Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs

Hands down the BEST Beef ribs ever had. Not too much bbq sauce, and excellent tasting meat… one of a kind… so sad this location closed… would go out of my way to eat at Ventura Blvd location… any plans to re open?

I can’t believe Mr. Cecil’s closed down! This makes me so sad.
I really enjoyed their BBQ. Even crave their ribs from time to time.
Tear.

So update. Mr Cecil’s is closed. It wasn’t the tops in BBQ places for me but it was the best on the west side.
Just drove by after seeing all the décor torn down and things painted to see an asian restaurant going in. Now, I’m not hating on asian food at all but come one! We got a LOT in the couple mile radius of Pico. Sorely disappointed that it isn’t something more fun going in there!

For years I’ve passed by and wanted to try Mr. Cecil’s. Well, curiosity killed the cat. Very disappointing experience.
Went in on a Sunday and the place was basically empty. The service sucked. The server sat in the corner the entire time, only getting up whenever we flagged her down. Plus, she had this «I don’t want to be here» attitude. I understand if your job sucks, but don’t bring me down too. I’m out spending good money trying to enjoy a weekend afternoon.
The food was alright, but should have been exceptional given the prices. I paid $ 25.50 for a Ribs & Chicken plate with baked beans and corn bread. Fortunately, the ribs were good (which is the most important thing to me). They were meaty and tender enough, with a nice flavor. But the chicken was dry inside and burnt in some parts. I liked the baked beans, sweet and tangy. The corn bread was good enough. We also ordered a BBQ Pork Sandwich, which was pretty terrible. The bun was very bready, and the pork pieces (not pulled pork) were a small portion and rather dry. Definitely not worth $ 10. Their cole slaw is quite tasty though. It had a few more ingredients than the typical slaw, and I really enjoyed it. One of the biggest disappointments was the Hush Puppies. I’d heard that Mr. Cecil’s has amazing hush puppies, but these were blah. Didn’t even finish the order. The diced bell pepper was overwhelming; it’s all I tasted. And the balls were too crispy on the outside, barely leaving a bit of soft dough in the middle. Perhaps I went on a bad day. Overall, it was too bad to give this place a second shake. For these prices, I’ll stick to Baby Blues BBQ.
I wanted to order a rum cake, but since the waitress was crappy and I didn’t particularly enjoy the meal, I figured that I wasted enough money there.

DISAPPOINTING: OVERPRICED & JUST NOT VERY GOOD
This location is very small, but I like the feel of it… walking into the South somewhere. Unfortunately, the idea of the place is a California-​style BBQ, which admittedly, would not pass a market research study with me. California in the mind of this BBQ-​lover, is not the mecca of good BBQ, other than the weather allowing us to grill 365. I want Texas, Kansas City, St Louis, etc!
The food was priced quite high, and I thought the pork ribs were tough and undercooked, the bbq beef wasn’t tender, and the chicken dry. Parking lot is small, but there is plenty of street parking.
Sorry Mr Cecil, but overall, I would choose another BBQ place.

They have an outdoor seating area that allows dogs! Dogs + big beef rib bones = happiness.
The ribs are all smackingly delicious. They are even good the next day, oh, in say, an omelette. My favorites were the beef ribs and the baby back ribs. They also have yummy sides like twice-​fried fries that come in a little metal cart, jalapeño-​laced hush puppies, and corn that comes slathered with spicy seasoning.
Liked it so much I brought my parents here when they visited from norcal. My dad loves bbq even more than I do and there were no complaints from either one of them. Huge portions make them real happy. We sat outside with the dog, and I noticed the waiter popping his head in the window to check up on us.

When the food is fresh here (during the busy days/times.dont come on a slow day or time) it is fantastic.
I love their Beef Ribs… when they do them right (think Weekends during lunchtime/​dinnertime) they are the best. The food quality can dropoff a little after lunch time during the weekdays as the meat has been sitting around.

Went to Mr. Cecils tonight for the very first and last time. Why is it that the minute you cross the Rocky Mountains all good BBQ stops! The Baby Back ribs (½ rack) were dry, tough and really lacked flavor… I also bit into something that almost cracked my tooth but that’s the least of my frustration. If you’re charging someone 18.95 for a ½ rack then you better be putting out good food… they’re not! My Sprite was flat, the beans were gross and the cornbread would get you slapped in a real southern kitchen. Mr. Cecil I’d like my money back…
Also, the service was HORRIBLE!

I came here w/​my girlfriend on the day our Groupon was going to expire, 3÷6÷11. This place is pretty small indoors. I believe they have a patio but i didn’t get to check it out.
So I ordered the Catfish Nuggets since I was starving and wanted something ASAP. When the nuggets arrived I was pretty excited (look at the picture link below), but in my first bite as i was chewing away there was a freaking bone in it. I’m like WTF? These are fried pieces of catfish and I find a bone of them? I brushed it off and thought it was an accident (it happens). I keep eating and several pieces (4 – 7) have multiple bones in them.
I decided to talk to the waitress about this.
me: «There’s bones in the fish nuggets, is that normal?»
waitress: «Well you know its an animal that has bones»
… then she walks away like it’s a standard. argh
This was just a horrible way to start the meal but I stayed around and ate the ribs. To keep this review short, the baby backs were ok. Baked beans were pretty good since it had pieces of bacon. Corn bread was a tad dry for me, although my girlfriend liked it. BBQ sauce was pretty awesome!
I would recommend Baby Blues over this place any day.

Per Hannah Ms recommendation, I headed out to LA with a couple friends to check out Mr. Cecil’s. I’ve had more average and below-​average BBQ in California than above-​average, so nothing against Hannah, but I had some doubts about this place before I set foot in this restaurant.
I take that back; I never even made it inside. My friends got us a table outside while my other friend and I looked for parking and I never got to see what it looks like inside. But who cares about that… I was there for the food.
We actually had plans to eat somewhere else afterwards, so we just shared a couple combo plates to try everything. Here’s the breakdown:
Baby back ribs — Not very saucy (which I like), and the meat fell off the bone. I don’t think they smoke their ribs (if they do, I couldn’t tell). It was a TAD bit dry, but it was still tender and enjoyable. And you can add on the regular or spicy BBQ sauces that were on the table, but I thought the regular BBQ sauce was pretty ordinary and the spicy wasn’t very spicy. I didn’t need to use the sauces very much anyway because I liked the simplicity of the ribs themselves.
Beef ribs — Definitely the more flavorful of the two, but it was pretty fatty and it didn’t have as much meat on it as I’m used to beef ribs having. It does have an Asian-​tasting glaze of some sort, so you really don’t need to add any sauce to this. I enjoyed both ribs, so I’ll probably continue to get the Ribs and Ribs Combo.
The cole slaw was average, but the baked beans w/​bacon were really good and so were the twice-​cooked fries (a bit oily since they’re fried twice, but they’re nice and crispy). The hushpuppies were quite possibly the best ones I’ve had because of the pieces of jalapeño inside them and because they weren’t as dry and tasteless as the other ones I’ve had. I didn’t even need the butter or honey (did I really just say that?!).
All in all, this was an enjoyable rib-​eating experience and I will definitely be back, but probably not as often as I’d like since they are more expensive than some other BBQ joints. At these prices, they should get some more meat on the ribs (esp the beef ribs) and at least offer the fries as a free side substitution. I realize I’m only talking about $ 1 here, but at $ 26/​rack of ribs, is it really necessary to charge extra for fries?
Oh, one question for Mr. Burrows: where’s the sweet tea?!

After trying the beef ribs at the Santa Monica BBQ festival a couple years ago, I’ve been a fan of Mr. Cecil’s. So when Bed, Bath and Beyond shopping made us hungry, Brad F and I went right down the street for some MEAT!
We were lucky to grab a space in the small parking lot. There is street parking right out front, and weeknights are usually not a problem — but easy lot parking is always a treat!
The place is pretty small, so on this Wednesday night there were only a few tables open. We got a booth right away, and our server came to take our orders pretty fast.
Me: Smoked Tri Tip 10 oz Steak — served with coleslaw and glazed carrots (my choice of 2 sides), the slab of tri tip on my plate was flame grilled on the outside and juicy, smoked meaty goodness all through!
The coleslaw was nice — a little sweet, creamy but not overly dressed, and still crunchy. But those carrots are always my fave — sliced rounds, slightly al dente and lolling around in a DELICIOUS sauce of butter, sugar, vanilla, and maybe a hint of cinnamon. This is one veggie that could easily go undercover as dessert! Or I could just forego the carrots and drink that sauce on its own…: P
BF: Ribs and Ribs Combo — baby backs and beef ribs, with beans and hush puppies. Whenever I come here, I notice that people always order the baby backs — but I have always preferred the beef. Tonight, the baby backs were more moist than I remember in the past, and fatty marbled goooood!
The huge, perfectly fatty, meaty beef ribs were great as always. I really like the asian-​inspired marinade (not because I’m asian!) — with or without the extra sauce they have on the table.
The beans are always good here — bits of bacon in the saucy, flavorful mix — but the hush puppies were fried a little bit too crunchy for my preference.
Service here is always pretty good — I’ve always experienced the food to come out fast, and the servers are helpful and efficient.
Thanks for dinner, Mr. Cecil!

My cousin Pamela M. was kind enough to share her buffalo wings from here with me. So good! I am a big fan of buffalo wings and have even had my share from Buffalo, NY so can educatedly say they hold their own in the not drenched in sauce variety.
Not bad at all!

A Groupon brought me here. The structure of the restaurant is quite interesting… and a bit small, so make sure you arrive early to avoid waiting for a table. Parking is also fairly limited.
Our order included:
* Catfish nuggets
* Cajun hot links
* Ribs and ribs combo with the ½ rack of Baby Back Ribs and ½ rack of Beef Ribs
* Side of Hush Puppies
The catfish was all right, but still had a fishy taste (the kind that’s not good). The hot links were much better and very flavorful. The ribs were the best part: bursting with flavor, tender, and delicious. The meat on the baby back ribs practically slid off the bone and while that wasn’t the case for the beef ribs, the beef ribs had quite a lot of meat per bone. We had two orders of Hush Puppies since any other sides required an extra charge (sad, first time I’ve been sides costing extra that should’ve came with the meal). The Hush Puppies were very filling and they went into the to-​go box along with our leftover ribs. Another hearty meal down.

$ 9.99 for a basket of ribs that amount to about a full rack. The meat is sooo mind blowingly tender. Two sauces on the table so that you can slather on as much sauce as you like. One is more sweet, while the other one has a bit more vinegar (NOM).
+/​-​Hot wings are spicy and saucey, I like mine a little bit more crispy.
+/​-​Hush puppies aren’t greasy and are pretty dense. They have pepper in the batter and not very sweet, but very good with honey.
— Corn on the cob is not very sweet, very buttered, and lacking the (chipotle lime) seasoning
Parking can be a challenge as the lot is very small and cramped feeling, but if you’re lucky, whoo hoo!
The ambiance makes me feel like I’m about to ride thunder mountain railroad at Disneyland, but its fun (!), everything I really expect to find at a bbq place.
They have a HH, you’re only hurting yourself by not coming!

I haven’t even begun to write this review, and in my mind I am already struggling to justify the four stars. The service is rather spotty, at times attentive & cheerful, and other times as slow as BBQ sauce sliding down a beef bone. The parking is limited, which I guess is OK because there is limited seating inside. The ambiance is nothing special, unless you count the rather homey cardboard cutouts of farms that adorn the shelf close to the ceiling, or the pig art (which is insidiously designed to provoke feelings of cuteness about the very animal you are devouring).
But the BBQ (particularly the baby back ribs) is so good that I find myself coming back each time I get the hankering. The baby back ribs are simply perfect: tender, meaty and packed with flavor, they are good enough to eat without the sauce… and the sauce is something else. For the sides, I highly recommend the beans and corn on the cob.
You might want to avoid dining at peak hours lest you fall victim to an overworked staff, or try ordering for carry out.

My favorite place for ribs.
Went here for lunch today and got an order of the St. Louis style babyback ribs, hushpuppies, BBQ beans, and an iced tea. The St. Louis style is more meaty and less juicy than the regular babybacks. The half rack I had was plenty of meat for lunch. The hushpuppies were delicious, as always, with just a bit of spice to them and made perfect with a drizzle of honey. The BBQ beans with bacon are fantastic. My friend had the BBQ chicken which she said was juicy and full of flavor.
I know that good BBQ is a personal preference and many an argument has broken out over whose is best but for me Mr. Cecil’s is top notch.

I was thrilled when my friends invited me to dinner at Mr. Cecil’s one recent weekend. I’ve wanted to try it forever but on a normal night I feel too guilty to indulge in such a decadent meal. When it’s a date with friends, however, it’s a different story!
I walked into the small, simply decorated restaurant knowing that I wanted ribs, so I didn’t have to spend much time poring over the menu. I did think there were a lot of enticing things on there though, including short ribs and hush puppies that I’ll have to try next time. I asked the waiter about the difference between baby back and St. Louis style ribs, and he informed me that baby back is usually more popular because it’s a higher cut and therefore more tender and flavorful, while St. Louis style is meatier and leaner. I went with the tried and true baby backs along with some baked beans and cole slaw. There wasn’t a huge list of sides to choose from, and I would have loved to see some mac and cheese on there, but I was very happy with my choices.
First of all, the meat was amazing. It truly was fall off the bone tender, as they say. The menu asks you to try the meat before slathering on the BBQ sauce, so I complied before using their sweet sauce in moderation. I also really enjoyed the beans, which were nice and sweet. The cole slaw was just ok in my opinion — not as flavorful as I would have liked, but I still ate the whole thing!
The other thing I was missing was the sweet tea. Because they only had regular iced tea, I settled on a beer, but I love having some sweet tea with bbq, so I was a bit sad.
We were stuffed by the time it came to dessert, but who can pass up a piece of pie after a big bbq meal? We split the apple crumb pie, which actually came not as a slice but a little round individual pie. It was nice and warm and very tasty but not as fresh tasting as I thought it was going to.
Despite the lack of sweet tea, mac and cheese, bland cole slaw and fairly high prices, I had a fantastic meal here and walked out really happy. I’d recommend this place to anyone who’s in the mood for some simple and hearty meat! Just make sure to taste it before pouring on the sauce :)

The perfect summer meal!
These ribs are not Texas style, so they won’t be dripping with sauce, but you can add your own (they have sweet or spicy on the table.)
The hits:
The Louisiana Style ribs are a bit larger but drier than the Baby Back ones, so, depending on your politic, the Baby Backs might be a better choice. All in all, they were both tasty.
We had lemonade and the pinot grigio, and both were good.
The hush puppies have jalapenos, which threw me off a bit at first — but the jalapeño is pretty mellow and they were delish, especially with a touch of honey.
The honey glazed carrots were not too sweet as some tend to be.
Dessert was awesome — We had the chocolate lava cake, but what made it so good was that it was served with ice cream, a fresh raspberry, and a sprig of mint. Moister and better than other places I’ve had it. This really stood out.
Meh: The cornbread was not bad (being raised by a Southern Daddy, I’m picky about it), but it was still ok. I’d say order another side, or double the hushpuppies instead.
Other details:
The rest rooms are outside of the main room. The service would have been what I would call lacking had our server not been so nice to make up for the lack of speed. Location scouts — The interior and the parking lot have character — would make for a great photo shoot. Lonely hearts: there’s a strip club down the street.
They also do to-​go! (the ribs, not the strip club.)

Shania Twain you were right.
«I’ve known a few BBQ places who thought they were pretty smart
But you’ve got bein’ right down to an art
You think you’re a genius, you drive me up the miles
You’re a regular original, a taste-​it-​all
Oh-​oo-​oh, you think you’re special
Oh-​oo-​oh, you think you’re something else
Okay, so you’re a Mr. Cecil’s Cali Ribs
That don’t impress me muchhhh, Oh oh ohhh, So you’ve got the idea but havent got the touch, dont get me wrong I think youre alrighttttt, but that wont keep my BBQ taste buds warm at nighttttt «
Okay DONE with the singing!
So I’ve tasted better service and food rather than here. My fellow Unilocaler friend Ciara and I decided to give this joint a try and I was greeted by the most weirdest card-​board man standing with a sign «wait to be seated». Of course we waited and nothing happened. Moments later a random voice just told us to sit anywhere so we sat. It took awhile for us to order our food but the sight of our hush puppies reminded me of chocolate chip donuts…
I got St. Louis Style Ribs with a side of cole slaw and cornbread (ME love some cornbread oh hellz yea) and Ciara ordered some odd looking piece of lettuce with sides of tomatoes that COST her extra to put on there! LAME! She also ordered beef brisket sammy but I really dont remember her eating it or complimenting it. I must have been busy thinking how crappy the corn bread tasted, I think it was a day or two old, very hard… tasted like old bread and just sucked. Our waitor was also dry and boring, I think I wouldve zzz’d out if he had attempted to start a conversation with me.
The building was small and the lights were dim. This can be a problem for those that have eye problems like myself. I tend to bat my eyes more in low lighted areas and it just starts hurting, again thats not their fault but its the comfortness that also brings me back.
As Ciara and I stated «Lets make this a BBQ week until we find the right place to dine at»

I’m catching up
Huh?
On Unilocal
Ok A N.
Wow Lame
I’m hungry, lets eat
Now
Yes
What
I feel like BBQ
Where?
Unilocal something, how about Mr Cecil’s
OK meet you there
And we did. Jes and I walked in to the super small restaurant and waited to be seated bc the sign said so. So we waited and finally the one server on duty that was behind the counter said to sit anywhere.
He brought over menus and asked for drinks. I ordered an iced tea and knew things we not going to be the greatest bc he didn’t ask sweet or regular. If a BBQ place does not have sweet tea, they are doomed from the start.
Anyway, so we started with the Hush Puppies and Cajun Sausage.
Hush Puppies came out in like a minute so you knew they were not fresh. They were better than I thought they were going to be bc I thought they were going to be awful. My Cajun Sausage was a rip off. They charged $ 6.95 for one sausage link and cut it up in like 6 pieces. Lame price and lame tasting. It wasn’t fresh either. Barely hot and was kind of mushy. It didn’t have that crisp outer skin that most Cajun Links have.
Wanted some a salad but was limited to a few choices. So I went for the Wedge which was really just a wedge. Everywhere that has a wedge salad on their menu usually has it topped with some goodies (tomatoes, bacon, blue cheese, etc.) but not here. They serve you half a wedge of iceberg lettuce with dressing. Lame. I asked for some tomatoes and onions to be added to it and they did of course but for a fee. Lame.
On to the meals, I am a huge brisket fan so always order a brisket sandwich for all BBQ places I go. This was the worst ever. I know it was chopped brisket but it was just BBQ mush thrown in a roll. But the baked beans with bacon that I got as my side were tasty and probably the highlight of the meal. Sad.
Jes ordered the ½ rack of St Louis Ribs with corn bread and cole slaw. Ribs came out dry which was nice bc it lets you appreciate them for what they are before you load them up with BBQ sauce. I tried a bit and the dry rub was nice and flavorful. They were pretty tender as well. Cole Slaw was bland and I didn’t try the corn bread.
No dessert here.
Their BBQ sauce was tasty. They have a spicy and regular but I couldn’t tell the difference between them. Service was ehh. Jes and I were chatting away (even about Unilocal and writing reviews) so I think he didn’t want to interrupt us but as a server it’s your job so you kind of have to. Or at least just refill our drinks bc they are empty if you don’t feel like interrupting our convo.
We decided to go on a BBQ quest this week so let’s hope our next spots get some stars.