WADE BBQ LLC — Restaurant in Somerville

Tldr; Worst brisket I've had in my life. It's 90% inedible gristle, too tough even to be cut with a knife. I ripped some pieces off with my teeth and chewed a while before spitting it out. It was my girlfriend's first brisket, she asked if we could exchange it.

I've gone twice. The first time I ordered was a frustrating struggle. The first 10 tries of picking items for a combo meal (or "meat bundles" website bizarrely calls it) resulted in blank forms and nothing in checkout. The key was to select a combo meal, ignore all the meat and side choices as they will be deleted anyway, hit apply, then hit modify, then select everything again, then do that with drinks, then you can submit it, then you can do all that again with the 2nd plate.

Well, you could. Because the second time I tried to order that trick no longer worked. It said I had and had not selected everything and roadblocked me. I suggest just calling as the website is an unmitigated disaster. Also, never hit "back" as it loses ALL of your choices and defaults you to the reservations section... of a restaurant with NO SEATING.

Anyway, first time they were out of brisket and pulled pork, the 2 things I really wanted to try. Warning, the website is very misleading and offers "pulled pork" that has none in it, it's mushrooms. We got smoked sausage, turkey, beef rib and pork ribs. The sausage was good, reminded of Rudy's BBQ in Texas. Turkey and ribs were good too. I don't normally enjoy beef ribs, I ate way too many in TX, literally just beef ribs for days when visiting in-laws... but theirs was really good! I was excited to try the missing meats.

Second time, after giving up and the website, I called and ordered a plate with brisket and sausage, and a 2nd plate with brisket and ribs. I was a little disappointed that the serving was smaller than the free sample another reviewer posted a picture of, but I was so excited to eat the brisket and introduce my girlfriend to it. I eagerly bit into the first small piece. It was inedible. It was gristle, fat, and super tough meat. I tried cutting some other pieces with the included plastic knife but it was too tough to be cut. It was like sawing leather. I ended up using my hands and ripping some pieces off with my teeth and chewing it a while before spitting it out. My GF asked if we could bring it back and exchange it. It was awful. We nibbled some of the tiny edible sections but most of it ended up in the trash. Even a rank amateur would be embarrassed by this brisket, they clearly don't eat their own product.

$70+ dollars for a pile of garbage and some sides, (or $34 per lbs of gristle if you order in bulk). Since moving here from Texas I have been searching for good BBQ here. That search continues. It sounds like other people got good brisket, maybe it's hit or miss (or maybe they've never had real brisket before). Regardless, the quality control is obviously lacking, and $70 to gamble your dish might be edible is steep, (or $80-$90 as this week there was a $10 upcharge for selecting the beef rib).

The sides were fine. The tiny sliver (less than 1/4 of a typical serving) of cornbread is good.

I wanted to love...

I was expecting a fantastic meal but it was mediocre at best. Unfortunately the best parts of my order were the Orange soda and the cornbread. The cornbread, although greasy, was sweet and satisfying. I thought I was getting pulled chicken but what I got was mostly bones and impossible to separate the edible chicken by hand. No utensils or fresh naps were provided with my order making it near impossible to eat in my car in the lot nearby, fortunately i had some plastic silverware from home but it broke. And the "grilled vegetables" were nothing but average microwaveable mixed vegetables from the supermarket. The mac and cheese was a bit tastier but still did not look like the one in the web picture in my opinion. They gave me a few slices of brisket to try but they were not covered in bbq sauce so they were tasteless. I had a nice conversation with the staff including Danielle about the business and origins of the name and had high hopes for the meal, and still gave a good tip when paying up front (before eating) in anticipation of excellence. My overall opinion of this establishment after this visit is that the non-meat and service options need fine tuning and the meat choice should be verified with the customer to make sure they know what they are...

Glad to review this place, after just eating as much as I could (much smaller gut than previously, reduced appetite, but I still made a dent).

In general, all of the flavors and textures were spot-on, such a pleasant, welcome surprise to have a real BBQ in Union Sq. Owner, who is also the pitmaster, was very friendly and kind. It's just a outdoor space on Sanborn Ct, which is right near The Jungle, in Somerville.

The Meats:

Smoked Chicken - perfectly smoked. I had the breast 1/4 it was tender, if not perfectly juicy, excellent dry rub on the skin, still 4.5-5/5 in my book

St Louis Ribs - again, expertly smoked, chewy (in a good way that I strongly prefer to "fallin' off the bone), delicious, dry rubbed, sauce (very good) optional

Turkey Collard Greens - as they should be, IMHO - a little sour instead of sweet, pimentos, nice bite from the greens and from a trace of hot pepper that is expertly laced into both the greens and the pot likker.

Lime cole slaw - creamy, superb

No dessert, but there are plenty of places in the environs to get an excellent one.

Please keep it up, Wade's. To echo Kai's review, Mr. Wade is a humble yet highly, deeply skilled pitmaster and cook, and he does indeed whip up some...