Yam Yam's Southern Cooking Barbecue

05/30/08

Not clean. Average Food.

by shyoot at Citysearch

I have heard good stuff about this place. Though it was a couple years ago.

When I arrived, I was greeted as I entered the door by a few flies. Hmmmm.... oh well, it was summer and flies sometimes get in when the door gets opened. OK, fine. I sat down and my arm stuck to the table from somebody doing a shoddy wipe-down. When I scooted across the seat to let my husband sit next to me, I got what looked like cornbread crumbs all over my legs. When my husband was brought a high chair for our toddler, he was handed a crusty wooden high chair that looked like it had been used at least a dozen times before we got it. It had rice, beans and macaroni and cheese smeared in all cracks and crevices. Must have been the same person in charge of wiping it down as the booths.

We started with chicken wings as an appetizer. They were average. Nothing to rant and rave about. They were pretty large though. Then I moved on to the catfish. Not bad. But not impressive either. The mac and cheese was pretty good. And my son liked it. My husband ordered brisket. It was a little dry but the flavor was good. He also got succotash and it was pretty good.

Make sure you don't have to use the bathroom when going there. It's a scary endeavor.

Overall I was not impressed with this place. I figure if they can't make the dining area presentable and comfortable for their patrons and they can't even keep the bathroom up, what kind of shortcuts are going on in the kitchen?

The food wasn't great enough to overlook the shoddiness of their cleaning and prep for customers.

• Pros: Parking.
• Cons: Dirty.

04/07/08

Prepare To Not Be Blown Away

by JodyGrinder at Citysearch

Collard greens, okra, yams were all good. The sauce was tangy but for my taste too sweet. I ordered rib tips. The meat left on the tips was on the thin side (bone to meat ratio) and the barbecue flavour was far from stellar. Not much smoke ring, the meat was firm and required cutting, the meat tasted very under smoked/cooked. However, staff was nice. The price is cheap. For cheap neighborhood soul food it is o.k..

Pros: Staff, sides, price

Cons: Barbecue

04/24/07

Food was overcooked, no meat on the Beef Ribs.

by sacorbin at Citysearch

I was so excited when I learned that Portland had an outstanding southern style BBQ place, I heard from people that it was the best in town, I even read on the net that the food was great! Being from Alabama, I consider myself a fair judge of good BBQ. My trip to Yam Yam's unfortunately did not translate into a good eating experience. I ordered both Pork Ribs and Beef Ribs because I wanted to enjoy a little variety. The pork ribs were tender and the sauce was good but the beef Ribs did not actually have any meat on them, it was all fat. I realize that beef ribs do tend to run a little fattier than the pork ribs but I could hardly find any meat on the beef rib at all..... The sides were an even bigger disappointment; the collard greens were mushy and not very appealing in both flavor and texture. The cornbread was very dry and needed a lot of butter and honey to make it palatable, hmmmmm, anything with that much butter and honey would have to be good.....The fried okra was good but how can you go wrong with fried okra as long as you do not cook it to death. I guess I am still looking for that excellent BBQ place in Portland.....

• Pros: Easy to find, fairly good Pork Ribs.
• Cons: Beef Ribs are fatty, sides were disappointing

09/02/06

Ribs aren't good

by dmk11 at Citysearch

In search of a good BBQ place in Portland, we decided to try Yam Yam's. We ordered the yam yam's special to try the chicken, bbq pork and bbq beef. The chicken was ok, but the flavor didn't go through it. The BBQ pork ribs were country style and had quite a bit of meat - probably the best of the 3 types of meat. The BBQ beef was chewy and jerky-like with hardly any edible meat. The best thing about the meal is probably the sweet potato fries side which were light and crispy. The service was VERY SLOW - but then again, there's only 1 person working for the whole restaurant during lunch time. He's so busy working back there and the tables didn't get clean up after people leave. Maybe we just came on a bad day or something, but I don't think I'll try again.

PS: I overheard someone asking for a box to-go and he actually charges 50 cents for it!!

PPS: seems like a lot of people order the deep fried catfish, so if you have your heart set on trying this restaurant, you should try that.

• Pros: easy parking
• Cons: BBQ, slow service

06/14/03

Ok at best

by Shocked at Citysearch

Well, I love BBQ and I have been to many BBQ places around the country. I have no idea why anyone would drive across town to go here. As other reviewers have written, the place has no atmosphere.. its "clean" at best. When I asked if they had baby back ribs the guy taking the order had no idea what I was talking about. He had to g ask what that was. The food we did get was ok, but no where near what I would consider good bbq. If you think overcooking your meat over fire is great bbq, then come here.

• Pros: i didn't get sick
• Cons: needs remodel, needs friendly staff, needs better bbq