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Review content:
So I saw GI Joe: Rise of Cobra early of Aug '09 w/ my BF-J & our niece @ our local Hayward Cinemark Theater & we were up for some BBQ for our dinner. Where to go? We made our way ova to Hayward's Ribs n Things =)
LOCATION: So coming from from Hayward Cinemark Theater, just head Eastbound on B St to get to Vermont St. Located in the lil' outdoor shopping center with Grocery Outlet & other store fronts; you'd make a right turn on Vermont St...now if u drive too fast & pass Y-intersection of Center St, you literally juuust missed ur turn, so bust a U-turn ;-) Plenty of parking in this shared lot, which never gets crowded honestly.
RESTAURANT: Upon entrance, bakery (w/ traditional soul food desserts) & 2-go area to the left & roped off dinning area to the right. Spacious & clean dinning area; prob several 4-seater tables, armless chairs durable for the skinny & the heavy, traditional red-white-checker table cloth coverings w/ fake yellow roses centerpieces, & 1-flat screen TV mounted for your dinning pleasure. Kitchen counter tops give the cooks a view of dinning area; helpful if you need to get anyone's attention. Obvious ""big mama"" was head cook & yes I'll point it out that not all cooks in this soul food place were black, but they were all women.
CUST SVC: Seems family owned, as the gent who greeted, seated, & served us referred to the lady behind the counter cookin' as mom. The gent was only server on dinning floor, but FYI we were the only ones dinning in. A couple was there before us either getting something 2-go or getting some desserts. Btw the cooks & server, cust svc was great...gent was thorough w/ check-up before & during our meal, we could hear cooks & server communicating regarding our orders too.
FOOD: BF & I have eatin @ this location twice in the past (take out & dined in when the band was playing) in like the last 1.5yr or so, but never at their kiosk-stand @ the Oakland Coliseum (for Warrior games). Meals come w/ option of corn bread muffin or baked roll; we all opted for corn bread muffin, which was just ok. With our 3rd visit here, I got 1-way BBQ w/ pork ribs, baked beans, & sweet potatoes (if ya don't know I LOVE sweet potatoes!). With that said, their sweet potatoes was NOTHING like my mom/grandma's recipe, baked beans were pretty good, & my pork ribs was drowning in BBQ sauce, cooked nicely, but sadly not enough meat on these 4 pieces of bones as far I was concerned =( So not exactly please w/ my dish. BF-J had 1-way BBQ w/ links, potato salad, & fries. Now he seemed more pleased w/ his entree than me; nothing special w/ taste of fries, but potato salad was made just fine & links were tasty. Our niece had 2-way Seafood w/ prawns (which Uncle & Auntie were schemin' on *tee-hee*), catfish, coleslaw, & macNcheese. Seafood items were cooked & battered w/ cornmeal nicely, coleslaw was good & simple, but macNcheese not truely impressive; I don't even eat macNcheese (yes I'm half black & don't like macNcheese) but I know when it looks like it would taste good & this didn't...at least after our niece scrapped to the bottom & I saw grease at the bottom of bowl; BF says because they use cheap cheese so if u come here, I say just avoid macNcheese altogether for ur side dish! Our 13-yr old niece polished it off tho & no tummy aches afterwards. As we appear to finish cleanin' up our plates, gent comes over to give us some hand wipes; I think all BBQ establishments should have this (there are some that don't, who knows why), so kudos they do.
FINAL TAB: Spent just about $50 bucks (tip included) w/ 3 entrees & 3 drinks; niece & BF had left-overs whereas I finished my plate...guess I was hungry. Overall, its a decent BBQ spot representin' for these parts of Hayward w/ great cust svc & w/ a hit or miss on some menu items, or perhaps who ever is cooking in the kitchen during a visit. This was our 3rd trip here & we'd prob come back if the mood struck us really.
Pros: GREAT customer service!
Cons: Food can be a hit or miss on various visits
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