Sammy's BBQ & Catering — Restaurant in Eureka

With the big sign on top of their building touting as the 2016 Best BBQ restaurant, I had talked to a few friends about their experiences at this new-ish place and was hesitantly told it was "Island" bar-b-q. I naively thought this implied something along the lines of sweeter sauces, like teriyaki or sweet & sour possibly. Now, having been there, I get what they mean. Shame on me for having a preconceived notion of what BBQ should be, but I expect BBQ to be smoky, fresh, big portions, tasty sides that lend themselves to historic BBQ, and just an overall feeling of "good times". When we walked up late afternoon, the bbq was shut down, but we could still smell the aroma, and it was great. It definitely made you hungry, and we could hear the country music hoppin' as we walked through the door, so we were looking forward to a fun, gut-bustin' experience. That euphoric feeling left the moment we walked in the door. The seating was all low-end tables and chairs arranged around the room, no booths. There were 3 or 4 TVs playing sports. The order area IIRC was just a folding table with a Square order screen on it, as well as the beer bottles they offered. Before you get irate saying "that's all you need to run a restaurant", I do agree. However, this was about as "no-frills" as I've ever seen. It looked like they were ready to pack up at the end of every workday, take everything home, and then come back and set up again the next day. So with no obvious expenses being laid out for the decor, I imagined the food would more than make up for it, as that must be where they shine. The offerings were 1 or 2 of the proteins, then 2 sides. The proteins were spareribs, tri-tip, Hawaiian meatballs, pulled pork, chicken ... and probably 3 other offerings that I can't now remember but I didn't give them a second thought as they were things I wouldn't ever order anyway. No brisket, no smoked sausage. The sides were french fries , rice, Hawaiian chips (which again, I naively thought must be a cool side that may be their specialty, but no, just bagged Hawaiian Chips, Maui onion I think), mac salad, coleslaw, and a couple other absolutely non-descript boring sides that are included just as an obligation to make it look like there's variety. There are two sauces. One is a homemade sweet and spicy glaze one might expect to dip deep fried prawns in. The other was a generic brown BBQ sauce that may have been from a bottle, may not, but there was nothing exciting about it. On the plus side, it could probably have been used for any of the proteins equally well. I have included a pic of my plate with tri-tip and spareribs. That plate was $13. Note the paper plate and plastic utensils. Note the keys and key fob for portion size. Note the 2 spareribs. My rib meat DID fall off the bone for the most part. Good Job. The ribs DID have a small amount of smoke ring. Good. Neither the tri tip nor the ribs had a discernible amount of smoke flavor. Not good. At all. My wife's tri-tip tasted EXACTLY like it had been re-heated in a microwave. Terrible. She ate about 1/3 of her already small portion and couldn't do anymore. Mac Salad was macaroni in mayo only, maybe some salt, and paprika for color. Nothing else to give it flavor, texture (besides squishy), color. The fries were crisp. Yay! I have traveled through Georgia, N and S Carolina, and experienced a decent cross-section of those BBQ styles. Gotta say I was amazed at a few back there that also had very little smoke, and I then realized that to some restaurants, just slow-cooking a protein is "close enough" to call it BBQ. I don't get it, but ok. The owners here seem to be plugged into the community as donors for kids sports, and that's wonderful. From the older woman serving and cleaning to the young lady that took our order, I'm assuming this is all run by family. Great, continue seeking that American dream and working together to do it. However, ppl of Humboldt... best BBQ of 2016? How? Why? On a portion size alone criteria, this is a terrible bang...

Went there with colleagues after work today. Ordered the "loaded" kalua pork fries and a pint of cider. The first indication there was a problem was when the server rang up the drink for $7. "I thought it was happy hour," I told her. "Oh, well, the cider is... different," she said, without elaborating. I pointed to the banner hanging prominently under the counter. "It says right here, Happy Hour, 4-6 PM, draft beer and cider $4," I replied. It was 4:30. She seemed flustered, but revised the check to reflect the advertised price.

We then took our seat. The inside of the restaurant was chilly (ambient temperature or less, low 50s), and I regretted not putting on a third layer.

Our food was ready in about 10-15 minutes. I was immediately disappointed when I saw the tiny portion. Imagine a small-sized fast food style paper french fry basket, like in-n-out. Then picture it being filled less than 1/2 way to the top, a literal handful of fries topped with a few specks of indeterminable grey substance. At least there was a drizzle of some kind of sauce on top (I'd asked for ranch but didn't recognize it as such).

The fries were edible, the few of them that there were. The pork was cold, like gobs of congealed fat, flavorless and lacking any semblance of texture. It reminded me of what I'd expect to find at a school cafeteria, except even then the portion size would be at least enough to last more than a couple of bitefuls.

There's a number of decent BBQ places in Eureka. Sammy's unfortunately is not one of them. If you do still think of dining here, be on high alert for...

Edit: Updating my review since the owner reached out and offered to replace our meal, which was much appreciated.

I ordered once through DoorDash about 6 months ago and the food was amazing. Great portions for the price and just incredible flavor.

This last time we ordered was in-person and was a completely different story, and I hope it was just an unusual event. I ordered the tri-tip combo with a side (or two sides, can't remember). Grilled veggies is a side option as a separate purchase, but not with the combos, which was disappointing because every other side option is loaded with carbs and I went to get BBQ specifically to avoid a carb-loaded meal. So I ordered my plate with a side my husband wanted to eat, and I skipped a side for myself. My husband also ordered a half rack of ribs.

What we got, though, was not tri-tip and a half rack of ribs. We got teriyaki chicken and 2 ribs. Like 2 rib bones with meat on them for $17. It was so tiny.

With the inconsistency, I can't say whether or not this restaurant is good or bad, but I can say it is capable of inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the food is good, even if it was chicken instead...