What was Beijing before this barbecue joint? In almost no time Home Plate has become “my” restaurant, bar, and meeting place for friends. I believe there are four reasons for their success: First, Seth and Adam are the real deal. Go more than a few times and you become one of the family. They’re nice and conversational and you can tell they love what they do. Second, their pork ribs, pulled pork sandwich, fried pickles, coleslaw and chili fries are all the best in Beijing. In fact, most everything on the menu is amazing. Third, their bourbon and beer selection will satisfy aficionados and the curious alike. They have some obscure brands that make for very good late night sipping whiskeys. Beer wise the bottled beer selection is great as are the slow boat beers on tap. Both go perfectly with all of the dishes with special emphasis on the fried pickles. Lastly, the décor, music and even the owners make Home Plate a truly authentic American BBQ joint. There’s a new sheriff in town and he goes by the name of Home Plate BBQ.

Okay first of all, the food is pretty good for its price. So no problem there: 4 stars

couple of things that ruined the experience:

- there is no lineup system, we ended up getting line cutted by couple of other groups, and ended waiting 40 mins. There need to be a number system with the resturant with a restuarant this popular

- They served us the wrong food couple of times, first it was some meat plate we didn't order, we recognize that pretty easily even through it was our first time there, then they brought two extra serving of side dishes, and since we had a couple of fries they just left it with us without telling us a word. It is okay to get it wrong once, but TWICE? Not only that, they didn't tell us they were going to bill us for their mistake until after we got the check, no apology, just 'hey you shouldn't eat that'

Good place through, just be careful

What can I say about this place that hasn't already been said before.
AMAZING American BBQ.
The ribs they have here are some of the best I have had, no matter in the states or in Asia.
The first time I ordered the half rack ribs, I remember it being slightly intimidating. They completely devour the small basket they are in. But once I started I couldn't stop, I finished the whole thing.
The meat is tender and I love the BBQ sauce that comes with it.

The pulled pork sandwich is also delicious. The meat inside very tender, and they are very generous with it which is lovely as well.

Chili Cheese fries also a must.
What else can I say besides it is delicious.

Every time I have a visitor in town I bring them here.
It is especially refreshing for those expats who have been in Asia for a long while and haven't had some good, down to the basic, good ol' classic American BBQ.
Homeplate! Get a bigger restaurant! It is always packed every time I go. Well deserved though.

This place, hands down my favorite place to go for some good food and beer any time of the week. The owners are some of the most friendly and hands on I have seen in China, and actually it’s pretty rare to find as good of service back in the US, let alone China. You can tell they really really care about how the operation is running, and they won’t put low quality ingredients on your table. You can tell they love the food themselves and they won’t serve a dish if one of the ingredients isn’t just right. Servers and staff are great, they all can speak pretty basic English so you don’t need to sound like a fool trying to say shui or something.

Food is fannnntastic. My favorite burger, anywhere, even compared to places in the US. I get the cheeseburger with bacon added. Fries are great, fried okra is a must. Hell, even the draft Tsingdao was pretty good. I don’t know what they did to it but it seemed so damn refreshing, it was super cold and had a nice frothy and foamy head, rather than large bubbles or a flat head like normal in Beijing. And for only 10rmb!!!
Prices are amazing, sooo cheap for a burger, about 35rmb, sides are 10rmb each. You can have a whole meal for around 50 rmb, and it actually teastes awesome. Blue Frog’s got nothing on these burgers, and Home Plate is less than half the cost!

Their pies are great, my favorite part of the meal, but they are a little pricey at 25rmb a slice. 15rmb seems like a price more in line with the rest of the menu items. Coffee is really great and strong, but at 25rmb it’s also a little pricey compared to other menu items.

Specialty beer here is good, with a good selection, prices are comparable to competitors.

It’s a little cramped, especially on busy nights. The apple tree wood stored inside is a nice touch, but I worry about what kind of things are brought in with that wood, maybe a lockable shed to keep it outside or something or maybe on the roof? Best thing they could do is either buy out the lease of the neighbors and expand, or move locations to somewhere near Sanlitun or Gulou or even in the middle of a hutong somewhere, I’m thinking of how Great Wall Brewery has their setup, that would be great, especially if there was a courtyard. What would be even cooler is if the Great Wall guys and Home Plate guys teamed up and had Great Wall Beer on tap at Home Plate, maybe even if they had the same location – my life would be complete in Beijing if that happened.

Would love for there to be breakfast at Home Plate, a really good greasy spoon southern breakfast would be awesome, comparable with Grandmas Kitchen, but im sure these guys would knock them out of the water. Hope they can get their staffing set up so the owners can have some time off and get some managers for in for breakfast and to stay open later on the weekends.

I know they’re still a young place but it would be awesome if they had special events once and a while, which I think would be quite popular (and profitable). For example, a 4th of July cookout, with brats, burgers and an outdoor grill. Maybe even like a first Saturday of the month cookout during the summer would be awesome. Thanksgiving dinner would be cool too, a turkey in their smoker would be fantastic probably, or maybe even a deep fried Turkey, I would easily pay out 200rmb+ for dinner there over the shitty thanksgiving dinners hosted at big name hotels in Beijing, which usually have like lobster and sushi but no mashed potatoes or something.

It’s clear these guys spend a ton of time and effort to make their place the best, and they’ve succeeded. Check it out if you haven’t been, and if you have been there already … tell your friends!

TITLE SAY IT ALL!

ohhhh try the fried pickles, the corn on the cob, and the cornbread!!!!!
They have successfully brought the american bbq to china!

The meat at Home Plate is fantastic, there is no denying it. I think portions could be a little bigger but the prices are reasonable enough so I am always happy when I leave. I see that the 2 owners of the place are here and reading reviews so I hope they are also listening and making changes because as much as I love the place, it isn't perfect.

1. The sides are very lacking. I like to order the platter but when trying to choose 2 sides I am very bored. Hush puppies are the same as cornbread (which comes with) but deep fried, the french fries are ordinary, the beans are good but way too spicy (and I love spicy food), I hate mayo so I am not interested in coleslaw or potato salad. Those are the options you get to accompany a delicious pulled pork platter. Also, all of these things are very starchy/carby.

2. Get your fapiao sorted! No excuse for this, I know it takes a bit of time for the government to get the machine to you but not this long. I feel like it is a tired excuse. If you really don't have the machine then go and purchase a big stack of 50kuai fapiao to give customers when they ask.

3. Your waitresses are very hit and miss. Sometimes I get a great one and other times service is painfully slow and the most basic of requests are impossible to communicate in any language.

4. Your home made BBQ sauce is good but tastes exactly the same as the beans with an overwhelming spice which builds up and makes all the food taste samey and hot. Why not make a mild option?

Things you could add to your sides menu:

- Jalapeno Poppers. The only place I have found these done well in Beijing is at Amigos near Nanluoguxiang. Delicious (pickled) spicy (but not unbearable) Jalapenos filled with cream cheese, lightly crumbed and deep fried... drool. Very Texan.

- Greens! If you cant get collared greens, some creamed spinach would be good, too.

- GRAVY!!! To pour on the french fries and meat.

Anyway, overall I do love this place for its simplicity, friendly owners and good meat. I also respect the very conservative markup you have put on soft drinks, it is nice when a restaurant doesn't charge 20kuai for a can of coke. On that note though, the craft beers are way more expensive than other places in Beijing selling Dead Guy, IPA etc.

Best of luck to the 2 of you, thanks for all of the work you put in to making this place great.

to be fair, real good bbq is hard to get even in the states. look, i've wanted to like home plate, just like i wanted to like tim's, but i needed to write this to counterbalance what seems like undeviating, unabashed (and uninformed) praise. as a born and bred southerner whose bbq tastes were honed by carolina and central texas for over a decade, when it ain't, it ain't.

i went when it opened, i've tried it several times since, but my verdict is still the same: passable, but far from authentic, tasty bbq. pulled pork was dry both times i ordered it, which isn't so bad with bbq sauce, but the real deal should still be fall off the bone and moist. as for other cuts, i'm a bigger fan of central texas style 'cue, so there's definitely not enough smoke on the meat for me, but it's probably enough for a layman.

with the sides, i have no egregious complaints. the fried pickle chips (i've always had fried pickle spears) were great and honestly, chips are an improvement over spears. no complaints on the fried okra either. both seem to have cornmeal in the batter, which always gets a thumbs up from me.

the only absolute, horribly awry thing was the chili fries. honest to god chili fries are an extremely difficult creation: balancing the texture of the fries, the quality of the chili, and making sure your cheese melts just so. thing is, my fries were soggy, the chili was a strange, foul tasting meat paste, and the cheese wasn't melted at all. three strikes guys.

as it's out of my way, i won't stop by much more, probably only if i'm really hard up for some bbq.

Had read the good reviews and, after an unrelenting, week long NEED for some real southern bbq, finally took the trek out there.

Its actually not that hard to find with the map from the website, though a friend and I split a local black cab and got them to wait for us, otherwise i wouldn't like your chances of hailing a cab on the way back (i could be wrong, though i didn't see any available ones while i was there)

We got there a bit early to avoid any rush. The place is quite small but not uncomfortable - yes, packed but cosy, and the waitstaff take care not to bump diners (which can be a problem in the most caverous of Beijing eateries).

Service was fast and friendly. Standard of English was pretty good.

We ordered a good mix of dishes:
- the fried okra was pretty interesting (i'd not had it before but my friend raved about it as being v. authentic)
- I'm not a fan of corn bread generally, but again, my friend is fairly picky about his and downed every scrap of it in sight like a grinning madman
- I'm not sure what happened with other people experiencing the potato salad but I found it delicious. Very basic but the flavours hung together really well
- the pulled pork sandwich was one of the best examples i'd had (again, previously not a huge fan but this was quite enjoyable i must say)

Then came the ribs. Holy hell, how big were they?? We ordered two half slabs each and they wheeled in something out of the Flintstones. HUGE. I had half a rack a few days earlier at Union and they were honestly about a 1/3 of the size. We couldn't finish half of them.

The aroma was fantastic. The favour to die for. Absolutely heaven.

Not the best texture I've ever had but I'm extremely hard to please, and these were certainly fine. Have not encountered anything even remotely close to this standard in Beijing. Great ribs require real care and attention and this place clearly brings it.

The owner was also working the room in a friendly but very non-intrusive manner. Extremely pleasant guy that seemed to really want to make sure you had a good experience and to know if there was anything that could be improved.

Place had people waiting for tables not long after we arrived (and this was a Tuesday night) so best get in early (not sure if you can reserve a table)

Great experience, highly recommend it and will definitely be back.

I've been here twice and the food has been heavenly every time.

Last time I went was after a long day; I sat down to a pulled pork sandwich, fried okra, and 10 kuai mug of cold Qingdao. The bun was slightly toasted, but still soft with a little tooth to it. The salt and pepper seasoned okra was lightly breaded (how the hell do they find okra?) and perfect. Not burnt, not crumbling, but perfect. Along with a cold beer at the end of the day, I was in heaven. My thoughts went back to the BBQ joints in the South -- the aroma of made-to-order, smoked BBQ inside is intoxicating.

I spoke with Seth -- he's always friendly and the staff is pleasant (no mistakes). He said that the first Thursday of every month will feature Slowboat Brewery craft beers. I was on my way out, but the brewers from Slowboat were there to talk about (and drink) their brews -- unknown to me, so check it out.

Fried Okra 20 RMB.
Pulled pork sandwich 30~ RMB.
Mug of cold Qingdao 10 RMB
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Check it out. It's not easy to find, but I'll give you some help.
From SanYuanQiao subway, go up to the C exit. You'll turn left and exit at C2 (the south side). Follow along the road south to the 3rd ring road.

Pass the bus stop, and take a left at the Gateway Plaza and TianYuanGuang center. XiaoYunLu is too far. Go down this narrow road and Home Plate will be on the right amongst a bunch of Chinese restaurants.

Decent selection of beers and reasonably priced. The pulled pork sandwich was as good as everyone said. Burgers were good and again reasonably priced. Chips were top notch, especially the ones that come with brisket on top. Beans were nicely spiced and the sauce too. Chicken wings didn't quite match the rest and the pies were a bit of a let down come dessert. Service and environment fine. Overall really good value.