Looney’s Southern Bar-B-Que

I just ordered using Eat24 from Looneys and I got my usual Pulled pork Sandwich and Waldorf salad, however upon getting my order, I noticed the Waldorf salad was missing apples, avocado, and the goat cheese. Lame… I liked that salad too. I called Loony’s and they said that they were out of goat cheese. and that EZ Dine Inn (Eat 24) was to call. but they never called. Epic fail as I paid full price for mixed greens.

My George Foreman grill gives off better smoke flavor than this so called southern bbq! If I wasn’t hungry this crap would be in the trash. The brisket was bland and tasted as it was a day old and baked! I was pre-​warned about this place but thought I would form my own opinion and not be persuaded by the naysayers. That down south bbq aroma was nonexistent when I walked in and now I know why. The manager was rude, not very helpful and then told me they were moving! Well good riddens because I would not have gone back. The greens were cooked well but the flavor was interesting and not in a good way! Oh and the bland rootbeer was even more delightful. I would have been better off going to Everett & Jones and settling for some fatty ribs than to eat at this place. So there you have it! Mad as hell that I am hungry with no other options! BOOOO and UGH!!!

Is this even barbeque? There was no evidence of smoke anywhere on anything. We got a 2-​way with ribs & brisket, and there was no indication that any of this had ever been anywhere near smoke at all. The ribs were dry, the brisket was tough. We also got an order of the Tri-​Tip, which was fine, but almost completely unremarkable.
Collard greens were cooked well, but unexpectedly spicy. I liked them well enough. Yams were mindbendingly sweet. Hush puppies were good, but slightly burnt. Mac & cheese was unremarkable. Bread pudding was so dominated by alcohol that it didn’t smell or taste like a dessert, it just tasted like alcohol. Which may be someone’s idea of a good time, but I found it unpleasant-​to-​the-​point-​of-​nearly-​inedible.
There’s no way that this is worth the fairly high price, even just taking it as a meaty dinner. Labeling this «barbeque» is either fraud, or a joke.
Update: got this response from someone involved with the restaurant:
—
Kenneth L. has sent you a message on Unilocal:
Your Review
«Good job. It is a joke. You must have hundreds of hours of BBQ and smoking experience to figure that out so quickly. Please let me know your BBQ restaurant so I may come and have some truly awesome Q. You are truly what makes Unilocal such a great experience… thanks for your devotion! Hopefully one day when you have a job, maybe you will have something that other people can critique…»
—
I have a reasonable amount of experience smoking meat, with actual hardwood. If the ‘number of hours’ is what concerns you, it’s in the low hundreds, but that’s irrelevant. Smoked meat looks & tastes different than meat that hasn’t been smoked. The meat you served has no smoke ring, and has no smoked flavor. If it has been smoked at all, it wasn’t for any significant amount of time. If it hasn’t, it’s not barbeque.
Looney’s isn’t barbeque.
It’s not good, either.

Awesome place for lunch/​dinner or any other meal in between. Came here for lunch after a long anticipated wait. The question always arises… am I hungry enough to stuff myself silly on ribs, meat, and MOre meat? Well, sadly, the answer which often comes about is ‘No’. But sometimes, we all have to make bad decisions or go against our instincts and that time finally succumb to the smokey goodness and meat hungering voice within.
First off the food is pretty good. Had a brisket and rib combo meal which came with a choice side, mine being mac n cheese, and a drink. The store owner was such a g. He hooked it up with that option as an off the menu item and tossed in some chips, and even gave us a few items to try like the fresh tri tip he had smoking as well as some macaroon cookies he was testing. The tri tip was amazing. I wish I had gotten an order of that (even though it wasn’t available yet) but the next best thing was the brisket.
The pork spare ribs, which may have been done for a while wasn’t really moist but the flavor was decent. I think the rub may not be overpowering in these flavors because the main thing is the sauce which Looney’s has prepared.
And the interesting part is that the 3 locations that exist all get their meats from this location. I’m not sure how that works out if theres a delay in delivery and serving of food, but I’m placing my bet on this location now.
BTW, even with the awesome service and reasonable prices, don’t rely on the online menu because there are often changes and like this instance, there was no beef rib, but plenty of other stuff.

I went here because I was bored with all of the other eateries around my office.
I ordered the smoke brisket on sour dough, and I had a food coma afterwards. It was delicious and hit the spot. The bbq sauce was also good, and I would definitely come here again. One star off because they could have at least removed the fat from the brisket.

How shyt.
Everything tasted Awesome, delcious, fatty, and bad for me.
Yummy.
Complete homestyle atmosphere. Not at all classy or «upscale» like Everette’s and Jones at Jack London and it taste some much better at a lower price.
Though keep in my mind paying for less means its has uh interesting aesthics.

Looney’s is definitely about the Q but they do pastries too.
minidanishes fruit filled (apricot, apple,.) or whatever. 2@.91
definitely worth saving room for.
the coffee@1.5 is forgettable, however.

We ordered just about everything on the menu. It’s pretty simple, but the food and service was fantastic. I love that they have about 6 different sauces to dip your sandwich in, add to your mac n cheese, or pour over your ribs. The meat was cooked to perfection, the collard green were d-​lish, and don’t walk out the door without ordering the mac n cheese and sweet potatoes. Food was delivered within minutes.
You can tell that the guys working here love what they create. They kept on coming out to our table to suggest different things to try, such as mixing different sauces together and also brought out a bunch of desserts for no extra charge. The corn bread was the best I’ve had in a long time as well. I guess the owner also has another location with a full bar and they also cater. Sounds good to me! By the end of our meal they came to our table with wet wipes for our hands and we left fat and happy. Looking forward to being in the neighborhood again and enjoying some BBQ lovin’!

Brisket sandwiches and cornbread with hearty chili. Delightful.
Not so delightful? When you visit twice and on both occasions they forget to send you out the door without something you paid for.
I didn’t want to be the person who goes back and complains especially when the staff is so welcoming. I guess next time I’ll just check my take out thoroughly and eat the few dollars I lost instead. (pun intended?)
Decent southern food but the service lacks attention to detail. Yup.

Came into Looney’s with a
that I had purchased back in Dec ’10 so I predicted that they may not take it any more (seems to be the case with many restaurants). Asked the man behind the counter when we got there and he explained that the guy that instated them actually was fired. TMI, but nonetheless he said «Don’t worry we’ll take care of you!»
We can around 1pm and seemed like the lunch crowd had passed. We were wrong because once we ordered about 5 – 6 more parties filtered through as we ate.
Overall Looney’s is a nice lunch spot, nothing pretentious about it – just down home! The man behind the counter was super friendly and willing to explain menu items. He also gave us some samples of mac n cheese, brisket and a pork rib.
We ordered brisket sandwiches, pulled pork, mac n cheese, beans (more like chili) and cole slaw. My recommendation woudl be to get half sandwiches along with a side or salad. The sandwiches are filling and especially if you have to go back to work – get a half!
That being said, the meat could have used more flavor and salt. Not a ton of smokey flavor either. Would go back if I was in the area, but probably wouldn’t make a special trip.

Since 2006, I have been begging for a BBQ lunch spot to open up near by building in Uptown Oakland. The Lunchbox came close with some of their signature BBQ sandwiches, but we still didn’t have a full on BBQ spot to call home.
FINALLY, Looney’s comes along and sets up shop in a suite that has been home to many, successful to none.
It took me a while to get to Looney’s, especially since I was trying to cut back on my lunch meals and eat better. However, I finally caved in on a gloomy day when I needed some comfort food.
I ordered their Beef Brisket sandwich on Boudin’s sliced sourdough with their signature mild sauce and a side order of Mac # Cheese.
The sandwich was just OK. The meat was pretty bland and there were no juices flowing from it. I expected a much more tender sliced meat and was a little disappointed that the BBQ sauce wasn’t smothered on while they made it. The sauce came in a separate container so I had to pour it on myself. One tip here, if you can, pay the extra 50 cents for the roll. This was labeled a sandwich, but fell apart at the first attempt. Sliced bread is NOT the bread for this sandwich. The rest of my meal was consumed with a fork, which made it cleaner.
The mac and cheese was pretty good. It was not your standard macaroni, but rather pasta shells. The cheese had a Velveeta cheese taste to it but was tasty.
At $ 10.50, I expected a little more. This may be another one of my Bakesale Betty’s experiences so I will need to go back and try out some of their other creations.
One thing I did notice is that they make their own sauces so you have more to select from if you eat in. If you are really bold, try their new XXX sauce that is said to contain ghost peppers.

Unbalanced.
Had the buffet @14.95 meats were luke warm and the brisket was tough.
The Chili and Gumbo were very similar in taste and texture, but were decent and edible.
A bit overpriced for what it was, but live and learn.

The bread, meat and sauce were tasty: a great balance of tangy and spicy flavors smothering piles of meat on thick absorbent bread. Spot on. The greens, however, left something to be desired. Maybe I just got a bad spoonful though, because my coworker liked them better than the sandwich. The second time, I got a side of mac n cheese and a cup of chili (I am suuuuper healthy), and they were both great. No regrets at all.
Like a lot of the posters, at first I was rolling my eyes about paying for than $ 10 for a sandwich. But the portions are HUGE and the food is filling and delicious.
Minus one star because:
1) I was disappointed by the greens
2) They don’t have corn bread! How can you serve chili and bbq and not have corn bread? Its cheap and easy to make… seems like a no-​brainer!

Overpriced and underwhelming. I should have taken the hint and turned around to leave when I walked in at 12:45pm in the middle of the lunch hour and it was empty, and the owner/​manager was watching videos on his iPad behind the counter.
$ 10.98 got me a beef brisket sandwich on a Boudin roll (.50 extra), side of sweet potatoes, and a bottle of water. Unfortunately the brisket was flavorless and dry. No smoked flavor noticed at all. The roll tasted a day old at least. One star for the sweet potatoes and one star for the fact that their hot bbq sauce is actually hot.
But seriously, for the premium prices they are asking they should be serving up much better food. There’s just no excuse for serving dry bland beef brisket when you have «Southern BBQ» in your name. I tried this place a few times when this location first opened and wasn’t impressed but decided to come back and give them another shot. After today I see no reason to return.

My mom surprised me and dropped off dinner from Looney’s. I had never had their food before, but it looked very good.
I tried a bit of the beef brisket sandwich, which was pretty good BUT, the bottom part of the bread was a gooey mess completely stuck to the paper it was wrapped in. The meat and the sauce did taste good, but I was turned off by the mess involved.
The potato salad was pretty good.
And the greens… those greens. I don’t know what the heck they were trying to do, but I have never had greens that tasted like that before. And I don’t mean that in a good way. I was already a bit put off by the murky color of the greens, but the initial shock after the first bite and the strange unpleasant after taste warranted a Blue Moon just to get that taste out of my mouth.
I’d try Looney’s again, but I would definitely steer clear of the to-​go sandwich and the greens.

I don’t like this as much as the location on Bancroft mainly because there isn’t beer on tap and the several different LCD TV’s to show sports, but this place is good too.
I’ve only had the sandwiches at this location and I enjoy them. I give props to the staff because they’re very friendly and patient. First time I went I had trouble choosing between the pulled pork and beef brisket, and the staff gave me a sample of each to help me make up my mind. I should just continue to pretend it’s my first time so I get more free samples =) The sauces make a difference, I didn’t realize that Kansas was a good place for BBQ.

Luke warm pulled pork/​fatty sandwich on a stale roll. I wish I really liked their food. First impressions are so important.
(Update — got a note from the owner, Kenneth re: my review. He cares about his customers so for that, I’m giving Looney’s another try).

Had Looney’s for lunch in downtown Oakland, I take it they named their place Looney’s for the crazy variety of BBQ Sauces they have, 8 different kinds.
I had the chicken sandwich with the mild kansas city sauce. The chicken was on the dry side, hence the sauce made up for it. Portions were generous. Had the side of mac n cheese, very rich and creamy. Lunch special $ 10. Next time, I will opt for the brisket.

First try here was chili for $ 4.50. Wonderfully flavorful — andouille sausage, tomatoes, beans, spicy saucy bowl. Good. Add sour cream, cheddar, onions if you like. I also got berry cobbler to go… will try that tonite! They had me at the chili.

Looks like they just opened and are frantically getting their stuff together still. The food hasn’t seemed to have been affected!
I ordered a smoked pork sandwich with sourdough (I know.) and collard greens on the side. Juicy, moist, delicious, flavorful pork. The collard greens are not too salty and they are made correctly with pork .
The prices are a little expensive ($ 10.43) for lunch but so far so good! I will come back for the brisket and ribs!
Welcome to the neighborhood!