Bo’s Barbecue & Catering Restaurant

I am so sad this place closed. what happened? any plans of reopening?

I’ve been here a few times. It never lives up to the hype. Service isn’t the best. They also always seem to be conveniently «OUT» of at least 3 things on the menu.

Alas, Bo’s Barbecue has closed. It was good while it lasted.

«We don’t add anything to our meat because it doesn’t need it. All sauce is put on he side».
That’s what they pitched when we mentioned that we had diabetics, which need to avoiding sugar, in the group.
However, they use a dry rub, which contains sugar, on all their meat.
I guess the dry rub doesn’t count when they claim that they «don’t add anything» to their meat.
Their potatoes salad had so much sugar added it tasted like candy.
Also their salad was coated in a sweet, sugar based, dressing.

There are many options around… this is my GO TO. Brisket FTW!
This is always worth the trip.

Is Bo’s going out of business ?
Got there at 6;45PM, Wed 5÷21÷14
The beverage case was ¾ empty without a single bottle of beer.
There were diners at just 2 tables.
A teen finally came out, When I asked about beer, he apologized and said they have been out of beer since the weekend.
We tried to order ribs and again he apologized and said they were out of ribs and only has beef ribs, brisket and chicken.
We ordered the beef ribs and the plates at 7PM. They finally arrived at 7:26 PM.
Seems there were only 2 teen boys working.
We have been going to Bo’s since the early 2000’s and the place has declined noticeably in the past 2 – 3 years.
Rubs were just ok before but wont return

Sorry to say but this place has gone downhill. The meat tasted old. The Barbecue sauce was watered-​down. The workers there were very rude!
Too bad they let a once excellent BBQ restaurant go downhill.

Great smoked ribs, but we weren’t huge fans of their style of BBQ sauce. Actually the ribs were great without sauce or I would sneak in some of my own next time! (Came here on the recommendation of my friend.)
The guy at the table next to is had a HUGH half smoked chicken which was the size of a small turkey!

I’m not usually a brisket fan, but I have to say Bo’s was pretty darn good. You may be wondering why, if I’m not a brisket fan, I ordered brisket. Well, that gets us to why there is only one star on my review.
Bo’s was recommended to us by a friend, so we thought we’d give it a try. We got there around 6:00 on a Friday and were told that they were out of all kinds of ribs (beef and pork). By 6:30, we heard them telling people that they were also out of chicken. Besides not having RIBS!!!, there were some other issues as well:
* Doors open, so cold inside
* Don’t carry or were out of Diet Coke. They did have Coke Zero, but if you’re a Diet Coke aficionado, you know they’re two totally different drinks.
* No choices on the sides. Potato salad, Green salad and half a baked yam. I saw that people before us had bread rolls, but we did not get any. Seemed that as they ran out of sides, they just started leaving them off the plate.
* The waitress didn’t speak much english or pretended not to when people asked where their sides were. (At some point while we were there they ran out of yams.
* Long wait for food. You can’t serve yourself water and they never brought it out till we asked for it (when they brought our food).
* Too expensive. Maybe not if I liked the sides, but I didn’t, so I paid $ 21 for beef brisket, no sides and a crappy Coke Zero.

Haven’t been here since I was a kid, but after recently moving into the area I now have the privilege of being only a few minutes away from the best BBQ in Lamorinda!
The Brisket is a favorite and I love their ribs. They also have a good selection of beer and some delicious bottled sodas. My one wish is that they had some cornbread. But I won’t knock em for that.

I used to really like this place and was a regular a couple years ago. I went back for the first time in a while and man I was really disappointed.
the ribs were greasy and not smoked well; the meat was rubbery and the rub had barely penetrated the meat so it just made it taste really salty.
I won’t complain about the price because it hasn’t changed much, but for that price my expectation is brilliance; these ribs were atrocious.
I actually consulted with a friend before coming here and he mentioned it had been a while since Bo’s ribs were how we remembered them and how he’ll never go back. unfortunately neither will I.

Sadness. We were in the area. We’re never in the area these days. Let’s go to Bo’s! Yum!
Not one but two grumpy rude ladies in the front «ONLY BRISKET» I felt like I had insulted her baby when I said «just water to drink please». Then when one of us walked over to what looking like a water station she said «NO! I will bring it to you!»
Then making a pit stop to the bathroom and a pair of young people come out all embarrassed looking. Please tell me that you were NOT screwing in the bathroom of a BBQ restaurant in Lafayette!!!
We sit outside b/​c the band is starting and it’s super loud. Plus there’s a pack of middle aged drunk ladies dancing and well, there’s not a lot of leftover room.
We wait 20 minutes for our water. And a total of 30+ minutes for our food. 2 Brisket plates at $ 18 each.
Hunk of plain old french baguette. No toasty, no butter. about ¹⁄₃ of a sweet potato — cut lengthwise. Probably a 2 ounce scoop of potato salad. about a 4 ounce Styrofoam container of sauce, lettuce with a little vinaigrette and the meat. The brisket was fine. probably 6 ounces.
We ate in like 15 minutes. The water tasty funky like the glass had been cleaned in dirty water.
My honey apologized for a good 10 minutes since it was her idea. At least we learned that we will never be going back.
Dear Bo’s — I kinda want like $ 20 and an hour of my time back.

Bo’s is a nice casual spot in Lafayette, which can get pretty swank. Swank is not my thing so I dig Bo’s. Nice smoked meats available here. I got the 2 item combo for lunch, as did my buddy. There was a lot of meat, which is great. I couldn’t even finish it, and that is saying something. But it’s too much food for lunch. And it’s pricey, $ 21 for a lunch combo is a lot. I’d rather have it be $ 5 less and some less meat.
But the brisket was juicy and delicious, and the ribs were very tasty. The service was sweet but slow, which was surprising since they had just opened. Definitely a good BBQ option in the area, but others like Back Forty are just as good.

In frequenting this place I’ve come to know the owners behind the BBQ. Bo is not only fashionable with his smoked brisket. He offers sound wardrobe advice too. Turns out he spent his early professional years working in Nordstrom. He also offered great relationship advice too. He can write a book titled: Bo knows Love, fashion and BBQ!
His wife, Ofelia, who runs the front of the house always ask about my family since catering my MA graduation with them in 2012. She’s seriously an extension of my family member and takes care of me every time.
In regards to the food, the brisket can hang with Texas
(see my BBQ list). Turns out his recipe is from the south where he grew up. The Beef Ribs are great too, but ask in advance because it’s not always there.
The best BBQ on the side of the tunnel? Yes and arguably the best in the bay in offering real smoked BBQ.

Came here for lunch with my husband. I don’t eat alot of meat but when I get into my carnivore moments, I want either a great steak or ribs… today was one of those days.
I wanted beef ribs and thought i’d try Bo’s since it was close and read some reviews here on Unilocal which convinced me to give him a try. When we arrived for lunch, the place was a bit empty and the lady who took our order didn’t impress me as the most friendliest or warmest person that southern hospitality had to offer.
Well, she said they were out of beef ribs. Boo! So I opted for pork ribs. I was a bit turned off by her demeanor and it wasn’t until I mentioned this was my first time here that her responsiveness was slightly a bit more patient with my menu questions.
The meal itself was eh. The pork ribs were good and tender, falling off the bone so that was a plus and the 2 star rating. The rest of the plate I could have done without. I like to eat the ribs with salad and the lunch meal came with bread, green and potatoe salad. Didn’t care for any of it. The salad just didn’t taste fresh and I’m not a big starch eater (bread and potatoe) although I did taste it. Honestly, how can you mess up a salad? Nothing to write home about, that’s for sure.
My husband had the sausage which I also tasted… hated it. It was grainy and it was all I could do to keep it down. A good sausage shouldn’t have to be slathered in BBQ sauce to be good and that also goes for any BBQ meat as far as I’m concerned.
Sometimes its the little things in life that we can appreciate most. The bread lacked butter and no hand wipies at the end of the meal. BBQ restaurants definitely need this especially for those who love eating ribs.
Frankly, I prefer Back 40 BBQ in Pleasant Hill. Will I come back here? No. But judge them for yourself, perhaps you might find it more of a good dining experience than we did.

We were VERY disappointed. Ordered a rack. It was to come with potato salad, green salad and a yam. I told the woman at the counter that I would like potato salad in place of the yam. Not that I don’t like them.
The order was brought to our table. And there was a yam. Oh well. The potato salad was the size of a golf ball. I then asked the kid waiter for some salt. «We don’t have any. The meat already has spices» he says. What? no salt? Who said I was going to use salt on my meat? It was to be for the potato salad I told him. So, I go to the counter and ask for salt and some butter for our bread. «We don’t have any» the woman tells me.
That did it! Told my wife to wait for me outside as I was going to get our $ 45 back. I got it back.
Also while we were waiting for our dinner I needed to use the men’s room. What a mess. It will not be easy for those that have a physical disability. And it is next to the kitchen.
The last time my wife and I ate there was shortly after Bo opened up, somewhere around 2001’ish (±). It was great then. Not so great now.
P. S. McDonalds was across the street and didn’t cost us $ 45. We knew what we were getting at McDonalds. Yet, we would have rather had some nice ribs.

Wow. My friends have been telling me about this place for so many years! I seem to be the only one on this planet who has not tried Bo’s. We made the trek on a weeknight to celebrate my friend’s birthday and it was one of the great Fall weather Bay Area nights. I just took recommendation for brisket.
THE BRISKET was thee best I have ever tasted no lie! whoo wee-​perfectly cooked and so much flavor!
Bo the owner is there and he is such a cool and friendly guy! My friends told me that he also has live music here, and you can tell he is a music connoisseur because of the awesome music photos all over the walls. There was no one except us dining except us inside, but there were people eating outside on the deck. Definitely coming back!

GET THE BRISKET AND THE PORK RIBS!!! Both were delicious and so juicy. The meat on the pork ribs fell off of the bone and the brisket had so much flavor. The brisket is a little fattier than I’m used to and it’s also chopped up. Dinner was around $ 17.50 for a shared plate, $ 12.50 for lunch for a plate with brisket
There was a guy serving the food and the utensils, but he seemed a little flustered on the day we went. My napkin also came and there were stains on my paper napkin, which I didn’t think too highly of.
The only real complaint I have is that this place CHARGES FOR EXTRA BARBECUE SAUCE when they don’t give enough to start. You’re a barbecue place, you should have unlimited barbecue sauce at each table.
The place closes ridiculously early for a BBQ place, but probably because they can afford it.

Coming here made me sad. This is the best BBQ in the East Bay? I lived in Central Texas for the last seven years (home of the best BBQ in the world), so I was really looking forward to eating some brisket at Bo’s, because I heard it was good. The place smelled right, but that is where it ended. Brisket was… sad. While the plate was piled high, most of it was leathery rind that was so tough I could not chew it. The rest was just dry strings of meat on my plate. Clearly, they could not even slice the brisket, it was so overcooked and dry. Now, I love some bark, but this was not bark, this was just dried up leathery, hard used-​to-​be-​meat. Could not see a smoke ring — there were no slices! Just brown strings and leathery pieces. Yuck.
Also got some beef ribs. While the plate was piled high, there was precious little meat on those ribs and mostly fat. They sure didn’t trim these ribs off a roast themselves! I am used to 2 or 3 ribs filling you up, because they are covered in rich juicy meat. These were covered in fat, because the ribs had been carved off the roast tight. No meat from the prime rib — no fun at all.
The sauce is much too sweet.
The potato salad was delicious. Green salad? At a BBQ place? Would rather see some real sides. Slaw, string beans, mac and cheese, okra. Acme bread was ok. Dinner for two with wine and a beer was over $ 60. Are you kidding me??? For bad BBQ? I suggest that Bo travel to Central Texas and check out Franklin’s, Don’s, Smitty’s, Black’s, even the Salt Lick (who does, in fact make the best beef ribs, even though their sides suck). We need some real BBQ in Northern Cal.

I’ve wanted to try this spot for a long time and S has wanted to try it also. I stopped by and picked up two lunches to-​go.
I had the links and they were good. I got S the brisket, he likes the crispy burned ends and I ordered them for him. The counter person tried to discourage me, saying that the ends were really dry but I ordered them anyway too keep him happy. He wasn’t excited about his lunch, I think he thought the meat was to dry, but he did insist that they include the ends.
The lunch included potato salad, corn-​on-​the-​cob, bread and sauce on the side. The potato salad was good. Corn is corn, there isn’t much that can go wrong with it and nothing did. The French bread was a surprise and it was so much better than the sliced bread that, more often than not, is included on BBQ plates.
I would have been happier if they had given us more sauce, the container wasn’t enough for both our meals.
I would like to go back again when they have live music. It is always enjoyable to sit eat BBQ and listen to good music.