Mike’s BBQ

I had been apprehensive to come here because of some negative Unilocal reviews that I had previously read. All I can say is do not make the same mistake. The tri tip had a phenomenal smoke ring. The Hawaiin roll bun was awesome. Good sauce and Mac and cheese. I smoke various foods myself, so I’m particular this type of food. Wes was an awesome server, gave us great suggestions and was very polite. Highly recommend!

1 star for the service and the sides…
Tri tip was good. the service was horrible and we were the only people eating there.

This spot is legit. I’ve been here a handful of times and always had a good experience. They have awesome food and tons of good craft beer. The service is on point and they play pretty much every sporting event you want. Tomas is legit and super friendly. Definitely check this spot out. It’s one million times superior to phils.

I can’t express enough how good the food is here! My personal favorite is the pulled pork sandwich with the Hawaiian roll bun. The bbq sauce has an amazing flavor, the offer spicy and sweet, I always get the sweet. You get your choice of side, Mac m cheese is a must try! The fries are good as well. For an appetizer the fried pickles are super delicious. They also offer a ton of craft beers which compliments the food well. The patio outside is nice too!

This place is just a few minutes from home so decided to try it out & was pleasantly surprised. There used to be a bbq place in the same location which was garbage so we hesitated to ever go back, but glad we did. They redid the interior and made half of it a sports bar. I usually have the ½ rack baby backs with french fries… both delicious! We tried the hot wings this last time we went in & there were yummy as well. They offer 20% on Mondays for «Industry Night» so we make sure to take advantage of that. The happy hour is good too.

Very glad Mike’s BBQ decided to open up this other location. Especially because it’s so close to me. I have been here a handful of times now and have never been disappointed. Good BBQ, good beer selection, big portions, and lots of TV’s to watch sports on. What more could a guy ask for?

Over all rating is just Ok.
Food — Good
Not over season or over cook or even over smoked like places like phil’s. The meat is good and tender and keeps a lot of the good meat flavors.
Sauce — Ok
The sauce is not bad at all the only reason I say ok is because it seems that the spicy sauce is not spicy at all but the sweet sauce is good.
Service — Not good
The male server took a long time to get us drink and anything else we request. At time when taking our orders or requests he wasn’t even looking at us.
Management — Not good
Took 15mins to get onion ring & 35minutes to get our main course. They were out of corn bread and Baked Potato. The server apologized but management did not say anything to us. I don’t understand how you are out of these things on a Saturday night. The only way this happens is management failed to review their stock level or they are trying to hard to reduce there food scrap and ended up shorting customers.

This place is spot on! Servers are knowledgeable of their menu and aren’t pushy. We came at a weird time and wound up having two servers, but the transition was smooth. The new server knew what our empty glasses had in them and was just as on point as the first server.
The food was delicious! We ordered garlic frings as an appetizer and it was more than enough for the 4 of us. The bbq beans are good but we didn’t care for the pinto beans much. The mac & cheese is BOMB! The slaw left a little more to be desired. Pork ribs are really good, the meat is excellent quality. We only had their spicy sauce and my daughter, who hates anything sort of spicy, really liked it! Absolutely can not come here and NOT get the Tri Tip!!! This is HANDS DOWN the best Tri Tip I’ve had. DELICIOUS. Even the chicken chunks were nice and moist.
This place has a larger than average amount of beers on tap as wells as additional selection of bottled beers. Lots of TVs available so I imagine game night here is legit. Our server mentioned Thursdays are tri tip day and there are other specials through out the week. We will definitely be back!

I’m so glad we stumbled onto this place! They serve the best Tri-​tip, Chicken, and Wedge Salad around! The meat is always tender and flavorful and the salad fresh with crispy bacon and yummy blue cheese– it is well worth the price.
The service was excellent, Justin our server had a great personality – he was quick, helpful and knowledgeable!
We will definitely be back!

What a hidden gem! This place has the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had. The pork was tender and juicy and was served on a delicious ciabatta roll.
This place was simple and rustic and good ol fashion BBQ feel.
Service was fantastic, server gave great recommendations and they have a wide selection of craft beer.
We will be going back very very soon.

I’m still searching for the best BBQ establishment in San Diego, so Mike’s was next on the list to check out. We started off with a regular order of bacon wrapped dill spears for $ 5.99. Overall, the dish was tasty, but the bacon wasn’t crispy enough. Perhaps it was the grease from the pickles, made the bacon limp.
For my dish I went with a third rack of BBQ pork ribs, garlic bread, and BBQ beans. Overall, the pork ribs were very tender and tasty, but a little on the dry side. The BBQ sauce saved the ribs. I was most disappointed with the BBQ beans. It’s a little hard to explain, but they were almost too sweet without being savory. I’m still trying to figure out if they were from a can. They were so bad, that even my date couldn’t finish them. The garlic bread on the ciabatta roll just didn’t work. The taste and texture was just weird.
All in all, I wouldn’t mind going back someday for another try with different sides to the main dish. All in all, San Diego’s best BBQ restaurant remains elusive.

The eponymous Mike ostensibly cares about an authentic BBQ experience. One walks in to the strains of top-​forty country (or what I presume to be top-​forty country given that I would never ever listen to it on my own), and sits among the decoratively stacked split firewood. The latter is something I totally expect one would see in places in Alabama and Mississippi, right?
I ordered my standard first-​visit choice of a pulled pork sandwich. I really appreciate that Mike’s offers the choice of a ciabatta roll in addition to the standard hamburger bun, and I discovered that I may actually prefer the former, as un-​American as that may make me sound. (Pardon me while I go hide my communist party membership card.) Also of note: the pork was exceedingly tender, and the portion of meat was rather substantial. (This contrasts heavily with my recent experience at Sque BBQ.) The one downside is that the portion of sauce was rather minimal although I’m sure more would have been available had I asked. I was also pleasantly surprised by the homemade fries, which were so crispy that they might have been double-​fried.
Summary: Mike’s a good man.

My Mom was craving BBQ, so we decided that there was no better place to celebrate birthday dinner than Mikes! (Be sure to sign up for their birthday club – you can get a free meal!)
Our server was great! You could tell she had a bunch of tables she was helping, but she stopped by frequently and made it a point to keep checking in.
The brisket was good! We got a pound and split it (which was still too much given the amount of sides we got).
A note on the mashed potatoes – They tasted like boxed mashed potatoes, but I can’t confirm or deny that observation. I really liked them because I happen to love boxed mashed potatoes. If you’re not a fan of the boxed variety, you might want to consider one of their other sides.
My Mom and Sis liked the coleslaw. I prefer the finely chopped kind, but still thought Mike’s coleslaw was good.
The fried okra was fabulous. Hands down.
Mac n Cheese – you can never go wrong with Mac n cheese! Mike’s was great!

Hearty portions here! I ordered the tri-​tip sandwich on ciabatta with potato salad as my side. Sandwich was good, as was the salad. Their pickles tasted really weird though, dusty almost.
Good prices too. Overall, not a bad place. I’m not a huge fan of BBQ so I probably won’t be back but my roommate LOVES this place.

I read the reviews and was expecting more, much much more. I went in with my friend around noon, but luckily there wasnt a single person inside. I guess there’s no lunch rush yet. Ended up deciding on the sampler plate. Comes with 1 beef rib, 3 baby backs, quarter chicken and two sides. Its a good amount of food, no doubt. Sadly there wasn’t much flavor. The ribs had were tender enough, but lacked the smokey flavor you’d expect. The sauce didn’t do much to rectify the situation. The mac and cheese was also pretty bland. Overall the food was just blah. Not something I’ll be back for.
Even though the food was just so so, the service was top notch. The waitress that helped us was on her game.

I was a bit skeptical to try out Mike’s since it replaced the BBQ joint that used to be here… that no one remembers. And that BBQ was really good — and it’s safe to say that Mike is actually a improvement. Kudos to the designer who turned the joint from a multi-​room impersonal restaurant to wide open, well-​lit, and airy BBQ joint. AND they built a wonderful pooch-​friendly patio outside with chic lights.
Ordered their BBQ sandwich on a sourdough roll — and the portion was HUGE. BBQ joints are typically pricey — and I usually feel that I get a little short changed in the meat dept. Not here. Just the perfect size for the price. The pork was very tender and I liked their spicy BBQ sauce (should kick the heat up a bit more! It’s BBQ in San Diego!!). My only complaint was the Mac N Cheese — which was tasty — but it had a crushed Cheez-​iT topping which was quite stale (or it could be the humidity of the kitchen just robbed it of it’s ‘crunch’). I’d still come back — the Mac N Cheese was worth getting — I just had to scrape the top off.
I love anyplace which is POOCH FRIENDLY. They even sell bones for Fido, and donate the proceeds to the Humane Society. Worth the stop!

What a pleasant surprise to find a delicious BBQ restaurant right up in Clairemont! Obviously, the Clairemont Village shopping center leaves a little to be desired and could use a full remodel. Don’t let the exterior scare you away, the interior is very nicely appointed. It is much bigger inside then I expected. There is outdoor seating as well that you can bring your pups to.
Food was tasty and the options were plentiful. Portions are big! Give this place a try for sure!

I’ve been three times already…
Not the best, best, best ever… but pretty darn good, especially for being across the street from my house! Tons of TVs and places to sit.
The burger was amazing… takes about 20 minutes to make, but wow. Good stuff.
For the Q: I have enjoyed getting the sauce on the side more than on top… it’s a little too thick… but tasty!
My only real gripe: the sides. I haven’t liked any of them really. Mac and Cheese was by far my least favorite.

I am very glad that Mike’s BBQ has made its way from North County down to our neck of the woods, because now I can not just enjoy Mike’s BBQ when I happen to be in the area, but anytime I feel like it.
I came in during lunch, and ordered a lunch special, the Baby Back Rib Plate with one side. It came with three double ribs, and for me side, I went for Mom’s Pinto Beans all for $ 8.99. The baby back ribs were very good and the meat had that falling off the bone quality. The ribs were meaty as well. The meat was exceptionally tender, well seasoned, and tasty indeed. I asked for the hickory BBQ sauce on the side, because I prefer my ribs dry rubbed. The sauce was very good and that nice hickory smoke flavor.
Mom’s Pinto Beans were very good. They were very tender and came in a very tasty juice. Seasoning was spot on and they also had bit of an herb flavor. I really enjoyed them, and only wished I had some piping hot corn tortillas to eat them with. Don’t loose Mom’s recipe!
Service was good. The guy who took my order was nice and the girl who gave me my food was funny. You order at a counter. The place provides plenty of seating and an outside patio that is dog friendly.

After a long wait, there’s a new establishment where LW’s BBQ once used to be. Welcome to the neighborhood! Mike’s is famous for their Esconddo location — it’s good to have a new option for dining in Bay Park.
The new location is clearly smaller for sure and a bit more neighborhoody than their one in Escondido — which is a nice thing. The owner is friendly and space is welcoming. The tables on the «full serve» side are new, and stylish. With the bar height style I was looking for something more kid friendly. We sat on the self serve side — the tables there are definitely tight for a family of four. Two small kids and two regular sized adults barely fit in the booths — especially when it’s full of food and crayons.
They have a small bar with a bunch of taps — filled with your local favorites — and even a few nitro taps! Big plus for the beer selection!
The place is called Mike’s BBQ — Mesquite Wood Grill. And that’s what the place is — a bar and grill. It’s not your classic BBQ — no meat slow cooked in a smoker. So the food doesn’t have the classic bbq flavor and there’s no smoke ring. Mike’s BBQ is more like Phil’s BBQ than it is like real texas/​kc/​memphis bbq. Which is fine — there’s room in my belly for that too!
Now to the food. I had the sampler plate and wifey had the brisket plate. The baby backs were good and probably my favorite. It was cooked well, not too mushy and not to sticky. Good pork flavor. The beef rib to me was not cooked properly — one bite and the meat came right off the bone. Typically that means the meat is overcooked but moist/​mushy and tender. In this case it was the double whammy — the meat was tough and, since it had no smoke, it tasted more like hambruger than beef ribs. For the record, ribs should stick to the bone and release only what you bite. The chicken had the most smoke flavor of the bunch but was a bit dry and didn’t get that crispy skin you’d expect from the wood grill. Last and probably least was the brisket. Don’t think bbq brisket — think more like braised chopped brisket. They chop it up and wrap it up in foil «to keep the juices in.» Seems like this is part of their prep but really enhances the steamed meat flavor.
In the end, we paid a fair price for good service, in a fun environment, for a 3 star meal. I’ll definitely be back back but expect I’ll be looking more at the chicken and burgers than the more classic bbq options.