JD's Louisiana BBQ

I just finished up some of JD's ribs. It was the first time I've had their barbecue. I normally like to go to CJ's but I kept passing JD's and thought I would give 'em a try.

The place is nice, people (employees and customers) were friendly, nice TV with the USC game on, friendly young guy at the counter. Placed my order and was amazed that the rib dinner for $12.75 was a full HALF RACK of ribs. That's a lot more than most servings when you order a rib dinner. I gotta say it took a while to fill the order but I wasn't in a hurry. When I got them home, I tucked right in and let me tell you the meat was super-tender, although not as meaty as I've come to expect. The sauce was hot but it seemed to be missing a hickory flavor note I expected. The sides were excellent. I ordered potato salad and chili beans. If you told me they were both home made I would believe you.

All in all, I will go back and I would recommend this place. Compared to CJ's:

Atmosphere - Tie: both have TVs with sports on. CJ's has several TVs compared to only one at JD's but it gets too warm in there (CJ's) in the early evening due to the big wall of windows facing west.

Price - JD's. Their half rack dinner is a couple of bucks cheaper.

Portions - CJ's. May seem kinda funny comparing the portions on half rack dinners, but CJ's ribs are much meatier than JD's.

Tenderness - CJ's. I've only eaten here once and have eaten at CJ's a few times. CJ's is usually extremely tender but I did have one experience there recently when the ribs were not very tender. JD's were tender but CJ's are even more so...normally.

Sauce - CJ's for sure. They have two different levels of sauce and each one has the right balance of tastes. I only saw one level of sauce at JD's and it was not as good as it could have been. My only complaint about the sauce at CJ's is that they don't bottle and sell it.

Overall - CJ's. JD's is good. Great value and extremely tender meat. But CJ's has the superior sauce and much meatier ribs.

The food is 3.5, but the friendly service bumps it up to a 4. I like this place and it's going to enter my rotation of regular eateries. Why?

JD is a totally nice guy--like he could be the neighborhood grandpa who gives out the good candy during Halloween. When I went to lunch with my family, he offered us some free gumbo with our order. He told us that most people don't know about "real Southern cookin'" and wanted us to try it. By the way, it is DELICIOUS.

Bad BBQ joints have the tendency to serve dry meat. Not at JD's. We had the fried chicken, tri-tip, and ribs and none were dry--all were seasoned well and quite tasty.

I like the weekly specials, as well:
Tues: "Gumbo Nite" (Very good!)
Wed: "Seniors Nite" (15% off 55+)
Thu: "Toss-Up Thursday" (Flip a coin heads/tails, if you win, 50% your tab!)
Fri: "Friday Nite Fish Fry" (Seafood night)
Sat: "Super Special BBQ Deals" (Deals off regular menu)
Sun: "Soul Food Sunday" (Special Southern menu)

Don't expect a Lucille's BBQ here. This place is far from the "chain" restaurant you see. It's as "home-style" as a restaurant you can get. It's in a small, hidden shopping center you might miss, next to a barber shop. the plates and utensils they use are styrofoam plastic. The food however is pretty good. It's a bit too saucy, making it pretty messy. We ordered the family pak...$40, almost all the different types of meat, 2 large sides, garlic bread, and they hooked it up with hot wings. Fried to a crisp. The coleslaw was pretty good, roughly chopped. All of the meats were in the same sauce, which isn't bad, but it all kind of tasted the same. Food is about a 3.45 rounded up to a 5 for the atmosphere, authenticity, and service. I think this place is more suited for take-out ... and eating it at the park! Yum yum BBQ!

This is the way that spare ribs are supposed to be prepared. This is by far the best ribs we have found in California. They have lots of meat and are cooked until they are falling off the bone.
The potato salad was also very good. On my next visit, I will let you know about the pulled pork and the beans. It apppears that Sunday is the big day to pick up a family pack and impress the family or friends.

JD's is one of those "hole-in-the-wall" places you'll miss if you blink while driving past. My sister has lived near this place for years, and I convinced her to try it. We got the family pack to-go. The spare ribs were decent, but they had too much black pepper for my taste. We really liked the tri-tip and the BBQ sauce. The hot links were also decent. I can't speak to the baby backs or pork as they had sold out of those for the day. Will have to go back and try those next time.

I drove out here to visit my brother in the naval base right around here. When I picked him up, we decided to find something to eat and this is where Yelp lead us to. I, for one, am very glad it did.

There were a few workers standing around inside, I think they were getting ready to close, but they were still very friendly to us, which was very welcome. One of the guys actually started talking to my brother about how he served in the air force (the same branch my bro is in) and gave him a military discount.

Not knowing much about Louisiana BBQ, I had no idea what I was getting into. While looking over the menu, the Catfish Po Boy jumps out to me. I should preface this by saying this is the first catfish I've ever eaten and I really haven't had that many types of fish, but I really think it might be my favorite fish. I know that this 'Po Boy' (I normally just call them subs) is now my favorite sub ever. Pretty basic, the fish, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, and tartar sauce. Not the most imaginative thing but the mix works and the amounts of each really hit the spot.

While I was digging my meal, my brother had picked the Memphis Style Pulled Pork meal. It looked delicious. The meal came with two sides and garlic bread. The sides were left mostly untouched because of the amount of meat he had on his plate. It ended up being a very quite meal because we were both immensely enjoy our meal.

If I am in the area again, I will defiantly swing by for some more.

I was in a hurry the day I went, and almost missed the place, so
ordered the BBQ link sandwich - it was OK but messy. Got a brownie and pecan pie to go - they were good....

I gave this a qualified 4 stars. If you like a moderate amount of black pepper rub than this is really good. I don't like as much black pepper. I got the spare rib sandwich for $5.00 one of the lunch specials. I had a little hard time tasting beyond the black pepper, the ribs had a good amount of tender meat on them and the sauce is a good complement.

I wish I could give something 4 1/2 stars because this was better than 4 but I am really stingy with a 5 rating!

I checked this place out based on the reviews I got here on Yelp and I was not let down in the least. My wife and I went there for lunch and we both got the special of the day pulled pork sandwich and a side of potato salad. The side was extra.

I really liked the pulled pork in the sandwich. After we left my wife and I talked about whether that was the best pulled pork I have had here in CA. We both agreed it was the best. I liked that they hadn't taken to shredding the pork just pulled it apart in chunks so it was more like natural meat. The sauce was fantastic. It is a sweet sauce not a vinegar based sauce which is the way I like it. The bread was some kind of large sub roll that had been toasted which was nice. The potato salad was also very good. I liked that it wasn't really runny. I hate potato salad that has just way too much mayo on it. Not this stuff, it was great.

I ended up spending $17.50 for 2 people for lunch, both of us had specials plus 1 side and a drink each. I thought the amount of food for the money made this a pretty good deal.

I also liked the decor. As another review puts it, this is just a down home kind of place. The tables have a table cloth that makes you think of a country pick nick or BBQ. Then they cover that with clear plastic because the owner is not dumb and knows that is easier to clean up.

There were a few things I did not like about the place. One is that the menu is partially written on a white board, but the rest of it is on a printed piece of paper at the counter where you order. So you cannot look at everything without approaching to order and that makes being behind someone who is new to the place painful as they try to make up their mind what to eat. The second thing that I did not like is that they do not have a soda fountain. I don't mind canned cokes, but for the price of the soda I want to be able to get a refill. This is just my pet peeve. Over all the things I didn't like made me feel like there was a lack of permanence to the place. Like they were being so very careful of the money it would cost to get a menu that to do so might put them out of business. I think a menu and a soda fountain would show some indications that they are doing ok and will be sticking around for a while. I know that would make me happy.

I spoke with Charles who is the owner of JD's. JD was his father and he named the restaurant after him. I thought that was kind of cool. Charles was a really nice old guy who was very friendly and made me feel right at home eating here. I asked him what is his recommendation and he said pulled pork and spare ribs. I had the pulled pork this time, and now I know what I am eating my next trip. He also told me they do deliver and while I live on the far side of town he said he would be more than happy to deliver over there.

Overall I am very excited to try the food here again. If the food stays consistently as good as it was today and they can professionalize their operation just a little more, I would be happy to give this place 5 stars in the future. They are certainly on the right track.

Last time I stayed with my Mother in Oxnard we passed this place and forced her to park. My god, the greens. In love. We bought a whole mess of food to feed our family of five. It was so pretty that I had it as a background image on my phone for awhile.