Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

Great place to eat. A little pricy. Cole slaw wasn’t as great as home. Service was great. Roll Tide.

Since I moved to LA I couldn’t find a good bbq place. I didn’t want to cook all the time but I had to because no bbq place I went to was good to me until… i found Lucille!!! I love their bbq here. The chicken, ribs, and pretty much everything here is great. I come here a lot especially in the summer

I’m giving this location a 5!!! good service, good HOT flavorful food. I visited the one in West Covina, service was good, food was not as good or hot. Next time I’m going back to Valencia!

Came on a Friday night at 5:30 pm and it was starting to fill up. We didn’t really want to sit in the atrium room since it was getting chilly. The host was nice enough to show us to 2 booths and let us choose which one we wanted.
Our server came promptly and took our drink order. They have the most yummy peach lemonade! We ordered the rib combo (with both beef ribs and pork baby back ribs) and the gumbo. Both were delicious! The gumbo had just the right amount of spice and plenty of shredded chicken and sausage and a few shrimps. I was pleasantly surprised that a BBQ place could make such a great gumbo. The biscuits were served warm and they were yummy too.
Our server was excellent, he came by a few times to check on us, and refilled our drinks. All in all, a great meal and great service!

I love this restaurant they have the cutest set up feels your in New Orleans.
The staff is really sweet and my fav dish is the gumbo.
Hits the spot every time!

We recently held a memorial service in our backyard and Lucille’s catered the event. we ordered for 100 people but had well over 150 show up. We were a little nervous but as Travis set up the food — from salads and watermelon to tri-​tip, ribs, pulled pork and ribs, our guests were ready to eat! Lucille’s also throws in lollipops and toothpicks.
Everyone loved the food and we had plenty left over for seconds. Obviously, Lucille’s plans for hearty eaters.
Thank you so much for the ease of ordering (Tenaya) to the drop set up (Travis) and the recycle catering bins and trays. Oh, and the apple honey butter was fabulous!

Honestly, I had high hopes for this place, lots of great reviews and the pictures looked awesome!
The restaurant is very big, lots of room, lots of booths and it has a little bit of a rustic feel to it.
Our waiter seemed nice at first, very attentive when taking our drink order, but after that we hardly ever saw him. I think I asked for water (to water down my lemonade) twice! And he never bother to bring it. I think what really bothered me was that the table next to us also asked for water from the same guy and he brought theirs promptly. So I finally asked another waitress if I could get some water because I knew he was not going to bring it.
Anyways food finally came and one of our orders were wrong, and one of our meals didn’t come for like 20 minutes after all of our other food came out.
Anyways, manager finally came to apologize for the delay, the mistakes and everything else. But I think over all the food was really blah. Same quality of food you get at a place like Famous Dave’s, very mediocre bbq over all. I think my problem is that I’ve been spoiled with good BBQ and every other place always misses the mark when it is just ok.

Can’t say enough or this place.
–Service, outstanding!
–Signature Drinks, awesome!
–Food, to die for.
A definite must if you are up for some good old fashion BBQ.

I’m giving this place three stars because everything else besides the ribs deserves a 3.
The ribs however, I give the ribs a full 5 stars! :)
As a complementary starter they give out biscuits with apple whipped cream. The biscuits are good, however the whipped apple sauce that comes with it looks like it was attacked by glitter. (Scary) not appetizing at all!
My husband and i usually come here with a group of people because they have good size family portion meals. Sometimes we like to come alone and sit at the bar to take advantage of happy hour.
Alcoholic drink rating
–Crocodile Cooler (eh so so)
–Sour Apple Martini (yum)
–Pomegranate Martini (salty but girly)
— Long Island iced tea (hubby didn’t like)
–Back Porch Lemonade (tastes like strawberry)
Food rating
–Lucille’s smokehouse wings (very tasty)
–BBQ chicken salad– (worth trying once)
–Baby back ribs and St. Louis spare ribs (finger licking good!) you must order a full rack of each.
–BBQ two meat combo platter– (good for 2)
–Backyard Family feast– (good for 4 ppl+ left overs)
–All the side options are delicious! Garlic mashed potatoes and cole slaw are a must.
–Big chocolate cake! (Super moist)
— Great lemonades!
Happy Hour rating
–The BBQ tips (are okay)
–Catfish Street Tacos (delicious) worth ordering 2 rounds.
–Caesar salad — good
Dave was nice. Gave us info on the restaurant and what they offer! We will definitely keep coming back for those ribs!

Lucille’s Smoke House, another corporate chain (yawn) that has great customer service with young staff who are trained to seem cheerful & chirpy. Lucille’s reminds me of Babe’s in Palm Desert… all show & no go when it comes to serving up BBQ since they both lack deep flavours & smoking for hours by a true BBQ master chef who really knows his ‘Q.
Unfortunately, corporations have to deeply look at the bottom financial line because they must produce profits for their stockholders. BBQ is not a good fit for the corporate system of efficiency since great BBQ is more about the labour of love. Such as smoking meats for 8 to 16 hours to achieve a smoke ring around the bone to instill a moist, deeply smoky richness. Sauce taking hours of slow simmering to achieve a flavor that is fully mellowed yet spicy with a mélange of herbs & spices & many times passed down from one BBQ master chef to his apprentices. Unfortunately, corporate Lucille’s can’t follow that kind of business style that does not fit it’s fiduciary responsibilities.
I had the Saint Louis BBQ ribs which were a bit dried out with little scent of smoke that can only be achieved by about 8 hours of slow cold smoking. The sauce was sweet tomato, vinegar, mustard & brown sugar based, but the flavours seemed a bit flat as if to appeal to the most number of people. This is corporate cooking to the mean. So there are 3 bottles of extra BBQ sauce on the table: Original, Memphis Style, Hot & Spicy for those who want more flavor.
You get 2 sides so I got the Greens with Andouille sausage which turned out to be the standard overcooked greens that when overcooked tastes slightly bitter. The Andouille (ahn dew ee) was simmered in with the greens from almost the beginning so the meaty flavor was leached out.
Coleslaw was shredded raw cabbage, carrots, red cabbage, red bell pepper which to their credit was crispy. I didn’t get much hint of sweetened vinegar which is usually par for the course with this kind of slaw. Peanuts were honey roasted. Another corporate restaurant, Tam O’Shanter, however, may make a more exemplary peanut inflected coleslaw, but they’ve been doing that since probably at least the 1940’s.
When I first hit the bar before most of us came to sit down for dinner, the friendly bartender let me know what kinds of India Pale Ale that was offered. I was curious about the name, Sculpin, a type of fish, so he let me try it out. It was true to its hereditary trait of being bitter & astringent due to the rich hops. The body was meaty, thick in citrus zest flavors with small, fine carbonation adding a bit of acidic gastrique which would be a great pairing with the meaty, sweet Saint Louis style ribs. Since it was happy hour he suggested that I get the 22 ouncer since it would serve as a cocktail as well as the pairing for the BBQ.
Lucille’s is great thematically like some Disneyland in Barbequeland. Service is great with a hearty, warm American heartland welcome, but, for me, the BBQ doesn’t make the grade. Quoting someone from 2008, «You can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig.» You can make Lucille’s into a BBQ palace with great service, but if the Q ain’t good, who cares? I’ve had far better BBQ at Bluso’s in Compton for Texas Brisket & Beef Ribs and Phillip’s BBQ for their spicy Pork Ribs in Leimert Park, but that may be too long of a drive for those living in Santa Clarita. 2+ Unilocal stars and maybe higher for those who want to stay nearby.

Different experience for happy hour. Our waitress Jessica was very attentive and friendly.
We were meeting friends here and good prices, but still miss the Hef and street tacos they used to have here. But all in all I will be back for happy hour again in the future.