Enzo's BBQ Ale House — Restaurant in Oceanside

One of my favorite local Sports Bars to hang out in is Enzo’s BBQ & Alehouse. This place is more than just a bar and serves much more than just BBQ. Let me explain.

Enzo’s BBQ Ale House is located inland on Oceanside Blvd just west of College Blvd in the Rancho Del Oro Shopping Plaza; you can see their sign from the road. While their location is 25 minutes away from Downtown, it is more centrally located, which grants easier access to it from main roads Oceanside & College Blvd. They have ample parking in their lot and there’s overflow parking in the nearby areas.

One of the aspects that I love about Enzo’s is that they almost have a special deal every day of the week. On Mondays, there’s $6 margaritas & $6 margherita pizzas. Tuesdays showcase their meat tacos for $2 & fish tacos for $3 (I highly recommend a fish & the brisket). Wine Wednesdays features select wines at 50% off. Thursday through Saturday features live music.

Their interior is spacious & features many different arrangements for group seating. There’s outside patio-seating that has fire-heated table pits with outlets, indoor-seating on open-floor with additional seating along the wall, high-table seating and then seating by the bar. This place is huge!.

Their menu is meant for meat-lovers and those who love Italian cuisine. Their appetizer menu features bbq wings, chipotle quesadillas, chili bowl, pulled pork fries, smokehouse nachos and bbq pizza.

Their BBQ meats options include greats like bbq chicken, pulled pork, pulled chicken, trị-tip, brisket, baby-back pork ribs, hot links, Kobe beef ribs and even burnt ends.

Their salad section isn’t too shabby either and I recommend their smoked Cobb & Mediterranean tri-tip. The portion sizes are gigantic & worth their price.

Their Italian menu options will surprise you with their lasagna, pappardelle bolognese, seafood pasta and their famous “grandma’s meatballs”. They also have mind-blowing flatbreads & wood-fire pizza.

Their happy hour is Monday - Friday from 2:00 - 6:00pm and makes appetizers 50% off & includes drink specials. Their bartenders are top-notch & have good pours. There’s a great selection of tap beers, cider, hard-seltzers, tequila, margaritas and wine.

There are many nights here where it is jam-packed and yet, their service is so phenomenal that you’ll still get your food in a timely manner. The staff here is amazing! Even the bathrooms remain clean when busy.

The only flaw I’ve experienced here is that their cornbread isn’t that terrific and is 2 for $6.50 and is NOT on the appetizers menu, which means you cannot enjoy a good deal with chili & cornbread during happy hour.

Overall, Enzo’s BBQ Ale House is a local favorite that has a fantastic menu that’s diverse, all while having impeccable customer service and great...

I ordered some pizza by the slice. No prices listed, but how much can a slice be, right? Turns out it was over $7 for one less-than-average-size slice. I asked where the prices for pizza were listed and I was told they don't list the prices because they change daily. I ask if she means the pizza choices or the prices. She says both. Ok fine. So what's the price range, I asked her. She says all slices are either $6 or $7. Mine had pepperoni, it was $7. Would that be hard to display somewhere? I asked her why I don't see pizza on the menu, and she told me that they don't have it in the menu at all, but to look at flatbread for an idea of their offerings. But they don't have pizza anywhere officially. So basically no prices in store for pizza and pizza doesn't even exist on the menu. But I've already ordered so im stuck with mine. With attitude and a finger shake, the lady tells me that there are plenty of other pizza places to eat that are similarly priced. I asked for one example of another $7 slice, which obviously she could not. She said $7 is really cheap because the dough is imported from Italy, though she refused to tell me the brand or any additional details. At least she was masked though.

(Giuseppi, who took my order originally, had his mask half way on to cover his mouth and not his nose. Halfway effort better than none I suppose. Just not very safe during COVID to have food prepared by a guy with a sort of mask on and breathing all over the kitchen)

Sick of her eye rolls and sarcastic overtone, I accepted my fate and left with the world's most expensive slice of pizza. I was expecting it to be pretty darn good at least, what with all the imported doughs and find Italian cheeses. It was actually terrible. Sort of like cardboard with a thin layer of cheese and peppernoni. One bite in and I threw away the world's most expensive slice of pizza.

Head to Little Caesars. Or Dominos. Or Flippin Pizza....

Okay so I'm HIGHLY critical of BBQ. It's one of my favorite foods so it needs to be done right. This place tries.

I picked up a called in to go order for lunch: burnt ends platter with BBQ sauce on the side and mac n cheese (no beans or coleslaw). They quoted me 15 minutes and it took about that time (an 8 minute drive and I waited about 5 minutes, maybe less). The restaurant was cute but very small. The kitchen was front of house and took up half their space but it was nice to see what was going on.

When I got back to my work, it was time to EAT! The burnt ends were very good. Great cut and nice and barky with some fatty pieces. The smoke was done well but I was sad to see a few pieces with BBQ sauce on them. I like my burnt ends dry and only use sauce if they're a disaster (i.e. I don't want to eat them but i'm hungry.) I specifically asked for them that way and it seems they didn't listen or tried to correct the error.

The macaroni and cheese was an utter failure: lukewarm, no flavor, little seasoning and is that Velvetta?! Velveeta is the closest thing to boxed mac that you'll get. Velveeta is not even CHEESE. I was highly disappointed. Enzo states that his restaurant concept is of American BBQ with a touch of Italy. I don't know one Italian in their right mind who would proudly serve anything with Velvetta in their establishment.

The one thing that surprised me was the cornbread. I usually save it for last, take a small bite and toss the dry cardboard-tasting object in the trash. This cornbread is actually moist! It's also somewhat smokey with almost a buttery flavor. What a surprise!

Will I go back? Heck no! A quarter of good BBQ is the sides you serve with it. If someone is going to serve me the laziest excuse for macaroni, I'm not paying them any money. There are enough other BBQ...