First off, I am friends with the owners of Bolsa BBQ. Friends or not, this is an honest review of their food/buisness.
Okay so, Bola BBQ is a catering company based out of Corona that uses a mobile rotisserie smoker unit to cater events around Orange County. They specialize in smoked ribs and meats for birthday/private/corporate/fundraising/festivals events. They even have a baby shower an a wedding under their belt. Although their motto is, "Smoke + Low Heat + Meats = Good Eats" they do a lot more than just BBQ, so just ask and they will cater the menu to your needs.
They recently took 2nd place in the rib division at the Fountain Valley BBQ Bonanza this month. Now this is a big deal because they were up against 4 or 5 major competitive BBQ organizations that travel around the US attending and competing at these types of events. So congrats to them. Other events they partake in includes the Long Beach Lobster Festival, Tet Festival in Garden Grove and etc. The events are typically three (3) days and with each new day, they use different woods (ie. apple, cherry hickory and etc.) to smoke their meats to add an additional flavor profile on top of their own personal rub mix. So it's interesting to come back the next day to try out the new flavor profile and compare which wood flavor you prefer. I personally prefer the cherry over the apple because it has a slightly sweet fruity mild smoke flavor vs the apple which is also sweet but it is a bit denser in flavor profile in my opinion.
The viscosity of their sauce is just right. Not too thick, not too thin. It is sweet, tangy and not too spicy. I personally like to have my ribs fall off the bone because it is easier to eat and less messy. So when I eat their pork or beef ribs I truly enjoy them because they are easy to consume due to the melt in your mouth feel. The ribs are super tender and juicy.
For their sides at the events/festivals I have tried their BBQ beans and corn bread that are also smoked in the rotisserie. They are good and have a nice mouth feel. The cornbread is not dry and have actual bits of corn in them. The BBQ beans are yummy, perhaps it's the bacon they add to the dish. People do say bacon makes everything taste better. I never really ate their coleslaw since I am not big on veggies but I hear it's pretty good as well.
At the OC Fair there was this guy selling "THE BIG RIB." When I first saw it online I was like "WHAT?!?!" but then I saw other photos posted online and I figured it was not what it claimed to be. My boyfriend ended up buying one at the fair it was good but it was weird how the bone in "THE BIG RIB" was sliced in half which by the way does not occur naturally in nature so I figured something was up. It was good but not something we'd get again. Bolsa BBQ's also had their version of the big rib called the "Dino" bone or the short rib. It was pretty darn tasty. I prefer this version over the OC Fair one. I was already stuffed from the pork ribs and the Nephew's pulled pork nachos which included beans, cheese, coleslaw and a drizzle of BBQ sauce so took the rib home and ate it the next day. It was still good and MASSIVE. That thing can feed at least 2 people easy, but in my case ONE, YUM-O. As for the nachos they used actual nacho cheese and not the shredded stuff so that is always a two thumbs up for me. Nachos are not nachos when restaurants use the shredded stuff. From time to time they offer turkey legs as well and they are pretty tasty.
My orders have always been correct, hot and fast so no complaints on that end. They even offer "kids meals," which not all food vendors tend to cater to at festivals. Just remembered, I did have a taste of their whole suckling pig with mango salsa once. Now that was good! It was like their pulled pork sandwiches but better. The contrast in hot smoked suckling pig combined with cool sweet tanginess of the mango and peppers made the dish.
If I were to compare Bolsa BBQ's food to other BBQ restaurants, I would say Bolsa BBQ is above average so 4 stars.
I almost forgot, they also give FREE SAMPLES of their pork/beef ribs and pulled pork during the events. Make sure you stop on by and try them out. You will be hooked! It's always nice to be able to sample the product before you buy, it's like buying a car or clothes. read more