday and Saturday. Plan accordingly and you will be honoring your taste buds to the best pulled pork and ribs ever! If you can’t make it, there’s always the gourmet version on wheels that you can follow. My fav stop is on Sat at the SoCo District in Costa Mesa. Great little stores for spices, gourmet cheese, olive oil and balsalmic vinegars.
From time to time, Rancho will host a BBQ 101 class at this location as well. Chris knows his bbq, loves his trade and it shows in his cooking. A definite must for those starting with bbq’ing or just because you love to eat it. You will go through how to cook every tasty meat under the sun, as well as sample them all. Just a warning, I wouldn’t plan too much on the same day after… I went into a nice meaty food nap. Not too shabby for a way to end the weekend though. :)
p. s. If you map the address, it will bring you to the neighborhood. The location is in the same lot as the Aaron Brothers.