Kaminski's BBQ & Sports Lounge — Restaurant in Poway

This will sound funny because yes- I am complaining however, I promise I really don't ask for much. As someone who worked for years in the hospitality/ food service industry, I genuinely try to give grace all the time. But, the quality of the "BBQ" (if you could call it that) was poor, low quality, low effort. The menu boasts of meats slow cooked for 13hrs or so (don't recall the exacts) but my thing is... yall cooked that meat low and slow for HOURS, and didn't think to add an ounce of seasoning? Not even salt. The pulled pork was flavorless, the brisket was bland and extremely chewy. My coworkers have a bar so low, it must be in hell for the fact that some of them did enjoy the meat. Fish tacos were okay, for the price? (skip it). The safest thing I had was chicken tenders because I mean they were clearly frozen before hand. The prices for the quality of food were outrageous. The drinks were also sub par. Like my coworker sent her drink back and another wanted to as well but didn't because we didn't want to be more difficult. And the only reason anything was difficult is because we didn't enjoy the food. The wedges were delicious but again (frozen before hand) it's hard to mess up frozen then fried foods so that was the only plus.

When I complained about my order, (I got the loaded fries or something like that and swapped to wedges then added pulled pork.) I was able to swap to the chicken tenders and Mac n cheese instead. (Mid) If you are used to food that has no true flavor or is very very VERY bland and overcooked at times... look no further than Kaminskis Poway. And be prepared to pay more than the food is worth for sure. Our waitress was nice, she wasn't a problem at all. But for a larger party we did quite a bit of waiting. We got there and sat for so long before drinks arrive and before our order was even taken. Food wasn't so far behind at least (and I would hope not just based on the quality.)

All in all, I would never recommend this place to anyone whatsoever based on the food quality. In fact, I'd warn people to stay away unless bland Tasteless BBQ is what they're craving. 😂 I was genuinely flabbergasted by my meal.

I have no problem paying good money for food, I love food, but that was absolutely not it and I'm sorry for my taste buds and to my wallet because I wasted money on that dang food. Left the place with fried frozen tenders and Mac n cheese that's not even on par with a Mac n cheese as "basic" as chic- fil- a.

I'm still shocked by this experience.

warning, food in photo will appear to look tastier than it is.

At least it made for a good photo op.

And I'm still writing bc I'm genuinely so upset by this place I can't believe my coworkers suggested it. Absolutely wild.

My martini was good though. Not $14 good but I'm sure it's similarly...

TAKE OUT SERVICE AND TEXAS TOAST

Ordered take out service for the Country sized beef rib dinner which was supposed to come with two sides and a "Texas" toast. This was my third time eating at this place but first time ordering take out. Everything was packed and ready to go by the time I arrived. We were so excited to eat because on the way home the food so good! But sadly, by the time we got home and opened up our containers, my second side was nowhere to be found. And when we unwrapped the "Texas" toast from the foil, I was expecting a Texas toast, not a "Rhode Island" toast. Aren’t Texas toast supposed to be Texas sized? The size of the toast was not proportioned to the meat at all. But what was more upsetting is not having the second side. To put it into context, I live 15 minutes away from this place. And when I called to inform the establishment that My side had not been included, they asked if I would come back. With gas prices these days and time to go back-and-forth for a side just didn’t seem right. It wasn’t until I kept silent on the line, the customer service rep said he would inform the management. Management came back and said, "we could give you another side the next time you come in or maybe an extra side…

Does anyone else find this answer acceptable?

This happened to me one other time at another BBQ establishment ironically also on the Fourth of July. What they did, was provide me a partial refund over the phone because they knew it would be a burden for me to drive back to their establishment to settle this mistake.

What Kaminski‘s failed to do was try to resolve this issue right away to get things right with the customer. It is an absolute disappointment and waste of time when anyone orders takeout at a reputable establishment only to find out their order wasn’t 100% complete by the time you get home. Then what’s even more sad is when the best answer they could give is to just come in next time and will give you an extra side.

Makes me wonder if they really care (or not) that I would ever come back.

The point of this review is for Kaminski’s to verify the order next time, and should probably provide a real Texas size toast, or just name it something else where the customer won’t expect a huge Piece of toast.

And lastly, a little bit more attention to what the customer is saying and do what needs to be done to make the customer happy if you expect any return customers. The food is good, but there’s a lot of other places where the food is also good so the defining factor of anyone deciding where to eat would naturally come to the customer...

After a 3 hour morning hike to Potato Chip Rock taking the Mt. Woodson trail on two bananas for breakfast, it was easy to say yes to BBQ.

My experience with BBQ in SD comes down to Phil's BBQ and Hunter's Steakhouse so it's quite limited. To expand my knowledge of bbq I decided to venture out here and got the combo plate of the Kaminski pulled pork and the 1/2 rack of baby back ribs with 2 sides of cole slaw and french fries.

The pulled pork was had a good texture but was not the softest I've ever had and the Kaminsky bbq sauce was a bit too sweet so I tang'd it up with the 'carolina' sauce they had which was just a vinegar base and that made the pulled pork much more balanced.

The 1/2 rack of baby back ribs was undercooked. The meat was pink inside and pork should not be pink in any sense in my opinion because pork is not safe to eat raw. It had a good hickory smokiness on the outside but the inside made it unappetizing. I did not complain as it was just pink but the meat itself seemed cook enough. I took it home instead and baked it till the pink was gone.

Overall, service was fast. The orders got kind of screwy because we had a big party but there was good turnaround with the mistakes and most of us got what we wanted. One friend got a pulled pork sandwich instead of the chicken but he said it was good and devoured it anyway.

I would come back if I was ever in the area to try their beef ribs. That would be something that if it was undercooked, I wouldn't mind as much....unlike the baby back pork.

Parking is a private lot that is easy to get in and out of. Interior of the restaurant is quite dark even on a sunny day and I simply did not enjoy the lighting of...