Takeout Time: Grillin' Guys

Hello again friends! This week we decided to try out a new takeout option in Lowell: the Grillin' Guys! They share a space with another popular takeout restaurant here in town during the week, and we only heard about them very recently. There's only a couple places in Lowell specializing in BBQ and brisket, so we were very excited to try them out. Read on for our review!

QUICK LOOK

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Category: BBQ joint

Overall Satisfaction: 5.8 out of 10

Price Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Service Type: Takeout only

Food Selection: Various BBQ-style meats and some side dishes

Alcoholic Selection: Not available

Non-alcoholic Selection: Bottled water

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Grillin' Guys is a very new establishment in the city of Lowell, but their radio show (The Grillin Guys Radio Show, appropriately named) has existed for over 10 years. Only one other restaurant in town is well-known for BBQ meats, so there's plenty of space to fill in that category. Located in a rental kitchen space on the south side of Lowell, their hours are limited (Tuesday-Thursday, 3pm-7pm), but it's a location that many people in town already know because of other food services running out of the same building. They clearly pride themselves on brisket meals, but also have pulled pork and chicken wings as options.

We tried ordering over the phone twice around 6:15pm on a Wednesday, and were in the process of driving there to place our order in person when they called us back and took our order. We were told it would be about a 15 minute wait for the food, but it was more like 10-12 minutes at most. The lot was empty of other customers when we arrived, and only one other person showed up while we were there picking up the food. They actually called while we were in the parking lot to tell us the food was ready. Great customer service all around, from the few interactions we had with them.

Caitlin's Meal:

I ordered the brisket sandwich meal which came with my choice of two sides, for which I chose the Bitchin' Beans and the homemade coleslaw. By the name, I expected the beans to have some spice to them (that and I've been thinking about the "Ukrainian Chernobyl" baked beans my co-worker brought to our work cookout last week, which were incredible with just a touch of spice), and while the Bitchin' Beans were not spicy, they were delicious! They were incredibly smoky, sweet, but not too sweet, and packed with flavor. The coleslaw was overwhelmingly vinegar-y, but had a nice crunch to it.

The sandwich itself was nothing to call home about (is it "write home?" This is 2022, if anything it's actually "text home about"). The brisket ranged from decent to extremely chewy and lacked that classic "melt in your mouth" tenderness that I have come to expect from brisket. It was a little disappointing. The bread that was used was incredible! It was chewy (in all the right ways) and packed with flavor. I put some of the coleslaw on my sandwich, as well as the classic barbeque sauce and the sweet chili sauce. Casey wasn't sure if either sauce was house-made, and we were unable to find any information on their menu or when briefly scanning their Facebook page, but both were excellent. The classic BBQ sauce was sweet, a touch tangy, and oh so smoky! It was a perfect pairing to the flavor of the brisket. The sweet chili sauce tasted like a slightly better version of Mae Ploy, almost like a spicy sweet and sour sauce. It was good, but not as exciting as the BBQ sauce. I did enjoy the kick of spice the sweet chili sauce added though.

I did not particularly enjoy eating the coleslaw on its own, but on the sandwich, it added the perfect amount of fresh crunch and acidity to balance out the smokiness of the meat and the sweetness of the sauces. I wouldn't say I was overly impressed by my meal, but I was satisfied both in the amount of food I had received and the overall experience I curated for myself by adding toppings to my sandwich. I thought I saw someone post about the cornbread from Grillin' Guys, stating it was the best they've ever had, and I very disappointed that it wasn't on the menu. Although we should have asked when we placed our order.

Casey's Meal:

I ordered the Brisket Dinner, which was the priciest menu item. It comes with two sides (I repeated Caitlin's choices), and a piece of white bread...which you can see, is not pictured. Didn't get the bread, and I was pretty sad about it after trying a piece from Caitlin's sandwich. I'll have to echo Caitlin's opinion on the Bitchin' Beans, they were phenomenal baked beans! It would've been nice to have a touch of spice to them considering the name, but they were impressively tasty for what they were. As someone who does enjoy coleslaw more frequently (and vinegar-based food items in general), I thought the homemade coleslaw was pretty good. I could tell it was homemade, it had a nice crunch, and it was very clearly made with apple cider vinegar. A nice apple-y flavor came through subtly, although they gave so much in a serving that the vinegar became a little too much for me by a certain point. I probably would've enjoyed it more on a sandwich like Caitlin did.

The brisket itself, the pièce de résistance of the meal, and the food which the Grillin' Guys are trying to be known for, was not as special as I was hoping. I had at least double the amount which Caitlin got on their sandwich, which was reflected in the price, but it was inconsistent in its tenderness on each piece. The largest piece was the most tender, but still wasn't anything to write home about (yes, it is "write" home about...). A couple smaller pieces were downright chewy. The flavor was pretty great though, and their BBQ sauce really added to it. The meat was also good and juicy, not dried out at all. However, the chewiness was distracting me from its positive points. Maybe we're both spoiled, but overall I was equally as unimpressed with it as Caitlin, if not more so. In descending order, I'd rate my items as 1. Beans 2. Coleslaw 3. Brisket...which isn't really what I wanted to experience coming here. The beans were legitimately impressive, the coleslaw was unique and high-quality (if not a bit too vinegary), but the brisket was just ok. It helped to have a large portion of everything, for sure.

Price Debate:

At first glance of the menu, we both felt like the prices looked reasonable. We found out after ordering that we had actually been looking at an outdated menu that someone online had circulated, and it was all actually higher by $1. Not a big difference there, to be fair. Our satisfaction with the cost of our meals was pretty different, however.

Caitlin felt the price of their sandwich basket ($14) was slightly high, but was definitely not a deal-breaker for the meal in terms of satisfaction. The side portions felt a bit off, as they were just filling sections of the takeout box completely with each. It would've been nice to have more beans than coleslaw, like a typical BBQ joint would do. The meal as a whole was nicely filling but wasn't overly large.

Casey was pretty unhappy with the price of his meal ($22). He had more meat in the meal to be sure, but the whole meal was basically the same size as Caitlin's. When Caitlin heard the price of just this meal after seeing what was in it, they were shocked. This could've been offset ever so slightly by the promised piece of bread, but alas, there was none. Casey felt like he was a little bit cheated by the high price.

Final Thoughts:

We were very excited to try this new takeout option in the middle of a busy week, but it ended up being a bit of a let-down for us. Quote from Casey after the meal: "I would rather eat dry brisket from [redacted] for a decent price, at least I'd be happier and feel like my meal was worth it." We don't think we'll be going back unless someone convinces us otherwise, but if you haven't tried it yourself, we'd recommend at least going once! The brisket dinner didn't seem worth it, but the sandwich was, and there were other options we were interested in trying. Maybe you'll disagree with our assessment. Feel free to tell us by commenting on here or on our social media pages!

Where should the Butlers eat next? Drop us a comment on our social media, and we'll have a new post next month!