Just BBQ

I’ve been eating here for over 20 years and the sauce is really good, but the meat sucks! The pork ribs are so tough and burned and dry that you have to drench them in the sause to taste at all good. The tri tip is ok at best. The chicken and links are good. Everything else is average. I hope the owner reads this, please make better meat products. Your meat just sits up on that rack all day drying out. What you need to do is roll down to DA Hickory House and try their meat. Their meat with your sause would be the best bbq in town. Sorry I will take the meat over the sause anyday good bye just Bbq

For a 5 star review you gotta do perfect it’s not easy to get but I’ll tell you I come here all the time! Their Tri tip is some of the best tri tip I’ve ever had and is always fresh I literally see them pull it off the grill and cut it… Their meat is so much better than these other places! the pasta salad is my favorite… and their hotlinks are amazing of course! Don’t miss it! Two tips to the owner! Please make sure that your employees use proper hygiene at all times… whatever it takes video cameras etc, #2, please change your bean recipe to something like skillet beans at wood ranch that would be amazing… #3 (ok gotta add the third point). While your garlic bread is good please add some seasoning to your garlic bread it’s kind of plain…

THE BEST BBQ IN TOWN! We always get the trip tip sandwich with a sausage link. The sauce is amazing but if you get the hot make sure you like it HOT! mild is perfect for me. One of my favorite dinner spots! Two Very hard working guys get through the long line fast and efficient!

Been here before and loved it every time always get the tri tip sandwich. I came here last week and they gave me ¹⁄₆^th of the meat they usually give me I was shocked. I told him this can’t be right I always get so much more. And he said that was right. Same guy that always serves me. Today I come with my friend so he can try it out. He gets the same trip tip sandwich i used to get. Loaded with meat. I ask the guy why he got alot and I got almost none last time. He says he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. Guy is moody. Better hope u catch him on a good day if u want a good serving.

Best bbq in town hands down. Love this place! The pork ribs are grilled to perfection and the hot souce is a must.

Excellent Tri-​tip and hot links. The HOT BBQ Sauce is slammin hot. Makes me sweat and I love it! Oh yea, its delicious too! Price is not too bad, but you do get some good grub for it.

Dinner plate–
Portion– good (6 ribs of good size)
Taste– bland
BBQ sauce– good and spicy
Beans– so, so. Not impressed
Cold slaw — nothing special
Macaroni salad– nothing special.
Service– average.

This place is amazing! I love it! I thought the only place to get the best tri tip sandwich was in Santa ynez but this beat it. The best part is the crispy part of the meat mmmmm so good, I crave this place all the time and the price is amazing for what you get. Definitely recommend it! 5 stars

Lunchtime line=4 stars food was good overall .I got hot and mild mix bbq sauce. tritip was good, potatoe salad was ok.

Fast and easy bbq if you are in need for a quick fix. It’s located in a random strip mall in the corner of a parking lot, across from an old theater that is not a church. The strip mall is an indoor one with multiple food shops, and has an abandoned/​shady feel to it. Random, but whatever I just want the bbq in my mouth.
The bbq shop is open so you can see the meats cooking in front of you as you stand at the counter and order. You place your order on the left side, then as you move to the register you pick out your side dish from the fridge and pay at the register on the right. You can order mild or spicy sauce to come with it. They could use some instructions for newbies, but hey that’s what I’m here for I guess. Your’re welcome.
I got the brisket lunch special with coleslaw, macaroni salad, and beans, which also comes with a slice of garlic bread. For the amount of food, the price is well worth it. The brisket itself was tender, flavorful and moist. However, everything else was mediocre at best. The sauce was nothing to write home about, just a very basic bbq sauce. The beans were watery and bland, and the two salads were heavy on mayonnaise and light on flavor. To top it off, the bread was burned on the grill so the only flavor there was ash. I scraped off the char before I took the picture of my meal.
This all said, the brisket was the saving grace. If not for that delicious meat, this would probably be a 2 star review. So definitely get the brisket, and ask for your bread not charred, along with choosing different sides.

I do enjoy their tri tip here. It’s a small barbeque place in the corner strip mall, sort of tucked away from anything. That just makes it that much better as you can tell it’s just a few guys cooking up some meat and serving it up until it runs out. The sausage and ribs and chicken are also good but again the tri tip is the specialty. It’s best to get the tri tip medium rare, which means it’ll be slightly over medium as they do throw it back on the grill right before serving you.

It’s not Just BBQ. The food here is pretty darn tasty, I must say. So, thanks to you Unilocalsters I had this super yummy ma n’ pop shop for dinner. I had a craving for BBQ, once I hoped on Unilocal the name of this restaurant caught my eye– so I then started reviewing the pictures way before the reviews. Wow, the pictures were down right BBQ, finger– lickin’ BBQ.
My husband stopped by around 6p and ordered me the Beef Rib plate for $ 10.99. It comes with 3 juicy beef ribs with a side of beans, potato salad, cilantro mac salad and a piece of garlic food. Definitely a great price for a hefty dinner portion, I would say this entrée can easily be shared between 2 people.
I also had a side of there homemade BBQ sauce, spicy style. To be honest, it’s not as spicy as I thought it was going to be. There’s more a sweet taste with a slight kick at the end– pretty tasty sauce.
The customer service is just right. For those that complain, it’s probably they come when it’s super busy. but if your craving for yummy BBQ at a decent price come here for dinner towards the time of closing– no line and the workers are chill.
Good food, good prices… I’m with it!
My pictures don’t do any justice, but check em’ it and like em’ if ya want.

I’ve gotta say, i have been looking for a BBQ place in Ventura that i like for about 2 years now, and i think i just found it! Ill start with the meat its sooooo good, thick cuts of trip just how i like it, and not reheated like most places here. I do have to add that the sides i got (col slaw, beans and potato salad) were not good at all, actually they were pretty gross. I will be back alot for the meat but will stick to home made side dishes. 5 star meat 2 star sides.

Step by Step Guide to eating at Just BBQ. Also, for some reason, the service from the cashiers is known for being terrible. Just ignore them. Tip your meat cutters as they are usually cool and they are doing the important work to get you a good meal.
1. Their sauce is awesome. Always get the sauce, when ordering, base your meal about what you are most in the mood to eat after dipping it into their delicious sauce. Although it is «BBQ Sauce» it is clearly something different from what you might find in most BBQ places around the country and CERTAINLY nothing like what you might find in a shelf stable state, in a glass bottle at room temperature in the condiment aisle of your local grocery store. This awesome sauce sits in some sort of vat that acts as a slow cooker to keep your sauce cooking and in suspension until your meat cutter at Just BBQ asks you what kind of sauce you want. What he is asking you if you want mild, hot or half and half which is half mild and half hot. Mild is delicious and amazing and even though I usually order hot sauce, here I just get mild. Mild is bursting with flavor and has a slight kick to to, half and half is very hot by most standards, and Hot is extremely hot by most standards and may cause your throat to close up in a very pleasant way if you’re into that thing. Whatever you choose, choose wisely because as they make clear on the sign, if you order sauce that is too hot for your liking, they do not exchange the hot for the mild. That said, if you decide you’ve overdone it with the hot, you can order a new serving of mild sauce for $ 1.00.
2. Once you’ve realized that this place is all about dipping their meat into their delicious sauce, decide on your meat. I recommend some combination of the tri tip and their hot links. If you want to go lean, you can also order chicken breast by the pound which is excellent. I personally don’t come here for ribs or bone-​in chicken.
3. Take a moment to notice that all of their meals, whether it be the dinner plate or the sandwiches include bread. I love bread. Especially Garlic bread. The Bread at Just BBQ is very bad. Even when it is «fresh» it is dry. So if you order any of the meals you are paying for bread that is really bad. The best way to avoid this is to skip the meals and order your food a la carte. Even if you want sides, you should skip the dinner plate and/​or sandwiches because they include the horrible bread.
4. Next up, the sides. Now this might be the most controversial part of my Just BBQ ordering guide. I would say skip the sides. Not because I am on a low carb diet or some weird freaky paleo thing, but frankly just because any money you might spend on any of the sides at Just BBQ would be better spent getting more meat and for me that means extra tri tip or an extra hotlink. As for the cold sides: the coleslaw is terrible, the potato salad is even more terrible to the point of being basically inedible, the macaroni salad is mediocre and I guess has its merits but it is not worth it, and the three bean salad is just plain bad and when you had the thought «I’m hungry for some delicious BBQ, we both know that didn’t include thoughts of nasty three bean salad from a very large can. Also, I guess I should include another mention of the terrible, no good bread because even though it is served «hot» and is cooked on the grill, it always arrives cold and stale and if you order it you will regret spending your money on it and if you eat it you will regret wasting space in your stomach with this terrible bread.
5. Sides, part II, Chili Beans. This is a more complicated subject. Although not wonderful and delicious like the tri tip, hot link sausage or JBBQ Sauce, Just BBQ’s Chili beans are served hot and steamy and they are made right and actually kind of tasty, and also they are a nice big serving of beans, and beans are a nice protein packed healthy food to eat. That said, although I certainly recommend them to bean fans young and old, I can NEVER finish more than half of them when I order them and when I look back at the prices, a serving of Chili Beans is up to $ 1.75 per order, while a hot link is only up to $ 2.00. So in spite of the fact that the chili beans are basically the only side on the whole menu worth ordering, if your ordering for yourself, skip the beans, get an extra hotlink and you won’t regret it. If you are sharing with a friend or even two, one order of JBBQ Chili beans could possibly be worth it.
6. Conclusions. Skip the Dinner Plates and the Sandwiches and just order a la carte. The Plates include ½ lb of tri tip and a bunch of filler for $ 10.99. But, Tri Tip is $ 15/​lb, so ½ lb of tri tip is $ 7.50 and Hot Links are $ 2 each. Enjoy! Oh, and again tip your cutter! Even though the cashiers can be dicks, the cutters here are cool guys and they are doing the real work to prep our food.
4 Stars as they’ve got crave worthy sauce, tri tip and gruff customer service in a food court.

A little counter in a food court but what a surprise. By far the best BBQ I have tried around the LA area. The hot bbq sauce is so good and «Hot means Hot»
Best BBQ pork ribs around. Macaroni salad is really good too.
This is also a Really good Value. Get a pile of ribs, chili beans, garlic bread and two sides for 8.99. (macaroni salad and cole slaw for me)
When Im in the area I get 2 bbq pork rib dinners to go. Eat one at the food court, and one to take home for the next day.

I find it rather funny that this resteraunt is listed under Fast Food… There is nothing fast about ordering from Just BBQ, but damn if the wait isn’t worth it.
Just BBQ is located in the food court off Johnson Dr, they have a loyal following & new ones everyday, superseding the once staunch opinion that this particular strip mall would die off after the Century 16 closed down.
Good BBQ is Good BBQ and people will stand in line (and they do) and travel the distance for mouthwatering good food.
I normally order the Tri-​tip sandwich which comes on a French bread roll, loaded with meat they don’t skimp and that’s great news for any carnivore, they then ask what sauce you want from mild to hot, I love heat so I normally choose the hot, and be warned it will make your nose run, that is unless your immune to it.
If I had one nitpick it would be the size of the side dishes, for the money you are spending I think they should offer bigger portions of the salads and/​or beans.
Call your order ahead if you are on any type of time schedule, as I’ve never been to Just BBQ where there isn’t a line out the door.
Good food. Good people running it.
Just love that BBQ

Very good! First time here!
Tri-​tip was tender, flavorful! Sauce was bomb! Beans were great!
Salads were good, I just dont like onions
The ribs were dry :(Possibly because it was close to closing time.
Overall I was happy! Prices were reasonable, especially since the portions were so big and we could share with the kids.
Staff were super cool, friendly & helpful!
Ill be back!

Shahidah, In response to your comment:
It was March 24:) I checked my bank account statement to give you the exact day. You are so sweet for responding!

Thank you to my fellow food brother Mark for introducing me to this place. I’m fortunate to have plenty of friends who have similar tastes in food that I do, it only makes the food outings even more enjoyable. Good company and they like what you like? Sign me up!
This is one of those places that you should never judge a book by it’s cover. It’s not akin to a hole in the wall, but just driving past this place without knowing the gem that’s inside, you would easily drive by and not even bat an eye. It’s located in a food court of sorts small plaza. The lines are normally long, but move quite quickly.
I had some of the tri-​tip and pork (baby backs?) ribs with the mixed sauce. The meats were smoked just right, tender, and moist. The mixed sauce is just right. Sweet with a slight bite. I love that the spice is there, but doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the spices and the meat.
I am seriously thinking about going here before starting my weight challenge. Anyone want to join me?

Good News /​Bad News
Good News: By far my favorite «tasting» BBQ spot in the area.
Bad News: It’s located in a food court. That means small table, community seating and constantly opening doors, which is a bummer on cold days or when you want to sit with a large group.
On the bright side: If you want BBQ but your friends prefer Chinese, Mexican or Fish n Chips, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, the Fish n Chips place (Hook, Line and Sinker) is damn good too.
Good News: Best BBQ sauce I’ve ever tasted.
Bad News: If you don’t like BBQ sauce (like a friend of mine) their tri-​tip by itself is not seasoned to stand alone… or so he says. I’m not really sure since the sauce is so good I wouldn’t dream of a bite without it.
BEWARE: The «hot» sauce is hot!!! It’s so hot they have a sign that says, «Beware, the hot sauce is hot.» Seriously. If you want to be bold, try it half and half first. They’re a little on the stingy side so if you go with the hot and it’s too hot it’s going to cost you a buck for another cup.
Sides: As far as the sides, they’re basic. Chili beans, garlic bread, potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw (they might even have 3 bean but who eats 3 bean?) The garlic bread is perfect, the chili beans are good enough and the salads are nothing special but they get the job done.
Try it or Diet it Final Word
Just nice quarter inch slices of tri-​tip here. No thin dry meat masked in so much sauce so you can’t tell how over cooked it is. If you like tri-​tip this is the place for you.
Definitely Try it!