Everett and Jones Bbq

Well this place is a hit or miss– hence the 3 stars– I have frequented this place I because of its convenient location and lack of BBQ competition on the area. The food can be excellent or fair. the portions are inconsistent and the wait is incredibly long — no matter what time of day — what would be helpful if the staff provided wait time updates to its patrons. i also find their cuts of meat to be inconsistent, sometimes the meat is really lean and trimmed well and other times there is excess fat that is hard to consume. My advice to the restaurant is to provide consistency with regard to their food and service.

I’ll never step foot in here again! The staff were ultra rude to me. I waited at the register for over 5 minutes waiting to be helped; there were two people in there that could have taken my order but didn’t. One lady looked at me all the while talking to a lady wiping the counter. Seriously? How freaking rude is that? I have been in there before and loved their food and wanted to get an order for a party i was going to. Maybe it was good they didn’t want to help me because I found a coupon and saved $ 50 on what I would have paid here.

This is watered down, tough Meat with a lack of craftsmanship. It’s a disgrace to oakland. Get a new Pitt master

This was based on my happiness upon leaving what appeared to be a clean, well tended establishment. Only left off one star because it IS pricey.
However, the portions are good — I ordered the beef brisket dinner, and I ordered mac & cheese and potato salad as my sides (i know, carb load!!) but was worth it. The mac & cheese was rich and cheesy, with the smallest bit of toasted cheese on the edges, very yummy. The potato salad was good — loaded with chopped pickles, which is how i like it. Tasted home-​made to me, so it was a good call.
The brisket — OMG — smokey as it gets! I felt like i was eating a campfire — no lie. It was beautiful and delicious — and I didn’t ask for the bbq sauce on the side, like many people recommend, and it was perfect for me… not way too much — only because when it’s reheated (no way i could eat all that in one sitting!) the meat seems to absorb some of the liquid, so the thing is… until you’ve ordered it, you don’t know if it’s going to be too much or not, because everyone is different. See how you like it and if it’s too much, then NEXT TIME, get it on the side or whatever.
I give them props for keepin’ things local and offering a mild bbq sauce that doesn’t blow my head off with heat haha it was hugely flavorful and i’d definitely recommend the mild for those who can’t tolerate a lot of heat.
I guess I got outta there for about $ 18, so it wasn’t horrible — and honestly, it’s locally owned, which i wholly support, so it’s worth it to me. But hey, don’t take my word for it… get your own azz down there and check it out. You won’t be sorry.

The service is great but the ribs was a bit disappointing. We ordered family style so got platters of ribs, links, chicken and brisket. Everything was good except the first batch of ribs we had was tough and chewy. The second batch was a little better but still not fall off the bone good. For a bbq place, you would think the ribs would be the stars! Felt bad cause my in-​laws were having a hard time eating so they settled for the links. The chicken was a little dry also. The sides were good, just small portions. Overall, nice place with good atmosphere, and service. If I ever come back, will only order brisket and links.

Horrible service. How can you take so long for an order but not take phone orders?

05÷04÷16 TERRIBLE service!
Waited 8 minutes for service with no one in line???
Forgot 2 of our sides in our bag.
Icing on the cake the young lady behind the counter had WAY to much attitude like we were bothering her???
Whole experience for some ok food.

This is the worst place to order BBQ. Everett and Jones location on 4245 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland have the number 1 WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE! The people that take your order can’t count and have a bad attitude. They are rude and act like they are doing you a favor for free when you paid your money for this nasty tasting, rotten food!
The food is the WORST ever! The macaroni and cheese is burned on top, and the «candy» yams are not cooked correctly, they are smashed together like mash potatoes with no flavor.
The pork ribs are tougher than leather! Do yourself a favor don’t go to this place. There is no quality in the food preparation and the customer service has gone to hell!
The nastiest place EVER to order. plus you are waiting for the customer service staff to learn how to count properly. This place is a disgrace to soul food restaurants in the BayArea!

Wow! How are these guys in business. Ordered a slab of ribs with mac and cheese, macaroni salad, corn on the cob and teeny, tiny corn muffins included.
Ribs
Overcooked and tough. Poor quality meat, very fatty. And I like fat!
Sauce
Just okay. Almost bland.
Macaroni and Substance.
How can you screw this up? I’ll tell you. Leave macaroni in a little plastic container all day in some warmer until it changes into primordial ooze. Oh and don’t add too much cheese. Because you don’t want mac and cheese to taste like… cheese.
Macaroni Salad
So much mustard they should have thrown in a hot dog. Really overwhelming with mustard. And I LOVE mustard.
Corn on the Cob
Not too bad, EXCEPT, kitchen guy hands me the bag and says «only had one cob. So I gave you another mac and cheese». Arrrrrgghhhh!
Teeny, Tiny Corn Muffins.
Actually the star of the meal, which isn’t saying much. Think of a corn muffin that you took out of the muffin pan, ate the bottom, then served it to someone. Did I say they were small?
Staff
Although the cashiers were very nice, you can tell who the family members are, because they just aren’t enjoying life or their customers.
In closing, everything went into the trash except a few choice pieces of meat and the teeny, tiny cornbread. But as a good citizen I did recycle the plastic containers after tossing the macaroni mush pucks.

Everett and Jones is a great place for BBQ, but yesterday when we ordered take-​out from the Macarthur Blvd. store, it was terrible. We ordered the pork ribs-​links combo dinner. When we brought it home, we found pork ribs with chicken instead, no cornbread, and so much sauce that the plastic bag it came in was dripping. The pork ribs didn’t have much flavor either. The best part of this dinner was the baked beans. A disappointing experience!
I’ve had much better BBQ from Everett and Jones on Broadway and San Pablo in the past. Not sure who’s managing the Macarthur store, but they need help.

I went to EJ on number of occassions. Each visit, it wasn’t too bad. The place was ok. The place wasn’t too dirty. It was decent. But this place was all about the food.
The sauce was very salty. There are others places where the sauce helps brings out the meat favor. Not this place. The sauce saturated the dang meat. I was like «what the heck» was up with that? On top of that, the sauce was very salty. Felt like I was going to have a stroke or something… Too much. More than that, there were lots of fatty parts to the meat, especially on the ribs and brisketts.
Not a fan of this place.
Rating
Food: 2
Price: 2 (expensive for the food)
Ambience: 1
Service: 3
Overall: 2
Not coming here again. Sorry.

Scoring
1 low
5 highest
Service– 2 –Waited over 30 mins for take out. They were just not turning orders fast enough.
Slab of pork ribs– 2 — fatty, didn’t really have that true smoke flavor.
Beans –5 great flavor
Mac n Cheese– 2 dry
Potato salad– 2
*born and raised in Oakland so very familiar with E&J’s and typically go to the A st location.
Now living in Texas and on my trip back to the Bay, a little disappointing that ribs has gone down hill.

Okay let me first say that the barbecue gets a 3.5 stars but you have to get sauce on the side, otherwise they will drown your meat. That happens at a lot of places so it’s hard to hold it against them. I get ribs, links and brisket and these guys do it right. The portions are good and the price is about what you pay at most barbecue places.
All the sides are all sub par — with exception of the Coleslaw which is epic! 5 stars for their coleslaw. They also have yellow cake desert that is the BOMB! I give their Yellow Cake (Chocolate or Butterscotch icing) 5 stars! You will think your grandma made it.
The staff here is friendly… unfortunately if they get busy you will wait… and wait. because the staff moves at a snails pace. like slow motion. I believe if you step behind the counter you enter an alternate reality where time and space have slowed down. In fact if you try and call in your order when they are busy they will not take your order. Which is weird… I think it is an issue of staff not really being able to effectively multi-​task. I wish they would go on a retreat and fix this. Other than that they are the friendliest staff around.

This place is pretty good. 1 Lunch Ribs (comes w/​potato salad & wheat bread) — $ 9.60. Also ordered 1 mac and cheese side for $ 3.75. The mac and cheese is probably the best mac and cheese I have ever ate. If anybody knows of better mac & cheese PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Because I will need to try it. The potato salad was also pretty awesome.
The ribs were just okay. I got the medium spicy sauce — but it wasn’t that spicy. It wasn’t the best ribs I had. That honor goes to «Tex Howard’s Pit-​Smoked Bar-​B-​Que.» A street vendor in Hayward. But don’t get me wrong. It is not bad at all.
Meal cost $ 14.62 + 2.38 tip = $ 17.
I think it is worth it. Next time I think I might just stop by and get larger portions of the mac & cheese and other sides. Then head over to Popeyes for some chicken. Mmmmmmm… already dreaming about it now.

Don’t post your closing hours as 9pm if you are going to be locking your doors and counting your drawer at 745pm on a Monday night. I really could of used the gas I wasted driving all the way down to your restaurant on something else.
And stop being so rude to your customers we do pay your bills.

This is one of the most exciting, scrumptious & finger licking good BBQ’s I have tasted in the Bay Area!
Everett & Jones Barbeque is a family enterprise for many years in Oakland. Many people that live in the Bay Area brag about how great this place is. Everett & Jones has many locations in the Bay Area: Oakland, Berkley and Hayward. I first tried this place this weekend with a friend and after looking at all the Unilocal reviews and hearing about the hype I just couldn’t deny.
Let me first start by saying that for southern BBQ, there is probably no better place in the East Bay! Good soul food served in a rustic and authentic atmosphere. I have nothing bad to say about the meal, portions are large and very filling.
This was the first time I had proper barbecue since living in California and now I understand what the fuss is about. When you walk in you smell the barbecue, the scent is intoxicating.
I had the Ribs and links combo with candied yams and Mac n cheese as sides. This looked to be the largest of the combo dinners but was still enough for me. The portions are enormous and is good for 2 people. The food was good, soulful and reminded me of Southern cooking and food that your family would make when getting together. The sides are excellent (try the greens, baked beans or mac & cheese!) and the cornbread is delicious! OMG… Melts right in your mouth.
I hear they make their own links, and I have to admit it’s pretty tasty.
The inside of the restaurant is pretty small with some tables. The young tall gentleman (cashier) was pretty nice.
Since I am from the south I can’t say this is the «BEST» BBQ but this may be good BBQ in California. I think they’re the best game in town. A good solid, consistent place.

When you want some barbecue this is the place to go. My favorites (and have been since I was a kid) are the ribs and links. And you can’t go wrong with collards, mac and cheese, yams or beans as a side. This is a great convenient location and I’m so glad they opened one here.
The service leaves a bit to be desired though. I called my order in and they said they were too busy to take orders over the phone. I asked how long the wait for food was and they said 15 min. So my husband and I stopped by 5 – 10 minutes later and he ran in and left me with our toddler and baby (both sleeping) in the car. His fantasy draft was also in 30 minutes. Twenty-​five minutes later I started to get concerned. Both children were now awake and I know he had been worried about being in a place to do his draft. Forty minutes later he popped out and said clearly the wait wasn’t 15 minutes but that he was able to do his draft on the phone. One hour, three diaper changes, one nursing, one pouch, and EIGHT rounds of his fantasy draft later he returned to the car with our food. All that is to say great food but don’t order it when you have somewhere to be, because you won’t make it.

First off, has anybody else noticed that there is straight up a foot massage (podiatrist) joint directly adjacent to this branch of EJ’s good ass BBQ?!
For that alone, extra star.
Memes aside, the BBQ is just a’ight. I remember back in the day when EJ BBQ was hellah good and the portions were decent. But with success comes change I suppose. It scratches the BBQ itch when I get that craving and the greens are good, but it doesn’t send me anyplace special.
Be sure to call ahead with your order unless you like waiting for a long long time and absorbing the smell of BBQ deeeeep into every fiber of clothing that you happen to be wearing.
Commercial spot from Soul Beat:

Called in and was placed on whole. Firstly, when you are running an establishment, there should be someone that solely handles the phone. That is your FIRST point of contact with phone in orders, and it is the first impression. I placed my order based on the pricing on the ONLINE MENU. Secondly, I spoke to «Sherell» and gave her my order. She told me the price which did not match the pricing on the online menu. She stated that the online menu was «invalid». I made the suggestion that they must update the online menu, so that potential patrons are not caught off guard by an increase in price. She asked me if I wanted to cancel the order… of course I said no. Looking forward to the meal…
OUTSTANDING! GO E&J!

To be fair, the slab of ribs was very good.
I took the advice of another reviewer which recommended checking your order before you leave. I asked about the cornbread. The guy said it was in there. I pulled everything out, and it wasn’t. It was on the counter. He thought he had put it in. Honest mistake.
In isolation, I wouldn’t dwell on it, but that combined with the fact that the overall service experience was so abysmal I felt I should mention it.
While I was waiting, I called the Broadway store to try to speak to the manager of the entire chain. I spoke with someone who said she would call MacArthur. I think she did, but I didn’t see any faster movements on the part of the staff.
Everett and Jones needs to respect their customers and their customers’ time. Philz coffee in San Francisco has an app where you can order and they will even tell you when your order will be ready. Maybe Everett and Jones doesn’t need to go that far, but clearly they need to do something.