Porter's Real Barbecue — Restaurant in Spokane

Please read the update at the end. So they import the cooked meat daily from TRI cities in warmers to ensure quality control. I must say I believe this place has the best bbq in Spokane by far. I just hope it stays consistent and that will be awesome. Other places here that started out good eventually lost the quality of food. Anyway, I had the brisket and ribs. The brisket was cooked to perfection and the flavor was outstanding. The ribs also cooked just the way they should be and were tasty. Oh man! I even liked the mustard sauce, I'm usually not a fan but oh yeah 👍. Haven't tried the sides cause if I don't like the meat there's really no point. Two kinds of brisket; lean and marbled. I suggest marbled it's the more tender of the two. Melts in your mouth. And I don't mind paying a little more if it stays this good. Welcome to our city great bbq place. ****Update 4/21/21 took a friend and bragged about my first visit here. Oops, my bad. The rib I show in the picture is, cold, dry, tough and at least one day old. Trust me I know ribs. They had just opened for the day and the ribs were cold so I know they weren't imported this day. For the price we pay they always better be fresh. Embarrassing after building the place up so much. 😞 Brisket was good but that was all. This place is way too expensive to be servin day old ribs that is just not what I expected but unfortunately that's what most every other place I've been to does. And if you look lately there's been a lot of bad reviews regarding this place and it's only been here a couple months it is certainly sad because I thought this was going...

Overall I enjoyed the food and will go back…

Coming from Tennessee and also smoking meat myself for the past 14 years I have high standards for BBQ. I would give Porters as Southern 6/10 and a Spokane 8/10.

Meat choices were good. Side choices could be better.

Brisket- bark was good, meat was perfectly tender and not dry at all. I’m not sure if they didn’t trim well or if it’s because they gave me all meat from the point and no flat, but it was way fattier that I like…and I usually like a few fattier pieces in my order. The seasoning was excellent, but zero smoke flavor, so unless I had a piece with bark it felt slightly low on flavor…but overall it was respectable Brisket.

Jalapeño poppers were worth the buy, but could be improved. Peppers were smoked well, bacon tasted excellent, but was undercooked for my taste. Filling was bland but the bacon and pepper covered up for that. At $1.50 each, I would easily order them again.

Slaw was good but nothing to write home about.

Original sauce was tomato based and heavy on the chili powder…not my favorite but good.

Mustard sauce was actually really good…best I’ve had actually

Atmosphere was nice

Price was a bit high for somewhat stingy portions, but now days that’s pretty par for the course.

Overall it’s the best all around I’ve had in Spokane. I’ve had better Brisket at Osprey (Some of the best I’ve ever had), but they got inconsistent and their sides are not good. TT’s is also good, but I think Porter’s edged them out.

I’ll have to check out their ribs and pulled pork next. I have decent expectations based on...

Only heard about this place from a friend and decided to grab lunch. It majorly contributed to me only eating lunch that day... ate so much.

I personally ordered the The Jonny and a 6oz side of the Gouda Mac & Cheese. As a group, I was also able to get a taste of the Chili Brisket, Loaded Baked Potato, Burnt Ends, Banana Pudding, and the Molasses Bar.

I underestimated how big the sandwich is, considering it is only 1/4lb brisket, 1/4lb pulled pork and some bacon. Definitely not the same as "1/2lb" double quarter pounder from McD, way heftier and tastier. If you wanted to get a general taste of their menu, this would be a good start, other than the Hogzilla to get some sausage. The sandwich comes sauce-less, but there is choices of BBQ sauce at every table to load up on.

The brisket chili is very good and would be a ideal choice for a pint sized lunch by itself, instead of gorging like I did.

The baked potato, mac & cheese, and banana pudding were all good if you like those things. I can totally see somebody asking them to make you a brisket mac & cheese and would taste great. The Molasses Bar is a very good choice for some dessert if you like molasses flavored sweets.

For me, the standout was the burnt ends, and was my favorite protein that I had there. It meat was super tender and juicy/fatty with that awesome tacky and sweet caramelized outer bark. I would totally put only that in between some buns for a burnt ends sandwich. It's a shame that it's only available Tuesdays, but then again, my heart valves deserve a breather.

Will for sure be back for the rest...