The Rib Trader Reviews

Went for lunch and it was empty, so you are seated and served quickly. Fairly priced. Service was very good and friendly. Food was...alright I guess. Relatively well priced, but probably won't be coming back.

Jim gives you The Best Experience Ever!! Food is So Satisfying & Delicious!! Portion size is Unbelievably Amazing!! Can't wait to check out their Magic Show!!

Service bad. Food horrible. Told us that they couldn't serve rare prime rib. Baked potatoes were dried out and brownish inside. No toppings until we asked. Coleslaw was beige. Like it was old. Wine pouring were stingy. Should have known when we were the only ones in the place.

We did the Groupon deal for four people. The food was average. Most of the meat was overdone and dry. We went on a Sunday at 2 and the place was empty.

First, I'll start by saying that the serving staff at this show were wonderful. I almost gave an extra star just because of them, but the magician left such a terrible taste in my mouth that even the delightful serving staff couldn't redeem it.

The food was probably worth 2 stars, not inedible, but not good either. I don't know why the other reviews are all about the corn bread - it was super dry and bland.

The magician, though, was honestly a terrible person. The magic tricks were all pretty standard, something the kids would be impressed with, but nothing special. Not terrible. Would have been enjoyable in a corny way, if not for the "comedy" element.

The magician is clearly going through a very bitter divorce, and is a miserable person, because every single joke he told was either about women getting hurt/killed, or women stealing money from men. Every. Single. Joke. (With the exception of 2 or 3 homophobic jokes, just to change it up.)

And, bear in mind, we went to the show the day after Valentine's Day, so most people there were on dates. Plus, it was billed as family-friendly, so there were a bunch of kids there. I'm sure the parents were happy to have their kids sit through a couple hours of jokes about women getting beaten to death (not an exaggeration - that was literally the punch line of one of his OPENING jokes). He asked people to applaud if they hated marriage - again, the day after Valentine's, when it was clearly families and people on dates. Not a great response to that "joke." Maybe read the room, guy?

He also was very, very obvious about only calling on men to volunteer with his tricks. The only 2 times he called on women were: 1. A child's trick involving wearing a princess costume, and 2. A trick that required the volunteer to touch him.

Out of an approximately 2 hour show, in which almost every trick used audience participation, he called on women 2 times.

He even skipped over a couple of girl children, who clearly DESPERATELY wanted to participate, in favor of calling on the same boy child more than once. Cool.

At one point he had a boy child give a dollar to a girl, and told him to get used to women taking his money. These are very young kids. Come on, dude.

Oh! And don't forget the part where he tried to make two kids, approximately 7-8 years old, who did not know each other, kiss on stage. Because of course one of the only times he called on a girl to participate, it involved sexualizing children. The girl was so visibly uncomfortable, she started to leave the stage - at which point he backtracked and said the "spell" would also work if she blew on his hand instead. How about don't make kids uncomfortable by trying to make them kiss each other, and then try to remedy it by making the girl get close enough to touch and having her blow on you? It was creepy. The kid was bright red with embarrassment and practically ran off the stage when the trick was done. She had been so excited to be picked to volunteer initially, too.

The whole thing was incredibly cringe-inducing. This guy is so bitter! The restaurant should really re-evaluate his material. Women and children made up more than half the audience, and he managed to make both groups uncomfortable for the entire show. It was not family friendly, and it was not date friendly.

Look, for the cheap Groupon price, I was not expecting anything amazing. I figured it would be cheesy, but at least entertaining. It was not. It was just uncomfortable.

It's a great show if you're a straight guy who has just been dumped or served with divorce papers, and you aren't dealing with it in an adult manner.

Service, food and experience were all aboveboard and enjoyed by all.

Amazing BBQ! we also enjoyed the side dishes and corn bread. The service was fast and we also had a chance to talk with the very friendly owner.

By far the best place to go if u want to stay local and u are from orange. Best ribs and chicken strips, with the honey mustard. A real experience with hospitality of the people who work there. Friendly and fair in price. I have been going there for more than 13 years and I still go there.

I WENT TO THE RIB TRADER LAST WEEKEND. LOVED THE MAGIC SHOW AND THE FOOD. SERVERS WERE GREAT!!!

We saw the magic show which was very entertaining! However the food was not the best in my opinion. Overall a fun experience!

Best combo deal in town. Ribs and chicken with stomp and sides.

The beginning of the end. This was I believe the first time I've been here. My wife on the other hand has been lots of times. So. I had the rib eye, well tried to. The medium steak I ordered was well done and very tough. So much so that I had to send it back, and replace it with a soup. My wife had ribs she said they were tasty but not because of the flavor but because she just was hungry for ribs. Definitely not in a hurry to go back. Chances are when that time comes they will probably be closed forever.

Great food and customer service! Love the new remodel and features added to the restaurant!

Food was delicious, waitress was attentive and polite.

Really good food, great service and entertainment. At reasonable pricing. A total A+ of a evening.

Wasn't awful, but wouldn't come back here. We had a Groupon for this place. Got ribs, chicken, and beef tips as well as 2 sides and 2 drinks. Sweet potato fries had no seasoning and we're plain, Mac and cheese tasted like they used powdered cheese. Chicken and ribs were pretty good, but again not great. The waitress was very nice and attentive though!

They have really good food and they also have this Merlin show which is a comedy and magic show.

Service was great. The food wasn't bad but I did expect more.

It was a fun family night. I thought I would figure out the magic tricks by sitting in the front..nope. He picked me to do a card trick about movie and he guessed it right. I think there is a camera zoom in somewhere so he know what my card was haha. Food was decent. Meat was tender. The cornbread was my favorite. I don't touch the bean..it was on ignore lol. Kids were picked for the show..how cute!

We attended Merlin's Magic Show with a large group and were pleasantly surprised by the experience. The magic/comedy act was terrific! The chicken and ribs were good, too. This is a great place to take kids around age 10. Lots of fun for the whole family.

Beef ribs and mashed potatos with gravy so yummy and Onion rings OMG supet crispy and tasty..Service was rapid

Fun family experience! Food was decent and the show was fun. You sit at picnic tables with a room full of people (70 or so?) and eat food while a magician is on stage doing magic tricks. There is audience participation involved. I recommend checking it out once. Great for birthdays or events.

Best ribs,best corn bread and best customer service from all ribs at anaheim 5. (The best place to eat after exhausted day in Disneyland)

Food was ok, definitely not worth the price. Most of it was cold.

Went for Merlins magic show... Amazing. We had a ton of fun and it was for all ages. Would happily go back. The food was good. The service was great. Highly recommend.

Ribs were more like oven baked, sitting in liquid. Disappointed. I was looking for some real barbecue.

I've been visiting the Rib Trader for years. It is known for its popular evening dinner magic show. The meal and show are a good family activity, corporate or other large event or just for a small group. We go for the food and to also say hello to our friend and long time employee, Jim.

The Rib Trader is a good meat and potatoes restaurant. The menu also includes chicken, fish and salads. I like the chicken sandwich. It's a great value. The meal comes with corn bread, the sandwich and two hearty sides. I like the pile of fresh vegetables and baked potato. All for $10. A deal. It is never busy when we arrive after 6PM except for folks queued up for the magic show which is held in a separate dining room. Entrees are about $14 and up. Give it a try.

This is my first time here. I came with my wife and daughter, and her family for my father-ln-laws birthday. Came In on monday so the place wasn't busy at all and we were immediately seated. Our server, Jim, was absolutely fantastic! He made us all feel very welcome and treated us like family. I honestly wish every other server would take lessons from him. He joked with us, told us a bit about his life, and even asked about ours. I always have problems at restaurants with condiments coming out when I order them with my food. Jim was so on top of it, I didnt even have to ask.

Regarding food: I am a big bbq guy. I grew up in texas and about all we ate was some form of bbq, so naturally I have high expectations. I ordered the tri tip. It was amazing! Cooked to order and you can taste the smoky marinade. Sides were delicious as well. The baked beans reminded me of texas style beans.

ALL IN ALL, prices are about average for the food. They also give you a generous portion. All of us had leftovers.

Last thing I'll say is this: I am pretty picky, but to get me back time and time again, it is only half about the food. The other half is the service. Jim provided fantastic service that'll keep us coming back! Thanks Rib Trader!

I along with my girlfriend planned a church outing for dinner and a magic show and it was actually really fun. The magician was was a great act. Very friendly staff. Fun experience

We went early when we got this girl who was the worst!!
We have gone before and had great service but this girl should be fired!!!
The food was cold she acted like we were putting her out when we needed something..ugh!!!

The BBQ is okay: I'm from Texas so it is hard to beat Texas BBQ, but we had an amazing time at the magic show that is featured at Rib Trader's stage.

Came to a plant-nite here (made a terranium ), was loads of fun, would definitely come back again to try other foods, service was very good, prices too.
(Come early, happy hour is very reduced prices.)

11/7/18
630pm
Bad service !!!
We were sat at a noisy table and ignored. So we left Im NATIVE AMERICAN. Though I may havr been mistaken for mexican thats no excuse!!!

If you haven't been, go! Such tender, huge beef ribs! Great side dishes. Friendly, professional service. Great value.

We love hanging out. Yesterday we found this fine restaurant which friends told us about. We enjoyed a delightful experience there with exceptional dishes and a nice stuff and a talented chief cook. We added this venue in our phone list and we shall surely go again soon. Highly recommended.

Great place to get great beef ribs...my favorite ribs in the OC. Has been refurbished recently.

Last week was the first time we went to this place. But It is surely not the last. We had a good time with the generous service, with the high quality food and fine drinks and with the decent cost. We will no doubt come back again.

Tonight we celebrated our grandkids birthdays with a really cool Groupon deal. Here at the run trader you can take in a magic show and comedy show on an old Irish theme. The portions of food were generous for both grown ups and kids alike. The setting was a large room with a stage. Every thing was well organized and clean. The food was chicken and BBQ ribs for grown ups kids had choices too. The magic and show was funny and very appropriate. Nothing bad here. I would say if want something fun and different from just"going out to dinner". Try this out. It's really fun!

Show was great, food was fine, service left a lot to be desired. Our server was late in greeting us, taking our drink orders and taking our meal order. It seemed the other servers were working really hard to attend to their guest whereas our server would disappear and was no where to be found throughout the night.

I had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday with my family thank you

This place provides amazing service as well as delicious meals. My favourite restaurant ever. The meals arrived rapidly and the rates were reasonable. Will definitely recommend this place.

Food is ok, but very good for the price. This is a great place for groups and trying to keep the price down for good food. The staff are always fun and engaging.

This was a very nice place. We were here for a Yaymaker event. We had the appetizer sampler. It was delicious. The drinks were very good. I would definitely recommend.

Be careful when ordering drinks, mine came with a pre-chewed straw. Food is ok.

The manager on duty handled a situation very poorly. I was attending a paint night class in the restaurant along with about 20 more people. Almost everyone attending the paint class purchased food and or drinks along with paying the fee for the class. The rest of the restaurant was pretty much empty. The employee sat a loud and very rude group of people (not in the class) in our section and the loud group kept talking over the girl teaching the class and trying to start fights with people in the paint class. The employees at the restaurant ignored the yelling and disruption up until it got so out of hand that a few of us in the class demanded that the employees address the situation and create a tolerable place.

The absolute best barbeque in SoCal. The best, friendliest service from Jim. All around goodness. Very happy I stumbled upon this gem.

Decent tasting food. Outdated dining room with strange Tiki theme. Friendly customer service from host/server

Great food and service..try the rack of beef...although babyback is there specialty

Looking for a BBQ restaurant and found this one with great reviews and food. Very nice place very clean and Jim the server that took our orders was the best, very friendly and kind and a nice person to help us and you just don't get that anymore at other restaurants. The food was excellent, you definitely get what you pay for here, will be back again real soon.

Mike
Dad
Libby
Jennifer

I came here during the week. No wait, very good pricing, fast service. The quality was excellent. Highly recommended.

I attended the Magic Showcase for the first time. It was entertainingredients, as well as hilarious. I will definitely be back for another show. The salmon was perfectly cooked, too.

Tri-tip was tough. Baked potato came covered with a spicy seasoning not described on menu. Knife given for take out was so flimsy I couldn't cut the meat. Would not recommend eating here.

Awesome food. Great vibe and staff. Love going in here. Brian kicks butt

This place was awesome. Thank you for a great night

I wish I could have tasted the food! After sitting for 45 minutes and seeing other parties getting served, my wife and I just up and left. Thanks for the cornbread. Was that their way to keep us seated? The room we were in was too bright, the furnishings were way outdated, ripped and sticky with some kind of I don't know what. After driving by this place for 18 years, we took a chance and were not rewarded. We won't try it again, there are too many other solid choices in the area.

This is my 4th time going here. I go usually once every 3 to 4 years and I take different people because the magician is really good. Yesterday was Mothers Day and I took my parents and I was happy to see my Mom busting up. I was disappointed in the way the interior/exterior looked. They had some remodeling going on. The room where the dinner & show was taking place is very outdated. The magician needs an upgrade on his wardrobe too. Will I be going back there? maybe ....like in 10 years from now.

Second Wednesday of each month they premiere new magic talents starting at 7pm. It gets full sometimes and service gets bogged down but its a good time if your patient.

Love this place! Large portions and yummy food! Always a great experience.