Beale's Texas BBQ — Restaurant in Santa Ana

Not sure where to start. I have never had such a bad experience at a restaurant. First off the manager acted like they were not aware we were coming even though this party was pre planned. I guess the two managers did not communicate with each other. From there it was all down hill. First the drinks were horrible, we had to send them back multiple times. Every drink we ordered tasted the same and all watered down with soda water. One drink even had a little gnat in it. We settled on I believe the R&R? Because it was the only drink that tasted somewhat decent. They said the bartender called out. Tip: if you only have 1 bartender then maybe the manager who was making the drinks should take a bartending class in order to provide back up service. The food also was no better. Not sure if they usually serve small portions but it seemed last night they were not prepared with food or alcohol to last the night so this may have been why we received small portions. Meat did not seem fresh, very dry and chewy. Mac n cheese was just blah- not bad but not good. Yams also were just ehh. Greens were vinegary.. I dont eat greens so I'm only reporting what I was told. DO NOT order the twice baked potato because you will not be getting a baked potato. You will receive mashed potato's smeared on paper with the dry meat of your choice along with cheese and a squirt of bbq sauce. I think they were trying to conserve on the bbq sauce too. Food was not consistent- two people ordered cornbread which was brought to the table at the same time. One smokin hot, one cold. Hot link was soggy and mushy like it was boiled, no grill marks at all to indicate the link even touched a grill. Two ordered potato salad but they both received different potato salad. Tip: waiters should let the customer know - you are NOT getting a baked potato with the twice baked potato because there's no way everyone in our party of 25 misunderstood that it's not a baked potato. I can guarantee this is not the first time this has been questioned. Lastly the management is horrible. Instead of taking constructive criticism the manager wanted to argue with everyone who brought a concern. He actually had the nerve to snatch the plates out of two of my friends hands when they expressed a complaint about having smeared mashed potato's being served as a twice backed potato. When we asked to speak to the 2nd manager who seems to be more in charge, the waiter said are you sure you want to talk to him because he will just tell you not to come back. I said yeah we still want to talk to him and he refused to come and address the concerns. We left and will never give them our business. Went around the corner when we left to Gus Chicken to get a real meal. We could have maybe put aside the quality of food in order to support black business if they had explained we are sorry, we were not prepared today but nasty service? Never! How dare you snatch a plate out of a customers hand- don't apologize or ask if they wanted to order anything else, just snatched the plate and walked off? We even had 2 people come to the dinner who sat there for an hour and they never were served- no drink order, no food order. Not that they were going to order anything anyways after hearing all of our complaints about the food. My advice, don't waste your time or money. The only pleasant thing was our waitress who was working hard and provided good service. Would give 0...

I will first review the food and then the atmosphere.

The food is quite good. The brisket is very tasty and cooked well. The tri tip is also good, but I did prefer the brisket. The collard greens are very good. The mac and cheese was solid. The yams were good, but perhaps a little too "candied".

Okay, now for everything else. This place is trying to be five different things at once. It wants to be a bar, a sports bar, a music venue, a nightclub and a BBQ restaurant all at the same time. Have you ever seen a "VIP room" with red velvet couches in a BBQ joint? Here is your chance! There is a stage (complete with sound station at the back of the room) hosting a band that was playing WAY too loud for dinner at a BBQ spot (I had to place the order between songs). Then there is the bar. It feels like a separate establishment. No one sitting at it had any interest in BBQ. And then there is the big screen TV's and NFL memorabilia, which are not really part of the bar area. Truly one of the strangest designed places I have ever been in.

But the food was tasty if you want...

Just wish the ribs weren’t tough…. We were looking for bbq since Memorial Day & since we had heard great reviews about this new spot in Santa Ana! Even when we entered the people leaving was raving! Customer service was great! Everyone but one guy in a restaurant shirt was welcoming. Now the food… we got two 2 meat combos, cobbler & cornbread & a side of Mac …@$90 I got tritip and ribs ( recommended by the gentleman taking our order ) yams, collards and Mac….the ribs were tough… but everything else was fire! My dad got ribs & rib tips with ranch style beans and potato salad… we agreed the flavor of meat was delicious but ribs were tough for him too…& he didn’t care for the potato salad nor the beans. We haven’t tried the cobbler yet…but it looks good… but kinda expensive for the amount you get. So yeah… check it out & let me know...