Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill (Mission Valley)

Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill opened up a location in San Diego recently and we were invited to dine there. It's on the far right side of the Hazard Center Plaza so keep going and you'll find yourself there before you know it! They also have a 'take-out' entrance to the left for a quicker turnaround.

Inside, the restaurant is spacious including a bar area and outdoor patio. The restaurant was almost completely full on our visit so word is getting around about this place! Our pleasant server Tim gave us plenty of options on what to order from the menu.

To start, Dennis ordered the Vintage Bullet, a whiskey rye with a very berry flavor. Such a beautiful drink to start out the evening!

A basket of garlic rolls appeared before our eyes, lightly brushed with butter and a few pesto-like freckles. The crust was reminiscent of Pat and Oscar breadsticks but even softer and fluffier within. I had to remind Dennis to slow down before the rest of the food came!

We needed all that room for the colossal WR BBQ 4 meat Combo! There were also smaller combos of 2 or 3 meats and all combos came with your choice of two sides.

The Brisket meat was a leaner cut that was fairly tender but felt a bit overpowered by the black peppery edge.

The Tri Tip was cooked medium well with lovely criss cross grilling marks. The meat retained its juices and paired perfectly with the sweet kick of the chipotle cherry BBQ sauce. I could only imagine how joyful I'd be if we had requested it medium instead!

The huge Beef Ribs were glazed by default with the house BBQ sauce. The meat wasn't fork tender but still pulled off easily, though a skin flap made it harder to get through to the meat. Despite that, it was one of our favorite meats in our platter.

Too bad the American style Baby Back Ribs weren't as succulent. The meat stuck to the bone and was chewier here and there. Neither of the two sauce we had (original, chipotle cherry) seemed to fit with this meat for me though original was ok for Dennis. There's also a St. Louis style rib so I wonder what that one would be like...

If you can't get enough of the BBQ sauce though, the restaurant has you covered! You can buy your very own bottle of original BBQ sauce from the to-go area.

We also picked out two sides to go with our combo plate. The Smashed Sweet Potato was made from yams and cream cheese so turned out sweeter than expected. I think I would have preferred the regular mashed potatoes. Our other side of Mac and Cheese was blanketed in a velvety cheese that was a little sticky in the mouth. We found these two sides to be just alright.

We saved just enough room for dessert, which was a Warm Chocolate Cake. The flourless cake batter was chocolatey but a little too mushy overall. I worked the accompanying ice cream and candied pecans instead! I began imagining the Oreo Cookie Crusted Ice Cream that I didn't order but it *totally* sounds like something I should be able to make at home... I figure I'd be too lazy to do it.

After everything was said and done, we were surprised on how well we did food-wise. A 4-meat sampler sounded like soooo much food but we didn't even have any leftovers like our recent visit to Sque BBQ. I'm very particular on BBQ so for me, there were a few more misses than hits. I'd definitely like to explore a few more BBQ options around town before circling back here though that chipotle-cherry BBQ sauce seems worth coming back for!

Disclaimer: we were hosted for the meal but the opinions are strictly our own.