We got invited to the soft opening for the first Woodranch BBQ in San Diego. They have about sixteen locations, mostly in the Los Angeles area. The restaurant is located in Hazard Center in Mission Valley towards the back of the parking lot where Randy Jones All American Sports Grill used to be.
The restaurant itself is very dimly lit with the brightest section being the bar. They have an outdoor patio in the back of the restaurant as well.
Since this was the soft opening all food was complimentary. I remember going to a Woodranch BBQ up in Corona with my family a few years ago. These complimentary garlic rolls brought back some memories. They’re pillowy soft and have a nice bounce to them.
By the take out registers there are small windows you can peek into the kitchen. And if you are a creeper like me, take pictures and videos of them preparing your food. It was training week before they officially opened doors on Monday, May 11th so there seemed to be an even ratio of staff to guest.
One of our buddies recommended we get the tri-tip. “Tri-tip” were the first words to come out of our waitress’ mouth as she gave us her recommendations. We would be jerks to not listen to them. It was a fairly large piece of meat, intact and not sliced like I’m accustomed to. We ordered it medium, but most of it came out medium well. It had a nice smoky, robust beef flavor, and coupled with their bbq sauce we enjoyed it. You can choose two sides with their bbq plates and we went with skin on fries and Lauren’s favorite mac & cheese. They were good sides but not great.
We also shared the buckeye burger (applewood-smoked bacon, Tillamook cheddar, orginal bbq sauce) and they split it in half for us. You can choose one side with a burger or sandwich and because we are such health nuts (right!) we chose broccoli. It wasn’t on the description but the burger also had lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and pickles. I had extra pickles thanks to Michael. It didn’t quite live up to our hopes for a juicy, flavorful burger. The piece of bacon we got was thick, but too fatty and tough to get enjoy.
They hadn’t even opened yet so it is hard to judge based off of training week. But everyone working there was really great and the staff was attentive. Multiple people approached our table asking us if we needed anything and how everything was going. They seemed to be well trained on the menu and our waitress tried everything they were serving, meaning she could really give us her true recommendations. I hope to come back once things settle and try some of their other menu items like the pecan wood smoked ribs slow roasted for 18 hours.
Woodranch BBQ & Grill
7510 Hazard Ctr Dr
San Diego, CA 92108
www.woodranch.com
I didn’t even know about this opening until recently. I visited my first Woodranch in LA some months ago and we tried their happy hour. But the best part of the meal was the free garlic rolls! I can’t wait to try Woodranch here in SD soon.
For a chain it was actually pretty good. We don’t have many bbq places in SD so one in MV that is easy to park and get to is A ok by me. We had two orders of their garlic rolls!