Santa Maria Grills

A Santa Maria grill is an open oak pit with a grate you raise and lower over the coals. That one feature — moving the food instead of fighting the fire — is why the style has cooked tri tip on California’s Central Coast for a century and why it is showing up in backyard BBQs everywhere else now.

Every grill here is made for wood or charcoal, in stock and ready to ship free, and available built-in or freestanding. Turbo and Tagwood are the premier names in the category; start with the comparison.

Santa Maria grills compared

Dimensions from manufacturer spec sheets. Current price and stock status are on each product page.

What makes a Santa Maria grill different

Built-in or freestanding Santa Maria grill?

How to cook on a Santa Maria grill

Build quality: what to look for

• The lift mechanism — a wheel or crank with each one turned smoothly under load. Cable-and-pulley lifts should be stainless and easy to re-tension.
• Reinforced wear points — the grate rails, the lift shaft, and the firebox floor take the most punishment. Look for thick plate and firebrick behind them.
• Stainless steel or coated steel — 304 stainless for coastal or pool-side installs; black or raw steel is good quality and less expensive where rain is the only concern, and it develops a patina like cast iron.
• Weight — a serious Santa Maria grill is very heavy. Light ones warp.
• Ash and grease management — a drain or ash drawer you can empty without lifting the firebox.
• Warranty — Tagwood and Turbo both back the body against defects; lifetime-style claims apply to the shell, not the grates, so read what is covered.

Cover, care, and service

An open grill has no hood, so a fitted cover is the one accessory every owner needs. Empty ash after each cook, brush the grates while warm, and oil raw-steel grates lightly to stop rust. Owners report that a covered Santa Maria grill that gets a yearly deep clean looks new for a decade.

We are an authorized dealer for Turbo and Tagwood BBQ, so warranty service and parts run through us, not a marketplace. If you are planning an island around one of these, our free design service sizes the cutout, plans the counter around the crank, and specs the hood — send us your space and location and we take it from there.

Pricing, shipping and the latest deals

Santa Maria grills here run from the reasonably priced Tagwood BBQ03 to the all-stainless XL built-ins. Every grill ships free to your location in the lower 48, with no sales tax outside NY, NJ, FL, OH and NC. Current promotions and any manufacturer deals appear on the product pages, and the latest arrivals are stock ready.

Not sure which size? Call 888-678-3530 — the owner has designed more than a thousand outdoor kitchens and will tell you which Santa Maria grill fits your space and how you cook.

Santa Maria grills: common questions

What is a Santa Maria grill?

An open-firebox grill with a grate you raise and lower over oak or charcoal coals by crank or wheel. It originated on ranches in the Santa Maria Valley of California, where tri tip and top block were grilled over red oak.

Santa Maria grill vs. Argentine grill — what’s the difference?

Both use an adjustable grate over embers. Santa Maria grills typically use a flat rod or round grate over an open oak fire; Argentine parrillas often use a V-channel grate that drains fat and add a side brasero for making coals. Tagwood combines both in one grill; see our Argentine grills.

Can I use charcoal instead of oak?

Yes. Lump charcoal with a few oak chunks is the everyday method and cuts fire-building time to about 15 minutes.

Do Santa Maria grills work under a roof or pergola?

Built-in models can, with a properly sized smoke hood and clearance to combustibles per the manufacturer. Open-frame freestanding grills belong in the open.

Part of our wood fired grills collection. Learn more in the guides linked from each product page.