Poway BBQ today, ??? tomorrow

Months and months ago, Poway got its very own bbq place and there was much rejoicing (yay). It was called, appropriately, Poway BBQ. There were very few reviews for it and one day right after it opened I stopped in to bring some ribs home. I had bought T a smoker and he was getting into “real bbq” and meat smoking, so we were always interested in comparing restaurant bbq to what he could make at home. I brought home pork and beef ribs, which came with a tiny cup of beans and a small piece of over-boiled corn on the cob. I was totally unimpressed, especially considering that it had cost nearly $20 for 2 tiny beef ribs and 4 small pork ribs. T had also stopped by for their bbq beef sandwich, which was also found to be mediocre. Still, we were willing to give them a chance for redemption and wanted to try their pulled pork sandwich. But we found that whenever we tried to go by, they were closed! My friend Cami also wanted to try their food but they were always closed when she went by, too! We tried dinner times, lunch times, mid-afternoons, weekdays, weekends – every combination possible!

Even though T makes an awesome bbq (low and slow), it takes a whole day and it’s time consuming and lot of work for him. Sometimes you just want to go grab a sandwich without having to start with a huge slab of meat. We’ve been to Abbey’s BBQ in Clairemont Mesa, Phil’s BBQ down by the Sports Arena, and a few other places here and there (those first two are our favorites so far). We were hoping Poway BBQ would give us that option just down the street from home, making it even easier for us. No such luck.

We finally gave them one last chance this weekend and went by a little after noon on Saturday. The door was open! And we were quickly greeted by a man saying that they were closed, they were reopening in about 10 days under new management, and there would be a new menu.

Okay… now we know why they haven’t been open recently, but how long ago did they give up and transfer ownership? And why didn’t they put up some sort of sign letting people know instead of just leaving us to think the restaurant was just some weird front for undercover business??

I don’t know what Poway BBQ is going to become, but we’ll keep a close eye on the spot. I’ve got a post coming up that lists all our favorite places to eat, right here within Poway, and you’ll see that we have almost all our bases covered. This little city has quite the variety of cuisines and that makes me very happy.