Re-Up BBQ

Restaurant or food stall?

I have been wanting to try Re-Up for quite some time, pretty much ever since the hype from their food trucks and of course, I love barbecue meats. But, the thing is I never knew where the food trucks were! LOL. So when I heard Re-Up opened up their own restaurant at New Westminster Quay, I was pretty excited and complained every week of how I wanted to come down here, for months. And finally made the visit.

With a colourful, organized and easy to read chalkboard menu, Re-up's menu is pretty much like any other barbecue joint. Platters are available with one type of meat along with two sides, or a larger platter with all the fixins to sample every type of meat. The restaurant offers breakfast, chilli, chicken wings and of course, barbecue meats and sandwiches. In addition, apparently the fried chicken is supposed to be pretty good here! Customers pay at the front and when the food is ready, head to the pick up area when the number written on the receipt is called out.

SIDES OF COLESLAW, BLACK BEAN AND CORN CHILLI, AND MASHED POTATO.
ADD ONS OF PULLED PORK AND BEEF BRISKET.

PULLED PORK ADD ON ($5.50).

Although the pulled pork has a mild smokey taste, the meat is not shredded well, tastes dry as well as stringy and does not taste moist at all. The pulled pork pretty much relies on the barbecue sauce which fortunately, does not taste bad. The barbecue sauce has a light smokiness and provides some moisture for the meat.

BEEF BRISKET ADD ON ($5.50).

The brisket tastes chewy and although not moist or extremely dry, it does taste like reheated meat. Honestly, the brisket tastes smoked, sliced and packaged, then reheated to order. In addition, the brisket has an odd chewiness which resembles the texture as well as taste of boiled or steamed meat, and tastes bland (with the exception of the slices slathered with barbecue sauce). For a restaurant, I assumed the meats would be smoked daily, but I guess I forgot anything at the River Market is considered a food stall, which means fast food.

SIDE OF MASHED POTATO.

The mashed potato tastes like the potatoes have been boiled and then left in the water or left un-mashed for too long after cooking, and has the color of it as well. Furthermore the mashed potato has that weird "old boiled watery potato taste" and could have used more milk as well as butter. The kitchen should have definitely tasted this before serving and this is the worst mashed potato either of us ever had. As for the consistency, rather than fluffy or smooth with a bit of chunks, the mashed potato is chunky with hard pieces. To be honest, the chunkiness and hard pieces are okay with me since I am not fussy towards mashed potato, but, that unappetizing boiled watery taste? I could not get passed that.

SIDE OF BLACK AND CORN CHILLI.

The chilli does not look too bad and has a good amount of corn as well as black beans. However, the overwhelming zesty lime sauce masks the taste and although I could pick up a faint taste of tomato as well as spice, it was hard to tell because the sourness was wiggling in my mouth.

BBQ RIBS HALF RACK ($14.50).
Fortunately after taking a few bites of all the above, we happened to save the best for last without knowing. The back ribs taste tender with a nice chewiness, and the smokiness comes mainly from the barbecue sauce. If anything, the smokiness could have came from the ribs rather than sauce, served hot instead of warm (as well as the other meats), and have an actual barbecue taste! How can ribs lack a nice barbecued taste? But hey, honestly, it was a great way to end our late lunch because the ribs taste so much better than the pulled pork and brisket.

TOTAL: $38.35 + TIP $1.65 = $40.00 (-) $11.55 WINGS = $28.45.

Re-Up is more of a food stall to me than a restaurant. I am not impressed with the pre-made and heated food, although there is more hype to blame than the food stall. However, if I was expecting a food court quality then this would be it, but unfortunately I expected restaurant quality food. As for the service, it is of course self-serve but the cashier, Michael, was extremely friendly. If it was not for him, I would have been more annoyed with the food.

POSITIVES
- Friendly cashier
- Good location for the locals?

NEGATIVES
- Typical food court style eats
- Was not expecting pre-made and heated food
- Food is served warm rather than hot
- Pricey for what it is
- Pulled pork and brisket is just not good

LITTLE THINGS
- Utensils are not the cleanest
- Wanted to try the wings but they were sold out and the cashier walked out to give us a refund. The wings may taste better than the barbecue
- To say "I knew I should've" stopped at Burgers Etc when we drove by rather than trying Re-Up is unfair because I have been wanting to try this place for a while! But seriously, I have been wanting to revisit Burgers Etc for a couple of weeks which feels like forever (I did secretly think Re-Up would be better too)!

Food: 2/5 (ribs 2.5/5)
Service: N/A