Mack's Smoked Barbecue - San Carlos - ?

[orezscu]

This place has been open for about a month on the tail end of Laurel, down by Micha's. Secondhand reports are glowing, but I haven't been in nor heard of it on here. Has anyone tried Mack's?

Mack's Smoked Barbecue
1541 Laurel St
San Carlos, CA 94070
[phone]

[rworange]

link

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Mack's BBQ
1754 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070

[Melanie Wong]

I've got the take-out menu, if you have questions. My brother was complimentary about the customer service.

[rworange]

What I've gleaned so far ...

Owners Jason and Vicki Mack serve North Carolina barbecue such as brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork. Their meat is cooked in a smoker for 12-14 hours

Sides include slaw, mac and cheese with smoked bacon, potato salad, cornbread

What else is on the menu? I think they have tri-tip on the menu to but not SLO type.

[Melanie Wong]

Yes, tri-tip is on the menu. I was going to type it out, but it's sunny outside now, so it was easier to photograph the menu, shown here,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniew...

[rworange]

Thanks. I like that ribs a la carte option where you can buy one for $2. What I've been reading so far is that the brisket is the best option. Prices are really decent though.

[Shane Greenwood]

I tried the brisket and the ribs and would agree that the brisket was better, but the ribs are not bad. They use an indoor, electric smoker so they don't get a super deep smoky flavor and you won't see a smoke ring. Our local ordinances seriously limit our BBQ options! But they are making good food and the price point is right.

[wolfe]

It just occurred to me that in one trip from Berkeley I could hit both Mack's and the Refuge. Is this a worthwhile carnivoyage?

[orezscu]

Oh, man. That is the "bi-fecta" of peninsula meat eating. You might need to space them out over lunch and dinner though.

[peppatty]

You can also hit Harmony yogurt for dessert.

[Paul H]

I got a chance to try Mack's today for lunch and the place is a keeper for sure. They serve ribs, pulled pork, brisket, and tri-tip (that last must be a sop to us Californians who mistakenly think that a tri-tip roast has something to do with BBQ: it doesn't).

Sides are coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, and mac & cheese. Everything comes with a cornbread muffin, and you can get pecan pie for dessert. Unfortunately, there is also a "Green Salad" offered but it does have "Smoked Tomato Dressing " and you can add meat, which helps some.

I got a chance to try the ribs, pulled pork, brisket, and slaw. The ribs were falling off the bone tender, smokey and delicious. They were covered with a bit too much sweet/sour sauce, which was a bit too sweet, but we are picking at straws here, these were succulent and tender and even without needing to remove sauce from fingers, were finger-licking good. The pulled pork and brisket were also excellent. Neither was excessively fatty or had any gristle. The pork was properly shredded and the brisket was properly chopped. The slaw was cool and crisp and wasn't drowned with the dressing.

My only complaint was that the only way to get a BBQ "plate" (not a sandwich) is to order combo #3 (3 ribs and meat of choice). This is a very small complaint. Great place. Highly recommended.

[smash]

Mack's BBQ in San Carlos got featured a while back, so I checked it out.

Most reviews lauded the pulled pork, but the first time I visited, they were out, so I had the brisket sandwich. Before I remembered to request sauce on the side, they had sauced it up. I was able to tease out some unsauced chopped brisket. It had a fair smoke ring, but very little flavor, either meat or smoke. The meat was moist and tender, but had less taste than Arby's meat. There was some evidence of a conventional rub, but it did not seem to penetrate the meat very well. The sauce was conventional sweet & tangy, with evident molasses; it was not bad, just nothing special. This was put into a flavorless long bun which brought nothing to the party except physical support. There were no other additions to the sandwich like onions or pickles. As I've always said, the sauce is there to cover up mistakes, and the mistake in this case is that they forgot to put in flavor. The cole slaw was a standard creamy confetti style, fresh but a little insipid. The combo comes with cornbread muffin; this was just slightly sweet and non-offensive. They do have a good selection of bottled beverages.

No one available was able to tell me about the wood or smoking methods (or they chose not to), but there was no smoke smell evident in the place.

I went back today for a pulled pork sandwich, and stopped the squirting of the sauce in time. The pork was tender, but, again, had very little flavor. Hard to tell that it was once pig. The sauce was required to give some flavor. The potato salad was eggy, but, again, rather conventional. They were out of links, so I did not get to try one, and I see no reason to try going back for another attempt.

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Mack's BBQ
1754 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070