Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill

Went here once for a friend’s birthday and twice for company lunches. This place is really spacious and very accommodating to larger parties. With that said, I would not go out of my way to dine here. The BBQ is just OK– menu items that I and many others enjoyed were the onion straws, Asian chicken salad, strawberry lemonade, and the Mac and cheese. Not a great value here but the food is ok and the service is good.
Review #6 of 2016

I had my original review removed by the « Unilocal Thought Police» because I compared/​contrasted 2 other BBQ businesses that also have extensive reviews on Unilocal.Here’s my original review minus the alleged «promotional content.»
Ate here when the restaurant first opened and the BBQ was pretty darn good but as some of the recent reviews indicate, the quality of the BBQ has gone down.
My family ate here last night and we were all disappointed. My baby back ribs were pretty boring. It tasted like it was microwaved; pretty chewy and not much flavor. My 6 y.o. daughter also ordered the baby back ribs from the kids menu and did not like it.
My 13 y. o, son ordered the pulled pork sliders. Very dry and overcooked. He only ate one. My wife ordered the brisket and it was slightly better than all of our meals. All in all we wished we would have dined at Famous Dave’s BBQ in Costa Mesa. Much better BBQ.
The highlight of the night was our server. He was attentive and did an exceptional job of packing our food to go. There was a lot of it because we couldn’t stomach eating most of it.

Came to Wood Ranch for my buddies birthday party. I ordered the Buckeye Burger with a side of fries and Mac and cheese. To say the least, my burger tastes like it was steamed with farts and the onions were more chewy than packing a lip of Red Mans. My mac and cheese tastes like it was made from glue and children’s tears. Overall it was a great experience. The garlic rolls are fantastic.
Donald Trump for president.
God Bless America
–Taylor Kavert

The food was dry no flavor and I will not be back. Very disappointed. Deff will not be back. So not worth it.

can i go to wood ranch for the garlic rolls ONLY?
maybe wood ranch is taking the red lobster’s approach, where the damn biscuits lure you in and then everything thereafter kinda just goes downhill…
buffalo wings: pretty solid. but nothing out of the ordinary.
artichoke dip: … barf
rib eye: ordered medium and got medium well, borderline well done. it was tough to chew and not tender AT ALL. some of my coworkers got the steamed broccoli with their entrée and it came literally in an uncut broccoli floret. i mean, seriously? i know wood ranch is all cowboy and stuff but did you expect me to pick up the broccoli by the stalk with my hands?
with that said, probably best bet to just stick with the bbq section the menu has to offer. other than that, everything else is just… meh.
dinner wasn’t on my tab so… i’m ok with it.

Took my boyfriend here for Valentine’s Day dinner. They don’t take reservations at all. So luckily when we got there it was only a 10 – 20 minute wait. They take down your phone number and text you/​call when you table is ready (which I thought was nice — if longer wait I would have chosen to walk around) I love the bread here! So fresh and a little hint of garlic and oil. I ordered the Sirloin and it was really good along with grilled asparagus. Service is great, music and TVs!

This is probably one of my all-​time favorite restaurants for great American BBQ foods. The meats are so tender and delicious, whether you’re ordering chicken, wings, ribs, burgers, or tri-​tip steaks. Almost all the sides are really healthy and none of the foods have unnecessary additives. All the ingredients are fresh and the meats are seasoned with simple, delicious sauces and spices rather than industrial-​grade mass-​produced sauces. You also just get so much food for what you pay, it’s almost impossible for one person to finish a whole plate by them self. When you eat something a little messy, like the wings, the staff also bring you damp towels, so there’s no real hang up about having a messy experience. My favorite things to get here are the tri tip as well as the Mac and cheese, which is the best I’ve personally ever had!!! Pair that with the iced tea and you’re set! Their peach cobbler is also really refreshing and delicious. I really recommend it if you have room for desert. Overall, if you’re not a vegetarian then I really really recommend this place. I’ve never had a bad experience!

I had to check to make sure I hadn’t already done a review for another location of this place… I have come to that kind of a point in my life where my reviews outnumber my memories. I am like a machine. Beep boop.
Wood Ranch is not a serious restaurant. By that I mean it clearly comes across as a chain and I will treat it as such. Chains are not known for being the ultimate in quality, but rather a dependable flat line of «good enough» quality. If you know that going in, it does help with your experience here.
Let me break down the food for you:
–Garlic rolls: Good, fresh, warm bread. We were a party of two and they delivered three at a time. We wondered about the number there a bit. Why three? It’s such an oddly specific number.
–Potato skin appetizers: Decent. Basically it’s just a potatoey, cheesy mass of food within an almost crispy potato skin. Tastes sort of like the BBQ pizza they have at Pieology… not sure how or why. Maybe it’s the cilantro mixed with BBQ sauce flavor.
–Drink selection: They have Moose Drool, that is enough to make me happy about the selection. Moose Drool for life.
–BBQ Chopped Salad (with chicken): My wife’s entrée. Surprisingly good. That is all really.
–Tri-​tip entrée: I was surprised this was a slab of meat. I have eaten tri-​tip many times (it’s like the official steak of California, you have to), and it’s almost always thinly sliced for serving. I’m not complaining, mind you. The steak was really tender and good, not too fatty (though enough to give good flavor) and while my wife thought the sauce made it a bit too sweet I thought it was great.
–Mac and cheese side: Good, quite cheesy. Not runny cheesy either.
–Mashed potatoes side: More flavorful than they look.
Service was alright, not intrusive and we never had to flag someone down.
Overall, just a fine experience. If I had one complaint (which I didn’t experience, but could see based off the menu) is that their Happy Hour deals are sort of worthless. You save maybe a couple bucks and have to sit at the bar area. Like, I guess minor incentives are better than nothing, but saving a whole $ 1 on an appetizer seems silly considering their original price tag.

Have eaten here several times for «date night» and never a disappointment! Their mashed sweet potatoes is the best!

What a great place to eat and catch up with friends! The atmosphere reminds
me a lot of that of yardhouse’s but I favor Wood Ranch’s more. We came here on a Saturday night, so there was about a 30 – 40 minute wait! When you give them your phone number, they first send you a link of their menu and your place in line, which I thought was awesome. We just walked around the spectrum before we got another text saying our table was ready.
Service was friendly and attentive. The menu covered all the normal BBQ you would expect. We ordered the pull pork sandwich with Mac n cheese and fries and also the brisket sandwich with Mac n cheese. Brisket was just okay; I expected it to be tender, but the texture reminded me of ground beef. Overall, the food was satisfying and i ended up saving half for lunch! The garlic rolls are greasy and tasty, so I took some home too.

Came here for an anti-​baby shower that I threw for my coworker (he and his wife hate the baby shower games, present opening process, spotlight) so instead we did a farewell sendoff into fatherhood-​style «shower» at this delicious BBQ spot! Our server, I believe his name was Matt, was awesome! We were all cracking jokes and he got along with us all perfectly and was extremely gracious.
The food (if you like BBQ) was delicious and hit the spot. I got the lunch special (~$ 13) with two sliders (tri-​tip and pulled pork) and two signature sides instead of one side and one salad/​soup. Mac n cheese is my favorite food in the world, so I’m a pretty tough critic. However, it was amazing! The mashed potatoes that I got weren’t very good though, so I only ate a few bites of them. Looking back I would have asked for two doses of the mac n cheese instead: p
Overall great service and great food!

Woodranch is definitely a family favorite in our household. We first dined at Woodranch when we moved to Rsm about 6 years ago and have been going back continuously ever since. So having it also in the Irvine Spectrum is also a great advantage for us.
The Irvine location is always on point. Every dining experience has always been a pleasant one and the service and food has always remained outstanding and consistent.
They have great lunch specials and there BBQ and Pick 2 entrees are a fabulous deal. The portions are generous and you can’t go wrong with any of the sides. Our favorites have been the Natalie salad, mac n cheese along with there Mashed Sweet potato, BBQ ribs and chicken and of course… you can’t forget there infamous GARLIC ROLLS… Deelish!
Overall this place will always be a top family choice when deciding on BBQ. Just wish the Rsm location was open for lunch otherwise we will always be back for more.

Ordered the Tri tip. It was very tender and flavorful. I was drooling over my friend’s pecan wood smoked beef ribs. I got a little taste. and oh my was it heavenly! Will be coming back try my own order of the beef ribs.
Mac and cheese is super rich and creamy. A must get side!

This place was really good! And I am picky when it comes to good Bbq. Good service, perfectly executed dinner for four (no mistakes), and fast. Loved it!
We ordered pork sliders– awesome, tri tip sandwich with onion rings inside– awesome, Cheeseburger– awesome, and artichoke dip appetizer– awesome! We left full, happy, and looking forward to coming again soon.

I’ve been here probably half a dozen times, and one thing I do like is that they are consistent. The appetizers of fried onion strings are pretty darn good, the only hang up I had was they are a little hard to eat, you kind of have to use your fingers and they can be a bit greasy, so get extra napkins. The ribs are good, a little sweet for me, but still very good. I really enjoy the rib eye steak, it has a good flavor, I’d say kind of smokey. The garlic rolls are super good, bring gum cause they are pretty garlicky, but very yummy and soft. They have the peanut slaw I really like, and the Mac and cheese is decent. I do love the service you get, you’ll never be left hanging if you need more water or soda. All in all it’s pretty good barbecue, and everything I have had here has met or exceeded my expectations!

I went when it originally opened here at the Spectrum and had the lunch special sliders — I vowed to never come back. When work decided to do a network dinner at this place I was hesitant BUT they redeemed themselves ! I ordered a St. Louis Rib platter with mac and cheese and sweet potatoes. Effing delicious !! The icing on the cake? The Peach Habanero sauce. I slathered it all over my dry rub ribs and it was excellent. I washed it down with a jalapeño margarita and I was sweating bullets by the end of the night, but don’t fret — the super garlicky bread will soak up all the heat.
I will definitley be back !

Tri-​tip was great here. Just as good as the Chino location. I learned that the sweet mashed potatoes are a terrible side to get with this, but mac-​n-​cheese or the baked beans side go well.
Service was fine, we were seated quickly,. Our server asked if we wanted the complimentary bread, to which we answered affirmatively. The buns were soft, round, warm, and garlicky.
I tried the pork ribs, and they really weren’t that great flavor-​wise. They desperately needed the sauce. I’ll be sticking to what I know is good here, and that is the tri-​tip!

While self-​parking was a pain, the valet was super quick and convenient. Walked into Wood Ranch without having to wait on a Friday night, solid!
Food:
— Free garlic bread here was too oily and garlicky for me
— BBQ chicken potato skins: tasty, but would have liked them to be a bit more crispy/​crunchy on the outside
— Grilled chicken breast: a bit too heavily grilled so I had to pick off the black grill marks since they tasted too charred. Portion was large though and came with some grilled corn, woot
— Original BBQ sauce: a little on the sweet side, but was pretty good
Overall, friendly service and a bit pricey but big portions for decent food. Unfortunately, wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Inside seating is a bit loud and dark, outdoor seating is also available.

This place is pretty decent but I definitely prefer Phil’s BBQ in san diego!
The bbq combos are a good value for the amount of food you get but its about quality too.
The tri-​tip was delicious and very juicy but the chicken tasted dry at times and the beef ribs were overcooked and burnt. Service is good but nothing out of the ordinary.
I would come back but this place won’t be one of my go-​tos

I came here at around 6 pm on a Saturday with a party of 10. The hostess up front sent me to the large party coordinator inside and after scoping out the restaurant, he gave me an estimate wait time of 60 – 90 minutes. Yikes :/​But then again, it was a Saturday night, so everyone and their moms were out. We decided to wait, and so we walked around the Spectrum to kill time. 30 minutes later, I got a call saying that our table was ready. Yay, no 60 minute wait time!
Service here is good, not great. This was probably due to the fact that the restaurant had so many people. Our waitress was very patient and attentive. I say patient because I went with my family and cousins from Vietnam who didn’t know too much English, so they were sorta having trouble ordering.
[[Garlic Bread]] They start you off with some garlic bread, which to me, was just meh. It’s nothing too amazing, and it felt as though the bread was drenched with the garlic/​butter spread.
[[BBQ Chopped Salad]] This salad was good, but it’s nothing too special. So with a $ 14.50 price tag, I feel like it’s not worth the price. The salad itself has mixed lettuce, black beans, grilled corn, chicken mixed with BBQ sauce and ranch, topped with some tortilla chips. I felt like the salad was totally drenched in the BBQ sauce and ranch, so everything was a tad bit soggy. The portion of the salad was decent, not too small, but not too large. Even then, I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing, so I brought extras home. The next day, the lettuce, beans, and corn seemed to soak up all the BBQ sauce and ranch, making everything even soggier. I just ended up throwing it away, which was a total waste of $ 14.50.
I would come back here, but to try the BBQ meats, and during off hours so it’s not so crowded.