Lucille's is a full-service restaurant with a bar, table service and a basket of free biscuits — and delivery strips out all three. What arrives at your door is the food only, at a higher price than the menu says. That does not make it a bad idea, but it does change what you should order.
Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que prices at a glance
The prices referenced on this page, collected up front. They vary by location and change without notice.
| Line | In restaurant | Via a delivery app |
|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Spare Ribs | $23.99 | ~$28.75 |
| BBQ Rib Tip Appetizer | $13.99 | ~$16.75 |
| Brisket Burnt Ends | $13.49 | ~$16.15 |
| Refillable soda (one pour) | $2.99 | ~$3.60 |
| Subtotal | $54.46 | ~$65.25 |
| Delivery fee | — | ~$3.99 |
| Service fee | — | ~$9.80 |
| Tip (18%) | — | ~$11.75 |
| Total | $54.46 | ~$90.79 |
What delivery actually costs
Third-party platforms mark restaurant menu prices up before a single fee is applied, typically 15 to 25 percent, then stack delivery, service and tip on top. On a premium menu like this one, that percentage hurts more than it does at a counter-service chain, because the base prices are already the highest in chain barbecue.
That is roughly two-thirds more for the same food, and you lose the refills on the $2.99 soda, which only makes sense sitting down. Fees swing by market and by promotion, but the direction never reverses: ordering direct and collecting is always cheaper than an app.
Which platforms carry it
Lucille's runs about 25 restaurants, concentrated in California with outposts in Nevada and Arizona, and delivery coverage is decided restaurant by restaurant rather than nationally. Most locations appear on the major aggregators — DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub — and the chain also takes to-go and delivery orders through lucillesbbq.com in markets where a courier partner is in place. Check your own restaurant's page rather than assuming; a chain this size does not have uniform coverage.
If you can collect, collect. Takeout ordered direct is priced off the same menu you would read at the table, so the Lucille's menu prices are the number any delivery quote should be judged against.
What survives the trip
| Travels well | Does not |
|---|---|
| BBQ Rib Tip Appetizer ($13.99) | Southern Fried Okra and Onion Straws — soggy in 15 minutes |
| Brisket Burnt Ends ($13.49) | Fried Green Tomatoes ($8.49) |
| Baby Back and St. Louis ribs, sauce on the side | Southern Fried Chicken ($18.99) |
| Smoked BBQ Half Chicken ($18.99) | Any steak past medium-rare, which keeps cooking in the box |
| Jambalaya Me-Oh-My-A ($20.99) and Louisiana Pasta ($19.99) | Salads with warm protein and dressing already on |
| Backyard Family Feast ($124.99), packed cold and reheated | Biscuits, which are best in the first ten minutes |
The pattern is simple. Anything fried at Lucille's is built for a plate three feet from the fryer, and the whole appetizer list except the smoked items fails the twenty-minute test. Anything smoked, saucy or stewed is fine.
The order that makes delivery worth it
Rib tips and burnt ends, both around $14, are the two best-value items on the menu and they are also the two that handle a car journey best. Rib tips are the trimmings from the St. Louis cut — the same meat and the same smoke as a $23.99 rib plate — and they are cubed, fatty and forgiving. Two orders of tips plus one order of burnt ends feeds three people well for under $42 before markup, which is less than two rib plates.
Three rules
- Sauce on the side, always. Lucille's already serves sauce in squeeze bottles rather than cooking it onto the meat, so the kitchen is set up for this. Sauced meat sitting in a sealed container for 25 minutes goes limp.
- Skip the fryer. No delivery scenario exists in which the onion straws arrive well.
- Reheat properly. Ribs go in foil at 250°F for 20 minutes, then two minutes uncovered under a hot broiler. Never microwave brisket.
For anything above six people the markup scales with the order and starts costing real money — the group math on the Lucille's catering page is worth reading before you put a feast in an app cart. And if timing rather than price is the problem, ordering ahead through the restaurant's own system, covered on the online ordering guide, gets the same food into your hands for the menu price.