Little Lou’s BBQ

A very fun atmosphere lots of friendly people, (that’s why I give 2 starts) but this is by far the worse place I eaten BBQ at on my thirdOn my third try I’m giving up, come for the beer music and great people to meet, don’t expect good food

I thought it odd that most of the reviews were either very positive or very negative. Interesting. After having dinner there I have formed my opinion on why that is.
Phở and BBQ are two cuisines that you don’t usually see paired up. Why this is the case at Little Lou’s in beyond me. But since their name has BBQ in it, that’s what I ordered. I got the rib platter with a salad and mashed potatoes. The ribs were probably the worst ribs I have ever had in my life. There is no way they ever saw a BBQ let alone a smoke. The only thing BBQ about them was the sauce. They were obviously cooked in the oven~a few days ago. Overcooked and just inedible. The mashed potatoes tasted like they had a package of Lipton Onion soup mix added in. That was odd, and so were the potatoes. The salad was basic enough, except for the VERY watered down blue cheese dressing. The garlic bread was so dried out that I didn’t take more than one bite. There was one good thing about this place; they have one of those cool soda machines that you can mix/​match different flavors.
So, back to my opinion on the hot/​cold reviews for Little Lou’s. I would be pretty surprised if this was simply an ‘off night’. I’ll bet the glowing reviews are written by staff or friends of this establishment.

Pros: Food is pretty good, bbq sauce is quite tasty and the live music is nice.
Cons: They increased the price on an already pricey food menu, saturday night 1÷30÷16 had extremely slow service (30+ minute wait for their tri tip sandwich) and very tightly packed seating.
Other notes: Not really a true bbq place, menu has some interesting variety, the live music may not be your cup of tea. It’s worth a try and I’ve been coming for a few years every so often cause it’s close to movie theater but the service only keeps getting slower. You’d think the price increase would mean more people in the kitchen handling these rush hour times

Love this place came for the beer stayed for the live music. They have an awesome beer selection. Definitely love coming here before heading to the movies!

So disappointed. Ordered the tri-​tip and veggies noodle bowl. The beans sprouts were old and might as well put a head of romaine lettuce in the bowl (90%). Small layer of noodles, tri-​tip, cucumbers and tomatoes. They served it with soy sauce!!! Crazy!!! Not very authentic Vietnamese at all! So disappointed not coming back.

The food was decent, although a bit pricey for the portion size. I’ll have to agree with one of the reviews I read while eating and say that calling Lou’s a BBQ place is a bit misleading. They have choices you’d expect at a BBQ place, but at least in the case of the tri-​tip sandwich I’d go so far as to say it was not cooked on a BBQ grill nor smoker.
That said, the quality was fine, the location was clean, and the service was friendly.

I came here for a paint nite last night we already ate earlier but we were going to be there for the next 3 hours painting so we ordered mozzarella sticks and French fries to munch on… $ 14 w/​tip later they were both served cold even though we ordered them and it took them about 15 min to make… Hmm that’s strange.
My boyfriend took a bite out of a mozzarella stick and the cheese was still cold and popped right out of the breading. Tsk, tsk, disappointing. We sent it back and they remade it for us. The second time it seemed as though they had just popped it in the microwave they weren’t crunchy at all!
On to the French fries, they were stale and hard with little taste not salted very bland we didn’t even bother finishing them. I hate to say this but for $ 14 I could order two full fast food meals and they would taste a hell of a lot better. Sorry Lou’s not impressed!

I’ve been coming here since the week they opened, and the food is phenomenal! I love the fact they have really good Phở here, too. The owner is super nice, and the live food is always great. Highly recommend Little Lou’s for a casual date night!!!

DELICIOUS. Fresh food. Real mashed potatoes! Homemade gravy! Tender juicy pork ribs! Tasty chicken Caesar and authentic phở broth! Yes I said Phở!!! I ordered coleslaw also it was so fresh I’m stoked I found this place! Will be back for live music and more food asap!!!

Loved it
Stopped by for a late lunch and couldn’t of been happier we did.
I had chicken Caesar salad and my friend had ribs
Salad was well dressed with ample chicken
Ribs were tender and delicious
Even loved the Cole slaw
Also I am a Giants fan and could care less about the Boston memorabilia

My review is for the Phở. Yes, Little Lou’s BBQ serves Phở… and it’s the best I have tasted in the Bay Area.
I grew up in an LA suburb that was predominantly asian (like over 90% of the population). I grew up eating all kinds of asian food: Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, etc. and will prefer these over anything else.
There’s tons of great Phở places in SoCal, but I’ve searched high and low for something at least comparable in the Bay Area. Literally, my boyfriend and I have tried over 8+ locations, always finding something we’d wish was a little different. Usually the broth is too salty, the chicken (what I usually get) is all dark meat, the mint and sprouts aren’t fresh etc.
At Little Lou’s BBQ, THE PHO IS PERFECT!
The chicken is flavorful and they only serve white meat (which I love!). The toppings are fresh and the broth is perfectly seasoned. Although I can’t comment on the BBQ, the Phở is definitely worth trying.
ALSO, the night I went in to Little Lou’s they had live music playing and every table was filled. Want to know what everyone was eating? You guessed it, the Phở! :)

Little Lou’s is not barbecue. The meat is not cooked in a smoker, and the chicken doesn’t appear to be cooked in house at all. (The «grill marks» actually came off in my soup, and they used the same apparently processed chicken in both chicken dishes we tried. The vegetables in my «chicken and vegetable» dish were actually tomato & cucumber slices, like the kind you might use to garnish a sandwich.)
We got delivery from Little Lou’s last night, and this is the only time in our 9 year relationship that my husband and I actually called, said they could pick up the food, and asked for our money back. It was simply inedible.
I did not think it was possible for my husband to meet either a brisket or pork rib he didn’t like, but we found both at Little Lou’s.

I was the only customer in the place and still recieved the wrong order. Instead of chicken I got ribs. And regardless, the chicken was bland, thank goodness for BBQ sauce, patato salad not good.

Little Lou’s BBQ rocks! There is plenty of seating, parking, and so many different beers to choose from. The food comes out quick, hot, fresh and tasty. The portions are large. The owner (Lance) has built a great hang out spot to watch Sunday NFL Football with multiple TV screens, plus having a stage to see rock bands on Fri/​Sat night is a great twist. This place is highly recommend!

How this guy stays in business is beyond me. I went in… saw the owner talking to what appeared to be the manager and I stood there at the counter for a couple of minutes while these guys had a conversation. I guess it was really important because after 2 or 3 minutes the manager quizzically turned to me and said, «Do you want to order?» No… I wanted to sarcastically say I was standing there for my «health» but didn’t. This experience started off badly. I ordered the pork ribs, yes the meat fell off the bone but the meat was chewy and in edible! Any barbecue aficionado knows that when rib meat falls off the bone it’s been over cooked. I tried the two sides and they were bland. I simply got up and walked away shaking my head again asking myself how this guy stays in business with such poor quality customer service and lousy ribs.

I went here on a Saturday night. The band was actually pretty good. We ordered beef ribs, cole slaw, and potato salad. I got four ribs, one of which was served boneless and the other three were bone in. They were very fatty, and the lack of bone made it seem like I was eating discarded food. The cole slaw was dry and seemed like it had likely been sitting in the fridge for a long time because it was frigid. I won’t eat here again. The best thing was the soda I got out of the fountain drink dispenser.
Another reason I won’t be back is that there is Boston sports décor all over the place. News flash to the owner. no one cares. We’re in Giants country!

This is because I can’t give 4.5 or 9 out of 10.
Looking at the reviews, this place is terrible and no one should go here. From my visit at noon on a Saturday, I don’t understand that!
I got a brisket sandwich, fries, and a soda for like 12 bucks, and while the fries were nothing special, the sandwich was delicious! The brisket was well cooked and there weren’t huge chunks of fat hiding out anywhere like brisket I’ve had elsewhere (looking at you Levis Stadium). Their spicy BBQ sauce was excellent, and the ranch on my side salad was good too. There appears to be a large selection of beers on tap, and it seems like a cool venue for dinner and a show. I’d definitely come back if I was in the area again.

I just ate here and it is terrible. I ordered the beef ribs with coleslaw and cornbread. The ribs came out so over cooked and fatty I couldn’t believe it. I usually suffer through bad food, but this was so bad, it was uneatable… really! I took it up and told the and she said she could see if they had any that were ‘fresher’. Seriously, if they are not fresh why are you serving them. She recommended the pork ribs, but I figured if they did this to beef, imagine what they’ve done to the pork. Plus, pork tend to be fattier than beef and the beef were ¾ fat.
She recommended the chicken so feeling like I had little other choice I said yes. Well it was also severely over cooked.
The coleslaw is about the same as KFC and the cornbread is just ok.
The 1 star is for the spicy BBQ sauce, it was good.
Save your money. Eat somewhere else first if you’re going here for music or paint night.
Oh yea, and a large piece of the soda machine fell off and hit me while I was getting water…

This place get some bad reviews and I’m not quite sure why, maybe it’s just not what people expect and it’s slightly over priced. I’ve been a couple of times now and it’s all about knowing what to get.
Get: Tri-​Tip, Ribs, Pulled Pork, Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Fries, Cornbread, Sweet Sauce
Don’t Get: Brisket (Fatty), Beans (Incorrect Beans), Cole Slaw (Long Cut and Boring), Cobbler (Undercooked and From a Can)

We came in a group of four people for an afternoon lunch. From reading other reviews online, we noticed this placed served both Vietnamese Phở and BBQ. That was a little odd, but didn’t steer us away.
We got in about 11:30am on a Sunday afternoon. The place wasn’t busy at all, but it filled up shortly after the soccer game started.
All the ordering is done at the cashier directly ahead when you walk into the restaurant. We ordered the Big Lou’s and a Turkey Sandwich. It was around $ 40 for the 4 of us, but there wasn’t a ton of food.
The food came out shortly and as we were about to dig in, the server came out and said she was sorry that she gave us a vegetarian burger instead of turkey burger. Instead of returning it, we decided to keep it. Then we dug into our food and noticed they provided us with the wrong bread. We notified the server and then she brought out our corn bread.
Now we were finally all set with our food. After trying all the types of meat, some were better than others. The BBQ chicken, pork ribs, hot links, and beef ribs were good. The tri tip was way overcooked and dry.
Overall the restaurant was nice and clean, the ordering process was straight forward, most of the BBQ tasted pretty good, the accuracy of the service was not very good, and the value was only average because the portions were not huge in respects to the price.