Buffalo Bill’s BBQ

Unfortunately this restaurant has closed. Thai one On is still open on Melrose and is one if the best Thai restaurants in the area. I only mention this because it is the same owner as the former BBQ restaurant.

CLOSED as of July 2012. I’ve eaten there four times, I really enjoyed the smokey BBQ beef ribs. No problems with the service. It was always empty, we were often the only ones dinning, although they did some carry outs too. I guess that’s why it closed up. Perhaps not the best location for BBQ, too bad — RIP.

My g/​f and I enjoyed this place contrary to some negative reviews we read. Service was excellent.

Okay you have to look past the décor and look at the food. Beef Ribs Yes. Tender chicken Yes. Awesome sauce yes. Actual BBQ you can call real BBQ in SD amazing.

Everything was great, far better than the previous establishment. We started with the sweet potato fries, which were the best I’ve had in a while. I had the rib/​tri-​tip combo and my wife had the brisket sandwich. I am definitely going back again. I can’t compare it to Phil’s but I’ve eaten barbecue across the US including all the big name spots in Memphis, while this isn’t Memphis BBQ it is high caliber BBQ for SOCAL.

Wow! I don’t know who you idiots are working for but anybody less than satisfied is full of crap. Service is awesome, food is spectacular, owner is super cool and bought my fiancé and I a beer. They’ve got several home made sauces, the spicy one is awesome! We’ve been there about a dozen times over the past six months and I think we’ve had most of the entrees so far. I have loved everything except one of the sides, the garlic fries are a little salty for me. We told Bill and he said he’d get right on fixing that. It’s behind the blockbuster in the Vons shopping center. This place is better than Phils BBQ and the prices are way better too. We have arranged for Bills to cater our wedding because the food and staff are just that good!

This place has by far the best BBQ I’ve had in a while. Will be returning.!!

Seriously great baby back ribs. Everybody claims to have great BBQ, but this place is a hidden gem. Everything on the menu is pretty good, prices are a just a little high on some items. For example, I think the sampler could be a little meatier. Looking forward to going back.

I just had the brisket sandwich and fries and Buffalo Bill’s BBQ and it was definitely the best I have ever had. The sauce is amazing!!! The bun had a perfect mix of spices and garlic and had a wonderful taste.
Truly a fantastic meal. The fries were a bit undercooked, but still tasted great. I will definitely be coming back here ever chance I get.

Buffalo Bills is formerly Big Tiny’s. Same location, similar menu, new ownership. Apparently the new owner bought it from the old specifically because he loved the beef ribs. When I heard that I had to get the beef/​pork ribs sampler with mashed potatoes and coleslaw. The sampler comes with a piece of cornbread. Beef ribs were really good, large, but not enormous. Beef is not nearly as popular here on the west coast and most of them are smallish and not meaty like in Texas, you almost have to special order them from your butcher. Slightly Smokey flavor and smallish smoke ring on both ribs. The 1^st mistake they made on the pork was not taking off the membrane on the back. The mashed potatoes could have been smoother, but the gravy was perfect, not too salty or intense, but definitely homemade from stock. Coleslaw was shredded a bit too small and not enough crunch or liquid. Cornbread was good, but could be more moist. They have quite a few desserts, I tried the peach cobbler which was good, but nothing you can’t get from a decent supermarket. My second trip here I went with the brisket and tri-​tip. The sauce on the tri tip reminded me of Phil’s, but less sweet and less spicy, still just an overall complex and tasty sauce. The tri tip was soft, juicy, and just the right amount of sauce. Since tri tip is a more of a west coast cut we tend to cook it high and fast, but it takes well to low and slow like all other real BBQ. This was especially soft. The brisket was also juicy, but could have had a much bigger smoke ring, tasted more like the cooked brisket in phở than a slightly fatty brisket. This time I had the corn and beans. Beans were slightly sweet and generous, the corn was sweet and slightly salted. Don’t get me wrong, this place offers quite a bit of BBQ, but I need that smoke ring, I need a wood stack outside and a smoker going pretty much ²⁴⁄₇. If I need a semi authentic meal to feed my family yes I’ll come here, but there is nothing like real BBQ.

I drove by a few weeks ago and wanted to try this place. Today I stopped in. The décor was a cool wild west motif and the owner was very friendly.
I ordered the sampler. The big beef rib was delicious with the addition of a small amount of sauce. The baby back ribs were awesome! Very tender, a hint of smoke, and spices. The pulled pork I didn’t care for. The blend of sauce and meat tasted odd. The tri tip was good but I would have preferred more marinade or dry rub instead of pouring a bunch of sauce on it.
I would give this place 4 stars except the meats were not piping hot. We visited at 5:30pm and there were 2 other people inside. They weren’t too busy to throw everything on the grill and heat it up. That’s one good thing about Phil’s BBQ is they toss their ribs on the grill to finish before they serve you.

Awesome. 10x better than famous daves and cheaper. Large selection of beers.

Here’s my issue… for the life of me, I don’t understand how a restaurant can call itself a BBQ restaurant and not serve pork spare ribs. I’ve been to several BBQ joints in north country and there seems to be this thing where they all serve baby back ribs and beef ribs and not pork spare ribs. Any true BBQ enthusiast knows that ribs are the key to a good BBQ place and by ribs I don’t mean baby backs (leave them to Chili’s and Tony Roma’s) and beef ribs. I mean, really, no real BBQ joint in Texas serves beef ribs. Your reputation lies in your spare ribs. Why Buffalo Bill’s and these other places that have wonderful reputations (i.e. Phil’s, Joey’s, etc.) don’t do real ribs is beyond me. I guess I’ve made my point. Sorry for the rant. I turned and left and didn’t order anything, so my rating is based on the fact that this isn’t a real BBQ restaurant.

Better than Famous Daves!!! We finally found a fantastic BBQ place in north county! The food is exceptional… especially the ribs and sandwiches. We enjoyed every tender, moist barbecued bite. The selections include beef, chicken, pork, and hamburgers. Good pricing, great service, very clean, friendly too. We will be back!!!
(Famous Daves has gone downhill over the last few months)

We couldn’t find this place and drove right by it, but its in the same shopping center as a Blockbuster and fabric store. The inside is decorated really cute, with a western theme. Large picnic tables fill the seating space which makes it feel like you’re at a BBQ. I suppose any BBQ restaurant is going to take a while to deliver your food, but it seemed like Buffalo Bill’s took longer than usual. The brisket is pretty good, there was more fat than desired on mine. We tried their cole slaw, baked beans, mac n cheese, and potato sides and all of them were pretty good. However, the baked beans just tasted like chili with bbq sauce in it. Their cornbread is pretty good too.
The owner was really nice and accommodating, actually all of the staff was really nice. We went on a Friday night and it was kind of busy. there were about 2 – 3 tables before us that received their food first; a total of about 5 – 6 families in the entire restaurant.
We like supporting local restaurants, and I would say if you live in the area to give it a try, but I’m not sure we’ll be back in a rush.

BBQ meat that you can cut with a plastic knife…
So, my co-​worker and I decided to come here for lunch today… Typically, we’d go to Famous Dave’s for BBQ during lunch but since this place was pretty new, we decided to check it out…
We walked in and saw a bunch of tables, place looked pretty clean but we were a bit confused as to if we sat ourselves or if we had to wait for someone to seat us… it was about 12:45pm and there were about 4 – 5 people enjoying their lunch… Anyways, we decided to seat ourselves and then we heard one of the guys say «We’ll be right with you!» Cool! But we still weren’t sure if we sat ourselves or what?
Anyways, so the dude came out of the back and we asked where we ordered. Apparently, there’s a sign that says «Order Here» that we completely missed. It’s right next to the entrance…
Well, being our first time there, we asked what he recommended and he said «Try our Sampler Combo»
So we did… it feeds about 2 – 3 people depending on how much you can eat. What’s included is 5 types of meat: baby back ribs, beef ribs, bbq chicken, pulled pork, and tri-​tip.
And it also includes corn bread and two sides… we opted for mash potatoes and gravy and corn on the cob:
They cook their chicken when it’s ordered and he mentioned that it’ll take about 10 minutes so we can exchange it for something else but we decided to try the chicken so we decided to wait. The combo doesn’t come with drinks so we had to pay for 2 drinks separately… which is all good cuz it’s self-​serve fountain drinks… overall, for this lunch, we spent about $ 15 per person… which I think is a bit pricey!
The sampler combo was pretty good… best way to try what they have to offer… the beef ribs were real tender and you could easily cut it with a plastic knife… the combo comes with a extra bbq sauce and some garlic sauce. The server said try the chicken with the garlic sauce… so we did, and it was pretty good!
Well, I guess this place isn’t bad! Each item on the combo sampler was juicy and delicious! Flavor was pretty good but I the mashed potatoes seems really watered down although, the gravy was pretty good… their cornbread was dry…
I’d come back… but not for their cornbread (I’d go to Famous Dave’s for that)… IMO, I think their bbq tastes better than Phil’s… the only problem tho was that it is waaaaay too pricey and because of that, I’d rather go to Phil’s…
So yah, 3 stars for delish bbq but too pricey for what you get…

The wife and I hit Buffalo Bill’s looking to try some new bbq in the area. We tried a wide sampling of the fare, to see if this joint was a keeper for us.
Décor:
The décor was nice, sturdy solid wood tables, comfortable chairs, some western kitsch strewn about. Just don’t look directly at the LED signage out front or you may have a seizure.
Service:
The service was okay, if it wasn’t having to wait for someone to acknowledge our entrance or take our order for a good 3 – 5 minutes, I would have said the service was pretty good. The owner (possibly manager?) seemed genuinely concerned with our enjoyment of the meal. Food came out in a timely manner.
Food:
The Good — The Baby Back Ribs were pretty good. Good flavor, came off the bone easily, I recommend using the spicy sauce. The brisket was juicy, well cooked, and flavorful. Possibly slightly overdone, but it was definitely tasty. The western beans and cornbread sides were pretty good, as well.
The Bad — Pulled pork was overcooked, it no longer had any pork consistency, and was more of a pork paste. This really wasn’t that good. Not terrible, but on the south side of OK. Sausage was.well.just bad. This is from a man who loves BBQ Kielbasa sausage, I mean. _​love_​it. I am talking Barry White in a cathouse hopped up on spanish fly and ecstasy kind of love. Even when its bad-​its-​good-​kind-​of-​love, like pizza and sex, right? Yeah… this really didn’t taste good at all. Tasted more like a boiled hotdog than BBQ Kielbasa. Blargh. Sadly, the cole slaw tasted exactly like KFC’s cole slaw. I like KFC’s cole slaw from time to time, but when I go to a BBQ joint, I expect something a little more authentic.
All in all, if I could give half-​stars I would give Buffalo Bill’s 2.5 stars out of 5. But, since Unilocal is a cold, barren and unflinching mistress, and since she deems 2 stars «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» and 3 stars as «A-​OK», then we’d have to give it 2 stars.
In the interest of answering the «I’ve had better» question, I would volunteer that in San Diego, Brett’s BBQ is our favorite, followed by Phil’s BBQ. (which while overrated, is pretty good — if — you can stand the Thunderdome-​like atmosphere) Try those instead. Best ever? Fly to Birmingham and go to Miss Myra’s or Tin Roof.

Great place for some good eats. The entire place has been renovated, since it has changed over to a new restaurant and new owner, it is very clean and well decorated.
We had the Beef Rib & half Baby Back combo. The 2 sides we choose that are included with the combo, were the homemade fries and the mashed potato and gravy. The mashed potato and gravy was my favorite. We also ordered a large order of sweet potato fries and they were just perfecto! The ribs were great tasting, the meat fell practically fell off the bone. Needless to say the meat was tender… I ordered apple pie too, but had to take home for a later snack, we were full.
We had gone to BBB before as soon as we heard it was open. We pretty much had the same thing, but last time we had corn on the cob and that was good too!
As you walk into this place you will place your order at the counter. Then you have many regular tables or picnic tables style to choose from to sit at. They will bring the food to your table. The drinks are self-​serve. It is a great place to have lunch or dinner before you go grocery shopping since the grocery store is right around the corner.
The owner is very kind and the employees are friendly. Please check it out.