Diablos BBQ: Southern Cooking Way Up North

As a new Montreal resident, I have been searching for a BBQ restaurant where I could find succulent, juicy meats. Two months later, I happened upon an article written up in the MTL Blog about an “all new BBQ restaurant” opening up right near my place (on the corner of Saint Laurent and Prince Arthur) called Diablos BBQ – needless to say, I tried it.

(Helpful hint: when you’re looking for Diablos BBQ, make sure to look up for their glowing red sign – my friend and I didn’t notice it at first).

Upon walking inside, the first thing you’ll notice is the attention to detail that the restaurant has taken in creating a real “down-south,” welcoming, saloon-style vibe, complete with a bar filled with plenty of whiskey (Diablos has a very large drink menu).

Photo from Diablos BBQ Instagram

Flipping through Diablos menu, you will notice it is quite short, which is nice in the sense that you won’t get overwhelmed by all of the delicious sounding options; however, I won’t lie, I would have appreciated a few more options for main courses (basically, their menu has one of each common BBQ meat, with a couple of rib dishes – below is a sample offering).

It was a low key night out for my friend and I, so we chose to skip right to the main part of the show: she ordered the main course salad with BBQ chicken, and I ordered the brisket dish upon my servers recommendation (each meal comes with two sides – I ordered the salad and smashed potatoes to accompany my meat).

Photo from Yelp “Diablos BBQ”

The meat was good – I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was amazing, but it was good, especially for a meat-deprived self-described carnivore like myself. What made the meat good? It was flavourful and tender. What would have made it amazing? More flavour – this is BBQ – go all of the way – and even more tenderness – brisket is supposed to melt in your mouth.

I enjoyed my sides – the salad was a creative, southern-style chopped salad with plenty of veggies including corn, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, and the smashed potatoes were flavourful. I didn’t try my friends salad, but she told me it was good and she was happy with it. In my opinion, both of our dishes were a little small for the price, plus my experience is with BBQ joints that usually serve up hefty portions.

I have to give a quick shout out to the servers – both ladies were very attentive, friendly and helpful – props to them for adding to the overall experience.

Overall, I would rate my experience at Diablos as good, especially thanks to the fun decor and great service, but not great – although the food is completely satisfying, for a meat lover like myself, I believe it’s not quite at the next level (having said that, I definitely would still go back). Their website isn’t fully functioning quite yet, but if you would like more information, head to their Facebook page  or Twitter feed.

Stay tuned – my quest for the perfect BBQ meat in Montreal is only getting started (next on my list, is checking out some of these “best” Montreal rib restaurants).

Want to have some BBQ meat at home? Check out these articles:

• Pulled Pork
• 1-2-3 Turkey Burgers
• Fun Burger Toppings