ATTENTION!! On the left hand column, you will find links to search by cuisine or city. You will also find a restaurant index of all of the places I have written about on the column on the right. If you enjoy the site, please bookmark the site and tell a friend! You can also subscribe to be notified when the site updates by entering your e-mail address in the box on the left. Happy Eating!

Please visit our partner sites DiningOutInOC.com for info on OC restaurant openings and special culinary related events, Booze It Up OC for info on OC 21+ events and Brunch In OC for info and reviews on weekend brunches.

Griffin Eats OC's Fan Box

Friday, October 3, 2008

Dickey's Barbecue (BBQ) Pit - Irvine Grand Opening



15435 Jeffrey Road
Irvine, CA 92618
949-679-0050
Fax: 949-679-0054

www.dickeys.com
RESTAURANT LOCATION OUT OF BUSINESS-OTHER LOCATIONS MAY STILL BE OPEN


I attended the grand opening of Dickey's BBQ today. Dickey's is a large, nationwide BBQ chain that started in Dallas Texas in 1941. They are just now starting to open up stores in California. I believe this Irvine location is the first to open in California. There are 26 in line to open in California, 6 of them in Orange County. I saw an ad that said they were having $2.99 sandwiches all day and giving away a 42" Plasma Screen at 2:30 PM. I had an earlier lunch meeting so I didn't make it down to Dickey's until almost 2:00. It's a good thing because it turns out they were doing the drawing at 2:00 PM. I entered my name in the drawing and went to the counter to order some food. I decided to try one of their sandwiches since they were on special. I ordered a BBQ brisket sandwich ($5.19 regular price). I was told that the restaurant was too full so I had to take my order to go. I gave them my name and stepped aside to wait for my order.

I looked over by the beverage bar and noticed that there was a big jar of large dill pickles and a soft serve ice cream machine. It turns out that both of these are free when you eat at Dickey's Barbecue. They were out of cones, so I got myself a little cup of vanilla soft serve while I waited for my food. It was pretty good. Yay for free ice cream! A few minutes later I was handed a bag with my sandwich and an announcement was made that they were starting the drawing. They actually ended up giving away four $50 gift certificates in addition to the plasma TV. I didn't win anything. Boooooooo!

After the drawing I headed home and opened up my sandwich. The brisket was piled on to the sandwich dry without any sauce. Onions and pickles came on the side. It also came with a little side of barbecue sauce. I put some sauce on the sandwich and took a bite. It wasn't bad, but it lacked flavor. The meat was tender, but almost tasteless. This sandwich could benefit from a lot of salt and some smoke flavor. The sauce helped a little, but not nearly enough.

I was disappointed in the sandwich, but I think I will still return sometime to try out their ribs. The ribs are available as a plate with two sides for $14.99 or by the pound at $16.99. It sounds a little pricey to me, especially since most of the weight in ribs is in the bones. I'll make sure to update this article when I get back to try them. I also really like that this restaurant offers the free soft serve vanilla ice cream and large dill pickles. It's a nice touch that more places should pick up on.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

Captain said...

No smoke flavor in a Texas style brisket sand?

That's tantamount to no onions in French Onion soup.

Deal breaker as far as I'm concerned.

I like the sauce on the side part.

Diamond Dog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Diamond Dog said...

Dickeys is considered sub par BBQ in Texas. Kind of like Taco Bell is to Mexican Food in California

Griffin said...

Captain-I know! I even closed my eyes and tried really hard to taste some smoke flavor. No luck.

DD-Thanks for the info. I don't like Taco Bell, so I guess I should steer clear of this place. :-) Now if you had said it was the Del Taco of Texas...

Chubbypanda said...

Dude, you totally beat me too it. Thanks for taking one for the team. I'm no longer in a rush to try them out.

Anonymous said...

I really like the sauce