Russell Street Bar.B.Que

08/23/07

The Best "Que" I've ever had

by sylbert

Russell Street BBQ is one of Portland's jewels.

It started with a friendly welcome from the hostess and fresh water served to your table right away. The ambiance is well balanced: warm from the wood furniture and floors (no more red and blue plastic table cloth) but also fresh and clean with lots of sunlight and cute deco. My previous experiences of BBQ restaurants were in Texas, where the places were always too dark, smoky and far from spotless. Pretty bad first experiences that made me think I knew, and didn't really like BBQ.

I think Russell Street BBQ could turn anyone into BBQ lovers for many reasons:

- the meat is out of this world. I think the tenderness is what strikes you first. You can tell that it is quality meat. The smoky flavor is not over powering and the right amount of sauce is put on it (you can always add more).

So many restaurant use spices and sauces to cover the lack of meat taste but it is not the case at Russell St. The meat is truly spectacular.

- the sauces are so good. I loved the fact that we had choices because not everybody likes the same flavors! The server helps you decide and in doubt, go for the classic (in all logic, it has to be their signature sauce so it must be perfect for the food they serve = tip for reviewer arkrube). My personal favorite was the mustard seeds one as it was less sweet to me.

- the prices on the menu are like a cherry on the cake. For the service and quality food you?re getting, this is a bargain! $12 for a 1/2 order of ribs, fries, 2 sides and corn bread. It was so much food that there was sadly no room for anything else that day.

The also have a full bar, with cocktails and beers on tap. Unfortunately, I?m not a drinker so I can?t recommend anything there.

To conclude, I recommend you start with a strawberry lemonade and pimento cheese. Then, ribs or brisket with mac and cheese (made with real cheeses, no yellow box stuff) and potato salad.

If you still have room, try their floats.

• Pros:  great service and food, clean and spacious restaurant, easy parking.
• Cons: need to open a branch in LA

07/22/09

Fun atmosphere, wonderful service

by LucyElizabeth

Every staff member we encountered was super-friendly, the atmosphere was fun and clean and the food was fantastic. We are going back for more!!!!

• Pros: All-around great restaurant

07/06/09

Great BBQ!

by stella64

I have been a patron of Russell Street BBQ for the last 5 years due to the consistency of their food. It is my tried and true place to always bring friends and family that are visiting from out-of-town. Typically, I do not post reviews good or bad, but when a friend from Vancouver said they went on Portland City Search to look at bbq reviews and said there were a couple poor reviews for the restaurant imagine my surprise. I can only figure that they are some people who are never pleased or they are competitors of Russell Street BBQ placing postings. So here I am telling you if you want great food that is reasonably priced go to Russell Street BBQ. Get there early though or you will wait since us locals already know how good it is.

• Pros: Love the beef brisket
• Cons: You will wait if you do not get there early.

07/01/09

Great Food

by justsomelady

Sometimes I find myself thinking nonstop about this place. The urge to go back can ba all-consuming sometimes. The ONLY bad things I've ever experienced here are the difficulty finding parking and the wait that is required for seating (only because they're so busy). When I go, I must have their Stumptown Iced Coffee with Cinnamon. It's better than words can describe!

• Pros: Great food, great service.
• Cons: Parking and occasionally the wait to get in.

06/28/09

NO OUTDOOR SEATING

by chadillac

I used to use citysearch all of the time. This is it. Are they high? Do they no longer pay a tiny bit of attention?

I do like Russel Street. This is in no way a bad review of Russel Street, but outdoor dining?

Same with Le Pigeon. Even after a few years of being around Le Pigeon is still one the best restaurants in Portland, if not the country, but under a category of Outdoor Dining?

You should be embarrassed citysearch.

06/23/09

nothing to write home about

by simpsonsbart

it wasn't good as I expected like what review said...sauce was like bottled grocery stuff from safeway...meat was tender but not enough of smokey flavor, sides were so-so. Even the bbq from trailers can beat this! lots of choices though, but the price was not worth it. .Campbell's was better and unique,Red's was similar to .Podna's,Reo's is definitely regretable, clay's is rude..Buster's? nah... .so far, Red's and Campbell's are the best in my opinion.

• Pros: it was convenient location
• Cons: not what I expected

06/18/09

not worth the price

by amymusic

food is not real BBQ...anyone who knows the BBQ can tell this is not real...vegis are like from cans...meat is like from the electric smoker, doesn't have the evidence of slow cooked with real wood from the pit... these folks should of stayed in italian restaurant business, didn't realize the art of smoking it takes....it's a con! almost anyone can do better on their own backyard with some charcoal....it's like european chef trying to copy soul food.... not going to work.

• Pros: location
• Cons: shabby food

06/03/09

Good

by footlong

Great food, love the place and atmosphere. If you like like bbq pork, get the bbq pork sandwich! Great mac and cheese too!

• Pros: Pork
• Cons: Lengthy wait for food

02/28/09

Very Underwhelmed

by lsb123

I have heard many times this was a great BBQ restaurant. The service was above average, but not much more. Though the prices were reasonable, we were overall severely underwhelmed with the food .

The pulled pork though tender had very little smoke flavor and no smoke rings. The sauce used on it was very one dimensional and even the spicy sauce had very little kick. The side dishes which included their "signature mac n cheese was grainy and very bland. The meaty beans were even worse, tasting like canned beans with some meat scraps added.

All in all very disappointing as there are many far better BBQ resturants in the greater Portland area

• Cons: food was very bland and no taste of smoke in the BBQ

01/19/09

Not worth the price

by pdx2009

It was one of the worst bbq i had, because it wasn't real bbq. Meat tasted like it came out of the electric oven. Portlanders who doesn't know what real bbq is don't know it I guess, as long as it's flavored with hickory pellets and liquid smoke in a GAS-fired oven? It's like someone from Northwest who tries to copy online recipes of southern cuising without ever lived there. I wouldn't recommend this place unless it was last resort. Service was taking too long, and it was not worth it.

• Pros: effort
• Cons: quality

01/13/09

Good BBQ

by tiltrocks

I had the pulled pork sandwich and it was tasty! and the portion was big between the sandwich and the fries i was stuffed. They have a good selection on sauces from sweet to spicy. they are all good, I like the spicier sauces.

• Pros: Good food, parking
• Cons: busy most of the time