Rib Line | BBQ Restaurant

The Best BBQ I’ve Ever Tried in San Luis Obispo If you ever find yourself driving through San Luis Obispo, do yourself a favor and make a stop for some of the best BBQ you’ll ever taste. I’m not exaggerating — this was hands-down the best BBQ I’ve ever tried. The portions were unbelievable. You don’t just get a meal… you get a feast. Every plate came stacked with enough food to make you wonder if they confused your order with a whole family’s — in the best possible way. And the flavor? Absolutely incredible. Tender, smoky, perfectly seasoned, and packed with that authentic BBQ taste that keeps you thinking about it long after the meal is over. Whether you’re a BBQ fan or just someone passing through and looking for a memorable meal, I definitely recommend stopping here. San Luis Obispo has plenty of great spots, but this BBQ place stands out as something special.

Taco Tuesday $1 tacos! And they are delicious!! Do yourself a favor and run to Ribline! Tried their homemade carrot cake as well and it was all delicious!!

We have been married for 1 year …. This was our anniversary date night!! Dawson was our server … SUPER HELPFUL!! Irvin was the cashier, he made excellent recommendations, GREAT PERSONALITY!! Carly was our chef, girl.. YOU CAN COOK!! We got Careot cake and the Ali classic Tri-Tip ,bbq chicken, baked potatoes…. Etc AMAZING FOOD Thank you FOR MAKING TONIGHT SPECIAL!!

This was my first time eating at Rib Line and I will definitely be going back! Letty was a fantastic server and super attentive to giving us refills, to-go boxes, and answering all of our questions. I enjoyed trying the famous tri-tip sandwich with a side of mac and cheese. It was such a filling and delicious meal. I look forward to going back soon.

5 dollar tri tip sandwiches!!! They are sooooooooooo gooood!! And for 5 dollars more you can get a side and a drink!! Family of 4 fed for about 40 dollars. SUPER YUMMY!!!

Ribline is hands-down one of my favorite local spots when I’m craving real comfort barbecue. My go-to combo every single time is their beef ribs with the mac & cheese and cornbread, it’s genuinely the perfect trio. The ribs are rich and tender, the mac is creamy in that “you’ll keep stealing bites” way, and the cornbread ties it all together with that warm, slightly sweet finish. The staff makes the experience even better. Everyone was friendly and helpful, and Krystal was especially awesome. It had been a while since my last visit since moving back, so she walked me through the menu, gave great recommendations. Even showed me the expansion of the eating area. You can tell they care about people having a good time there, not just getting orders out. No need to wait for Thursday’s farmers market to get something fresh and satisfying BBQ. Overall, Ribline delivers great food, solid portions, and real value. Feels good supporting a local small business, especially when there are so many big box places around that don’t come close on quality or value. Highly recommend.

Ribline catered my daughter's wedding in May at Almond Springs. Krystal was extremely helpful in planning the dinner as well as lunch for the wedding party & immediate family. The food, both for lunch and dinner, was amazingly delicious! The grazing table was beautiful and they grilled the chicken and beef onsite and while both were delicious, the chicken was so juicy & tender, just amazing! The sides were extremely delicious. There was more than enough food. I'd also like to give a shout out to the servers. They were extremely helpful in setting up, serving and cleaning up, they just made my daughter's day even more special. I would highly recommend them for any catering event.

I would say this spot was a 3.5 out of 5. I’ll start off with the service, Irvin had amazing costumer service and really made our first visit here welcoming. The atmosphere was great and clean. The food was great but the tri tip needed to be slow cooked because it was too tough, the meat could have had a little more tenderness. The bbq regular sauce was great. The spicy bbq sauce needed a little more of a kick. The garlic bread was pretty good as well. Brisquet should be part of any great BBQ spot. Highly recommend adding it to the menu. Price was reasonable for BBQ for 2.

The BBQ here is epic, especially the tri tip sandwich & the beef ribs. The atmosphere is very basic, plain wooden tables & benches that are not particularly comfortable but the place is clean & organized & the quality of the food makes up for the lack of ambience. We iss the original Grover Beach location!

Lots of bbq options to choose from, our meat and sides were tasty. Arrived off peak hours, so service was quick and efficient, and the pricing reasonable. Interior was clean, simple, but attractive, nice for various group sizes.

I haven't been to Rib Line in quite a while, but my friend recommended their brisket tacos and that did not disappoint! A very generous amount of meat on each taco and it was mouth watering! The store is efficient and it is easy to order takeout, which we did. There is seating for those eating on site, and the location is very convenient with plenty of parking. Staff are friendly and helpful.

Excellent BBQ spot! Got a takeout for the family: full rack of ribs with sides of mac n' cheese, beans, sweet potato fries, and cornbread. The ribs were a huge portion, the meat well done with perfect caramelized end bits. Of the sides, my favorites were the mac n' cheese (rich and creamy, with delectable toasted breadcrumb topping) and the cornbread (light and fluffy, served with cinnamon sugar butter). The location is super accessible, with easy parking and a few spots to eat in if you like. Really enjoyed the food - we will be back!

Found a $10 off coupon on Facebook, s we decided to try while in town. It's located in a strip mall right off the 101. You order at the counter and they serve you at your table. They have a few tables to sit at outside and about a dozen cute white tables inside. We ordered the three meat and two sides to share. We got the baby back ribs (3) and double tri-tip (6 slices). For sides we had the macaroni and cheese and baked beans. We also ordered one corn bread that came with cinnamon butter. Everything was hot and delicious! My favorite was the Mac & cheese and second the beans. My son loved the tri-tip! They came around and cleaned often. There were games on the tv's. Nice place for delicious bbq!

They were one of the few places that were open on Thanksgiving, so we stopped by for lunch. We got the tri-tip, beef rib, and half chicken, along with baked beans and coleslaw. The portion size was pretty large, so this 3-meat, 2-side meal was sufficient for the two of us. Everything was served on an aluminum tray covered with a red checkered paper, and there were only plastic utensils. Unfortunately, this meant that it was hard to cut the tri-tip without tearing up the paper, since it was slightly chewy as well. The flavor of all three meats was good though, and the portion size of the sides was massive.

My recommendation for these guys would be "just stop! and find another career" Ordered Uber Eats from them while visiting SLO as it came highly recommended but I have no good words for it except for the packaging which was the best thing about it. Ordered the 3-meat 2-side combo with tri-tip, baby back ribs, chicken, honey-butter cornbread and fries. All the meats were horrible. Chicken drumstick was dry, and the breast was chewy. The tri-tip was so less in quality and tasteless. The baby back ribs were also not impressive. Cornbread was dry. So disappointed with this place. I wish I never had this food. What a waste of time, money & appetite.

Friendly service and yummy BBQ! Ambiance was festive, looking forward to coming back.

Great parking! Friendly staff, food came out quick, I ordered the pork ribs, half a rack and the fried wedge potatoes. The seating area is nice and the big TV is a bonus When the food came it was nice and hot , I was surprised the ribs had bbq sauce on both sides, generally to me that means they are dry. I had to ask for a knife, no big deal, the ribs were very tender on the larger side of the rack and sure enough one end of the ribs were dry The wedge potatoes were delicious. The bbq sauce it's self was ok, if your in the area it's a good choice

Was craving beef ribs and got my fix here I like the flavor and consistency they have. Service is kind of minimum and shared seating with the restaurant next door. Seems to try to be too fancy for a BBQ place. I'd prefer more of a diner or bar and grill type of service instead of feeling more like a fastfood ordering situation. But still please with the quality of food.

I ordered over the telephone because my gift card did not work online. When I got to River line to pick up my food the worst service ever. The girl that was at the desk was on the phone for over 10 minutes, taking an order and did not Help anyone at the desk. One person walked out. A girl from the back came to the front. I asked if she could help and she was very rude and said the other girl would be with me soon I let her know it had been over 10 minutes of me standing waiting and another customer walked out and she was rude again and said there was nothing she could do. Another five minutes go by and the girl finally gets off the phone and would not look at me. I asked for the manager and no one came out to speak with me. I hope the food's better than their service.

It really pans pains me to leave a one star review on what use to be my absolute favorite Tri-Tip BBQ restaurant of all time. I just waisted $150+ on takeout for 5. 3 total items missing that I paid for, most of the food was cold that should have been hot. I use to love Rib Line, but sadly this will be my last trip. The quality of service and changes in food do not justify the price, or any return trips. The GOOD (not Great): * Tri Tip - is still very good, but no longer "great" * Beans - good not great and served COLD, what the..... had to microwave them for nearly 5 minutes to heat them up, not okay!! * Potato Salad - good Everything else was a fail, and I cannot recommend ANYTHING ELSE based on my latest experience, simply not okay. The owner should be embarrassed and reaching out to me to issue a refund in my opinion. The BAD: MISSING Items I paid for but not in the large take out bag: * Pulled Pork - well actually I have no idea if it still any good or not as the pulled pork I paid for was not in the take out bag!! * Corn Bread - they took the time to put the cinnamon honey butter for two serving of cornbread in the take out bag. But no corn bread. How to screw up the only order going on in an empty restaurant?!? JUST BAD (and COLD, not hot or even warm) * BBQ Chicken. Extra small 1/2 chicken as in I have boneless skinned chicken breast bigger than the 1/2 chicken we got that was obviously poke long before it serving and reheated and dried out with rubbery meat like when thing don't heat well in a microwave. IMHO: DO NOT ORDER THE 1/2 CHICKEN, huge disappointment that left me unsatisfied and feeling ripped off. * Baked Potatoes - THEY WERE COLD!! Who serves COLD baked potatoes. Gold as in would not even melt the butter cold. Not sure if briefly heated in an oven from the fridge or just stored on the counter unheated. * Sweat Potato fries - soggy and limp. Had to air fry them at home to try and save this disaster of sweet potato fries. That didn't work really but them marginally better than the thick pasta noodle like fries they served us * BBQ sauce: tasted like pure thick ketchup with a little black pepper. What happen to the simple yet tasty BBQ sauce they use to serve?? I had to add fresh ground black pepper, cider vinegar, sugar and water to at least get a basic sauce similar to what use to be served. * Beans - well these were just cold, they were okay, good even but not great as they use to be and they were served COLD. If I want to cook, I buy a can of beans at the supermarket for 1/4 the price and open and microwave, I don't expect the same for top dollar take out. WHEN I DROP $150+ ON TAKE OUT, THE ORDER SHOULD BE COMPLETE, HOT AND READY TO EAT!!! I had multiple COLD items that were suppose be HOT. I should not have to heat thing up in the microwave for several minutes because they are that cold. I should not be disappointed snd feeling ripped off because multiple items are missing. Even more irked that I left the staff a tip given the poor effort put into a pricy take out order. I now feel Rib-Line is a great memory of what central coast BBQ is, but the current store name is not worthy, don't be confused, you will not get the old Rib-Line fix, just a disappointing experience. Service at this restaurant is on par with the terribly functioning and failed Rib-Line on Broad Street were I use say the only thing consistent about that old location was they would get your order wrong every time. I really don't know what they did in the time we were waiting in a empty restaurant for out order given multiple COLD ITEMS and 2 different items MISSING, YET PAID FOR equaling 4 servings and simply were not included (how hard is it to make sure the order is correct).

Best customer service and nicest staff, and the food was delicious! Dare I say best Tri tip sandwich in slo...

I love the tritip and the Smokey atmosphere adds that extra sensory experience. Grace was super sweet! Follow on Facebook or instagram and occasionally they have $5 tritip sandwiches.

Fantastic "Taco Tuesday" Tri tip tacos! We had 5 each as they were on their now and then Facebook advertised $1.00 Taco Tuesday SPECIAL! The staff were very friendly, the indoor seating was plentiful with a glimpse of the mountains out the window. Music was nice and mellow, not too loud either- just right. The Only thing was the open doors invited some prett pesky flies inside which we're a little bothersome. Maybe a bug zapper, or keep the doors closed might help. We LOVE It that they offer these discounted "Specials" and hope they have other ones too! We will be back! Highly recommend - DELICIOUS FOOD!

Unfortunately this was not a great experience. The front of the store was rundown and not in great condition. From what we could see of the kitchen was also not impressive. We placed our to-go order an hour and a half early, yet it took 20 minutes longer, and the restaurant was empty and no other orders came out in the 20 minutes I was waiting. We ordered a family meal, chicken, tri-tip and beef ribs. Sides were coleslaw, beans, baked potatoes and cornbread... nothing was great. Tri-tip was extremely fatty and not cooked well. Chicken was dry ribs were extremely tough and only half way cut through. I think the potatoes were microwaved and not good at all. Just in general this was a bad experience and I don't like leaving bad reviews, but unfortunately this visit deserved it.

We have been here twice within the last 1 year traveling up and down west coast from CA to OR. They are very generous with their portions and service is great. The best seafood salad up and down the coast. E best Cioppino seafood dish with lots of seafood. And the price... The best value we have found alone the entire West Coast. Highly recommended.

Awful. Not sure who they paid off for the top 5 bbq spots on the central coast- ick Chicken- slimy Tri tip- no flavor and SO fatty Baked potatoes- microwaved- 100% Corn bread- tasted like soap Cole slaw- mid Mac n cheese- decent Baked beans- the best part but nothing to write home about. Don't do it.

I highly recommend this place. The tri tip, ribes, cornbread and the coleslaw is Absolutely perfect

Today I had a delicious lunch. I had two beef ribs and a side of macaroni. The ribs were tasty, meaty, and tender. The best beef ribs I have had in years. The macaroni was delicious too. Thanks Rib Line BBQ, my lunch was excellent. Thank you, Tony

Wildly disappointed tonight. Ordered a whole tritip, and that thing was tough and dried out like leather. Funny old taste to it. Severely well-done! Just awful. Do you reheat left over meat???? I paid $50 for something I had to throw away. I'm not the type to return food, but I certainly will be going elsewhere for tritip from now on. I was a loyal customer but this was unacceptable to serve to someone.

The service was fast, friendly, and food was delicious! Great cheap spot with 5 star food! I will definitely be recommending to friends and family.

Service - friendly and very helpful young lady (Kassey) at the register. It was my first time here. Food - ribs very good, tri-tip a bit hard to chew but the flavor was good. Fries - killer, coleslaw good, cornbread and cinnamon butter very good. Ambiance - casual and quiet, came in at 5:15pm. Overall, a nice experience. Out the door at $35 with tip.

Just ate the most mediocre cesear salad ever. The first one came with croutons and no chicken, and I had ordered no croutons, add chicken. Okay. Honest mistake, but the chicken was chewy and I had to spit out two pieces. The restaurant is cut in two with Switch on the other side. For most beverages, you have to go to Switch to get them. I didn't have a drink at all. While the salad came in a reusable bowl, the utensils are plastic. Not the biggest deal but why not just be environmentally friendly, since it seems to be an option. Hum. Oh well. Win some lose some.

Not worth the $100 for the family pack. There is a value problem for what you pay for. I hope they get better. My Dad ordered this a month ago. I wish he would have told me about his experience sooner. He felt ripped off and he's a retired doctor who loves to eat out. Both the price and the quality. He said the chicken was difficult to eat due to bones. My dad doesn't complain much. I wish them the best, but shouldn't be charging so much, until they have if dialed in and it really needs to be dialed in, if you're charging that much. Respectfully.

Great BBQ. Also loved the Tri tip tacos! A nice selection of bbq meals with some tasty sandwiches.

Very convenient if you're in the nearby hotel(s), quick walk. Pros: We loved the food, my french dip was awesome. Wife loved her 1/2 chicken meal. Our favorite was the cornbread with cinnamon butter. We thought the food was great and if you want something else they're connected to another restaurant (obviously same owners). Cons: It was a little on the $ high side for a quick serve restaurant. You order and they drop the food with plastic ware. Side note here, the bathrooms are locked and I was told to go to the other restaurant for the key. Very odd, when people lock the bathrooms it means you're in a bad area, it didn't seem like it but that's the impression. For the convenience of the hotels and the yummy cornbread we'd go back.

This is THE SPOT for barbecue. The staff is amazingly friendly and kind and the food is even better! I had the pulled pork sandwich and I don't know what secret magic is on the bread but it was delicious. The portions were large and I appreciated having more than two bites in my side of mac and cheese, I even had to get a to go box! I will absolutely be coming back!

First of all the parking lot is so dark I couldn't find the driveway to enter. The walkway also feels dark, and the Rib Line didn't have a lite sign and that made it hard to find. Now for the Tri Tip. I found it lacking seasoning and was not tender. The BBQ Beans were good as was the corn bread. My partner ordered shredded beef as well as shredded pork and potato salad which she said was too mustardy. Including the meat she said, she did not enjoy her dinner. We have had a positive time at their Grover Beach restaurant in the past, which is now closed. We won't go back.

Food was delicious! Our table tried a variety of foods and everything was excellent. Service was good.

Rib line barbecue was very good. We are barbecue aficionado's and it ranked right up there with the best we've had. I'd recommend it to everybody I know.

Customer service: great. Atmosphere: great. Food: AMAZING! Came for my hubbys birthday and so glad we did. We had cornbread muffin with honey butter, baked beans, mac n cheese, potato wedges, tri tip sandwich and rib plate. Everything taste so great and fresh. Highly recommend!

Got pulled pork and trip tip both excellent! Not dry and very well spiced and flavorful. Also got the cornbread and honey butter and Mac and cheese. Perfect accompaniments and the bbq sauces I tried were both very good also. Will be eating here next time I m in town

The entire menu is amazing, I've tried everything and I can say that this place has the best Tri-tip sandwiches in town. However, the best sandwich to me has to be the Kings Dream, can't beat everything that's on it (Tri-tip, pepper jack cheese, bacon, avocado, even more Tri tip, with some BBQ drizzled on it), you can probably taste it through this picture

Someone recommended this place for beef ribs. They were very good even though my wife said she'd rather have this at home. Probably because of the price? But I don't have to wait for ribs!

Best Lunch Deal on a Tri-Tip sandwich. It's simple and delicious and $5. Add a side and a drink for another $5. Not many places you can get lunch for $10 these days. The service was fantastic. All the employees are helpful and friendly. The Ambiance is simple, but has everything you need. The tables outside are great when the weather is warm.

This place was amazing everything from the tri-tip to the macaroni and cheese to the sweet potato fries to the cornbread was unbelievable. Probably one of the best barbecue places I've ever been to along with that. They have a lovely server there called Christina. She made sure I was well taken care of And enjoyed a great meal at Rib line BBQ. 10 out of 10 I will be back if you're in the area please stop by. You will not regret it.

3 tacos Tri tip soggy flavor less meat tacos and French dip bland as well 1 soda 32$ no sides they have gone down in quality. Empty place... Won't be back.

I've been back 3 times for the tri tip ala carte . Great price for how much you get . Wished I'd purchased the gift card at Costco to save even more $$$. They did up my order perfect . Delicious ! Happy customer .

Ordered takeout through DoorDash. First time trying this place. Packaging wasn't good at all. The macaroni spilled in the bag. Sweet potato fries were good. Just soggy because packaging had no vents. Shoestring fries were good. Potato salad was good. Macaroni was ok besides it spilling. Baby back ribs were good. Sliced tri-tip was mediocre. BBQ chicken is extremely salty!! Please adjust the salt on this. The sauce on the chicken wasn't good at all either. Tasted super tangy. I do not recommend this dish if you choose to order from here. All the meat items were packaged in foil. Which I personally didn't like because the sauces spilled also. Overall, we would not order from here again.

Delicious baby back ribs, and very personable employees. We arrived at 7pm and they were set to close at 8, but they seemed happy to see us, and we were out of there by 7:30! The ribs were terrific, and my wife liked the chocolate chip cookie; that's all we ordered a la carte. You order at a counter, and they have several tables, for two, for four and two for larger groups. TV on the wall showing sports, and a country station playing in the background. It was cold on this February evening; it seems like few local restaurants have heat in the winter. It feels a bit like fast food, rather than a dining experience. Plastic utensils, plastic soda cups & straws. No EV charger in the parking lot. Still, the food is good enough that I would come back, especially to get BBQ to go.

Wow! WOW! WOW! Our first time eating at the Ribline and was thoroughly impressed. I "sampled" about three different meals (burger, pulled pork, Mac n cheese, chicken strips and tri tip) Everything was served hot and fresh. Meat was tender and tasty. Sides were all delicious and plentiful. The venue is clean, updated decor, clean bathrooms and staff were polite and responsive. Definitely a must try if visiting the Central Coast.

I love the Rib Line! The Kings Dream is so delicious. I never want to finish the sandwich it is so good. Love their cornbread and honey butter too! Room for improvement is their sodas always seems to be flat and the staff are hard to find

Easy parking and cashier was pleasant and answered our questions. Tri-tip sandwich has a good amount of meat on a tasty roll. Additional BBQ sauce has a nice tang to it. Mac and cheese had good flavor but was lukewarm - wish it was hotter. Overall very good tasting food and we will be back to try other items on the menu.

Rib Line catered my daughters wedding. Other than handing over my credit card, I was not involved with what we were eating. If I was involved I would have warned agains chicken because it can be so dry. This was not! Quite possibly the best bbq chicken I've ever had from a restaurant. The flavor was delish and the chicken was juicy, not dry at all! I can say the same for the tri tip. Perfectly cooked and so flavorful. Can we talk about the cornbread?? Honestly, unbelievable. If that was the only thing that was served, guests would have been very happy. It was served with cinnamon butter. Passed hors d'oeuvres included a happy little nugget called a "beach ball". Sweet potatoes, jalapeño, cheese, injected with ranch dressing, rolled into a ball and drizzled with balsamic glaze. (That's what I'm guessing. I split one with the mother of the groom) I really wanted more. As a catering company, I highly recommend them. Very professional and reasonably priced.

I placed a simple order for a cup of their "World Famous Chili" and a side of their cornbread. The chili was extremely salty, tasted like it had been sitting for days, and it didn't really matter but the portion was tiny for $9. The cornbread was seriously lacking in taste and may have been stale. It was also the equivalent size of a 1/2 slice of toast. Can't believe they charge $5 for a portion that tiny. My meal cost $15, which is laughable based on the amount of food and quality I received.

This is a 2.5 star Got the 2 meat and two side meal. Tri tip and beef ribs. Added an extra side. Meat- came with two ribs. They were totally dry and had very little meat on them. Just a little on the edges. Tri tip. Was ok. Cooked perfectly medium rare. Not a lot of seasoning Sides. Cole slaw was ok. Mac n cheese was watery and had a grainy texture. Beans were ok. Service - it was ok except they brought out food out minus the beans. I went to the counter and waited awhile while they were helping another customer. I mentioned it and he said, "they're making it now " 1. He could have that when dropping off the food and that would have spared me from having to wait while the rest of the food got cold. 2. Making the beans? Meaning heating them up in the microwave? Disappointing experience on both food and service. One and done.

Usually have excellent food and great service, but this evenings meal was subpar. Tri-tip was dry and overcooked baked potatoes were boiled potatoes and they were kind of hard. It was way too much barbecue sauce on the chicken to forgot to include the carrot cake in the order. All in all like I said subpar rib line usually does better.

Rib Line BBQ has great barbecue tri-tip, ribs, and more. Their sides are good, ample portions, and reasonable prices. The only reason I am unwilling to give them five stars is because they do not answer their phone, it is answered by an auto-attendant and then you are put on hold, listening to bad music. However, when I got to the facility, their phone was permanently off the hook so that it would not ring in the restaurant. The staff was friendly and helpful otherwise.