Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga

3 January 2025: I have eaten in 3 Lucille's Barbecue restaurants. The first time in 2021 in Culver City under head Hispanic manager, Mr. Cuila. Food and staff were great. In April or May 2024, my wife, Marisol and I and a military veteran ate in the Canyon Country location near the Los Angeles 5 & 14 freeways. Food was bad and service was poor. Never going back again. I was sent a coupon to try it again. A few months ago, my wife and I decided to eat in the Rancho Cucamonga restaurant. Atmosphere is great. I especially want to give two thumbs up the wonderful young woman assistant G.M, ALEXIS. She is great in every way and so was the adorable cute little baby face girl named ISSIS.... She deserves big tips from every customer.

Now this is my most recent Negative experience. On Sunday, 22 December 2024, my friend Harold wanted to eat there {for his Birthday}, so he and his wife made the long drive from Los Angeles. Service by waitress, Denisha was good. However Harold's wife told her that her brisket and other items were cold. Denisha took it back, returned later and the food was still cold. His wife was very unhappy and did not want anything else. She told me that she would Not be returning ever.

I ate brisket there before, so I decided to eat the Gumbo, but I specifically told Denisha that I could Not have any pork or mixed pork items in it at all. I said add more chicken or shrimp. Denisha said to me and I Quote her; "Oh no problem, it is made to order, the cooks can take the pork sausages out." I ate a little of it, but ask for the rest to go because we all had to drive home.

Several hours later, my stomach was bothering me. I felt sick and took Pepto. Next day, I took the remainder of it from my fridge and that is when I discovered lots of Pork sausages in it. I took a photo of it, drove back and spoke to Ms. Alexis again on 23 December. She promised to do her best to correct the issue, took my e-mail address and said she would send me a dinner certificate, which as of this day, I Never got. No problem, I will probably Not be returning to eat there again, but No fault of Ms. Alexis or Issis. I blame the cooks who can Not follow orders.

In closing, two things I am wondering, either waitress Denisha fail or forgot or refused to tell the cooks Not put pork links in my food or the cooks do not follow orders, just did not care and were to lazy to take the pork sausages out. With two bad thing, my friend's wife food and pork in mine, what in the h-ll is wrong with cooks? See attached...

I went to Lucille's for the first time December 17th 2023, overall the restaurant was good . I would have given it excellent and I'll explain why I didn't.

We ordered appetizers fried green tomatoes and fried pickles both were excellent, normally I don't care for fried green tomatoes but these were unbelievably good.

I ordered the bacon barbecue burger with onion straws. The burger was cooked to perfection I like my medium well and it was definitely a medium well Good job to the cooks in the back. The one thing that they must work on or the onion straws I specifically ask my waitress will they be hot because if they weren't going to be hot I would have just ordered french fries. She assured me they would be hot and no worries here's the reason they didn't get excellent overall when my onion straws came Yes you guessed it they were cold I can tell they were sitting under heat lamps.

Our waitress name was Jayleen or something like that please forgive me for not remembering. She did an excellent job providing service that's why I didn't let them cold onion straws affect her tip, as busy as that restaurant was she was very attentive gave great recommendations came back and checked on us a few times more than I expected since they were so busy which means that she has great time management I really appreciated her service and the job she did for me. The cold food is a reflection of the management staff, this is a very easy fix You fry onion straws then you put them in a 200° oven to keep them hot or you fry them fresh. We waited over an hour and a half to get into the restaurant 10 or 15 more minutes for hot food would have been worth the wait.

Before a manager responds to this review, I do not send food back and we all know why 🤣. The purpose of this review is to correct a small flaw and what appears to be a pretty good restaurant. I will definitely order french fries the next time I go back I don't eat beef too often but that was a good burger.

I would strongly recommend reservations or call and get yourself on the waiting list...

I love Lousilles Bar B Que. Before the pandemic hit we went almost twice a month. I couldn't celebrate my birthday last year in 2020 because the pandemic was in full force. It was three days before my birthday and my father went into the hospital with Carona virus., that was the last time I saw him. Three days later my nephew went in on my birthday so my mind was not thinking about celebrating any birthday. I was focused on my mom and those two sweet people who were fighting for dear life. Two weeks later my father and nephew were placed on ventilators and giving no hope of survival. My dad passed away and my nephew fought the good fight with the Lord's help. He has had two boughts with pneumonia and a infection that went through his body. He had bed sores because they couldn't move him often and we haven't seen him since March 26, 2020. I have lost ten family members in all with last ending the year on Christmas. During the week that my father died I and my mom had the Carona virus. It had me wondering will I be here to see another year, what would happen to my child. How will he survive and go through the same thing. I knew the answer and turned to him(God). He showed me favir and mercy and yesterday March 27th, I celebrated my birthday with my sister, and friends at my favorite place again. I am healthy and on a spiritual and physical journey to become a better person. I laughed, talked and celebrated life at the most friendliest place in town. I loved the attention that our waitress showed and made the experience a happy one for me. The food was great, service was great and the atmosphere is always happy and lively one. I felt safe and secure as I saw the staff Cleaning the tables and chairs with sanitation solution and wearing face mask. They did not touch the plates or glasses at the rim and was very diligent in safety precautions. The tables were spaced a fair distance apart. Guidelines were definitely In place. iThanks for making my 54 birthday a day...