Best Barbecue Restaurants in Hawthorne / Gardena

This was our first time at Maple Block. We started with the peach wood smoked chicken wings—not o ur jam. The texture of the wings was rubbery (especially the drumette), but it had a nice rub and good smoke flavor. The buffalo wing sauce accompanying them was awesome. We then ordered 1/2 lb of brisket, ranch beans, a kale salad, and the night’s special—crispy half chicken with salsa verde. The brisket was delicious—half lean, half fatty just as we had ordered it. The bbq sauce was spot on. Beans are always the test at a bbq place for us and they were stellar, perfectly cooked and creamy with just a hint of sweetness. However, the star of the show was definitely the special—this needs to be on the menu permanently!! Half a smoked chicken, fried to crispy perfection, topped with a refreshing herb salad with pickled white onions (which are better than their red), served with tomatillo salsa. This was the best smoked chicken that we have ever had. A refined dish that doesn’t let you forget that the chicken is the star of the show. FYI, portion size is robust, we took home 3/4 of the chicken, 1/2 the beans, and 1/2 the brisket. It made for a lovely breakfast in the morning.

Christmas Dinner at Manpuku is truly the best way to celebrate and end the year!! My two daughters and I really enjoyed this special night consisting of two orders of the Prime Beef Course plus additional Pork Belly with Sanchu Lettuce, Marinated Chicken Breast and Thighs, Tokyo Prime Beef Tongue, Assorted Mushrooms, Manpuku Salad and Garlic Cloves. I must say that the Prime Course is a super deal at $69 per person and the five cuts of beef plus shrimp are pure quality and tenderness!! Comes with Spicy Soup, Assorted Kimchee, Bean Sprouts, Cabbage Salad, Stone Pot Garlic Rice and dessert…..WOW!! And I washed it all down with four ATF brew Asahi Super Drys on tap!! Best of all, hats off and truly appreciate hard working Japanese gals Risa and Nasa plus the back of the house gang and dude manager-san for showing up on Christmas!!!

Great location. Our Brisket topped salad and brisket tacos were excellent. The coconut shrimp starter was unadorned. Looking around kitchen seemed to have issues with timing. Service was spotty. Great location before game/event.

We visited on Monday, December 9 for my son’s 21st birthday. I wanna say our server’s name was Isaac. I’m not sure I got that right but he was absolutely amazing. We sat at the table right next to the front entrance. He was the best server. We had a great time and we truly appreciated him making it a great night.

The food was great!! Service staff was excellent