Fat City Brew & BBQ — Restaurant in Stockton

My favorite BBQ place in town. Casual atmosphere and no frills. Closed on Mondays. I usually order the full rack. I can't eat it in one session but it lasts me up to 3 days or 3 meals. I prefer the smoky and spicy taste when it comes to my BBQ flavor so this place delivers on flavor. The tri tip sandwiches are just amazing. The sides they offer include potato salad, mac n cheese, green garden salad, crispy twisted shape fries, cole slaw, chili, and other options I forget. Sides are all homemade too. The 3 meat plate is perfect if you can't decide on one meat. The BBQ chicken is perfectly cooked, but the breast part can get a little dry if you eat it a day later and microwave it. The hot links are good too, just enough spice and savory. The trip tip is soft and buttery and cooked to perfection a med rare. They also offer a huge selection of craft beers on tap and have a small bar counter and area to sit if you don't feel like sitting in the dining area.

There is a back pathway that you can walk through that leads to the place as well as the front doors which face Miracle Mile to walk through. Dining area provides chairs, a nice option for those who cannot fit in booth style seating or are claustrophobic. There are restrooms available, and they are single restrooms.

All the sauces are amazing, you have to try them all. There's about 5-6 sauces they make from scratch each with their own characteristics. If I remember correctly, one of their sauce has won an award of some sort. Recently, my husband and I picked up our to go order via DoorDash, they offered us samples of their latest spicy sauces. My favorite out of the 3 was their blueberry option. It had that nice smoky Chipotle flavor and the spice level creeped as compared to the other 2 sauces which had a more immediate spicyness.

If you've never been there, it's an order and pay first at the cashier, then grab your placard # and pick your own seating in the dining area. They also now sell...

Extremely underwhelming.

The place was empty and there were 3 girls behind the counter having a conversation about the show "the new girl". Their conversation continued while we were ordering and although I don't normally complain about service employees hanging out on down time it's just odd how little acknowledgement we got while ordering.

The only thing decent about the food was the meat, and that was just okay, not great. The ribs had good flavor, but were a little chewy, the brisket was tender but the portion was insanely small (2 thin slices on a 2 meat plate), the smoked chicken was juicy but again, seemed a little under seasoned, and the pulled pork just didn't have a lot of flavor. All of the meat was also luke warm at best.

The sauces were just alright, it is st Louis style so I expect the sauces to be a little sweeter than other BBQ styles, there just wasn't a whole lot of variation. All the sauces were basically the same flavor with a minor change. Personally I think the sauces need a little more acidity.

The biggest sin were the side dishes. The potato salad tasted like a generic Sysco/monarch jug of dressing got dumped on some under seasoned taters. And the Mac and cheese....omg that poor Mac and cheese. You'd think a BBQ place would put more effort into their Mac, cause that was sad. It was runny and tasted like kraft cheese packet on elbow noodles. I'm genuinely upset about the Mac and cheese, it's by far the worst Mac and cheese I've ever eaten at a restaurant. I've worked in food service for 15+ years and I would never let Mac and cheese like that leave my kitchen. I'd be embarrassed.

Between the empty restaurant and the three staff members just hanging out it's understandable that their charging nearly $100 for two people cause their just burning money on labor and their workers just stand around.

This was a borderline kitchen nightmares kind of experience. You couldn't pay...

This is my second visit. The 1st time we got there before it got busy. When you walk in you go to the counter to order. Some people sat down and waited to order. Go to the counter to order. The staff is super friendly and helpful. The menu is simple. Not a lot of items to pick from. You don't need it. You have appetizers like nachos, fries, sliders and wings. When I read just the appetizers I wanted all of them. Fries with mac & cheese, oh my. The main menu has chicken, ribs, tri-tip. sides and a kids menu. Both times I ordered the Tri-Tip sandwich. It was loaded with meat, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a bbq mayo? Not sure all I know is it was delicious. I could only eat half and took the other half home. I ate the 2nd half two days later and it was so good. I felt like Guy Fieri when he taste something amazing. I was in food heaven again. Sandwiches come with a side. I dont remember all the sides, green salad, onion rings, coleslaw, mac n cheese is what I remember. I had the coleslaw. It was very good It was creamy without the heaviness of cream. It was light. I dont know how to describe it but it was good. We also had the onion rings. Those were perfect. Nice and crunchy on the outside and perfect onion on the inside. They were awesome with the BBQ sauces on the table. My husband had the rib sandwich it also had a lot of meat. The meat was flavorful and very tender. We were there about 8:00 pm on a Saturday evening. There were quite a few people. The time before was a Sunday around 2:00 and there was a line. They have outdoor seating too. I almost forgot to mention ALL the beers they have on tap. I had a Taco Truck and it was nice and cold. They also have wine on tap. If you dont see anything you like on tap they have a ton of other choices in the cooler. I highly recommend Fat...