NEW SYSTEM BBQ - DINER/BBQ/LATE NIGHT/DELIVERY

FULL REVIEW: 

NEW SYSTEM BBQ

TASTY CHICKEN, GREAT DELIVERY

Their website/menu:  http://www.newsystembbq.com/

3419 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal, QC H4C 1P3

Telephone:(514) 932-1484

Price range:  $20 for one person including drink, meal, and tip

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Mouthwatering Summary:  Fast delivery, and great chicken (and other food, but really - great chicken!)

Meal to try: Economic 2 chicken legs! And the Chef's Special Pizza!

Typically, whenever someone tells me about a place that has been around for a looooong time, I get at least a little suspicious about the hype. I mean, is the place really worthwhile, or is its longevity simply due to inertia powered by nostalgia? For New System BBQ, I'm happy to say that the reason why it's been around since 1948 is because it's good.


Now, I'm nowhere near old enough to have been around when this place started (hell, not even my parents would've been), but I have been eating its food for years now. And it never disappoints. Whether I'm ordering takeout or eating at the diner, I'm basically assured of two things. A)The food is tasty, and B)the portions are generous.

I have to admit though, I was a take-out customer for years before I ever set foot in the diner itself. For all I knew, I just placed orders to some magical chicken roasting pixie haven who then made and delivered my food. Two meals typically filled up yaaaaay amount of brown paper bag:

And the nice thing was, that's not all packaging. Not by a long shot. There's always a lot of food. Check out my most typical takeout order, the economic two chicken leg meal (I LOVE their naming convention - meal is $13.95):

Lemme tell ya - this chicken is flavorful. One of my friends from out of town (hell, from out of country) always said that he found Canadian bbq disappointing because the chicken was never seasoned or marinated correctly. Then he came here with me, and his tune changed. The meat is well-seasoned, and the bbq damn well nearly perfectly roasts the skin to the point where it's halfway between crispy and chewy. That's talent. The fries are also wonderfully thick, soft, and greasy too - just how I like 'em! As for the coleslaw, it's nothing special...

The sauces are interesting though. First, the bbq sauce:

It looks like regular brown gravy but this sauce somehow manages to taste like tourtiere. I have no idea how they do that, but I'm not complaining! One of these days, I'm going to have to get a tourtiere just to pour this sauce over it to see if I can get a recursive tourtiere flavour loop going!

Another thing I order a lot is the Greek salad with grilled chicken ($16.45).

I know that this picture was taken at the diner - the photo of the one I had at home got erased by my phone :(.

Now, I'm no salad fan, but I recognize that fruits and veggies are necessary to keep away the scurvy (and other, more modern maladies as well). But if I'm ordering vegetables, then I demand that there be meat to it! And since New System does such a good job with grilling chicken, why wouldn't I order it with the grilled chicken? Because, seriously, the chicken makes the salad! It's well seasoned and you can really, really taste the grilling. It makes the vegetables go down much more easily...

The salad also comes with an interesting clove-based (I think) sauce:

It's a tasty sauce, but I am honestly confused as to what it's actually made from. Like I said, I'm pretty sure it's clove-based, but...well, not sure.

When I go to the actual diner to eat, I often get pizzas here. For one thing, they're thick and huge, even if, nominally, the pizzas are the same size as those served elsewhere. Their pizza basically remind of those from Van Horne Pizzeria (which I've reviewed here). For example, here is a small Chef's Special pizza (i.e., all-dressed pizza with smoked meat and olives - $15.95).

The thing is thick and overloaded with toppings. And, best of all (for me), the pepperoni is cut lengthwise. As people who know me would know, this is how I like my pepperoni. I really, really don't know why, but pepperoni cut into strips rather than circles just taste better. The whole thing is good, of course - the near-perfect mix of all-dressed toppings with the smoked meat, olives, and thick sauce really satisfies my taste buds, and then some. The thickness of the pizza helps satisfy the stomach. Wins all around!

Speaking of thick - check out the lasagna au gratin ($12.95):

No part of the lasagna isn't thick, cheesy, or fully of sauce. The pepperoni portion buried under the cheese is good and generous too! Like the pizza, the ingredients of the lasagna mix together really well. Again, a deeply satisfying dish.

The chicken brochettes are also wonderful here ($16.95):

That really shouldn't come as a surprise, given the fact that the word "BBQ" is in the restaurant's name. As with the other chicken dishes mentioned in this post, the meat is flavorful and tender. Interestingly, they also manage to fill the rice with flavor too. God only knows how much broth they used in order for that to happen (I ain't complainin')!

Finally, they do have desserts as well, like the chocolate cake ($5.95):

I must admit, if there's any part of the dining experience that's lacking, it would be with the dessert. It's not bad, but... well, it's not why I come here, leave us say. It's cake - solid, competent cake. Nothing less, but also and sadly, nothing more. Ah well - can't win 'em all!

Okee - I am now hungry again. Must eat!

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Mouthwatering Montreal - New System BBQ Full Review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.