Getting Sauced in Orange

Sauced BBQ and Spirits

1535 West Katella Ave. 

Orange, CA 92867

I have to admit I was a little skeptical walking into Sauced BBQ and Spirits. The last time I was in this building it was Old Crow Smokehouse, and although I liked the meats that I got during that visit, the rest of the meal, including the sides, cornbread, and dessert kind of fell flat. Proving once again that it's hard to find a well-rounded barbecue restaurant in OC, even though the barbecue landscape has improved dramatically in the last couple of years. 

I was also a little doubtful about Sauced because I had looked at their website, and they had five locations, all of them except for this one in Northern California. In my experience, the best barbecue restaurants are the ones that have no other locations. Sorry, that rules out a lot of people's favorites like Lucille's, Famous Dave's, and Dickey's. 

So, it was with a little trepidation that I made reservations for us and my parents on a recent Sunday afternoon. For those who are not aware of where this restaurant is, it's near the Honda Center, in the Stadium Promenade, which is also home to King's Fish House, Lazy Dog, Tilted Kilt, and Anchor Bar, a place I also want to try soon for their wings. 

Sauced wants to make sure that you are aware that they are a completely different restaurant than Old Crow. They state on their website in bold print that they have completely different management, menu, concept, and a new team from the previous tenants. To further distance themselves from the previous occupants of this space, Sauced transformed their restaurant a bit by lightening the walls up and creating a nice and open ambiance. When you walk in there's a bar to your right with some very large TV's providing plenty of sports to watch. Towards the restaurant's back, there's ax-throwing cages, which seems to be all the rage right now, as I've seen it on ESPN numerous times recently. 

The two-page menu at Sauced is pretty good-sized. Separated into sections of starters, salads, burgers, barbecue plates, combo meals, and sandwiches. Prices range between $10 to $20 for starters, sandwiches, will set you back on average of $18, and entrees are competitively priced compared to other barbecue restaurants in the area, with prices ranging between $17 to $40 for a full rack of St. Louis Spare Ribs. The menu was a lot to take in, but we managed to make our choices. Let's see if Sauced could squash my skepticism. 

I was outvoted when it came to the starter that we eventually had. I really wanted to try their brisket chili cheese fries, but my parents and Katie really wanted these Hand Grenades ($14.99 +$4.39 because we added an extra one). Hand grenades are oversized breaded jalapeno poppers filled with pulled pork, cream cheese, and sharp cheddar cheese. I've never been a big fan of jalapeno poppers because I'm not really too fond of cream cheese, but these were a little light on the cream cheese, and the addition of the cheddar helped counteract the cream cheese. The pork also got a little drowned out by the other things going on here, like the crunchy outer layer and the muted heat of the jalapeno. A little more ranch dressing would have been appreciated for these four enormous poppers. They were fine, but I'd try another appetizer on my next visit. 

My dad almost always gets sandwiches when he's at a barbecue restaurant and that held true with his selection of the Brisket Melt ($18.99) on this late afternoon. This came on Texas toast with cheddar cheese, bacon, and cubed brisket. My dad was very excited by the brisket here, calling it, "killer." He also enjoyed the toast but wished for a bit more cheese to be included on this sandwich. Still, this was one of the better barbecue sandwiches he's had. He got the stone ground jalapeno cheese grits for his one side, and after his first taste, he became a big fan. 

My mom has always been a light eater, so she forgoes the big plates at barbecue restaurants, instead, veering towards smaller portions. She ordered these Sliders ($13.99) off the stater portion of the menu. These three mini sliders were perfect for her, and she also took one home for lunch the next day. She got two sliced brisket and one with pulled pork, but you can mix and match any way that you want. She loved the slightly sweet bun and was partial to the brisket. Out of the four sauces available, she could not get enough of the Pig Candy bbq sauce which had equal parts sweet and tangy coming through in each bite. 

Katie got the more substantial Two Meat BBQ Combo Plate ($28.99 + $1.49 + $2.99 for upgraded sides). Picking from the eight types of meat offered, she went with the Smoked Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage and the Pulled Pork. Both portions of meat were very good. The pork had a nice mixture of bark and a little bit of fat that made each bite a joy to consume. The sausage was well made, with a nice snap to the casing and just enough cheese to support, but not overwhelm the sausage. The upgrade for her salad was an extra buck and a half, but as you can see from the picture, the salad was very good sized. The Buffalo Chicken Mac was another three-dollar upcharge and Katie enjoyed this twist on regular mac and cheese. 

To no one's surprise, I one-upped Katie by having the Three Meat BBQ Combo Plate ($37.99). My meat selection was the Sliced Brisket, Pork Ribs, and Pork Belly Burnt Ends. All were pretty stellar, but I liked the pork belly burnt ends the best. They were a little fatty, but that just added to the flavor that these emitted. The glaze on them added an additional element that I was not expecting. The ribs came clean off the bone and were nice and moist. The brisket for the most part was good, but in the bites where there was no fat present, it was a tad dry. The meats are not over-smoked like other barbecue places, so the natural flavor of the proteins shines through. I did not need too much barbecue sauce with this, but I liked the variety that was available, with the sweet version being my favorite, when I could pry it away from my mom. The jalapeno cheese grits had a very comforting feel to them, but some added heat from the jalapeno would have made this even better. The jalapeno sweet heat slaw was sweeter than spicy, and as a result, was a little boring. 

Ever since the pandemic started, I've been on a real banana kick; banana chocolate chip bread, chocolate-covered bananas, and of course, banana pudding. I can not get enough and had to try the Banana Pudding ($6.49) at Sauced. This one came in a small mason jar with sliced bananas, nilla wafers, and whipped cream on top. The banana pudding portion of this was very smooth and satisfying, but they could have used more nilla wafers in here for a change of texture. I'd still get this the next time I'm here, but I'd get my own, as this was way smaller than I was expecting for six dollars. 

I'm big enough to admit that I was wrong about my preconceived notions about Sauced before even visiting here. Like I stated earlier, I thought Sauced could not be good because they had several other locations, but I was wrong. Based on the meal we had this afternoon, this is a definite upgrade from the barbecue restaurant that was here before. The meats were all stellar, and not as overly smoked as other places that are popular at this moment. Sides were fine as well, but I'd like to try others the next time we visit, which will be often once the Ducks allow more fans to their games, which should be this fall. Service was another black mark for the former tenant here, but Sauced provided some very good and pleasant service throughout our stay. Prices were a little high, but barbecue is worth treating yourself to every so often, or in my case almost every two weeks. Welcome to OC Sauced. 

Out of five jars of mayonnaise, (because the most popular sauce/condiment in the US is mayonnaise, which brings in 2 billion dollars annually in sales), five being best to zero being worst, Sauced BBQ and Spirits gets 3.5 jars of mayonnaise. 

For more information on Sauced BBQ and Spirits, head to their website here: https://www.saucedbbqandspirits.com/