When you arrive at a restaurant and find that the menu has a big photo of the owners standing in front, holding a copious number of kids, you know it’s going to be a family-friendly place.
That’s certainly the case for Hazy Barbecue in Danville, California, one of the newest entries to the Bay Area’s barbecue scene.
This Danville restaurant was founded by two brothers who are locals to the Danville area. They wanted to bring excellent Texas-style barbecue to the East Bay city, and Hazy Barbecue brings that vision to life.
We stopped by to try their food out. Fittingly, we brought a bunch of kids!
The Ambiance
Hazy Barbecue is a giant restaurant located right in downtown Danville at 200 Hartz Ave.
Outside, you’ll find a covered patio area with tons of seating. There’s a huge stack of oak logs outdoors too, which always bodes well for the quality of the barbecue.
Inside, there are comfortable booths and plenty of big tables. It has a family-friendly, sports bar type of vibe and feels like the kind of place you can comfortably stretch out with the whole family.
I appreciate that. There aren’t many places in the Bay Area where, with my three little kids, it can be easy to feel unwelcome, even in a fairly casual restaurant. Hazy Barbecue felt different. They were clearly happy to see us at Hazy, and the manager personally came over and welcomed us.
The Food
Hazy BBQ serves Texas-style BBQ. That means they’re heavy on the dry rubs and light on the sweet sauces. The focus is on oak wood and the smoke flavor, with not much additional seasoning.
For barbecue purists, that’s great news. For people who are used to the sweeter and more conventional BBQ places like Sauced or Lucille’s, Hazy’s barbecue stylings might feel a bit different.
Their food reminds me a bit of Salt Lick Barbecue in Austin, Texas, which I visited last year. Again, simply served meats are front and center. I ordered a mixed tray with barbecue ribs, brisket, and pulled pork.
The ribs were delicious, with meat that was tender but not so cooked that it was falling off the bone.
The pulled pork was simple and tasty, served in a little mound, just like in Texas.
The brisket was thinly sliced, with a nice proportion of meat to fat, and also beautifully cooked.
Keeping with the family-friendly theme, Hazy Barbecue also offers nice kids’ meals. We got a giant platter of food for my kids, which included chicken tenders, mac and cheese, and other items fitting for my 3-7 year olds.
Of course, the kids ended up eating plenty of my barbecue food as well!
Portions and Sauces
The portions on the barbecue are relatively small at Hazy, which definitely sets it apart from Texas. Still, the quality of the food is excellent, and I enjoyed the barbecue that I got. It was also served with a big aluminum foil-wrapped hunk of garlic bread, which was absolutely delicious.
Hazy has a variety of house-made sauces. Their signature is a relatively vinegar-forward barbecue sauce, as well as a spicy version. They also serve a Texas-style mustard-based barbecue sauce which was delicious.
Overall, I prefer the sauces at Sauced and Lucille’s. Maybe I just have a preference for sweet barbecue and sugary sauces. But if you’re looking for the Texas style, which again has more vinegar than sweetness, Hazy definitely pulls that off.
You get some house-made pickles with your meal, too, which is a nice additional touch and cuts the fattiness of the BBQ.
I like that many of the items at Hazy – from plates to the sauces to drinks – are self-serve. It makes it feel like you can hang out for a while, keep refilling your diet Coke, and get as much sauce and ketchup as your kids demand.
Another nice touch on the menu at Hazy Barbecue is the fact that they have excellent and simple salads. Often, barbecue places treat healthy items as an afterthought.
Here, they offered grilled chicken on top of a tasty and fresh salad, which was a nice change if you have someone in your party who is (gasp!) vegetarian or otherwise doesn’t want the heaviness of barbecue food.
The Verdict
I recommend heading over to Hazy BBQ and bringing the whole family. It would also be a great place to go to watch a game.
On certain evenings, they bring in live music to make it a fun scene for younger adults as well.
Hazy focuses on beers to accompany their barbecue. Since I was visiting in the middle of the day with my kids, I didn’t partake of this, but they seem to have an excellent selection of rotating taps and lots of nice craft brews – both local and more exotic – to go with your barbecue food.
Hazy Barbecue does have desserts, but I recommend eating there and then taking a quick walk around the block to Danville Chocolates to round out your meal.
Good family-friendly restaurants in the Bay Area are hard to find. There’s Jack’s Restaurant in Pleasant Hill, Gott’s in Walnut Creek, and now Hazy in Danville. I’ll definitely be back – just next time, I may order a lot more barbecue since I’ll certainly be sharing with the kids!
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I can’t eat salt but grilled chicken on top of a salad would work for me!
Great, thorough review.