quickie lowdown summary: I’m not normally a BBQ fan, but I was very pleasantly surprised with Brian’s BBQ in Deland. The menu consists of typical BBQ fare: smoked pork, chicken, beef, baby-back ribs, steaks to order… that sort of stuff. Prices are reasonable with most dinners between $10 and $15, and lunches around $7. Servers are friendly and the kitchen is quick at both lunch and dinner. Highlights include a salad bar with a large number of items, good menu selection with lots of substitutions for sides, and large portion sizes for the money (especially at dinner…)
The restaurant is in a working-class section of town, so its easy to find and not full of pretentious people. The parking lot is ample and has plenty of area lighting, so parking is no problem even during peak hours. The building itself has a well kept facade, and a seating area outside. Landscaping is almost nil, but a) this is deland and b) who cares.
When you walk inside the country music is present but not overbearing (a pet peeve of mine). Decorated in a country/southwest lots-of-wood-paneling theme, the restaurant displays banners from the numerous BBQ cook-offs and food competitions it has placed in. Since the main counter is right at the entrance, someone is there to greet and seat you almost instantly. My biggest gripe with Brian’s is the hella-uncomfortable booths. As a ‘bigger’ guy (read: Fattie McFattson), there is no room between the table and my belly, which tends to make you hunch over when you eat. And since there is no padding on the wooden bench or back, you have to shift positions often so as not to get a sore rear. Next time, I will ask to be seated at the booth that has one bench and two chairs on the other side.
The menu is chock full of options. Besides the typical BBQ stuff they also have a nice selection of seafood, sandwiches and appetizers. As you’re being seated, you walk by the salad bar which had quite a few items on it including normal salad veggies, potato salad, macaroni salad, puddings, and soups. It was also stocked often – whenever I go to a new place with a salad bar, I always check to see how often they’re attending it. The person waiting on it did a good job, and it was kept neat and clean and most importantly full of the stuff I wanted. We ordered an appetizer of corn nuggets covered in powdered sugar. They came out within just a few minutes and were nice and hot. A good start to the meal priced at $3.99.
I ordered the monterey-hickory chicken breasts. It was 2 grilled chicken breasts covered in barbecue sauce and monterey jack cheese, then a layer of bacon and sauteed onions and mushrooms (which I gave to one of my dinner-mates… not a shroom fan). I chose steak-fries and baked beans as my sides, and the whole thing was served with a slice of texas toast garlic bread. I was highly impressed with the whole meal. The fries were crisp (which they make a big deal about – the menu says if your fries aren’t crisp, send em’ back), and the baked beans had a very unique, smoky flavor to them. the chicken breasts were juicy and tender and the sauteed onions were cooked perfectly. The garlic bread was nice and strong in flavor and not over cooked (like desert-croutons) nor undercooked (which makes it soggy). I was told that the mushrooms were very good as well, and there were plenty of them. Portion size was big so I went home feeling plenty full.
Another member of my party had the pulled pork and let me have a taste of it. It was very juicy and, although not cooked in any sauce, had a seasoned tartness to it. We later found out that you can ask for the bbq sauce to be cooked right in with the meat if you prefer. They ordered a baked sweet potato which came out with cinnamon and honey butter and smelled wonderful… I wasn’t allowed a taste of that, unfortunately. On the downside, the dr. pepper had a ‘tang’ to it, which was probably just not enough syrup to carbonation ratio – but it gave me a chance to try the sweet tea which was actually very good. And I was not a big fan of their ‘award winning barbecue sauce’. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t taste like bbq sauce to me. I fixed that by mixing 1 part of their bbq sauce with 2 parts of their sweet sauce and bit of hot sauce.
Service was excellent. Our waitress was checking on us often, but not enough to be annoying. Glasses were refilled right on time. One of the things I try to do when eating out is eavesdrop on the other tables when they’re communicating with their servers. A guy at a table across from us commented to his waitress that the tea wasn’t as sweet as it normally was, so she went back and had another glass brought to his table in a minute saying something along the lines ‘I had them make a new batch just to make sure the right amount of sugar was used’ or something like that… whether true or not, the customer was happy and it showed the server was willing to put a little effort into pleasing him. The waiter behind us literally had to read the entire menu to an elderly couple (commenting about the items as he went) and was completely patient and relaxed with them. You pay for the bill at the front counter, so we didn’t have to wait for the server to come collect our money, when we were ready we could leave. On our way out the server asked if we wanted a refill on our drinks for the road which we declined (since we were already swimming in tea…) but it was definitely appreciated.
So, all in all I would give Brian’s BBQ 4 stars out of 5. Service was great, food was great, and there was a lot of choices on the menu. I dinged it a star only because the dining room booth was very uncomfortable and the soft drinks could have had their syrup levels checked. But it was a great meal and I definitely plan on going back again.
-liquidquick
Posted by liquidquick 
Posted by mead 