Salvage BBQ
| Address: | 919 Congress St, Portland, ME 04102, USA |
| Phone: | +1 207-553-2100 |
| Site: | salvagebbq.com |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | Closed 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
NA
Nathan Patwardhan
My wife, family, friends, and I have been coming out to Salvage since its inception. We enjoy its no-frills nature, and how you can sit at the bar, have a meal with family and friends at the big benches that are spread across the place, or mingle about if there is a band playing in the background. They have really flexible hours, in particular on the weekends, so you can just cruise in and get food/beverages during the lunch hour without too much of a wait for food or drink(s). One thing I want to state up front is that my rating is more of a 3.5 than a four. Google doesnt let me give half stars apparently. :-( The chopped pork sandwich is a family favorite, and is a great value on top of being absolutely delicious. The recentish addition of duck fat fries is something we thoroughly enjoy. I really like the chili, but word to the wise: the recipe seems to change on occasion, so you may not have the same experience twice. Pinto beans are in the same boat; some times I love em, and sometimes they are not cooked nor seasoned well. Same goes for the mac n cheese, although recently it has been more consistent (and excellent!) than in the past. We always find more eyes than stomaches, and leave with some take home containers. I also really like how you can walk through the entire restaurant and find different sauces in every nook and cranny. Lots of variety, accommodation for different tastes, and levels of hotness can be found in the sauces. Desserts, which we rarely have room for, are good. Always ask which pies are available, as their pies have been consistently great, and sometimes you are lucky to catch one as it comes right out of the oven. They have made incredible rhubarb, and raspberry (not in the same pie) in the past. My reason for the 3.5 comes down to the consistency issues, some things are more expensive than I would like, and also some of their bbq is a lot better than others. I personally dont enjoy their sausages, for example. Still, a really enjoyable, casual, dining experience.
MA
Matt Brock
Whats so incredibly disappointing about Salvage is that it is both incredibly good and almost hilariously bad at times. The ribs, for example, are perfect--just dont expect much variety. Same goes for the chicken, which is so good youll want to ditch your silverware and just go at it caveman-style. The sausage, on the other hand, is merely passable. The macaroni and cheese is where things start to take a real dive (the cheese, in particular, was almost chunky in consistency). But its the chili where things go horribly, laughably wrong. The chili "sauce" tasted like a mixture of concentrated tomato paste mixed with gallons and gallons of grease and oil. It was like leftover Indian food that had separated overnight, except no amount of stirring could bring it back to life. And the chili itself: meat was indistinguishable from vegetables. I was unable to eat more than a couple of spoonfuls before throwing it away in revulsion. Decent beer selection, really nice atmosphere, OK location, food availability can be sporadic however. Get there early if you want to ensure your favorites are available.
RM
RM R
Great atmosphere with high ceilings and open old farmhouse dining hall setup within renovated red stone brick building. Very casual bbq dining without waiter/waitresses... efficiently order food and non-alcoholic beverages at location near front entrance and give you a flag with number to place at your table for food to be delivered when done. Large bar area with very large selection of great craft beer. Had live music/band playing in corner of building which had chic setup with couches and lounge chairs to relax. BBQ chopped pork and brisket was very good. Pork ribs had slightly spicy dry rub which was well balanced, but ribs were merger on meat to bone ratio (not much meat per rib).... but note you pay by pound not by number of ribs. Have choice of house BBQ sauce (tomato based) or thinner BBQ sauce (vinegar based). The chilli was very unique with deep dark color very rich flavor and meld of flavors - which I thought was very good and very hard to discribe as not generic standard chilli flavor.
AN
Andrew Baker
Had the St Louis ribs and half a chicken. Possibly the best BBQ until you hit NYC, everything was a hit. The collard greens were excellent, and more so commendable due to the visible lack of pork in them. Dont get me wrong, pork is amazing in collards, but they can make it great without this thing that we all assume is essential, so major kudos. The Mac and cheese was pretty good too, but its probably not their strongest work. The BBQ sauce selection is good, and while the banana one is very interesting and quite good, I have yet to think of a food that I would eat it with, aside from perhaps some kind of dessert? Ice cream maybe? Beer selection is well curated and service at the bar was very pleasant. On a technical note, it looks like it can get a little smoky in there, and while thats awesome and it smells good, you do take the smell home with you, so Id definitely RECOMMEND YOU EAT HERE, just not in drycleaning-only apparel.
EL
Elizabeth Burke
No variation in the hotness or anything of any of the rib options--everything was just as hot as all the provided sauces, which were really quite difficult to tell apart, and I over 10 years on the West Coast, so I do know something about different types and flavors of hot..Onions and slices of zucchini on the side of these large, empty trays .... I just couldnt figure out for the life of me what that was all about. Never seen anything like it in any cuisine and it wasnt tasty, nor even interesting. Impossibly dull cole slaw, so that I actually asked for some vinegar. Service idea is silly. Too noisy. Music obnoxious. Nice terrain, great tv screens, but the food just wasnt up to par. Wont return and wont recommend to my guests. Sorry.
GA
gabor korthy
Disappointing. I have had BBQ in Texas and Florida now that is BBQ this is a poor attempt to copy that. The order was messed up with the vegetables brought out and no meat. When questioned the server went back to the kitchen returning with the meat portion ten minutes later no apologies no explanation. Collard greens way way too salty cooked plain no salt pork. We had the ribs and chicken. Neither was smoked, but were cooked on a grill with BBQ sauce. If you are not smoking meat in the winter let that be known. The band played so loud that it was painful never mind being able to hold a conversation. Apparently we were not alone in that opinion because the place emptied shortly after the band started to play. I do not plan to return.
TA
Tad P
As a relocated southerner to the shores of Portland, one of my first tasks was to find a decent BBQ place. Salvage was recommended by the locals as THE place to get BBQ locally. Sadly it looks like I might need to go back to smoking my own pork shoulders. "Carolina Style BBQ" is not cubed BBQ with no smoke flavor. Carolina style is either chopped or pulled with a vinegar based sauce. Hush puppies were decent but not spectacular - as was the cole slaw. Ill definitely go back to try out some other dishes but my first experience left me a bit wanting. The place is pretty darn neat on the inside however.
