Memphis Blues Barbeque House Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

Lunch Special Review

I noticed listed on their sandwich board a number of rice bowl lunch specials and was intrigued at what may be offered.

I opted for the Teriyaki Beef Brisket Rice Bowl to satisfy my yen for their usually succulent brisket. Served in a Japanese themed wide bowl, it consisted of jambalaya rice, mixed greens and a fist sized serving of chopped brisket. The teriyaki sauce was served on the side.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this special. On the one hand, it is very basic and exactly what is described on the menu; on the other, a little bit more creativity in presentation would've been more appealing. One thing I did have a problem with was the cold teriyaki sauce. I took that as meant to be a 'dressing' for the bowl, so I drizzled it over the rice and salad and mixed. The combo was decent albiet a bit odd. There was an expectation that the sauce be warmed and mixed with the brisket, but I guess even the chef dare not mess with the perfectly smoked goodness of the beef.

The verdict: a work in progress. It is a great option if you want some bbq without entering the usual meat coma and sweats, but there is also so much potential for improvement. Personally, if the brisket was served sliced instead of chopped, it wouldn't be as obvious that they are just creative in selling their off cuts (albiet still delicious) of brisket as a...

Unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience. Despite arriving before a girl who wanted a table for a slightly bigger group, they gave them priority seating while we were crammed onto a smaller table. And even though this other group got the bigger, better table, most of their members were not there and did not arrive before we finished eating (30~40 minutes).

Glasses, plates and cutlery were given to one person on the table and this person had to distribute them, which is not a big deal, but adds to the overall feeling of a bad experience. (We were also given the incorrect number of plates, and had to request more)

The BBQ sauce was a bit bitter with a weird metallic aftertaste. The cornbread was lacking any real taste at all and had a bit of the same weird metallic aftertaste.

People on my group ordered the same food, but the cuts and portions were slightly different. The meat tasted good, but unfortunately, I felt sick after eating. I only had a small amount of brisket, but it was enough to make me feel nauseated for the rest of the night. (To be fair, the nauseating feeling might have originated from the fact that there was a big amount of fat/grease on the meat, and I ate it anyway.)

I would recommend trying the other Memphis on commercial drive. The experience was far more...

On our visit, three of the four of us ordered something which turned out to be unavailable and had to find a second choice. I struck out a second time and had to find a third pick. Not the biggest deal; I get that a (somehow) popular restaurant is going to run out of the popular items at some point. I just wish they could have used their big chalk board to let us know ahead of time. Each order-wait-disappointment cycle took about 10 minutes for some reason, so we didn't even finish ordering for about 30 minutes.

When the food did arrive, the quality was abysmal. One person's food was cold since theirs was the order that went through the first time and then set around cooling while the other orders caught up. Everything was way too salty, especially the fish (super thrilled to wind up with fish at a BBQ place.) The $8 sausage links were nothing better than you can pick up from any grocer for way cheaper. The side dishes were also fairly disappointing. I suppose if the main was superb it wouldn't matter, but when the mains let us down we had nothing on the plate to turn to.

The beer I ordered was warm and under fermented, so it was flat and very sweet. Nobody is checking whether the kegs are refrigerated or spot checking the new kegs...