Bubba's Texas-style Bar-B-Que and Saloon
2262 Hongqiao Lu,
Gubei/Hongqiao
near Jianhe Lu
虹桥路2262号
近剑河路
6242-2612
Open Mon-Fri 10am-12midnight, last order 10pm
Price Y200-Y299 per couple
Accepts International Credit Cards
This Venue has been nominated for a Reader's Choice Award 2010 in the category Shanghai - Best American Restaurant
- City Weekend
says -
At this authentic Texas-style smokehouse, the aroma of slow-cooked meats, ribs and tangy sauces greets diners at the swinging saloon doors. Two-steppin' tunes set the mood for tucking into high quality beef cuts or a sizzling pulled pork sandwich. Throw in a side of jalapeno poppers if you're really adventurous.
- Contributor
Description -
Specializing in Texas-style smoked meats, Bubba's Texas-style Bar-B-Que is China's only authentic Texas barbeque joint. Ribs, chicken, and beef are smoked to perfection using a traditional pit smoker and apple wood for flavoring through the slow-cook process. The place also does a great job of sports coverage, and is packed come big American-sport matches.
Contributed by kj
2 years, 11 months ago
Reviews Been there? Add a review!
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Barbecue aficionados, homesick Southerners, and football fans alike converge on this smokehouse. With a Texas-size reputation for quality meats and hearty portions, Bubba's serves up a mean pulled pork sandwich and smoky dry rub ribs -- and don't forget to sample the homemade sauces. Settle into a side order of jalapeno poppers, hush puppies, or burracho beans to bring out your inner cowboy. Tip your Stetson to Bubba when you mosey out the saloon doors.
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Great burgers, great atmosphere on College Football Saturday last week, friendly and fast staff and clean bathrooms! Yes!
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Never had anything bad at Bubbas, big fan of the Chili, Enchiladas, pizza and ribs. Special sauces kick ass, been trying to steal one for my house, but the waitresses always catch me!
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Guys, sorry for any bad experience you may have had at Bubba's. I wish I had been there at the time and you would have brought these to my attention or to the attention of the manager.....we have a good habit of fixing things that aren't right.
Now, yes, we cook our ribs dry. With a dry rub that I have been using since college. Also, Texas barbeque is a cuisine that is not served pipping hot, but rather more or less at a nice holding temperature. We cook at 225 F, so that to begin with is not going to be pipping hot when served. So, not sure what your expectations are for the rib temperature, but perhaps you are used to the places that cook in standard ovens, use a smothering sauce, or (ghast) cook them on a gas grill. Those styles will be hot for sure.
As far as value, I think Bubba's is one of the better values in town. Our servings tend to be large and not as expensive as other places, especially considering we import nearly all of our meats and many of our spices. Our ribs are so huge people have a hard time eating a half rack. These babies are from Montana and our naturally raised.....no hormones.
Our steaks are all premium imported from the best beef raising country in the world. You can pay 600 rmb for a steak on the Bund or at one of the local "steak houses" that I sell for 200 rmb.
Our house salads are massive. They should be fresh, but I am not going to say we hit on all cylinders all the time. We try though! We're just like all other restaurants in this regard.
Look, we've been in business over three years now and with a not so glamorous location. The return rate on customers is high. So if you've had a bad experience, set up a time to come back....with me....and let's sit down together and figure out the issues. I'm sure you won't leave disappointed.
kennethjoewalker@gmail.com
C'mon! Rise to the challenge.
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never going back to this place again and would warn all you people reading this to not go there too. 1,Ribs were luke warm 2,Not very big portions for the money 3,the oil was old and had not been changed, the same taste was on everything that had been deep fried 4,salad was not fresh, found brown bits on the greens and plate decor 5,the waitresses were slow and brought 2 out of 4 drinks wrong orders dont like the place, ive been to texas and that is nothing like texas bbq food.
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This place is way overrated. I may not be into Texas style ribs and I don't like smoked ribs (Carolina Honeys are my favorites), but the meat is dry and I didn't find the taste to be very appetizing. Hush Puppies were not very good.
My friend thought it was decent though and had been there more than once. I guess it may suit the tastes of some.
Not me. I don't care to go back.
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BEYOND TERRIBLE!!! went to bubba's tonight after hearing good things about it and wanting to try it for a while. The jalapeno poppers, too spicy, hard, barely cooked, all seeds still in, some strange, white cream stuffing, was NOT cheese. Hush puppies tasted like they were deep fried in 2 month old re-used low quality oil. Chimichangas were at best decent. Ribs were dry, tasteless, low quality meat. Like they were cooked somehow, not even bbq, a few days ago and microwaved before served. The margherita was a headache inducer...super low quality alcohol. When we complained to the manager, his answer was simple...it's fresh. That was not even an argument. My dog can tell it's NOT fresh. I only had a few bites of everything as I could not bear to eat more than that....even aching hunger and the guilt of wasted food was not enough of a motivation for another bite. Low integrity restaurant. Low integrity cooking. Should be shut down!
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I have been back to Bubba's just a few weeks ago, and had a very pleasent surprise. There is a new chef, which has improved the bbq, and has added some very welcome dishes to the menu. My biggest surprise were the Enchiladas, both beef and chicken. Not very big portions, but great taste and the right spicyness. Those are definitely worth a try if you want to divert from the traditional fare. Free refills are also great!
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Visited Bubba's again recently for a relook at their offering. I had previously been there two times (or maybe three?) a couple of months after it opened back in 2005 (or 2006?). Ignoring the imprecision of my monkey memory, let's get to the updated review.
Concept: Still a great idea. Texas Bar-B-Que in Shanghai. Sounded like a guaranteed winner back then and still does today.
Decor: Very nice build-out of a standalone building on Hong Qiao Road next door to the Marriot. Got to give the owner (KJ) credit for daring to plunk down such a chunk of money to get it done right the first time...well, not exactly right (see below) but pretty close.
Location: Bubba's is located on one of those Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western movie sets. Surrounded by dry brush and tumbling tumbleweeds (much better than the stationary kind), it takes 3 days of hard riding to reach the location. On the way there, you pass a crawling-position skeleton that is shackled to a huge wagon wheel. If you take a wrong turn, you will miss the crawling skeleton and instead see a skeleton drinking a (never empty) bottle of wine while perched on top of a pile of gold coins and other booty. Wrong way. Go back until you see the crawling skeleton and turn left.
Decor Part 2: OK, basic build-out was kinda wood bar, haunted house-ish style. When I first went there two years ago, it was too clean and uncluttered. Now the place has been scuffed up (puked on?) a bit and had some dumb things hung on the wall, so it looks much more lived-in and comfortable. The decision to use high quality materials in the first build-out seems to be paying off, since the place looks like it could go another 2 or 3 years before any renovation is needed. (Totally different from Malone's approach of using crappy formica materials and renovating once per year). Still, I think Bubba's would benefit from some additional authentic "wall stuff" with a Texas theme.
Food: Previous complaints included cold food, undercooked beans, and skimpy presentation on the plate (more like a French restaurant with sauce swirls than a big honkin' Texas-style place). Let's see how things have changed since then...
Presentation: Much better. More honkin' than before. Zimbu like.
Rib temperature: Not cold like before. Warm as promised. KJ printed a big long explanation inside the menu specifically for me about why I should not expect the smoked items to be steaming hot. I'll bet he is happy I finally came back to read it after two long years. (By the way, the menu is easier to read then the original version)
Rib Taste: Excellent. Love the grungy bark-stuff on the outside layer. Like they were dropped into a bed of sawdust before goin' in the smoker. Sounds disgusting, but tastes gooood.
Burracho (spelling? Sounds like a Mexican word for either "drunk" or "cheap"; I am not sure which; Maybe neither?) Beans: Really good, but I could have done without the cheese. Still, the taste was right on. Not undercooked either.
Potato Salad: Not to my liking. I think one of the ingredients threw it off the right path. Maybe too much celery? Chinese celery is pretty damn strong tasting, so that could be it.
Little Corn Cakes Thingies: These were a big hit last time, and they still should be good, but mine were a bit stale tasting this time. I know, KJ will say I should have asked for a fresh batch, but I am a chicken about stuff like this. I just sit there and take it and then go home to take revenge on the internet. Sorta like the Unibomber but without the hooded sweatshirt.
Hamburger: Good taste, but meat patty was one size too small for the bun (bun was really good though). Also the meat had too much "extender" mixed in (or maybe the cow was slaughtered right in the middle of chowing down on a big meal?). Still tasted great with the dark bbq sauce on it. Also loved the big ol' chunk o' tomato and honkin' slice o' onion. OK amount of lettuce also (I hate when other places give you one little piece of lettuce and a long-angled single slice of pickle for your burger. Something very "euro" about that).
Fries: Good. Not as good as Blue Frog's, but pretty close. Actually, it doesn't matter much since only Bubba's has the bbq sauce for dipping your fries. The sauce wins. Actually, just dipping my fingers into Bubba's BBQ sauce and licking it off is better that eating Blue Frog's fries.
Diet Coke: OMG...they free refill Diet Cokes! The girl saw I was nearly finished with my first, and just walked over with another cold Diet Coke for me. It was as if she read my mind of somethin'. This is more amazin' than auto-flush toilets ("terlets", in Texan)! Every other restaurant owner in Shanghai that refuses to refill Diet Cokes should be shackled to a wagon wheel and left to rot in the desert surrounding Bubba's.
Service: I don't want to help restaurant staff with their English skills. Unobtrusive is what I prefer, and that's pretty much what they deliver at Bubba's. Good.
Picky Point: Looks like they have a case of the "gee, we did not think there would be so much stuff to store when we designed this place" disease. Although the stacked up beer cases add some atmosphere, they also look a little messy. I wonder now if there really is beer in those boxes? If I was half drunk there one night, I would definitely help myself to "free refills" if those boxes had real bottles in them. Maybe they're empties only??? Not half drunk today, so I did not check. The upstairs stairway area is also loaded up with supplies.
Summary: Much improved food and presentation put Bubba's back on the "APPROVED BY ZIMBU" list.
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Agree that the food isn't that good. The reason to go is the sports, especially college football. Get on his mailing list to know what's going to be on. But arrive early for big events because the setup doesn't allow very many seats clear views of the TVs.
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The food was ok, but my brisket was served cold. I actually liked the BBQ sauce, but then again I am from the East Coast.... Overall it was average for a western meal in Shanghai. It was a little overpriced for the portions and Bubba himself was no where to be found.
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Bubba's is Definitely overrated and A big dissappointment. Worst BBQ I have tasted. Chicken was cold, over cooked to be too dry --- that meat seems to crumbling to powder; Ribs was served cold, sauce used have a strong artificial sweetening flavor.
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When I miss home, I decide against impulsively booking a ticket back to the States or and I head to Bubba's for a game and relax with all the other people in Shanghai who still believe football is something played with a pigskin and not your feet.
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overrated and overpriced.
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Great ribs and burgers! period.