Food Critique: BrewBQ

BrewBQ Bombed Tonight's Dinner

All food critiques will be judged on the following categories: presentation; taste; creativity; and overall rating of atmosphere.  Each category will have a rating of one star to five stars with five being the best.  And then all four categories will be averaged for an overall rating.

What: Food Critique
Where: BrewBQ Corvallis, OR
When: Saturday evening February 7, 2015
Overall: 1 1/2 stars (for tonight's dinner).  In the past when I have eaten at BrewBQ I would have rated them 2-3 stars...middle of the road but there were so many major faux pas in tonight's meals as well as horrid customer service.

Presentation: 1 star There is little to none attention paid to presentation.
Taste: 1 star  If I had to go off just tonight's meal the only thing that tasted right was the #2 BBQ sauce.  But even that BBQ sauce did not mask the cold and dry meat. 
Creativity: 1 star Again very little attention or effort in making things creative.  Their menu is typical BBQ and any unique twists that were attempted in tonight's meal fell short i.e. Braised Greens with Wild Mushrooms (that contained NO wild mushrooms)
Atmosphere: 3 stars The atmosphere is fun and aesthetically pleasing.  The lighting is dim in a romantic way and all the wood gives it a rustic yet classy Oregon look.


My friend and I met at BrewBQ for dinner and it happened to be Happy Hour so I ordered the pork slider with curly fries and then a la carte a 2 bone ribs set and an order of the Braised Greens with Wild Mushrooms. There was a decent amount of pork on the slider but the meat was cold and dry and bun tasted like a cheap Mc Donald's bun.  This slider could have been drastically improved by toasting the bun with butter before serving and heating the meat.  The fries were overdone to the point that they tasted like hard stale potato chips and I was left with the impression that they were old and were sitting out all day.  The only good thing was that this combo was only four dollars but all I ate from it was the cold pork.  The rest was not edible. 

Next the 2 bone rib setting was disappointing.  There was very little meat on these ribs and the meat was dry and luke warm.  BBQ that is done well should fall off the bone, be tender and juicy.  The couple of bites of meat I managed to glean off these ribs was disappointing.  Feeling bummed at this point I thought well at least I have my standard: the Braised Greens with Wild Mushrooms.  It is expensive $5.00 for a small portion (about 8oz) of braised kale with a vinegar sauce and sautéed wild mushrooms but it is usually tasty and with the cost of wild mushrooms I can usually justify and feel good about the splurge.  However tonight's Braised Greens were awful; everything about them was wrong.

First thing I noticed was these greens were swimming in liquid that usually comes on the side and there was pool of what tasted like margarine sitting on the top of the greens (I had never seen this before).  The breaking point for me was there were NO wild mushrooms in it!!! Instead there were barely cooked standard button mushrooms--WTF??  I decided to taste it.  The sauce was way to sugary and overpowered the vinegar and the greens were tough and not cooked long enough.  As I fished through the sauce and button mushrooms I noticed there were only two leaves of kale in my braised greens and they were left whole so they were difficult to navigate.  I went up to the counter to talk to the girl.  I first asked her about the margarine asking if that was a norm?  She shrugged her shoulders.  I explained all the other times I had ordered this dish there was never a mound of margarine on it and I want to know if I need to ask to eliminate the margarine next time.  Her answer was uniformed and snappy.  I then moved onto the wild mushrooms and asked why there wasn't any wild mushrooms in it to which again the girl was clueless.  I explained to her that button mushrooms are not wild mushrooms and again I wanted to know if the mushrooms had been changed in the recipe because I wouldn't be ordering it anymore if this was the case.  At this point she begrudgingly went and inquired with the chef.  She returned and stated that they ran out of wild mushrooms so they were using Sysco standard mushrooms.  I directed her to the sign that read: Braised Greens With Wild Mushrooms and said that is false advertising and that they either needed to change their sign or their mushrooms.  The girl remained unamused and did not offer to compensate me in any way.  I ended up throwing over half my meal away because it was inedible.  Typically the food at BrewBQ is slightly better than what I experienced this evening however it has increasingly become more unpredictable and is developing a reputation of being hit or miss.

BrewBQ serves all meat without sauce and then has several sauce options to choose from.  My favorite in #2 Hot and Smoky. I applaud BrewBQ for buying local meat and meat free of hormones and their atmosphere is fun.  The dark wood booths and bright quirky wall decorations provides a rich atmosphere to dine in and I have never had to wait for a table.

BrewBQ offers a frequent diner program where you can earn free sides (for every $50.00 spent) and discounts on food.  And their happy hour offers some decent specials but at this point I cannot recommend the slider, fries or the braised greens. 

Contact information for BrewBQ:

http://www.brewbqcorvallis.com/Home.html