BRQ Seafood and Barbeque — Restaurant in Louisiana

Let me start by saying I'm from Texas- so I know my BBQ! I wasn't going to get too excited about this place because it was super cute and chic. Honestly I normally find the best food in the hole in the wall kinda places... Go to Texas and you'll literally be waiting in line with 50 people sweating from the heat being put off from the the massive BBQ pits (I think there were dirt floors as well with metal railing as if we were all being herded like cattle..... worth the wait though). Here's my detailed review- Overall top 5 of BBQ restaurants. Ordered: Trio sliders- OMG the meat.... the pretzel bun..... yes. The meat was tender and seasoned great- sometimes meat is so over seasoned you cant even taste the meat... The plate was served with beans. I love me some BBQ beans... these definitely top 5. Again great flavor of bay leaves but not too overpowering, sweet yet spicy and the consistency was on point, not too watery not too mushy- bean texture was perfect. I could only eat 1 of the 3 sliders and a quarter of the beans because I was so full from the brussel sprout appetizer and the complementary homemade BBQ chips. The servings were generous. Ive been to a "famous" place in Pearland TX where the portions were tiny, Mac & cheese was soggy and staff was only allowed to give so many small cups of BBQ sauce before they had to charge customers and the food is waay overpriced.... I even told my husband while we were eating, "this place is so much better than K**S."- He agreed. I took my sliders to go and have been able to space my 3 sliders out for 3 meals adding in my beans and side of coleslaw. My husband got the pick 3 meats plate... there were no left overs there. It was served with sliced brisket, ribs and pork, coleslaw and corn bread. (He's the guy who orders a lb of brisket from bbq shops and inhales it.) He let me try a piece of rib- YUMMM tender, juicy and good flavor. My son loves fried catfish (he's 3) smothered in ketchup. Both myself and hubs tried the catfish.... hoping it was a bad batch because it was super muddy tasting.... I think if it wasn't lathered in ketchup my son wouldn't have eaten it.... Can you even control that? IDK.... so no points off for the muddy fried catfish. The kids portions were also hefty. Now... to the only disappointing review and I hate even saying disappointing because it wasn't bad, just not what I'm used to.... the BBQ sauce.... IDK if its because I've only ever eating BBQ in Texas but I'm used to a thicker BBQ sauce. The sauce was more of a dipping sauce that you would have for a French Dip Au Jus sauce. The flavor was good but it was too watery for my liking and made my pretzel bun soggy... no points off because it still had great flavor and that might be thing in other areas. Restaurant was out of pickles...- Never ok to be without BBQ sauce, onions, pickles or jalapenos- all necessities to make the perfect BBQ sandwich. For our 3 large meals, 3 waters, 1 frozen margarita (strong and delicious) and 1 extra large brussels sprout appetizer we spent $95- with tip $120 the service was very pleasant, not rushed and very kind. Drinks were always full, food was hot and delicious and employees were nice. We had reservations at 615pm on a Wednesday (sat immediately)- not too busy but still almost...

I found BBQ Nirvana here and I have eaten a lot of BBQ all around the US. This is the best BBQ pork and chicken I have had in a long time. Fresh meat done to perfection that you just wanted to savor and not even swallow. It really did wake up the taste buds.

They do not skimp on the serving. I order a regular serving and glad I did I took half of it back.

The place is open and bright, but does not take away from the dining experience. Plenty of seating and the seating is comfortable.

They have a full bar with plenty of selection and they feature several beers including local beers and the server was very knowledgeable about local beers and made a great recommending to me.

There is a good selection on the menu from basic BBQ favorites such as pulled pork and pulled chicken. There are several different selections to choose from just with the chicken and pork. Good selection of BBQ ribs and other meats. Great tasting sauces from mild and sweet to a bit hot and even a sweet mustard BBQ sauce.

When we were there they had a BBQ salmon that was done well and was not over cooked and being from Seattle we tend to be a bit picky about salmon. Watch out Ivar's Salmon House.

They also feature charred oysters and they just melted in your mouth.

In talking with staff they are connected with the Louisiana culinary institute and it shows with the excellent level of food preparation with good creativity with menu items

Staff was excellent. They were friendly and kept on top of things and spent a bit of timing discussing the menu items and how they are prepared.

It is easy to find and access. They have a fairly large parking lot, but it does fill up fast. We got there about 5 one evening and glad we did, by about 5:30 the place was packed and the parking lot was filled. I know this is a good place because of that and you could tell that is was packed with locals. I have never seen so may LSU shirts and jackets (OK this was just a couple of days after LSU beat Alabama in 2019) Geaux Tigers.

If you are ever in Baton Rouge and you like BBQ and seafood you got to check...

In the words of a cringey millennial - thank you, BRQ, for BEING you. My dining experience here is the kind that I’ve only seen in youtube videos in big cities like NYC or Chicago. To start, the farmhouse aesthetic was so charming yet the clean colors and high ceilings also make it feel really modern and high end. And just a touch of femme with the fresh flowers on each table was super cute.

I’ll try to keep the food review short and sweet since I tried so many things. The pepper jelly shrimp was interesting. I was a little taken aback by how fruity it tasted initially but once you really get to savor the well-seasoned (not to mention big and juicy) shrimp and crust it balances out perfectly. Probably my favorite item besides the dessert were the brisket debris fries! Fries topped with cheese, bbq sauce, baked beans and delicious tender brisket…just wow. It was perfect. I also tried pulled pork, pulled chicken and the ribs. Everything was so tender and flavorful. The bbq comes with 4 different sauces. I honestly couldn’t keep up with which was which but they were ALL extremely delicious to me. I wonder if they sell them bottled.

The grand finale which made me feel like I was in a Food Insider video was the carrot cake! It is a massive 3-layer slice of carrot cake, packed with nuts with a divine cream cheese frosting and topped with crunchy candied carrot shavings (how perfect is that?), and some caramel. It can serve about hmm.. 1 to 10 people lol

The only thing that keeps it from a 5-star rating for me is that the sides weren’t as great as everything else. For me personally I like when the sides are just as excellent as the main course. The jalenpeno cornbread was a bit dry and I didn’t get the jalepeno flavor. Also, I thought the potatoes in the potato salad were too cold and “al dente”. I know potato salad should be chilled but it was almost like biting into cold water chestnuts. The actual flavor of the dressing was really good however. And the baked beans were just okay to me.

OVERALL though I cannot wait...