Saturday, February 22, 2025

The Wood Urban Kitchen - Inglewood

I rarely see such a disconnect between the Eater opinion and the public opinion,and their abysmal 3-star average on Yelp should raise a few eyebrows. 

The barbecue itself isn't bad. In fact, it's pretty good. The Ribs have some solid smoke, and the meat comes off (but doesn't fall off) the bone with minimal gnawing. It's the sea of sauce that's baffling. I know ribs get basted in sauce, but this is half a squeeze-bottle on top. There's more sauce than meat and I had to scrape SO much off.

The sauce itself has a Sweet Baby Ray’s vibe, a little sugar, a little tang. It wouldn't make a lasting impression by itself so I guess they made sure you remembered it by sheer volume. 


Onto the Brisket, which California rarely does right. This one has a proper smoke in it, and the slices are quite tender, but again with the sauce. HARD PASS on the Chicken Links because they are inexplicably mealy and DryDryDRY, compressed sawdust in the shape of a sausage. 


The Pulled Pork is great, and it makes a strong, sauce-soup sandwich. But it does suspiciously resemble the ribs in both appearance and texture...


The sides are all good here, baked beans, slaw, etc. Mac n' cheese hits, and street corn is a SoCal signature. 

I don't hate the meat, but the way they did that sauce-slop, it was like they were trying to cover something up. Overall not bad, but the prices are quite concerning. 

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