Ribs USA — Restaurant in Burbank

I only write a review if I’m super impressed or if I feel like I got ripped off. This is one of those reviews where I definitely got ripped off. Places like this should be ashamed of themselves.

I have had my own smoker for over 20 years and taught 2 of my brothers how to cook on their own smokers. I don’t think anything compares to doing it yourself, but I still appreciate trying local BBQ places wherever I may be. This is the first time I’ve ever felt ripped off and disgusted by one of those places.

I spent 60$ on a full rack of baby back ribs, a pineapple bacon sausage, baked beans, Mac and cheese, mashed potato’s, and cornbread.

I tried the sausage first. It was supposed to be pineapple/ bacon. There was nothing pineapple bacon about it. It was nothing more than a hillshire farm sausage, butterflied and slathered with ketchup. Or maybe that was their attempt at barbecue sauce. Disgusting!

The cornbread was dry, and the edges were hard as a rock. If you’re a restaurant and can’t even get the Jiffy box directions right, you shouldn’t be a restaurant.

The potatoes are instant, that’s right, straight out of the box - just add water. The gravy seemed concentrated though, I think they forgot to add water.

The Mac and cheese wasn’t very cheesy, more like cheese flavored macaroni! It was crumbly, no two noodles were stuck together. They tried to make this in house. F for effort! Just make a box of the kids Kraft, it’s cheaper, and it’ll taste better.

Beans, straight from the can

Baby back ribs - TRASH- these ribs were absolutely terrible. If you’re looking for slow cooked, smoked, fall off the bones ribs, with good flavor and sauce. This is not the place. Ribs didn’t have any flavor to them, I don’t think they add dry rub, just straight up meat flavored with no sauce. They do give you extra ketchup on the side though. They had a little snap to them and next time you should remove the membrane.

STOP STEALING...

Let's play a game! For every time I drove past this place and thought about going, you get one point. For everything disappointing about this place you lose a point. Ok, go!

"Wow a place called Ribs USA, I gotta try that." (1 point) "Damn, there's that Rib place again." (1 point) "Why haven't I gone there yet. It looks like a tiny hole-in-the-wall; must be great BBQ" (1 point)

....[cut to: many years later...plus 1,000 points...I've driven by a lot]

"Ok, I'm going to that Ribs USA place." (1 point)

Ordered Pulled Chicken Jr. Platter, with cornbread, mac and cheese, and spicy cole slaw. Chicken was in chunks, not pulled (-1 point) Chicken was dry and just covered in a bit of ketchup-y BBQ sauce (-2 points) Server forgot cornbread (-1 point) When asked if I could get some hot sauce, server brought over a tiny tiny cup of some (-1 point) spicy cole slaw was different and spicy. But everything else was terrible (-1 point)

Ok, so Ribs USA still wins. And it's because everyone drives by that place and it's an easy to remember, and most people who have never been to the South don't know what actual good BBQ should taste like, so this place is fine for them and it's still in business. But never have I imagined BBQ could have so little flavour or love and soul put into the food.

Thanks for playing (I lived in the South...

This place was bad. Squeezed out an extra star for the friendly workers. I got the beef wings plate. The beef ribs were average, and they were the best part of the meal. The beans weren't that great but it was smoking hot, which is more than I could say for the rest of the food. The wings are what really killed this meal though. While the ribs definitely could've been hotter the wings were just a smidge above room temperature. The place wasn't busy, no excuse. Also, I've never seen such white chicken wings under the sauce...like any spot on the chicken that didn't have sauce was completely white. Never seen that before. I can't tell if they boiled or baked them, but either way it was a total failure. When getting hot wings from a BBQ spot you might imagine wings smoking on a grill perfectly charred and then thoroughly tossed in the sauce of your choice...or at least standard American Deli level wings...well you would be wrong. As soon as they came out I knew something was wrong. The sauce was half-@ss applied and tasted like basic store brand hot sauce. They should've been ashamed. I paid $25....