Bubba's Kitchen, Tap & Sports Bar — Restaurant in Escondido

We came on a Sunday at 1230 with reservations for my dad's birthday. First off when we show up, there is no ta le ready. At the time there is only one other table in use, so why not have our table (for 10) ready? We get drinks at the bar while we wait for our table. My sister in law orders a bloody Mary with extra olives..."oh we're out of olives" and "we don't use real vodka" ok, no big deal, they don't have a full liquor license i get it and red flag number one for no olives. We sit at our table (no napkins, utensils are set, maybe this is the process no big deal...yet). Server greets us, she's nice and polite. Time to order... once we start ordering she then interrupts "playfully introduces herself again and says that she should have started off saying they were out of both ribs (beef and pork) and bbq chicken. This is a bbq place and that's almost half the menu. So I order the Bubba (pulled pork, brisket and sausage) "Oh, we're also out of sausage" So I take it with extra pulled pork instead. Mom orders the brisket sandwich sliced since there was no chicken... "that's going to come chopped, we're out of sliced" Now I'm getting annoyed but "they had a busy night and are waiting on another from their other location" Let's start with some apps. Potato skins with Buffalo chicken... "we're out of Buffalo chicken "

So what do they have?! Meanwhile, her comes the delivery... so let's start over...sigh.

They got ribs, chicken, and Buffalo chicken. But still not my sausage.

All in all we end up getting our food after an extremely long process. The potato skins were amazing! My Bubba sandwich with extra pulled pork (still out of sausage) was cold. But I was not about to return it at this point. I ate a few bites and took the rest of it home hoping it would reheat.

Those of us who ended up getting what we wanted (Dad, the birthday boy enjoyed his beef ribs)

Oh, and the spice vinegar bbq sauce was so watery. It was basically a bbq sauce flavored vinaigrette. Would make a great salad dressing, but not a bbq sauce.

2 stars in generous for our experience, but there is potential.

At least the guy (possible owner) who made the delivery had an excuse... "i was making corned beef for st paddy's day, which is a terrible dish"... glad we missed out so he could make something ge didn't want to make anyway.

And I love...

Looking at the menu, you might think Bubba's is a BBQ restaurant, but although they offer BBQ, this is not the kind of down-home, southern BBQ you would expect from the name.

For one, excepting the platters, none of the entrees come with sides. That's fine if the food is reasonably priced, but charging $17+ for a burger without even fries? Not good. The online menu showed they included them. Our menus did not. Less for more is not a good thing.

We shared pulled pork, bbq beans, fries and the hot link.

The fries are fries.

The hot link comes split lengthwise with peppers and onion. Not a lot of heat, but it was fine. About the length of an Oscar Meyer hot dog, but thicker.

Nobody on God's Earth has ever made BBQ beans with kidney beans, and yet they've done that here. The sauce is sweet, but no peppers, onions, meat or anything interesting here.

The pulled pork felt like a decent portion for the price. There was a wee bit of very sweet barbecue sauce dribbled on it. We asked for some more and got a little cupful. I can't say for sure, but it seemed store-bought. We also got a side of ranch and that was definitely from a bottle.

I also got a 20oz beer for $14. I can go down the street to burger bench and get a pint for $7. Twice the price for 4 more ounces doesn't seem right.

Service was attentive and nice. They have a billion TVs, but the volume was off, so it wasn't loud. It was a Friday night, but not busy.

A few changes and this place could be better. Bread comes with BBQ. Period. Sides come with entrees. Lower prices, or at least a better value proposition ( pickles, bread, fries, something to come with your meal) A bottle of BBQ sauce on the table. Even better, several different sauces- hot, sweet, Carolina, etc Get the kidney beans out of those BBQ beans

It doesn't have to change, but right next door is another BBQ restaurant that seems eager to eat this...

First time visiting Bubba’s and I was immediately struck by how beautiful this restaurant is. First from the facade outside, then inside with the airy tavern like vibe. Lot’s of wood here which I appreciate. Although we dined inside it was pretty warm. Probably because the front of the restaurant is wide open, coupled with a myriad of skylights. Seems to be the norm for Grand Avenue these days. Service was quick, professional and reasonably friendly. Loved the draft beer selection here, served nice and cold. This establishment is not full bar unfortunately, so refering to it as a “sports bar” might be a misnomer. Men’s room was clean, spacious and modern.

I ordered the 1/4 Chicken Platter. Comes with one fixin’ and a half slice of Texas Toast. Not sure who got the other half but that’s ok… I was hoping for a leg quarter but it wound up being a breast quarter. Not sure if there’s a choice here, but I wasn't asked. It was meaty, juicy and delicious, although watch out for small, random bones that manifest themselves when you chop a chicken breast in half that way. For the fixin’ I chose my favorite, macaroni & cheese! I was impressed that it seemed like a house made mac and not all institutional tasting. It should have been served hotter though, it was just varying degrees of warm throughout. The menu is vast with many other things I would love to try so I look forward to...