Bbq Shack

Came with a group of 5 before a whale watching tour. We only had about an hour so we were prepared to take our food to go. Sat out back on the patio had some cold beers and strong, tasty margaritas. We were a little worried the waitress would forget us since we were out back, but she kept our waters full and checked in frequently. We all ordered our lunches to go but after the first bites we scarfed those things down. No need for a to-​go box. Tasty BBQ. Quick, attentive service and close to the marina.

This is a place of contradictions. It’s almost as if someone who has never been east of Utah or South of Ohio decided to start a barbecue restaurant. With few exceptions, things are quite good, but not at all what you expect, if you know real southern barbecue.
I ordered a «rib sandwich» and my wife ordered a «pulled-​pork sandwich».
My wife’s sandwich was barbecue pork that was chopped into tiny bits, like it had been through a food-​processor. No piece was longer than ¼″. Pulled-​pork is supposed to have a tender, stringy texture, as if the pork was pulled from the shoulder piece after many hours of smoking. She found it passable, but she would have preferred what I ordered.
My sandwich actually looked like pulled-​pork. What they had done is take ribs and pull the meat off the bones for a sandwich. It was served on a delicious bun. For those who haven’t been to barbecue joints in buildings that look condemned (the best kind), this will sound strange. A real rib sandwich is two or three ribs (on the bone) served with two pieces of white bread. The reality, is that it’s really a way to order a small rib meal.
They had four sauces:
1. Bourbon — This was an extremely sweet and mild sauce, but not much flavor.
2. KC — I assume this stands for Kansas City. It had a bit more flavor than the bourbon sauce, and wasn’t quite as sweet, but still not very bold.
3. Mustard — Barbecue in the Carolinas use mustard-​based sauces, but this mustard sauce was made with stone-​ground mustard, and had far too much mustard flavor for a mustard barbecue sauce.
4. Ghost Pepper — The ghost pepper is reportedly the hottest pepper in existence. This sauce is definitely spicier than the others, but certainly not «the hottest in existence.» Also, the flavor is a bit bitter, but no bold barbecue flavor.
I wound up using a mixture of the KC sauce and the Ghost Pepper sauce. I found it adequate, but not great.
Neither of us particularly like slaw, so they let us substitute other sides (very nice of them). I got the baked beans and my wife got the mac & cheese.
I found the baked beans to be a bit runny, and had the same lack of boldness that the barbecue sauces did.
The mac & cheese on the other hand, was beyond good! It probably took a year off the end of my life eating that cheesy goodness (we shared both sides), but it was worth it!
The other side that each of us got was «hush-​puppies». Again, I think this is culture confusion. Hush puppies are generally served in catfish joints, not barbecue joints. The legend of how hush-​puppies came to be was that when someone was frying catfish, they needed something to feed the dog so it would stop begging, so they gave it small fried bits of the breading, fried without the fish, and telling the dog, «hush puppy!»
This is one place where the diversion for reality was much appreciated. Instead of being savory balls of catfish breading, these were little sweet balls of cornbread! They were like eating little doughnuts made from corn! It’s a misnomer to call these hush-​puppies, but when we’re in town again, I want more!
The last strange thing was the «sweet tea». As it should be, it was quite sweet. It had almost no flavor of tea, though. At first, I thought I was drinking flat, watery cola.
The women who served us here was quite nice, and although the food was strange to us, there were definite high-​points. I’d love to eat here again. The meat on my sandwich was actually quite flavorful, if I could just sneak some sauce in.

BEST meal we had in Friday Harbor!!!
We started with a basket of pups, you don’t want to miss out on these. They are like little fried balls of heaven in your mouth. I had a two meat entrée, I chose the pulled pork and the brisket. The pulled pork was amazingly good, the brisket was meh but edible. I happened to get the fattiest piece of brisket ever, which was why I enjoyed it less. For sides I had the potato salad and beans, both were excellent! My husband had the fried chicken with fries, he was very pleased with his plate as well. The BBQ sauces on the table are very good, my favorite was the KC (Kansas City) and my husband’s was the Blow Hole. Would come here again in a heartbeat, great service and excellent food.

Stopped by here while in Friday Harbor. This place was a nice change from every other restaurant on the island. We had a party of 10+ people, and were easily seated. The waitress was really friendly and funny and made our experience all the more pleasant. The menu here was pretty limited, but they had all the key southern comfort food that we were looking for.
++ Sauces
What made this place for me was the variety of sauces they had here. My favorite was the ghost pepper sauce and the bourbon sauce. Both weren’t too spicy. There was one more sauce made from the hottest pepper in the world, but I can’t think of the name right now. Ask for it! It had a pretty good kick to it.
++ Food
My table shared the fried chicken, pulled pork, and a rib sandwich. All were pretty good given that Friday Harbor is a really small town. You can’t expect AMAZING food, but you can expect a good time :). I enjoyed the pulled pork, because it allowed me to pair it with all the different sauces. As for the sides, the potato salad was really good. It was my favorite. I didn’t have the baby back ribs, but my other family members did. They said it wasn’t fall off the bone. The meat itself wasn’t very memorable and seemed to rely on the sauces, which thankfully were delicious.
Overall, this restaurant was a pretty good place and change from the other typical restaurants on the island.

I decided to get takeout one night for dinner, so I stopped by BBQ Shack. The place is pretty small, and while I was there, there was only one other table that was occupied on a Tuesday night. I ordered a half rack of ribs, which came with cole slaw and hush puppies. The ribs were nice and smokey, and I really liked the sauce with the mustard in it. The slaw was just ok, but I really loved the hush puppies: nice and crispy, with a hint of sweetness. I would come back just for more hush puppies.
If you are tired of eating seafood while on the island, try the BBQ Shack.

Had the brisket sandwich and it was awesome and the hush puppies were equally as good. The brisket was moist and tender with just the right amount of smoke. Coming from a person does a lot of authentic BBQ I was impressed. Now the pulled pork it was terrible we sent it back. Very baffling to me pulled pork is way easier to do them brisket, I’m not complaining because nothing better then a good brisket. Oh and the BBQ sauce is better then average also.

I used to live in Texas and Virginia. A barbecue place this far north made me wonder if it is of low quality or a tourist trap.
I was very pleasantly surprised!
Drinks: nothing special, but they were much cheaper than neighbouring places
Services: excellent! The waitresses helped us pick out what we want and were extremely accommodating with our substitution requests
Food: baby back ribs, cole slaw, fries, and a few other things. ⁵⁄₅

We were looking for some good home cooking and found a good olé boy cookin’ up some perty darn good grub. Started with the beef brisket which was incredible, followed by an order of fried chicken which was very good, too.
We liked the variety of sauces offered, and the sides were tasty but a little on the sweet side especially the beans. But it was all good.

We went to the BBQ Shack this weekend and ordered the Beef Brisket sandwich. The sandwich was SO good that we came back a few minutes later and ordered a lb of the brisket to take home. This was the best food we found in Friday Harbor for sure.

We stopped here while docked in Friday Harbor on a sailing trip. The BBQ was quite good — a pleasant surprise, and better than most BBQ in Seattle.
The sauces are excellent — the bourbon sauce, bbq sauce, ghost pepper (not that hot though), and another sauce I can’t remember the name of but that was very hot (and our favorite).
The meats were well cooked and had a nice subtle touch of hickory smoke.
The indoor seating area is pretty small, but they also have a nice outdoor patio in the back. They have a decent beer selection too.

Good sliders and pulled pork. Good variety of sauces. Surprisingly good BBQ in the pacific northwest. Hush puppies were an interesting and yummy addition.

Ordered jap and cream cheese= WOW! and fried chicken with mashed potatoes= amazing! And dont miss hush puppies! They made great ones! Great environment! If you want to eat fried on San Juan island, this place is for you!

Decided to have BBQ in Friday Harbor on a whim, and boy was it a good whim!
Being from Georgia I’m accustom to having good BBQ, and BBQ Shack delivers some of the best BBQ I’ve had in the State of Washington.
The Ribs were fall of the bone tender, and the beef brisket was equally tender and just the right amount of fat still left with it.
The Bourbon sauce was outstanding.
Keep up the good work y’all!

The place is clean and has about 6 – 7 tables for seating. The restaurant has limited items on menu but enough to offer something meaty for their customers (burgers, pull porks, ribs, fried chicken, and basic southern comfort food/​dishes). They also have
RC sodas/​local beer, too.
My friend and I ordered baby back rib (which included hush puppies and mac&cheese, a side dish that we chose. We added 2 side dishes of fried corn /​and mashed potatoes with gravy. The lady at the cashier was actually nice enough to let me order just 2 sides as she mentioned typically they never really take side dishes orders alone (instead of another full plate since I wasn’t that hungry); I actually also wanted to order crawfish with butter as an appetizer dish but they ran out of it.
I found the food was ok and not that memorable. Both the female servers were nice but the food didn’t seem so fresh. They seemed somewhat pre-​made, so I’m not sure how long ago the food was actually cooked. I think this restaurant is probably very busy during high (travel) season, but when we stopped by in October, we were really just the only customers there (probably because there are not that many tourists anymore).
Anyhow, this restaurant was a good enough option for us to stay away from typical sandwiches/​burger/​salad places from restaurants around Friday Harbor town. Although the dishes were a little expensive (the main dishes that include pulled pork, ribs, or kobe burgers were around $ 14 – 16), I wouldn’t mind eating there as an alternative food option to typical bland salad/​sandwiches if I’m in that area again.

Absolutely wonderful BBQ restaurant in Friday Harbor. We were here late at night, just before closing, and they got food out to us very quickly. The corn bread was delicious (Alexia had the last piece they had for that day), and the ribs were juicy and perfect in every describable way.
As shown in the picture of the place, you’re running with four different sauces – and I didn’t find anything to complain about in any of them. They have a very good selection of beer, which is a good thing to have with BBQ, and the waitress was kind and prompt. I liked the meat being so exquisitely soft as it was, though I see other people found it overcooked – if it is soft rather than chewy, it just doesn’t count as overcooked to me. Same with vinegar tastes; I like ‘em, so your mileage my vary.
Usual sort of «Texas» theme to the joint, which is super-​kitschy and incongruous in Friday Harbor, but I didn’t feel put off by it, and the rough-​hewn wood is really very suitable there.

Out of pulled pork, no longer offer ¼ or ½ chicken or white meat, and everything tasted smokey. I understand it’s a BBQ joint, but even my cornbread was grilled and had a smokey flavor. Frustrated that their menu wasn’t accurate.
Waitress was very nice and service was quick.

Finding a BBQ place in Washington State with positive Unilocal review made us excited to try the Shack on our Whale Watching cruise’s stop over in Friday Harbor.
Being from Kansas City, we like to think we know something about good BBQ. I ordered the brisket sandwich and my wife ordered the chopped chicken sandwich. Both were good, although we both preferred the brisket to the chicken. Back home, we are sort of used to a pulled chicken style BBQ sandwich, so that probably prejudiced our opinion of the chicken. The brisket was excellent.
The side dishes were very good. I got the corn while my wife got the smoked mac and cheese. No complaints on either. The corn was flavorful and juicy.
As for the 4 unique sauces, I preferred the spicy BBQ to the rest. The regular BBQ sauce was good though, and I would not have been disappointed if it were the only sauce presented. I liked the berry sauce on the chicken too.
The service was good as well. The young lady who waited on us was attentive and helpful. I’d definitely stop in at the BBQ Shack again if I’m ever back in Friday Harbor.

My fiancé and I are pretty big fans of BBQ (although I wouldn’t call us snobs). When we find a new BBQ place we like to try it out. We were in Friday Harbor for a two hour lunch break during our whale watching trip. We had walked around for what seemed like forever looking for a spot to grab some food. Part of me thought «You are 2100 miles from home, why get BBQ?» and the other part of me thought «Why not?».
It was exactly what we were looking for. I’ll admit it has been 3 weeks since we visited (we would have probable gone back right now if it didn’t require a 30+ hour drive) so my memory is a little fuzzy on what we ordered. I know I had the pulled pork sandwich, my fiancé had wings (I think…) and we also ordered a side of coleslaw.
While waiting for our food we took the time to relax, the BBQ Shack is tucked away behind another storefront which gives it this hidden-​special-​place-​that-​you-​only-​know-​about-​yet-​there-​are-​other-​people-​inside feeling. I believe the ‘Shack is newer to Friday Harbor because wasn’t a copy of a menu on our whale watching boat.
The girl who seated us (she was very polite) also brought us out a bucket (you can also call it a tub… why not?) of sauces. There were 4 in all, and all of them are homemade. I believe they were mild, hot, buffalo and a berry sauce. The reason why I don’t remember is because I stopped trying the other sauces when I tasted the berry sauce. I would go back just for the sauce, and I regret not picking up a bottle of it to take home.
Anyway, the food was fantastic. The pulled pork was delicious. The slaw was some of the best I’ve had. The berry sauce was something I had never tasted before and went great with my sandwich. It is unfortunate that I won’t have another opportunity to stop in the BBQ Shack for a long time, if ever. Unless they plan on opening one in the Chicagoland area… I envy those of you who get to eat here on a more regular basis.

This is truly a hidden gem in Friday Harbor. The ribs fall off the bone like few other BBQ joints, but the sides here are truly phenomenal.
Ive never had hush puppies so tasty that they didn’t need butter, ketchup, or vinegar. In fact, when I first opened up our to-​go bag I was upset there were no condiments, but they weren’t needed. The puppies were sweet and succulent on their own. And the ribs with the blackberry sauce were amazing.
Well be back to Friday Harbor, even if its just for this place!

I visit Friday Harbor regularly and always dine out. I have my favorites but I’m always on the lookout for something new. On my last visit I was happy to see that a new BBQ joint opened right downtown on Spring Street. The BBQ Shack has taken the space of the now closed Dos Diablos.
I went for lunch with my brother-​in-​law, a real BBQ fanatic who has visited some of the more famous BBQ places in the nation. We both had the pulled pork sandwich which ranks right up there with the best of them. He went back a few days later to try the brisket and gave it another thumbs up.
The owners are a sweet young local couple, Kurt and Sarah, who are doing a great job with this new venture. Friday Harbor needs good restaurants and the BBQ Shack is now one of my favorites.