Montana's Cookhouse : Coquitlam location

A delayed post for a while has been Montana's because the visit was not so great and in fact, it was the worst visit I ever had here. I was actually quite upset because I like Montana's and was looking forward to this visit. I feel like I jinxed myself because I was telling my friend that the Langley location is always consistent and their ribs taste pretty good. However, the Coquitlam location can range from the worst or decent, to the best. Every Wednesday, Montana's has all you can eat ribs for an extra $1.00 charge. Montana's ribs are parboiled then grilled to make the meat "fall off the bone." Many people hate parboiled ribs because it is a waste of flavour and only suitable for those who like heavy sauce slathered on their ribs. Personally I do not mind parboiled ribs as long as they taste good, and usually they do at Montana's.

The interior of Montana's resembles a cabin with cosmetic decor such as skis, snow shoes, a snow mobile, canoe and antler chandeliers. The restaurant has a high black ceiling and faux wooden booth seats, chairs, doors and pillars. Montana's is a very family friendly restaurant and many tables were here to celebrate a birthday. The highlight of the birthday dinner is when attention is drawn from a cow bell, following the staff members singing a jingle and delivering the dessert. The birthday person also gets to wear a moose hat.

Our rib story. Our fall off the bone ribs are slow smoked for hours and hours over hickory wood chips. Our secret spices give them the smokey, finger lickin' can't get enough of it taste that Montana's Cookhouse is famous for!

CAESAR ($6.95).

After a fifteen minute wait, the drinks came. I forgot to mention I wanted the caesar spicy but luckily that was not an issue. The caesar tastes spicy and has a faint tomato taste, one of the better caesars I had in a while. I was a bit surprised for a chain restaurant, the server did not try to upsell the drink to a big sky caesar. 

HONKIN BEEF RIBS, "These honkin' bones are rubbed, smoked, basted and grilled to tender, fall of the bone perfection. Served with your choice of signature BBQ sauce ($26.99) + AYCE ($1.00) with seasonal vegetables and kicked up corn.

I have never seen beef ribs cut so thick, including my at least ten visits to both Montana's locations. If the rubs were cut smaller like their usual size, the meat would have tasted more tender. The ribs taste somewhat tender, but could have been more tender and tastes bland. This is a first for me, bland ribs at Montana's?

When the server asked how the ribs were, I responded bland and dry, and she was kind enough to offer me an extra side of honey garlic sauce. I remember thinking at the time, "why would I eat ribs with cold sauce?", before realizing it is an unfair thought because many people including myself enjoy eating hot fries with cold ketchup. As for the side of vegetables, the broccoli and carrot taste good, refreshing, and are sautéed in butter. The Kicked Up Corn is quite tasty and simple as well, including a bit of diced red and green pepper.

SMOKE HOUSE PORK RIBS, PORK SIDE RIBS ($25.99) + AYCE ($1.00) WITH A BAKED POTATO AND KICKED UP CORN.

The pork ribs taste dry, stiff and chewy, but did not have that boiled taste and texture like the beef ribs. The end pieces of the ribs were also extremely hard to cut. As for the sides, the baked potato includes real cheddar, chives, bacon and sour cream. My friend asked for no chives because he is allergic and we found one piece in the potato. That one piece of chive was probably overlooked when they removed majority of the chives from the potato after realizing we asked for no chives. The good news is, the potato tastes fresh and soft.

SECOND AND NEW ORDER OF BEEF RIBS.
The server was kind and offered to grab me a new order of beef ribs because the first was horrible. The second order of beef ribs taste more tender and less dry, but does not taste juicy one bit. The ribs really taste like boiled meat which is fine, but it tastes like it was poked on a high fast boil and is not flavourful at all. I am not sure why the sauce did not mask the flavour too. I feel like the cook should have grilled the ribs longer to bring out the taste in the sauce and to hide the boiled meat flavour.

THIRD ORDER OF BEEF RIBS.

Being the stubborn person I am, I was not going to leave until I had one decent beef rib! The third beef rib has a slight grilled taste and tastes better than the rest. Although chewy and hard to cut, the boiled meat taste is a bit more faint. Overall I am not sure what went wrong with this visit. I am a fan of Montana's but this is absolutely the worst ribs I ever had.

Montana's tables are covered with brown packaging paper and diners can draw while they wait for food. Lollypops are also given rather than mints.

POSITIVES

- Friendly and attentive staff (best service out of all my visits, usually service is below average)

- Well trained staff, no floaters and everyone was occupied

- Free pop refills

- Family friendly restaurant

NEGATIVES

- Not sure what happened with the ribs

- Inconsistent

LITTLE THINGS

- It is worth the drive to the Langley location

- I wish we did not do AYCE, could have saved $2.00 and kept the bones for the dogs

Food: 1/5

Service: 3.5/5