Joey’s Smoking BBQ is a Southern California chain of Memphis style BBQ joints. The first restaurant was opened in Carlsbad and spread the love around to other locations in San Diego, the Inland Empire and Los Angeles.
I recently visited the Joey’s Smoking BBQ in the Carmel Mountain location since it’s the closest one to me. They were running a special from the Clipper Magazine. The link over there doesn’t show it, but the special we got was a full slab of ribs for $14.99. Regular price for a full slab is $21.99, so this was quite the deal.
I phoned in an order to be picked up and the folks at Joey’s Smoking BBQ told me it would be ready in a half hour. I killed a little time at home before heading up there to pick up my order. I got up to the counter only to be told that the food wasn’t ready yet – it would be another half hour or so. There wasn’t much I could do about that, so I popped into Pier One to do a little browsing while I waited. I went back over only to find that my food still wasn’t ready and that they would call me on my cell phone when it was ready. Another 15 minutes went by before my phone jingled and I could finally come and get my order. They offered me some free cookies to make up for the extra wait time, which I gladly accepted. It made me feel a little bit better about the wait time.
Was it worth the extra 45 minute wait? Well, the wait was annoying but these baby back ribs are quite tasty! The meat was tender and easily came off the bone. We got the most popular sauce, which I believe on the menu is the “Sweet Ribs”. They were not overly sweet and not spicy, so it was just how I liked it. I only managed to polish off about 4 ribs and all of my sides before declaring that I was full. We had a lot of leftover ribs since we all got the full slab meals.
For sides, I chose the macaroni and cheese along with the mashed potatoes. Cornbread is included (the muffin variety). The mac and cheese was nothing to write home about, it was your standard fare. Edible but not really outstanding. The mashed potatoes tasted homemade, none of that crappy instant stuff they try to pass off as “potatoes”. These were the real deal, with the skins still on, and a light gravy on top. The cornbread was just okay, sweet and satisfying. But not the best cornbread I’ve ever had or anything.
And as for the free cookies? These were pretty good. Chocolate chip – they tasted freshly baked and were soft.
All in all, this was an excellent deal for the amount of food we got, even if I had an extra long wait for my food.
Joey’s Smoking BBQ
Multiple Locations
12002 Carmel Mountain Road, Suite 268
San Diego, CA 92128
Phone: (858) 487-2120
Fax: (858) 487-2766
I enjoy the BBQ at Joey’s but I think the surprising stand-out has to be those cookies! No matter what else we order we always get the cookies, they’re so good. 🙂
went to joey’s may 1st for the first time. ordered a “dry” slab with sauce on the side. the ribs were delicious, the ambiance clean and welcoming. LOVED the green vegetable collard greens as i never had them before. kinda a blended taste of cabbage, broccoli, spinach but a unique healthy flavor all their own. i also tried the sweet potato with cinnamon butter that was awesome, and the french fries were yummy too. with all this good there was a bit of bad and that would be the corn muffin, i’ll ask to skip it next time unless the recipe is changed. the baked beans were way too sugary sweet so i won’t order those either. all in all i liked the food at joey’s and will return!