Clocking Out at the Newport Rib Company CLOSED

Newport Rib Company

27742 Antonio Parkway, Suite K7

Ladera Ranch, CA 92694

It was Orange county restaurant week and Katie and I had not really taken advantage of the situation, so we headed over to Newport Rib Company in Ladera Ranch. I had been to this location one time before, and their other location in Costa Mesa two or three times, (they also have one other location in Long Beach, the Naples Rib Company). Funny that they do not actually have a location in Newport though.

On this Friday night we got right in the joint. The Newport Rib Company is kind of off by its self, in the big shopping center at Antonio and Crown Valley. There are lots of empty places in this shopping area. We were seated in the patio area of the restaurant. It was not fully heated, but I am warm blooded anyways, so it did not bother me too much, but I am sure that others were a little uncomfortable out there. Lets see if the food can warm us up a little bit.

For restaurant week, they had a three course fixed menu for twenty dollars a person. The courses included an appetizer, entree and a dessert. Above is the Half Onion Brick. I liked this, it was a little greasy, but that is too be expected with a brick of onions. The barbeque sauce was a good accompaniment to this starter.

This was Katie's Grilled Artichoke, served with butter, mayo and hollandaise sauce. I liked that they had three dipping sauces served with this dish. The artichokes were good, but I do not usually like artichoke served this way. There was not a lot of meat, or whatever they call the edible part of the artichoke leave on these. The hollandaise sauce was a little too runny also.

Here is Katie's main course. She opted for the tri-tip, with chili and rice pilaf. Okay, so I do have to admit something to you, Katie likes her meat well done. So it is hard to judge this tri-tip. I am trying to get her to come around on this, but I am afraid that I have my work cut out for me. The meat tasted okay, but was not tender, as expected and not their fault. The rice pilaf was un-remarkable. The star of her plate was the chili. Spicy and flavorful, I would have loved to have put this on a hot dog, or a burger. Very good chili.

Here are my Baby Back Ribs, with mac & cheese, and garlic mashed potatoes. First, the ribs were not fall off the bone, a little dry. There also was not a lot of meat on these. The barbeque sauce was really good, and needed more of it on the ribs. I thought it was funny that they did not have bottles of their barbeque sauce on the table, probably cutting down on costs that way. The mac & cheese was plain and we both agreed that it needed more flavor. The garlic mashed potatoes were the best thing on this plate. The texture was right on, and had a good taste. One other thing, the pineapple that they served with our plates was very sweet and tasted very fresh.

Here is Katie's New York Style Cheesecake. This was real cheesecake and had a real tart taste. Katie said that this tasted homemade. She really liked this dessert.

This was my dessert, Double Chocolate Mousse Cake. Both parts of this plate were good. I liked the white chocolate part the best, it was rich and creamy and had a great flavor. The dark chocolate side had a lot of cocoa, almost too much, but it was good in its own way too.

All of this food for twenty dollars a person was a great value. Not so sure that I would be coming back here though. Bits and parts of the food were good, but what should have been the best parts of the meal, (the meats), were not very good. I liked the chili, barbeque sauce and dessert the best, so not quite sure this is worth a return trip. Also the service was not too good. Our guy left us hanging for large periods of time.

So out of five staplers, (because companies need lots of staplers), five being best to zero being worst, Newport Rib Company gets 2 staplers.

If you know of a great barbeque place in the OC, leave me a comment please. Dying to try a great place.

For more information on Newport Rib Company click here: http://www.ribcompany.com/index.html