Horn Barbecue — Restaurant in Lafayette

We went into Horn BBQ with high hopes, given the positive reviews online. I REALLY love great BBQ and I was not disappointed. I have tried all the BBQ places nearby and this is my new favorite. On our first visit we (almost literally) ordered one of everything. Pulled pork, brisket, pork rib, beef rib, hot link, BBQ chicken, cheddar link, pit beans, mac & cheese, slaw, and banana pudding. We took a lot home.

First the best ever: The BBQ chicken, pit beans, mac & cheese, slaw, and banana pudding, were the best ever. This is real deeply smoked, dark brown, BBQ chicken, fall off the bone tender. I have NEVER had restaurant BBQ chicken this good, and it was better than my own, home smoked, chicken. All these items were the best (or tied for best) I have had at any restaurant. The mac & cheese is very cheesy, with rich, deep flavors. The slaw was crunchy, lightly dressed, and reminiscent of Tony Roma’s cole slaw. The beans are thick and loaded with meatly umami. I would never normally order banana pudding as I generally think it is gross. This banana pudding tasted like fresh banana and had chunks of fresh banana.

There are many great briskets, pork ribs, and beef ribs in the US and Horn did these all with excellence.

I found the BBQ sauce a bit sweet for my taste, and brisket, pulled pork, pork rib, and beef rib all required a dash of salt and a dollop of Crystal hot sauce to reach perfection for me. The hot link was great as is, and didn’t need any sauce or extra heat. The cheddar link was great for those who don’t crave fire. The beef ribs (only available on Saturday) are huge, over a pound for each rib, deeply smokey, tender, and juicy.

The prices may shock some dinners. One of the beef ribs (over a pound) is about $40. Nevertheless, if you are looking for juicy, deeply smoked BBQ I find this worth the expense. I can get 7 decent beef ribs at Back Forty for $40 but each rib only has a few bites of relatively dry meat.

They have not yet got their beer and wine license yet, but this was OK as next door was a brew pub with...

3.5 Stars

East Bay BBQ

Fans of Texas-style BBQ have inevitably heard of Horn Barbecue based in Oakland and helmed by Pitmaster Matt Horn

I’ve never been to the original location and have read tidbits about the recent press issues but decided to stop by one of their newer locations and try for myself

The Lafayette space has been open a little less than a year (Dec 2024) and their Elk Grove location just opened (June 2025) with another fourth location already planned. It’s clear Horn is in expansion mode

I stopped by for dinner and many items were sold out including the Beef Rib (Sat only), multiple sides, and banana cream pie. Luckily, they still had brisket (both fatty and lean), pork ribs and shredded pork

Manning the station was Jordan Horn, the brother of Matt Horn and he was personable and funny talking about the expanding business and favorites of guests

We sampled the fatty brisket, pork ribs, and pulled pork and had a side of mac 'n cheese. Everything was solid. The brisket was flavorful but would have loved it more moist nor tender. Similar with the pork ribs. Pulled pork was similar to other places but definitely had to lean more into their supplied bbq sauce

Admittedly, we came at end of day and the brisket had probably finished hours before. Jordan also gave some great pointers on how to order next time and I appreciate that.

For barbeque fans, it's nice to have another option in East Bay (especially one that serves beef ribs) and not have to travel to Oakland

📷 Prime Brisket $38 per lb / Spare Ribs $34 per lb / Beef Rib (Sat only) $38 lb / Pulled Pork $27 per lb / Mac & Cheese $5 small

📍 Horn Barbeque (Lafayette, CA)

There is indoor and outdoor seating. All credit cards are accepted. ...

We happened to try Horn for the first time on a Saturday. That is the only day they serve beef ribs, and that was the highlight of the meal. These are the big "dyno" ribs, the smallest one available weighed 2.5 lbs, so it was a good thing that we had a party of five, because they sell them by the rib. There's a Chris Rock joke here, IYKYK. The beef ribs were so good that they overwhelmed the pork ribs. It's a really good thing that we had some leftover pork ribs, because I took them home and just reheated them for lunch. Wow! The are really good. There is a sweet flavor in the rub, mop, or whatever, that I'm trying to identify. FYI, I never put sauce on them. They are perfectly moist. I'm not sure I can be fair to the brisket. After taking a few bites of the beef ribs, it didn't stand out. I'll come back for sure, and give it another go when they don't have beef ribs on the menu. We had three sides. The mac and cheese, the collard greens, and the loaded potatoes. The 'taters were the hit! The mac and cheese was okay, and the greens had too much vinegar for our taste. The beans looked tasty, but we didn't try them. Next time. And there will be a next time soon. I didn't see them on the menu when we were there, maybe I missed it. But I've heard they have links and jalapeno cheddar links. I don't know if they are working on an alcohol license, but the experience suffers from not having one. Anyone who remembers this location from the days of Bo's Barbeque remembers the great wine pairings. I can only imagine what a good Cabernet would have added to that meal. So if you see me in there with a red solo cup, mind your...