Double Barrel BBQ — Restaurant in Sedro-Woolley

4.5 stars here most definitely. Finally, after driving by so many times during a period when we didn’t need a meal, the timing came together to eat some Q here. The aroma of smoked meat was pleasantly pungent as we arrived. Great atmosphere with everything done so well from the furnishings and the décor on the walls down to the self-serve peanuts with shells tossed to the floor to make you feel like you are eating in a Texas roadhouse. I loved it.

Here you look either at the menu screen behind the counter or grab a seat, peruse the menu, and return up front to place your order. All staff we interacted with were very personable and answered any questions easily, including my query as to what type of wood they use. It’s apple. Double Barrel has what might be the most extensive menu I’ve seen at a BBQ joint. Definitely in Washington. They are open for all three meals, opening at 7am. This menu looks fantastic and I was told (in confidence😊) it was the best breakfast in town. You can see the offerings in print and picture on their website. As for the lunch/dinner menu it includes all the expected protein options and then some. Brisket, Baby back ribs, pulled pork plus smoked turkey and chickens. Served as both sandwiches and dinner platters. A wide selection of breads and sides, most made here, compliment the platters. On top of the Q menu, they also do a variety of appetizers, burgers, a brisket grilled cheese, and salads. Even a white bean chicken chili (next time).

We’ve learned from previous BBQ meals it’s best for us to share a two or three meat meal to enjoy as much as comfortably possible. So today it was the 3-meat platter with two sides and a cheddar biscuit. Meats were brisket, ribs, and smoked turkey. Sides of potato salad and coleslaw. Somewhat surprisingly for this area I was asked if I wanted fatty or lean. Very common in Texas, most joints near me don’t bother to ask. You get what you get. Fatty all the way for us. Soon we received a platter of sensational looking Q. Fantastic smoke ring on the brisket and ribs. Moist, somewhat thin, slices of turkey. A fluffy corner biscuit and clearly house made slaw and pot salad. Brisket was sliced thicker than expected and well barked with their distinct rub, heavy today on the black pepper. I put pepper on everything almost and this was just at the point of almost too much. The meat was moist and flavorful even without any of the four choices for sauce-original (a little sweet), sweet (molasses notes), hot (can’t do it), and a fourth I neglected to note. The original, in our opinion, went best with all the meats. Especially the wonderful turkey. One of the best in recent memory. I know this will be my sandwich of choice on my next visit. The only small meat misstep in my opinion on our visit was the just too much black pepper burn on the ribs. When I bit below the bark the meat was so flavorful but I feel like someone got carried away with the rub here. Edible but a bit disappointing. Hoping for lighter hand next visit.

Sides were true standouts without question for us. The slaw mixed the cabbage with a dressing that was wonderfully sweet (pineapple or apple juice maybe) and a nice amount of celery seed. Fantastic. And I will say unequivocally that throughout my BBQ dining nationwide this potato salad was top three ever. Perfect potatoes, the right amount of mayo/mustard, hard-boiled egg boosting it up at least a couple of notches. It’s very rare that I will buy more of a side to take home but I jumped on 16 ounces of this to enjoy when I next fire up the grill. It was that good. Desserts advertised include pecan pie, Texas sheet cake, and Peach Cobbler but we had no room for that today. Double Barrel is easily top two that I have tried in Washington, ahead of a couple of better known names out there. Highly...

I've eat here more than a dozen times. Every meal has been outstanding. The brisket has a great smoke rings with a nice bark. Fries are always fresh cut. Best of all is the Fried Ochre!

UPDATE(21APR23): What a difference a few months make. The food is beyond a doubt the best BBQ in Skagit county. However, something strange is going on. The owner, bless her heart, is struggling to keep waitstaff. I have literally spent thousands of dollars here over the last two years. My wife and I have had diner with our Pastor and his wife here, friends, coworkers, and even my daughter's reception after her wedding. Yet, not once in the last year have we had the same waitstaff. I think I understand why after tonight.

This evening, the parking lot was packed, but it was mostly empty inside. Like usual, we opened a tab ordered drinks, an appetizers and our table number sign. Everything great so far. Things picked up quite a bit, phone in orders, take out, and dine-in. They were slammed. Orders stacking up. One person running food, the other cashiering. The owner, bless her heart, was oblivious. She sat directly across from the cash register working with a marketing agent on new branding and merchandising. Our food arrived, excellent as alway! Like I said before, best in the county. However, the staff had troubles keeping up. Goodness gracious, why didn't she help out? Great part of the even was playing peekaboo with a pair of boys. My wife went up to cashier and ordered the boys a sunday to split and added it to our tab. Twenty-two minutes later the Sunday had still not arrived. There was a long line at the cashier. My turn came and I asked about the sunday, and settled our tab, leaving a generous tip for the swamp waitstaff. They completely ignored the sunday order. Since we promised the boys ice cream, we gave them what cash I had for them to go over to Dairy Queen. On our way out I saw the owner, both her and my wife are from Texas and had spoke a few times. She didn't even remember us. I remarked that this was the worst service in the two years we had been coming here. She asked me to step outside to talk about it. I obliged her and explained the situation. Nancy was very ugly about the entire matter and blamed how bad the labor economy was for small businesses. I quickly found out why the turn over rate was high. Jim the other owner got real ugly and sarcastic with me. I will...

Update: Double Barrel reached out and made good on the refund in full. The owner was very friendly and apologetic. I definately give 5 stars for them following through and going above and beyond what is expected by offering a free meal equivalent to what we originally paid. I will rate again when we try their food. We appreciate the integrity of the owner and would recommend them to anyone.

Prior: I would give this place zero stars of i could. We ordered 8 days ago and gave a 20 dollar deposit for a ham. We told them we would be picking it up at 4 pm. We got there and paid for the order. Right after we paid they told us they were out of 3 of the sides we ordered so we had to substitute and they offered a gift card. This was already a problem. Then we waited till 4:40 to get the rest of what we thought was our food.

They were giving us our food when we asked where the ham was only to find out they didn't have our ham and were out. They tried to offer us a turkey. So they let us pay for our food, took a prior deposit 8 days previously and were going to let us walk out with out our ham. The main course. Since it was Christmas Eve we had people waiting on dinner.

When they were ringing us up they should have told us they were out of almost everythjng we ordered. We ended up asking for our money back since we had to go figure something else out for dinner.

But it gets worse. They then told us they did not know how to do a refund so we could not get our money back and they would call us in a few days. So they did not have the food we ordered and paid for. We literally had to walk out without what we pays for and they took our money. We were out 20 for the deposit and 95 for the rest of dinner. What a way to ruin Christmas Eve dinner for us and the others.

We will definately not be doing business with them again. This was our first time and we feel this is very poor way to engage in business. I have doubts they will even call.

How hard is it to tell your customer you don't have half their order before they pay? Especially when they knew prior they were out of hams and the sides. Maybe dont charge a deposit if you can't provide the actual product. I suspect we were ripped off with a smile as the staff was...