Brileys BBQ and Grill — Restaurant in Lake Forest Park

The worst thing is to go to a place hungry, place an order then wish you would've gone somewhere else after trying the food. This is what occurred with me. I greatly enjoy BBQ and cook it as well. Unfortunately my experience eating here was greatly disappointing. Let me explain in detail so that you won't make a mistake in thinking that this place will satisfy you. Two of us arrived and ordered the chicken sandwich with fries and the rock dawg sandwich with fries. The rock dawg is a chopped brisket sandwich with coleslaw in it and the chicken is exactly what you can imagine, a BBQ chicken sandwich. When the food arrived, the sandwiches were smaller than one expects. They do give you a lot of fries, but they are over salted. The fries are exactly Dick's Burger fries with no grease. The chicken sandwich was better than my brisket sandwich and I don't know how, but even with this said, it wasn't a big deal for me to return. My brisket sandwich was 1 out of 10 being the greatest. The burger bun they use for the sandwich is flimsy and as soon as you grab it to take a bite, all the meat tumbles out. You're better off biting some bread then placing meat in your mouth from the plate. The coleslaw that was placed in my sandwich was the amount of a tablespoon and that's it. It was so little that I couldn't taste it. The BBQ sauces are place at each table and there 3 of them. You have sweet, mild and spicy. These are a pathetic excuse for sauces. The sweet sauce is watery. Yes, I said watery. It was water with a hint of flavor. No BBQ sauce should ever move in a bottle like water, but they manage to make it happen. I don't need to mention the others because the water sauce should be enough for a guilty conviction. The view of the water was nice and the atmosphere was that of a retirement home. The only thing that would be great here is a cup of coffee with the view. Some may say that I haven't given this place a chance with only trying 2 sandwiches. I'll say this, we've all been to a place where we know that we will never return because if something so simple can't be good then the rest doesn't deserve anything. This is why I don't understand how this place is still functioning. It's rated at 4.5 stars and this baffles me. I can only think of 2 reasons why it's rated this high. First, there are hardly any BBQ spots around and this is what people have settled for. Second, whomever is rating this hasn't had good BBQ before. Let me put it to you this way. I would rather try a BBQ sandwich at Denny's than eat here for free. I've given it 2 starts because...

My son and I decided to take a walk down a section of the Burke-Gilman trail last Saturday. The weather was perfect - sunny but not too hot. We shared the trail with nice people and had a blast talking about what was going on in our lives. I truly enjoy these chances to catch up with my grown children. After cover far more distance that we intended to (we can get so involved in conversation that we lose track of things), we thought it would be nice to find a place to get some food and drink and take a load off. My son pulled out his brand new phone to show it off and see what Google had to recommend. The trail is close to Lake City/Bothell Way, so there were several options. The one that sounded good to us was Briley’s BBQ and Grill. It was only a mile and a half away and BBQ is good food. Getting from the trail to the Restaurant required climbing a long hill and cutting through an apartment parking lot. We were exhausted by the time we got to the BBQ joint. The tiny parking lot was about half full even though it was mid-afternoon as far from lunch and dinner time as we could get. The menu has a variety of smoked meats along with traditional sides. I got a pulled pork sandwich and coleslaw. My son got brisket with coleslaw and banana pudding (The southern kind with Nilla wafers). We rushed off with our soda cups to get some pop to stave off dehydration. The dining area was comfortable and clean. The tables were spaced out enough so we were not cheek by jowl with the other customers. There was also a covered patio area outside for folks that like that kind of thing. It did not take long for our food to arrive. I put a squirt of spicy, a squirt of spicy and a squirt of sweet BBQ sauce on my sandwich from the collection on our table. Then I tore off a collection of paper towels and dug in. The coleslaw was lightly dressed and very good. The sandwich had great smoky flavor, but I would have liked a bit more salt and punch in the spicy sauce. We ate everything and had fun people watching. Someone came out to bus our table when we were done. There were moist towelettes on the table to clean up. Feeling good, we stood up, waved to the staff who were doing something exciting with fire in the kitchen and left. Sitting had made my old man legs stiffen so it took a bit to loosen up for the end of the walk. At least I didn’t have to worry about needing...

Delicious! Small parking lot that can get filled up pretty quickly. We got a Dorfman Platter to try different meats. Get the spare ribs, they're the more popular one. Spare ribs are fattier with more meat so they're basically bigger whereas the back ribs are leaner and people claim they're more flavorful. However, both are tender and great choices. Get both if you have a crew.

The Dorfman Platter is great to feed 3-4. Two meats with two sides, the meat is about half a pound.

Bacon - you get a piece of bacon with the Dorfman and it's pretty well made. Perfectly crispy but not overly so that the fat disappears.

Spare Ribs.- fatty and full of meat, these were the highlight by far. I'd come back just to order these and nothing else. Juicy and tender too.

Pulled Pork - a bbq classic, but a bit dry here.

Chopped Brisket - I always get chopped over sliced because it's fattier and more tasty. Similar idea here though the brisket was a bit leaner than I've had so it feels like an inbetween (like between chopped and sliced).

Pit Beef - was not actually spicy, this is basically roast beef. Better than the pulled pork but drier than the brisket. Supposedly one of their top meats though, as in lots of people love it.

Baked Beans - standard beans, not much to comment. Maybe a bit sweeter than average though.

Coleslaw - underaverage coleslaw, would skip.

Hushpuppies - another bbq classic, the ones here are pretty delicious. You get five in a side order. Not excessively dry and pairs well with the meats.

Fries - tons of fries which are actually good too. Well salted, this is probably one of the better sides for value and to feed a party. Plus, who doesn't like fries? Get this.

Mac N' Cheese - not creamy or cheesy, would skip in favor of other sides but if they don't appeal to you,...