Dad's BBQ Next Generation — Restaurant in Walnut Creek

Such a shame since so many reviews seem to gush about how delicious the food is. I’ve been particularly excited to have this place open up since it’s just down the street and I’ve been wanting to try a new BBQ place that’s not the paltry options in WC.

Anyway, I ordered the dinner entree which came with two sides, I got the chicken with the medium sauce, Mac and cheese and the green beans, and a sweet tea.

I have to be honest that I was sorely disappointed with the quality of the food. I’ll start with the Mac and cheese which was decent, but nothing to write home about. It was seasoned properly, but it seems to have been made hours ago and it was quite stodgy. The green beans were, well frankly they tasted like they came from a can. Consistency was soft and mushy and just not pleasant at all. The sweet tea was pretty good though, that was a proper sweet tea, I really enjoyed it.

Lastly, and most disappointing was the chicken. It comes with a good amount (should be since this costs $30+) which included a drumstick a thigh and two pieces of breast (I think) all with bone and skin. The chicken was definitely fall off the bone but it was very dry, the saving grace was the sauce, which made the chicken edible. What’s most sad is that it did not taste smoked at all or even well seasoned. I’m not sure if it was marinated at all or just cooked and then smothered in sauce.

For the price, I was not very happy with the quality of the food, and probably won’t be coming back...

I'm going to start this review by being completely honest that I'm not a huge fan of barbecue. My husband is however and he wanted to have lunch here so I agreed I would get him whatever he wanted and he could have that while I ate it someplace close by that I genuinely enjoy. The visit started with somebody coming to unlock the front door but telling me I still had to wait even though it was after 11:00 when they open because they weren't sure if they were ready. Okay fine. They were ready by 11:05. The woman who took the order and served the order was tremendously friendly and very helpful, except for the fact it turns out their lunch combos do not come with french fries and we had to pick from stuff that I knew my husband would absolutely hate and I was right. I asked for the sauce on the side because I was going to take a bite of one of the ribs to see if we would ever return here and I've got to tell you it was a huge disappointment even without the sauce. It wasn't terribly crispy and it was kind of rubbery because of all the fat. The only barbecue I've ever enjoyed was outside of Nashville and that was very crispy. Very tender. They were not wet ribs. They were dry ribs. You could put the sauce on the side and they came with whatever of the sides they had. Got to say. I'm not impressed and it is unlikely...

I'm not a bbq expert but it seems like bbq can be the sauce kind (Dads) or the dry kind (Sauced). As a kid, I would vote saucy all day. As an adult, I prefer bbq to mean how it's cooked not that it had bbq sauce on it.

So that's one reason Dad's isn't my favorite. Everything was swimming in sauce. The sauce was fine but then it's really about the sauce more than the meat. It's hard to stand out in that case and that's the challenge for Dad's.

Cost would be issue 2. Dad's is considerably more expensive than Sauced. And the key is you get less for more money. A rack comes with no sides and costs more.

We also tried the tri-tip plate. That did come with 2 sides. Kids liked the mac and cheese. Green beans were just so so. The tri-tip was okay but again swimming in sauce so it only gets an "okay" from me.

Fries and corn muffin were both good.

They also didn't have any kids options so score 1 more for Sauced.

Service was good. Friendly and attentive (given we were waiting for a to go order and didn't need much help). Nobody walked by without checking we were ok.

We hope they do well but probably won't be back given the other...