Sideways BBQ — Restaurant in Rockwall

JARED AND ASHLEY REVIEW Sideways AT THE HARBOR! Full disclosure, this was my 3rd visit to the restaurant to eat, but the first two times were immediately after they had opened and I don’t think making a review during that time was totally fair to the business.

Last night Ashley and I arrived at 7:45pm, a Saturday. Although it was packed, there was enough seating for us to not have to wait more than a few minutes. The atmosphere is fun, decorations are great and the weather was nice.

We called ahead, as you may also consider doing, and learned that they were out of ribs and baked potatoes for the evening. This move by the way, can spare you some headache before arrival if you are the kind of person the be disappointed by meat availability.

Upon learning I was “sad” that there would be no ribs, the kitchen produced a “not on the menu” appetizer called “fried ribs” which were absolutely delightful. We were given so many, that afterwards we delivered leftovers to Eddie Drake!

There was an appetizer we tried, called the Cowboy Caboodle, which was very unique. It’s basically a “kitchen sink” BBQ egg roll with every kind of BBQ, mac n cheese, corn and more mixed together and deep fried. Original, fun, easy to eat and delicious.

For dinner I went with the 3 meat, which was brisket, sausage and pulled pork. I also got the hatch chili Mac n cheese.

By now, I was too full to eat much, but the brisket was tender, smoked great and easy to eat. Very soft. A smidgen salty, but that was because all my pieces had a lot of bark.

The pulled pork was great! Soft, flavorful and great texture. It was a smidgen dry, but a dabble of sauce made it perfect.

The sausage was amazing. Perfectly juicy, cooked just like I love. I was overwhelmed by the portions, to be honest.

I couldn’t finish my plate. Not even half.

On the food scale, I would say this is “fantastic bbq” and when you factor in the ambience of the setting and indoor seating, it’s a fun night time destination. I will be back.

My only negative, and this is subjective, is that since we were there on a Saturday, there was a live band. We were sat in the first row of tables by the stage. The sound was so loud, I could not speak, or be heard, or even hear myself talk as I talked. lol! It was not unbearable, but for me it was a distraction. With that said, 99% of the customers there were loving it, bobbing their heads and singing along, I was the weird one, not them. lol

The staff was accommodating, kind and kept my tea full. The manager stopped by and made sure we had a great experience. And we did. For sure will be back.

Josh, add those fried ribs to the menu brother. The people deserve it.

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Had a reservation (for a while) but when we got there it seemed like they were trying to figure out where to get tables for all of us. Finally got it figured out. Appetizers were good. Loved the fried onions and jalapeños. Has some great Shirley Temples to drink. We were a big party and our food was all coming out at different times, which was fine, except they seemed to just stop bringing food. We were missing about 5 peoples food. By the time they got their food, everyone else was done or almost done with their food. Had to tell them what we were missing. One was my sons grilled cheese and fries. Was wondering why a grilled cheese was taking like 45 mins to make. They end up coming back saying they didn't have bread so they made him a quesadilla instead. I had a baked potato which was alright. Wasnt hot or anything. Cheese never even melted. It had so much bacon on it. I also got hatch chile Mac n cheese because I love hatch peppers. Was sad that the Mac wasn't spicy and I couldn't taste the peppers. But it was alright. I think the Appetizers tasted better. Place is very loud so make sure you're prepared for that. There was a table that was insanely loud. Screaming and everything. I'm sure alcohol was involved, but also it was a Friday so everyone was kicking back. They had live music but we left before they started. We had walked around the harbor and when we left we heard the live music playing. Had good songs and sounded good. So overall, service was meh bc a lot was missing and took forever to come out. Atmosphere was fine. Relaxed and everyone having fun, but is loud. Food was alright, appetizers were...

I'm not sure where to begin. But I am pretty sure the horrible quality of food sent out of the kitchen stems from management. I wish I would have gotten her name, but she was RUDE. We'll get back to her in a minute. Let me first start off by saying my dad who was with us is a chef. I grew up in a restaurant environment so we've learned to be an extremely patient and understanding. Our food came out cold. Not warm, COLD. The butter or cheese on our loaded mashed potatoes did not melt. I even dug on the bottom of the potatoes because there was cold ingredients placed on top of what was supposed to be hot food, but that was also cold. The order was replaced and before our waitress left our table we did a temperature check and like the other it was also cold. We even asked her to touch it. We gave up on the potatoes and got different side. While waiting on our other side a woman comes up did not introduce herself and ask who ordered the potatoes. While speaking we told her those were all so cold she argued they were not and that they placed cold ingredients on top of hot and that could have cooled it down while explaining to her our understanding and that we went straight to the bottom she walked off while I was talking. I felt so bad for our waitress because everything that is done in the back usually affects them. And we could see from around that other tables that they were also having issues with their food. We left her a 50% cash tip, because she was so helpful and apologetic about our treatment and experience and we made a promise to...