Gunsmoke BBQ & Beer — Restaurant in Santa Paula

Although my review is low and disappointing I will give this place one more try. So as you know the wait is finally over. It has taken this place over 2 1/2 years to open. Well today 12/30/23 I finally had the opportunity to eat at this new establishment. Appearance - inside it’s not that much room. It looks very elegant but there’s not too much seating. Since it’s a new place it’s going to peak the interest of a lot of people. If you have a large party of 8 or more there’s a good chance you’re sitting outside in the back. Customer service - the person behind the bar that took my order was super sweet, very pleasant and helpful. However when you have a new restaurant your staff should have sampled the entire menu so they can give honest feedback when asked about certain items on the menu. Because it’s also new management should greet new customers. I think they are understaffed because there was 2 open tables yet two different people were told there was a 10-15 minute wait and nobody offered bar seating. The manager passed by me twice and never said a word. Food- They were out of pizza dough so I couldn’t order pizza. It’s a BBQ place that doesn’t serve ribs. The prices were ridiculously high for the amount of food you received. When I made it home my order was missing items and was incorrect. Missing fries with an order, and order two pork belly tacos and received one pork belly taco and one unknown type of taco. Small amounts of sauce. Then when you call to inform them of the problem nobody answered the number provided online and the message box was full. Spent over 100.00. My Santa Paula dip sandwich was good. The pork belly taco was cold but the flavor was very good. Whatever the other taco was I definitely was not a fan. I can’t tell you what sauces I had because they didn’t tell which one was which and they aren’t labeled with initials or the actual name on the lids. Give this place a try and hopefully your experience will be...

Gosh I really didn’t want to give them a bad review- but I wanted to give feedback and the opportunity to learn and improve. I recently tried this new establishment with a few friends from out of town. They placed an order for their food and I placed one for mine. We all ordered to go and went back to my home here in SP to enjoy it with my family. We both ordered a sandwich which came with an au jus dip. Their bag had the dip- mine did not. I also ordered two tri tip dinners which were supposed to come with bread but we received none. I paid roughly $145 for dinner for a family of 5 and was disappointed in the errors and missing items.

The food quality was ok but I was disappointed not to see more “bbq” items on the menu. I was expecting their menu to be more traditional bbq with items like ribs and other meat options. It was more sandwich, burgers and pizza. Which was odd to me! Pizza from a bbq restaurant? We ended up ordering a pizza for my son because there was no kids menu. He didn’t eat it because he said the pepperoni was “too spicy”.

The apple slaw tasted like a pure shot of apple cider vinegar and was uneatable. Unfortunately, they packed the potato salad in the same to go cup as the slaw- so the potato salad was mixed with the slaw and was also uneatable.

Overall I am happy to see a new restaurant on SP. We will give them another try sometime soon and I wish...

I was extremely impressed with Gunsmoke BBQ. I went there with my wife, dad, and brother. We had brisket, a gyro plate, a ribeye special, and a couple appetizers. Let me start by saying that the brisket was absolutely incredible. The chef, Paul, is extremely meticulous and intentional about his preparation, which starts with an eleven day brine. It's the best brisket I've ever tasted.

Ditto for the ribeye, which was a 31 ounce monster that we shared. The brisket was cooked perfectly - rare the way we requested, and the dry rub was delicious. The ribeye came with Asian style fried rice and sesame seed chow mein noodles. It was a delicious twist on standard BBQ sides.

Paul, the chef was happy to answer our questions about his recipes, where the meat came from, etc. He chose the most popular sauces for us, and they were also delicious. The breath of the menu is extremely extensive and ambitious for a family-run BBQ restaurant with 8 tables.

The ambiance is upscale casual, with cozy lighting. Prices are expensive, but the food is truly exceptional. I'd bet on Gunsmoke BBQ over anything else California has to offer.

The only downside was that our server was forgetful, and we had to ask her for utensils and water several times. However, the food was so impressive that I would give 6 stars if I could.

Can't wait to go again and try the pizza and the Australian...