Firehouse Que & Brew — Restaurant in California

The smell of meat being smoked can be smelled from blocks away! Nestled inside the historic site of Fallbrooks first firehouse turned BBQ joint, you'll find BBQ that boast's it's the best West of Texas. They surely do not disappoint!!

Not only was the service amazing, but the staff was attentive and kind. You start by walking in and ordering at the counter (due to covid-19). They do allow for outdoor dining currently so we opted to dine on their patio.

Wasn't very busy for a Thursday afternoon, after the lunch rush hours, but before dinner and traffic.

We had their Thursday lunch special, which consists of a brisket sandwich with sides of slaw and french fries. We also ordered a half pound of pulled pork as another meat to try. We had lemonades to wash it all down. We rounded up the meal with their peach cobbler a la mode.

They serve all their meats without sauce so you can decide if you even want to add sauce or enjoy as is with the smoky flavors. While the brisket and pulled pork were both flavorful on their own I decided to try all three sauce varieties and I'm glad I did. They have original/house, sweet, and hot/spicy. The original is tangy but robust flavor. The sweet has a hint of sweet without being overly sweet and had an interesting flavor from the spices used. The hot/spicy sauce definitely has a kick, but it's all balanced well enough to keep you eating passed the heat. I tried all three sauce individually with the pulled pork and chunks of brisket. Each one changed the experience slightly on their own. Now, add a little of all the together in the same bite and wowsers!! Their Cole slaw is definitely worth mentioning. It wasn't overly sauced and drowning, it had just enough moisture, but still every bite treated as if you just made it fresh. Crispy, flavorful, and I can't stand Cole slaw, but I ate every last bite because it was that good. Even their french fries were cooked to a perfect crispy outside that crunched and was seasoned well, but had a light fluffy inside, even with being small fries and not steak fries. Now the peach cobbler a la mode y'all!!! Wow! I think I'll be dreaming about that for the next few nights at least. It was the perfect combo of sweet, salty, crunchy, and delicate. I was very tempted to order one to go for dessert after dinner tonight.

I would most definitely recommend this place to anybody that wants to experience a piece of Fallbrook's history and amazing BBQ all in one. I haven't tried their beers yet, but look forward to tasting soon.

Big shout out to Ivan Martinez, for amazing service and making us feel super comfortable and for making this meal and experience...

Reviews definitely steered us wrong here. I'm pretty shocked it has 4.7 stars. Food was not great unfortunately - mac and cheese tastes like mac and cheese you would be served at a highschool cafeteria. I am pretty sure most things are frozen, thawed and cooked again. The firehouse theme stops at the firetruck outside. The pricing on the menu inside is different to what you are charged (says kids menu items are $9 something and I was charged $10 something) and not only that, but their website has COMPLETELY different prices listed. My step mom was not happy about that as she wouldn't have come here at all if she had seen the prices that were actually being charged listed on the website. Service was ok - however when we were asked if we needed anything, I asked for more silverware. She said "um well we don't give utensils to people who order burgers or sandwiches". Well.... I have to cut up my child's giant chicken tenders.. so can you make an exception? It was the weirdest exchange. Do you not want to give me another fork or? You asked me what I needed.. so may I please have another fork? It was so strange. The floor on the patio has never been cleaned, don't bring kids. It wasn't very clean anywhere to be honest. Makes me a bit concerned about what the kitchen is like if everything else is the way it is. I also had no idea they had wine. Would have ordered some, but it's not advertised anywhere that I saw. I only knew they sold it eventually cause someone else had a glass. We wont be back. Wanted to love it... my husband is a...

Absolutely wonderful place and I highly recommend coming here if you are in Fallbrook! We wanted burgers after a decent hike and decided to try this out. It is located in an old firehouse and has an eclectic ambiance. They have T-shirts from a bunch of breweries on the walls, pictures of the old firehouse and other cool art. They have tables and booths and everything is super clean. The lady who took our order was very nice, friendly, helpful and checked in on us intermittently, which was nice. We ordered the beef brisket sandwich with a side of beans, the Nashville fried chicken sandwich with a side of fried okra (both sandwiches with slaw inside the sandwich rather than on the side), a beer and a cider. The Nashville Fried chicken was excellent! Fiery, saucy, crunchy, absolutely delicious. I couldn't stop eating it! Slaw inside the sandwich is the way to go by the way, as they only do meat and bread otherwise. The brisket was also good, but needed more sauce and felt a little plain flavor wise when compared to the blast of flavor from the Nashville fried chicken. The fried okra with the spicy mayo dip was excellent and I recommend taking this as a side. The beans were decent but, again, felt blah in comparison to the okra. Both the beer and cider were excellent. The pricing is also reasonable. We will...