Brazen BBQ Smokehouse & Bar

The Tri tip is succulent. The chicken is crispy. The fries are golden and seasoned to perfection. The sauces are tangy. The Texas toast is tasty. The Coke is fresh. The TVs all have sports. And the staff is ultra cool. Fantastic place.

Went here on a Wednesday afternoon and was happy that there was no wait. The restaurant was very cute and I loved the design of it. I took my boyfriend here for a pre-​birthday lunch and we got the platter for two. It comes with three types of meat of your choice and two sides. I went with the baby back ribs, tri-​tip and brisket. Our sides were mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and fries. The food was delicious! It was the perfect amount of food for us two as well — enough to fill us up and enough for a good amount of leftovers to split between two. The only thing I’d say about it that I didn’t like was the smell of the brisket. Lol! But it still tasted good :)

Been here several times the last couple years. Great stop for lunch between appointments, as I can get in and out in under 30 minutes if I have to.
I usually sit at the bar where Jacob takes good care of me. All the staff is friendly, and I’ve never had a bad meal at the bar or tables.
They’ve got pork, ribs, tri-​tip, etc. decent sides. Decent bar selection with some local craft beer on top.

I had a craving for BBQ on a Sunday, and I didn’t want to deal with crazy lines. We walked in and there were plenty of tables empty, which worried us at first. However, service was good and we enjoyed the laid back atmosphere.
Food:
–Build your own platter with pulled pork & BBQ ribs: They pride themselves on their pulled pork, and it was good. Did it make my eyeballs roll to the back of my head? No, but it was solid pulled pork. I’m not mad I ordered it. The BBQ ribs were in the same category: solid, but not knock your socks off good.
–Crusty mac & cheese: I loved the ooey gooey crust on top of the mac and cheese. The bottom was a bit too runny for my husband’s taste, but it just meant more for me.
–Pulled pork sandwich: There was a lot of pulled pork on this sandwich and the coleslaw tasted fresh too.
Tip: They have a parking lot, which is worth a full star in Hillcrest!

Any resemblance to the word Barbeque is purely coincidental.
Stay well clear of this abborition.
Disgusting food and even worse service.

Maybe it is because I have had good Q from KC, Texas, and Alabama. This is not a good BBQ place. Not horrible, maybe good for CA, but not good overall.
This place advertises it smokes it chicken wings. Maybe, but not the ones they gave me. I understand they need to flash them in the fryer to heat them up. The 3 they gave me in the meat combo where cooked in the fryer, not just warmed up. The dry rub they put on was very good. Service was good. I went in on a Saturday night. There were open tables all over. That should have been a sign for me to find a new place, but I wanted smoked wings so I stayed. Sorry Brazen. If you actually smoke your wings, find a new way to do it because they were no better than BWW. (they don’t smoke them either).

Happened to stop in because I was in town. Found a great little place. Awesome BBQ. If you ever go here you absolutely have to try the «pig candy». Never knew a single strip of bacon could taste so good.
Really cool down to earth staff.

Walked into Brazen early on a Saturday afternoon. The place was almost deserted, maybe 6 or 8 customers. This had me concerned. We order the combo plate for two — three meats and three side dishes for $ 30. A pretty good deal. We got the pulled pork, baby back ribs, tri-​tip and 2 coleslaws, cornbread and mashed potatoes.
Here’s the real skinny: The pulled pork is out of this world, best I’ve ever had, absolutely fantastic. The tri tip was very good. The ribs were over-​cooked and dry. The coleslaw was bland, I added loads of pepper and wished I had some red wine vinegar. The cornbread is OK and the mashed potatoes had a bit too much potato skin. Also after a couple dashes of hot sauce the bloody mary was pretty good.
Bottom line — Yes I will go back. The prices are reasonable and the food is good. I’m leery of the ribs, but the pulled pork has a friend for life right here.

Took my manager out for a celebratory lunch. This is my first time eating here, which is a bit tricky for a pescatarian. But I was in luck and they offered a catfish salad! They have meatless appetizers and sides too so I didn’t feel left out.
Food: We ordered a side of brazen fries and fried okra. Anything battered and deep fried is amazing in my book! The dipping sauce was so good too! We inhaled the fried okra. The brazen fries were seasoned with spices and I couldn’t stop eating those either. I decided to go light today so I just ordered a side Caesar salad and side of corn bread. My co workers loved the food here.
Service: our waitress was the only one working during the lunch rush but she still managed to get us drinks and food in a timely manner. She was very friendly and helpful.
It’s fun place to come to and the food is great. I would defiantly come back.

Been here a couple times and I keep forgetting to post pictures. Inside and outside seating, cute décor and service is always great! It’s in hillcrest so parking is difficult but they have their own little parking lot on the side. They have specials of the day for lunch and it is different everyday. The lunch menu is great to chose from. I ordered the sandwich and soup. The gumbo soup is delicious! Mostly what I order when I come here. My husband ordered the brisket sandwich and he loved it! I love this place cause it’s close to work and I don’t have to wait in a long line during lunch.

We got the 3-​meat platter with 3 sides. Mac n chesse and pulled pork was fab.
The brisket was so fatty that they replaced it, no questions asked. Service a bit slow and yet was not crowed. Overall, good, but not great.

I had a huge craving for BBQ lately…
The good was the pulled pork sandwich, add their smokey lace sauce on top of it and it tastes 10x better.
The cornbread though was disappointing, wasn’t crazy about it having jalapeños but the bread was super cold and mushy like. The Mac & cheese was literally a huge layer of cheese on top then these little elbow macaroni noodles. Super greasy and the taste wasn’t so pleasing to me. Definitely not worth $ 4.

After gorging down my BBQ sandwich and mac-​N-​cheese I knew I would return! The St. Archer blond ale was also a great accompaniment! The (pulled pork) BBQ was moist, smoky and tender. What it lacked in flavor was easily supplemented by the «Not your everyday, Smokey Lace sauce»
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and I was making plans on what to do with my day and since it was so amazing outside… the bartender looks at me…“The beeeeach maaaan”! Great Advice! (Add to tip!)
As the cool breeze blanketed the bar, I was able to focus on my plans for the day with minimal distraction…(waiting for the ale to work its magic).
Yep! It did! I ordered the cornbread to stabilize my imbibement before walking to the hotel I was in around the corner.
From now on, i’ll always pass this place with a smile. Great Job Brazen BBQ!!!
Until i return! I need to go back to the gym to work off this meal!!! Then off to the beach!

Just ate their with my kid. Together our bill was over 30 bucks and we probably got $ 6 worth of food. He got the kids ribs… which was a huge plate of fries and a smidgen of ribs that had little meat on it. I ordered the tri-tip…it was COLD! Can you believe it and the plate itself had a few little slices.
The place was empty! Have a feeling this place isn’t going to be around much longer. Will not be going back! Stay away!

We came here after a meeting with an appetite. Our server wasn’t particularly attentive, the manager (not sure) was friendly and stopped by a few times. We shared a build your own platter:
Brisket (2.5÷5): over cooked, could be more tender
Baby back ribs (³⁄₅): falls off the bone, but was fatty
Mac & cheese (⁴⁄₅): loved the crusty part of the cheese
Mashed potatoes (³⁄₅)
Corn bread (²⁄₅): too dense & dry

Ordered brisket nachos with the jalapeños on the side… When the nachos arrived the jalapeños were everywhere all mixed in it. I dealt with it, but told the server & she didn’t really care. (Side note: She was kind of awkward. Perhaps intimidated by me & my husband? I don’t really know.)
My husband and I hung out and ate our food. It was alright, really, REALLY greasy though. Once we got to the bottom of our nacho plate we realized that our nachos were missing two ingredients (the black beans and corn) so we told the server. Again, she was awkward & didn’t seem to know how to handle that… She made some excuse about not being able to see whats on the nachos & I told her at the very least she should probably just tell the kitchen about their mistake. The restaurant was 90% empty and we were one of the only tables there and somehow they managed to screw up the one thing that we ordered. The server blamed the mistakes on having a new guy in the kitchen and then kind of nervously hovered… then offered us a free dessert… The free dessert was nasty.
I’ll probably never come back here. Not a good first impression at all.

Yes I’m giving it 5 stars!
Great atmosphere, excellent seating outside which I love since I live in Cali where the sun is always shining, stiff drinks, and Meat Meat Meat! What more can a Cali girl want! They had a 6 meat special which is only on Tuesdays that’s 10 $ but I did not choose this because I wanted to experience a full plate to review. (Definitely will next time)
So I had the 2 meat plate which comes with your choice of 2 meats and 2 sides and a cornbread or Texas toast. BTW the cornbread is jalapeño cornbread which was fun to try but I’m not a fan of jalapeño so I left that alone. My meat choices were brisket and tri tip. As you can see in my pictures the meat was so tender and juicy!!! I hate dry meat or over cooked meat and this wasn’t the case. For the 2 sides I’m a fries girl so I picked fries which came actually seasoned not just with salt but with real seasoning and collard greens which were extremely flavorful. Those collards were better than my grandmother’s and she’s from the south! They had a smokey flavor to them and shredded meat inside.
Now for drinks I had a lemonade which was called back porch lemonade that’s consisted of Jack Daniels, st Germains, and strawberry lemomade. It could have been the St Germains but it gave the drink a banana strawberry taste but who cares cause it was good and strong!

Ordered a pound of brisket today and a pint of mashed potatoes.
The meat seemed salty and half of it was sliced WITH the grain (a brisket slicing no-​no) and half against the grain?!
You pay $ 21 for a pound of meat and you want it sliced properly.
The mashed potatoes were dry with way too much garlic. So I boiled a Idaho Potato, put some butter and milk and whipped it with a whipped with a mixer to make them edible.

Everything about this experience was really good I found nothing that I could complain about. I was greeted as soon as I entered the restaurant and given my choice of seating. I chose to sit by the bar which had a view of the entire restaurant and consisted of a lot of open areas as seen by the photos I took. Basically although you’re sitting indoors you’re actually sitting outdoors that’s how open and airy the restaurant feels it’s a nice experience. My servers name was Jacob who had excellent customer service skills was very attentive to any needs that I might’ve had and was on his game. The meal that I ordered came out fast and was hot fresh and delicious leaving me wanting more. I will definitely be back and will make sure to tell my friends to try this place as well.

The mimosas were by far the worst I’ve ever had. I came on a Sunday and they had bottomless mimosas for $ 12. Didn’t taste like Orange juice at all. If you told me they put lemonade into the Mimosa I would believe you. We have tried the Jalapeño poppers appetizer before but this time they were extremely too spicey. I opened mine up and noticed they had not been deseeded. The corn bread was darn good. I tried the tri tip and I would pass on that next time. The brisket is worth having and so is the sausage. The collard greens remind me of Texas. The beans are good. I felt the corn on the cob was a bit tough. Maybe some like it that way. The brag sauce is perfect for your brisket. It’s not spicey more bold and it goes well with the brisket .
If it wasn’t for the horrible mimosas and the jalapeño poppers I might have given this place a 4.