Mesquite Restaurant

9932 Mercy Road, Suite 108
San Diego, CA 92129
(858)693-6913

A light blue glow emanating from the neon sign above Mesquite beckons you to come in. Inside, a large mural of fish against a dark blue wall sit stark while the patrons sit on cush couches. This is no run of the mill bbq joint - it's hoidy toidy.

The main clientèle of Mesquite are the business class of people doing work in the Scripps Poway area. The prices show it - I would only approach this if I was on per diem. I was not on per diem and so I decided to take this food to go and avoid the tip. You can call me cheap but at least I know I'm poor.

The cooking technique here is straight forward but good. I'm hard pressed to call it barbecue. Their own description says "All entrees cooked over mesquite wood fire in our custom made rotisserie and cast iron grill." Grill I tell you!

With the Baby Back Ribs coming in at over $23 and me on my own, I figured that I should go for the Half Rotisserie Chicken at a meager $16, expecting good chicken, finally. Well, I can tell you that Costco sells just about the same chicken for $5. Really, the outer skin smelled great with that mesquite but the inside was just like Costco. The black beans were almost too healthy for my taste. The standout was the Green Chile Garlic sauce - it was a bright green sauce with a nice zing to it. The BBQ sauce actually didn't match the chicken at all. This might not be real bbq but it is okay if you like to pay for ambiance.

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