Spirit of Texas Craft BBQ — Restaurant in San Bernardino

Ya'll may have the spirit of Texas, but not the flavor. I've had a lot of bbq in my lifetime. This place is not good. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and banana "pudding" and the best thing about it was the bun...because it was soft. First of all when i reached down to pick up the bag, i noticed a strong rencid smell. At first I thought my cat had made a mess somewhere nearby. Long story short, it was the sandwich. The sandwich was small and very over priced. $15 for stater brothers hamburger bun sized sandwich is highway robbery. In fact, that's what the bun tasted like. A bland store-brand roll. Let's get down to the meat itself. There was ZERO flavor. My partner described it as soggy and tasteless, as if it had been soaked in dishwater. I agreed. Whatever sauce they used, generic as it was, was decent and the only thing that made the meat edible. After reluctabtly finishing the bad sandwich, and watery bland coleslaw, because i did pay $15 for it, i moved on to the banana pudding, hopeful because it is pretty difficult to mess up desserts. I took a bite and was met with even more disappointment. Banana pudding is supposed to be rich, custardy, and full of flavors of milk, vanilla, and vanilla wafers and banana. This tastes like very artificial. Like boxed instant pudding mix with a little banana extract thrown in for extra flavor. The texture was like cool whip. Imagine artificial banana flavored whipped topping and you have this banana "pudding". It was sweet, but very...very bland. My family is from Texas and we know good bbq. I thought "maybe if i give the brisket a try..." but ultimately decided i didn't want to. I don't want to put myself through another bad bbq experience. This place was just not good. There are plenty of other local bbq restaurants that I recommend you try out, and if you're in a pinch, I'd even recommend Dickey's over this Spirit of Texas. If the restaurant owner is reading this, please, learn to add some flavor to your meat while cooking, and learn how to make authentic southern banana pudding, with flavor. This restaurant insult to the great...

So far it's the best BBQ that I have had in California. We ordered 1.5 lbs of brisket (point), 1 lb of burnt ends, a pint of Mac&Cheese, and a sm yams. In order as to how I tried them, the first bite of burnt end I had was flavorful but on the tough side, but then every bit after was melt in your mouth good. They weren't as cubed as I have had in the past, and we got quite a bit of pieces that had fallen apart, but like I said very good. Next were the yams, they were pretty good, tasted like they were smoked as well, and I'm guessing brown sugar and maybe some maple were in the mix. 3rd was the fatty brisket, good crust (not great), the flavor of the meat really comes through, and it's pretty good, then comes the Mac& Cheese, it was THE BEST I have ever had, perfect noodles, cheesy, and the cheese crust made the whole thing perfect. Bring home lots of leftovers, and that will be the next test, how well do they handle reheating in the microwave. We shall see. So we sat there eating and talking for some time really enjoying the atmosphere, from where we were sitting almost all of the tables were full, there were a lot of smiles and the music was great. Now for the best part, we had tried to go the night before and missed closing by 3 minutes, tried the door, it was locked, and one of the guys inside waved signaling that they were closed, so we left. Today we arrived after about 8-10 customers showed up, and the guy that waved the evening before, recognized me and said hey you were here last night after we closed right, I said yes, and he was apologetic saying that it was their closing time and that they had run out of meat. Well we placed our order, he continued to apologize, and it seemed to be very genuine to me. Well to end it off, everyone who worked there were just as friendly and that was extremely refreshing, to have a little piece of Texas style hospitality here in Southern California. Great job to everyone, and for those reasons this is...

Spent the first 29 years of my life living in Oklahoma and visiting Texas often. I moved to Socal in 2015 and have not been impressed with Socal barbecue to this point. If I ever wanted burnt ends, the best option I had to this point was Lucille's, which is pretty decent and very pricey. I've had multiple people tell me about this place so I had to check it out. You roll into the lot and immediately get hit with the smell of thick smoke. Good sign. You can tell the workers take pride as they were helpful, friendly and happy to help the whole time. Can't say enough about the pride they take in their barbecue. Wife and I ordered a brisket sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich with macaroni and cheese and a side of burnt ends and jalapeno cheddar sausage. The meat is shredded and the sandwich is made 3 feet from you where you ordered it. Nice touch and shows you how fresh the food is. The brisket was a bit dry, but had really good flavor. The Texas-style barbecue I've had before, is usually a little more smoked and falling apart than this, but don't get it wrong, this is GOOD. I loved the sausage although I didn't taste much jalapeno and my wife thought it was "too peppery". Pulled pork was the best I've had on the west coast! The macaroni and cheese was less creamy than I like, but had a nice jalapeno flavor to it that made the corkscrew noodles shine. The burnt ends, which are my favorite, really sung! Crispy, chewy and smoked to a point where the fat is half melty and chewy on the ends. It was my absolute favorite. We spent about $70 on our meal, still pricey, but good barbecue isn't cheap and cheap barbecue isn't good. This is the most promising barbecue I've had in Socal by far and I'm pumped to watch as they grow their craft and see what tasty treats they have in store for us. Support local and go check...