Apple Valley BBQ — Restaurant in Hood River

My husband wanted to try this place for Fathers Day, and because we are from Portland, I made sure to call first to make sure we could get a table, they weren’t too busy, etc. It was the night before Fathers Day. The woman who answered said they hadn’t been busy at all, and I let her know we’d be there in about 45 min. We made the drive with our toddlers, and I was pregnant and nauseous, but a good meal would have definitely helped to curb how I was feeling. We pulled up to the restaurant around 5:00pm, and as I was unbuckling a very whiny toddler #1, a hostess called out to us, “You aren’t here to eat, are you?” She told us that they had just received two massive to-go orders, and that they were closing early because they needed to plan ahead for Fathers Day. The worst part, was that right after seeing the disappointment on our faces, and hearing my poor little toddler cry because he had to be re buckled into his car seat after he thought the drive was over and he was going to get to eat, the hostess that had just spoken to us proceeded to chat with her coworker about how excited she was to be getting off early.

It pretty much ruined our Fathers Day weekend - We called in advance and never would have made the drive had we known we’d get turned away like this. What else should we have done? We called the restaurant again as we were driving looking for somewhere else to eat, and the hostess said something about how the manager would get in touch with us about a free meal next time or something, but nobody ever called. We love bbq, and I’ve been tempted to try this place again, but we can never bring ourselves to go because it was such a miserable experience. To top it all off, my toddler threw up in the van as we were driving away because he was hungry and had motion sickness...

My wife, Jeri, and I decided to make the trip from Portland to try out Apple Valley BBQ on the Saturday before Father's Day as an early FD's treat. We called in advance to make sure we wouldn't make the trip in vain (i.e. long wait, etc.). We were told getting a table would not be a problem.

One hour and 20 minutes later we arrived and parked directly in front. As we were in the process of taking our children out of their car seats, an employee approached us asking if we planned to eat there. After we said "yes", the employee informed us that they were all out of food. What a let-down. To add salt in the wound, as we began packing back up, we heard the same employee telling some patrons finishing their meal how excited she was to be getting off early. If it were me, I'd be excited too, but probably not a good idea to say that within earshot of a family with little kids (who don't handle long drives very well) that just drove over an hour to get there, only to be turned away upon arrival. Keep in mind, this was after being told, over an hour prior, that getting a table wouldn't be a problem. Should have asked about the food on hand as well.

On our way back, my wife called to express her displeasure. The employee that answered apologized, and said the manager would give us a call . . . We never got a call, and that turned out to be the most frustrating part of our experience.

I understand that people from Portland probably aren't their primary customers, but it was still bad form to not reach out. I would suggest that anyone living a ways from Apple Valley BBQ think twice about going if that's the only reason...

If you know barbecue this is not the place for you. I would not recommend the ribs. The ribs had a decent smoke on them but that was it. Didn’t matter if it was an end rib or a rib from the middle of the slab, they were dry dry and hard to chew. They are pork spare ribs which should be smoked and cooked differently than pork baby back ribs and beef ribs.

I would not recommend the pear coleslaw. If you like Hawaiian Mac salad you will enjoy the coleslaw, it’s just as bland and non descriptive. The French fries were okay, they were salted well without being salty. They are a unique thin cut thick fry(think about that). The baked beans, they weren’t straight out of the can but BUSH’s baked beans are better straight out of the can. There was a tomato purée texture vibe going on.

The pulled pork was not much better than the ribs. The pulled pork had a decent smoke flavor. The meat itself was dry, but not hard and chewy dry. They offered two different bbq sauce options a sweet and a spicy.

The spicy sauce is sweet as well just has a tiny kick to it. The sweet and the spicy sauces are okay. The sauces are served in squeeze bottles on the table. I did not have the corn muffins. There were others in my party that did and some said they were very good, others said they were as good as Jiffy’s.

No one in our group ordered dessert.

A cider and a glass of wine was ordered. The wine came in a can which was a novelty to the older folks in our group.

Excuse any misspellings and...