I'd love to say I'm crazy about Diablos BBQ. You're like a very hot babe. You got all the right moves, the curves in the right places, yer dressed all nice, yer hair is silky smooth, you got long legs that just won't quit and endowments that make men dream, but we just can't date, it wouldn't feel right, we just don't mesh.
Now for the review
T H E G O O D
The décor is awesome; it feels like a barn square dance without the dancing. The music is like the soundtrack to a good action flick. The rock-a-Billy staff offers great service with a smile without being formal. The menu is far from cliché. You'll find items here found nowhere else in Montreal. The drinks... lots and lots of singular drinks, making this one hell of an interesting bar... seriously I could spent my pay on drinks there. Plus I love drinking out of a mason jar. I know I have no class.
T H E B A D
Or "T h e n o t s o g o o d". Normally I reserve my good-bad-ugly review for disaster restaurant experiences. This wasn't a disaster but it was a very divisive experience. They have some very UNIQUE menu items, one of which is the Louis Cypher - the Angel Heart reference alone made sure I was getting this - is a homemade CORNDOG - been waiting for this for years - made of sausage with cheese dredged with a thick tasty batter. How is this bad you ask? Deep fried battered sausage, that's the dream man. Unfortunately, there was so much batter on the sucker that the batter wasn't cooked through and the sausage at best was bordering on cold. I was utterly disappointed since my anticipation was sky-high. There was also cornbread, dry and crumbly, still tasty, but no punch to it.
T H E U G L Y
Diablos BBQ offers the ultimate southern steak, the Chicken Fried Steak. It's like fried chicken but with a slab of cow. It's battered and dredged and deep fried as is it were chicken and slathered with a peppered white sauce (aka béchamel) and comes from the German settlers who transformed their Wiener Schnitzel to adapt to what was available in cattle country. It's so awesome it's even served for breakfast with eggs down south. Mind-blowing stuff - which I make a pretty good version of at home. Unfortunately the batter seemed to be made of pepper only and I couldn't take more than my first bite. Fortunately the manager agreed with me and there was discussion of the prep cook and a wood chipper, but I digress. Of course I couldn't get the fried chicken, same dredge.
T H E V E R D I C T
Again I want to love this place and there so many things to love. The staff, the bar, the menu, the presentation, the atmosphere, those French fries are in a whole world of awesome by themselves. The slaw is made to order because the creamy dressing hasn't softened the crunchy cabbage. The ribs I had as a replacement for the chicken friend stake were pretty damn good - though they got nothin' on Blackstrap BBQ. Oh and yeah, Whoopie Pies.
I'll also add that the service far exceeded my expectations for this type of place. The manager was very open minded and took note of my criticism and offered to on-the-house my next chicken fried steak. True pros all the way. Can't say that enough.
To be re-reviewed in the future. I ain't giving up on it yet.