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    Gunsmoke BBQ

    4.3 (231 reviews)
    ModerateBarbeque, Pizza, Beer Bar
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    GUNSMOKE BBQ ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Trendy
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Gunsmoke BBQ

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    Reviews With Photos

    10/18/25
    Heather K.

    GETTING HERE: Gunsmoke BBQ is located in the old Chili Hut location -RIP- in downtown Santa Paula. It's right near Anna's Cider just a few doors down. REVIEW: If you know me and see me Yelping, I am all about supporting small local businesses. And I had seen Gunsmoke BBQ on the Yelp for quite a while. I finally made it, but unfortunately my visit was not as I had hoped. First and foremost service was really great. I had called and placed my order via phone, and the girl was very helpful and answered all of my questions since I was a first timer. :-) I would have rounded up a STAR for service, but I looked at more of the photos here and what I picked up yesterday was absolutely ridiculous compared to what other people had received. I ordered the dirty fries with all of the spicy sauce on the side. But I was really disappointed, and I don't know if it was because the fact of not having the spicy sauce, but there was nothing else on the fries and they were dry. I had the incorrect expectation that they would have ranch and other sauces as advertised on it. The fact remains, I might give them another try and be more specific in my request in my future orders. I would highly recommend asking for the sauces on the side if you're not sure about the spice level. But they do have a really good barbecue sauce that I would definitely request. I'll be back soon one more time. Maybe.

    Candied bacon deviled eggs
    Devin B.

    Finally got a round to trying Gunsmoke Bbq for lunch on a Thursday afternoon. We got there a little after noon and we were the only customers the entire time we were there. Hostess/waitress was very friendly and welcoming. The owner was working the back with a helper. He was a very confident individual when it comes to his product, as far as saying the candied bacon deviled egg was the best we'd ever have or he would pay for them. The is not a traditional bbq place in the least and every thing we tried really emphasized the contrast of flavors, heat, sweet and salty. We split a Santa Paula dip, their version of a tritip sandwich with an Au Jus dip. The sandwich was pressed like a panini and was sneaky filling. The salad was a nice pair considering how filling a half a sandwich was. We also shared an order of the drunken fries with the sauces on the side since they were said to be very spicy. The fries were some of the best I've had, crispy crinkle fries for the win. Topped with bbq baked beans and a cheese sauce with the spicy sauces all mixed well. Is this the best bbq I've had no, but it's a really good space for some bbq inspired dishes with a blend of flavors that will entice the pallet.

    Patrick W.

    Very friendly staff and a very well maintained and lovely decorated bbq restaurant. My order was the Korean Tacos and Pork Burnt Ends. My only minor gripe would be that each meal could be a bit more generous in portions or with an accompanying side for the prices, however all of the flavors were there! Definitely a good food option in town!

    Inside
    Jonas A.

    The facility is gorgeous and the service was prompt and decent. We started with deviled eggs that were breaded, deep fried and had candied bacon. Some of the bacon pieces were great, others, not so much. The "next level" pastrami should be taken off the menu IMO. The meat was quite chewy. For something that takes 11 days to make, it was disappointing. The baguette bread (flattened, panini-style) is simply the wrong bread for pastrami. It was quite tough on the outside. A marble or Jewish rye would be the correct choice. The "flying kick" sauce really didn't bring anything to the party and the truffle mustard just tasted like mustard. My wife had the "Visonario"; basically a brisket sandwich with "Humbolt Fog cheese" (in the blue cheese family) and grilled onion. Similar to the pastrami sandwich, it didn't quite hit the mark. It needed a sauce (avaliable for more money!!!??!!), or additional seasoning. Again, the same bread didn't knock me out. 3.5 stars. Although I appreciate the effort to elevate BBQ beyond the predictable, one should simultaneously demonstrate that they have the underlying fundamentals nailed down. It may just be a case of ordering the wrong things on the menu, but I don't have a burning desire to go back.

    K Z.

    A true hidden gem in the city of Santa Paula. Their draft selection is top-tier, but the real star was the Asian-inspired dinosaur rib, it was absolutely impressive and packed with flavor. Paul and his team are friendly, attentive, and make you feel right at home. I'll definitely be back for more!

    Umami Gyro
    Steve P.

    This restaurant was an amazing experience. From the friendly welcome; menu explanation & suggestions by the chef/owner Paul. Host was kind & courteous; kept our drinks full. After a hard day the atmosphere was relaxing with the music & decor. Food was outstanding! Every flavor was well balanced & not overwhelming. I recommend this spot highly.

    Smoked Beet Salad with Smoked Chicken
    Brett T.

    We eat here often as everything is really good! Paul does an amazing job with all his creations and the portions are too big for most people to finish, not me as i can't stop till it is all gone. Highly recomend you try Gunsmoke BBQ if you haven't already. Just had Paul's latest creation, Smoked Beet Salad and added Smoked Chicken and it was a 10 for sure. It is big and my girlfriend took 1/2 her's to go.

    Santa Paula Dip

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    Gunsmoke BBQ Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Gunsmoke BBQ

    Hello are the sauces in menu available for lunch and dinner or made to order ? It be nice to try like a "sauce flight" of what you have I loved the hummus ! I was offered ranch when also told pear sauce not available so wondering thanks

    My understanding is that the sauces are made onsite, in advance and are usually available when ordered. I would guess they may not have had a specific ingredient available when you ordered the pear sauce.

    Ok what days and hours do they open in i have gone by and for a while looked like open but was actually closed so i just go to Rabalais , also how many people can be accommodated back patio? Heaters ? and do they serve any cocktails?

    Monday through Thursday 11 AM to 8 PM. Friday through Sunday 11 AM to 10 PM

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    My family has been here before, but this was my first time at Wagon Wheel Brewing Co and I…read moreautomatically loved the energy and ambiance the moment we walked in. We were immediately welcomed by Juan, and from the start he was incredibly inviting, smiley, and gave off such good vibes. He genuinely made us feel welcomed the second we walked through the door. I'm not sure what his title is because he seemed to do a little bit of everything, but he explained how everything worked, let us know we could sit and come back up to order when we were ready, brought us our food, and even gave some great menu recommendations. He was so kind and attentive throughout the entire experience. The food and beer were also very tasty, and the portions were great too -- definitely worth it. Everything added to the overall experience. Being someone who works in customer service and food service myself, I take good service seriously, and Juan truly went above and beyond. He had an amazing attitude and work ethic, and he's exactly the type of person that brings people back to places. Great service leaves a lasting impression, and he absolutely did that. Loved the experience and will definitely be back!

    We visited here the first time with our friends. We tried…read morethe dip chips , some beer flights, tacos and wings. The food and beer is great. What we didn't like was having to basically self serve ourselves by having to go to the bar instead of a waiter actually attending us. We didn't mind but this was never told when we first sat down until 20 minutes after no one came to our table. Once we finished eating, there was no room on our table. It took up until us finishing our last drink for someone to pass by our table to pickup our empty glasses and plates What I didn't appreciate was one of the waitresses was upset for not receiving a tip. Unfortunately , no tip was provided due to the Lack of interest service we received. We work hard for us to not be able to enjoy one night without having to try to be guilt tripped for not providing a tip. Rent , food , and everything else is expensive already as is. I also deliver food as part of another side job and not even I have expectation of a tip. I let the waitress know that it's not mandatory to provide a tip especially with the lack of service we received.

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    Staying at this end of the beach was an adventure in local bars. After walking all the way down to…read morethe end of the silverstrand beach, we tackled the mounds of sand to reach the street and this hidden gem. We were there a bit early so we needed to wait 15 or so minutes for it to open per the time listed here on Yelp. We hung out on the sidewalk counting the seconds until noon, only to be disappointed as we walked by and saw a sign in the door that said 1pm. We continued on our way and went to another local bar only to return hours later via car because I had had my exercise for the day. We got lucky in finding a parking spot because this is a small area, so cross your fingers. We found 2 seats at the bar and marvelled at the selection of microbrews. For a Saturday afternoon, the place slowly filled up with locals as everyone watched the basketball finals on the tvs. Bartender was very welcoming as were the locals we chatted with. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but did find something to drink. My partner was in heaven sampling and trying new brews. Would love to return later in the evening to see how this place fills up and to enjoy more of the locals and what it would be like living in this hidden community. So shhhh! Don't tell anyone about this gem.

    I had a glass of Cabernet wine , we were celebrating a birthday. There was only 1 bartender that…read morenight. So I can understand he was doing the best he could serving everyone by himself. He did a good job keep us all happy campers. Our group pretty much filled up the vicinity. Its a small establishment, it got hot in there, I had to step outside. Thank goodness its by the beach. The have quite a selection of beers. My experience was pretty cool. Thank you for the memories.

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    We came here with friends after they have recommended it. They have been here before and they liked…read moreit so decided to come back. I'm really impressed by this place and how big it is. Their parking is interesting but they have multiple entrances so you can get in from the shop or the main door, etc. They only have one sour beer, which I did not like so I did not end up getting beer. However, their food was good. We had multiple salads. The pesto chicken was good, we also had the barbecue chicken, bacon salad, but without the bacon. It came with a bacon and I asked Alex and they ended up making a new one without the bacon, which was really good. I have to say this is my favorite one. We also have the Carne Asada pizza, veggie pizza, tri-tip pizza, soft pretzel. Food was good, good atmosphere, good service despite being really busy. I highly recommend this place and will definitely return.

    My friends and I have been coming to institution for year and we come couple of times a year and…read morehave always had a good experience, which is why what happened during our most recent visit was so disappointing. My friend had an open tab and realized once we got to the parking lot that he had forgotten to close it. He immediately went back inside. It was only around 11:05 PM, about five minutes after closing, and there were still other customers inside the establishment. When he asked to close out his tab, he was told he would be charged an additional fee because the tab had been left open and they closed at 11:00 PM. I understand having a policy for tabs that are actually abandoned, especially if someone leaves for the night and staff have to close everything out after everyone is gone. But that was not the situation here. He had not left the premises, came back in immediately, and there were still customers inside. Charging someone an extra fee under those circumstances felt unnecessary and unfair, especially over a matter of five minutes. My whole group has been repeat customers and have always left satisfied, so it was disappointing to be treated this way over something that could have been handled very easily. Unfortunately, this experience definitely changed our impression of a place we previously enjoyed coming to. Especially considering we come here to celebrate birthdays many times a year!

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    My family and I were visiting the area to check out the mission in downtown. We wanted a simple and…read morelaid-back place to get a bite to eat being that we had our 3 year old us. After a quick check on yelp, this place came highly recommended. I was a little bit worried when I arrived. We were the only people in the entire restaurant. My wife and I were seated quickly. I did appreciate that the menu was not overly complicated. It made it easy to make our selections. They also did offer happy hour specials during the week. I opted for the double Smashburger and fries. The Smashburger comes with their signature sauce, which you can order at a few different spice levels. The girl at the counter said that normally people go with the regular spice level so I opted for that. When my burger and fries arrived, I was quite surprised at the portion sizes. My basket was filled with french fries and my burger was pleasantly large. In regards to the flavor I do have to say this was probably one of the best tasting burgers I have ever had. I didn't want to note that they do use sweet pickles on their burgers here. But it just works with the flavor that they're going for. My wife ordered the "my girlfriend is not hungry" sampler platter. This came with fries, onion rings, pretzel bites chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks. Everything was great tasting. Their onion rings were cooked to absolute perfection. The restaurant itself on the inside is a little bit small so I could imagine on days that they are busy. It might get a little bit cramped. I did also wanna mention that I did like that. They had a changing table in the restroom. That was a nice touch that you honestly do not see at a lot of restaurants even the mainstream ones.

    We went to the happy Place eatery on a crazy busy Saturday. We ordered mozzarella sticks, which…read morewere very nice and stringy and my son was very happy with stringy and fun. We ordered the pretzel balls. They were good, but they needed more salt. We also ordered the Philly cheesesteak, OMG! I am a Philly cheesesteak connoisseur and it had this wonderful cheesy hatch sauce. This is my very favorite new Philly cheesecake place out here because there's not a lot of places we can go. We also got the sliders. The sliders had a really nice bun. It came with a smash burger Patty, it has wonderful, caramelized, onions, and sliced pickles. It was a very nice combination and they have the yummy thousand island dressing on there similar to In-N-Out. Derick was are server and was doing awesome, especially considering he was alone on a crazy busy day. The food was great, atmosphere decent. We will be back! I was so glad it was better than my expectations!

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    Gunsmoke BBQ - bbq - Updated October 2026

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