Why? Why? Why...can we not get more solid BBQ here? Has Vegas been cursed by some sort of barbecue hating devil? Have the BBQ Gods no mercy on Sin City? I really just don't get it. But before I self-explode, let me explain...\n\nBubba D's is a brand new BBQ joint located inside the Town Center Lounge on Sky Pointe, just off Ann & the 95. I'm not super familiar with this lounge, but I do know from driving by it everyday that the restaurant inside has seen its fair share of changes. Not long ago, a breakfast place used to be here that I had bookmarked, and never got to try. According to Bubba D's, they shut down due to allowing guests under 21 to dine-in. Because they share the space with a lounge who's ceilings are 28 feet high, and it's way \"too expensive\" for them to legally block off the area, this is strictly a 21 and over spot. So, for families with children, you're stuck with takeout only. I don't want to fault them much for the location, as I'm sure they're just working with what they can, but I really question why a BBQ joint would pick this spot. Even if I had been at this bar drinking beforehand, I'm not sure I would've wanted to spend that much money on what is technically just bar food. \n\nMuch like other bars, the menu is larger, this one just focuses on BBQ. Obviously there's classic choices like meat plates and sandwiches, but they also have some unique items like giant potatoes, tacos and even burritos. Tons of sides are available, although some are only available a-la carte, and there's a separate \"To Go By The Pound\" menu as well. In my opinion, pricing is flawed and kind of all over the place. A 1/2lb of brisket alone starts at $10, yet a burrito or potato that they proudly display as weighing over 1lb, with brisket, is only $12. Sure, there's other ingredients in these, but how small are they making the meat portions? And because sides are separate, most of which you can not order with the combos, the bill can get rough. We only ordered 2 combo plates with 1 dessert, no drinks or extras, and our to-go bill was just a few cents under $40. I have no problem paying for good BBQ, we all now how much meat is, but they've got a lot of work to do. Here's what we got...\n\nI'll start with sides. All borderline terrible in my opinion. The coleslaw was either packaged, or made with a very generic cookbook. No flavor at all, and way too watery. Potato salad was just as bad flavor-wise, and I swear they put rosemary in it. It just didn't work. Then sadly, my most anticipated side of all was the smoked beans, and they were probably the worse. I had to scoop some up to take the photo, but most of the container was liquid. And that liquid tasted like straight up smoke water. Imagine taking a cup of water and leaving it in a smoker for hours upon hours, then sipping on it. I love me some smokey flavor, but whoa!\n\nHoping the meat would make up for the lackluster sides, we dug in, and were let down with just about everything. I ordered a 2 meat combo with chopped brisket and sausage, Lore ordered a 2 meat with ribs and pulled pork. They don't offer a classic hot link, but do have locally sourced sausages made just for them. My pick for the sausage was jalape\u00f1o, and tasted like just about nothing. It was drowned in sauce, which is most likely why, but I'll get back to the sauce. Both the brisket and pulled pork seemed to be smoked great. The meat wasn't overly smokey, you could taste a bit of seasoning in them, and they were tender with nice little crispy burnt-endish pieces. Unfortunately, the ribs were probably the worst of all. I'm no smoking expert, but they seemed to be cooked at too high of a temperature, way too fast. The outside was burnt black, yet parts of the inside seemed undercooked. It had a raw meat look and texture. And I'm not talking about the pink from smoke rings. 80% of the rack got trashed. \n\nBut here's the thing, I can honestly say this was my first ever backwards BBQ experience. In most cases, the meat at joints is what's lacking, but you can get enough sauce on them to make it taste okay. But Bubba D's is the only place I've been too where it was the complete opposite, and I wished there was no sauce on most of the stuff, like the brisket and sausage. This sauce is bad. Really bad. I'm not sure if the photos will do it justice, but the only thing I can compare it to is some sort of old, canned marinara/pizza sauce. It's thick, it's tomatoey, and it seriously ruined every piece of meat on all our plates. The ribs couldn't be saved, so that's another story. But I'm not even sure what sauce we got either. We weren't offered a choice (even though there's 3 on the menu), and we attempted to get as much of it off the meat before we ate to try figuring it out. \n\nI hate giving places like this such a bad review, but this was just bad food. The friendly owners and service is worthy of 2 stars, but I can't say the same for the eats.
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