Meat & Shake

Nice BBQ joint in Ealing! Authentic and good food.
We don’t usually seek out American food, but stopped in here because it was raining, and we were hungry. The American theme was in full force: American music, Uncle Sam pictured on the menu, and very American-​sized portions. The only un-​American thing was the (hot) tea on their menu, and I was grateful for the deviation.
We came at an odd time, so the place was empty; service was good, and the food came quickly. My brisket was very tender, and it came with a delicious sauce and coleslaw. My husband’s burger and shake were both large and good, as were the table sauces. Better than I expected!

This nearly got itself 5 stars, but not quite there… yet!
Meat & Shake was on my radar as soon as it opened in Ealing, it’s near enough my local!
We finally got round to giving it a try, and in all honesty I wasn’t sure what to expect. The place has mixed reviews, and I had my reservations. I don’t think my opinion of a place has changed as quickly as it did here when our starters came out! My doubt turned to joy at the first bite of the hot link sausage, closely followed by an amazing Buffalo wing… I knew we were on to a winner!
Mains wise I had spotted one of the best looking ribs I had seen in a long time, so asked the waitress for the same thing. My partner went for a burger and we added chips (with balsamic and mayo) and mac n cheese.
The ribs were as stunning as they looked, full of meat, juicy, tasty and all round heaven on a plate.
The burger was good, but if you want the best burger in the world go elsewhere. it’s the BBQ side of things that make Meat & Shake stand out so I really suggest sticking with that… chicken, ribs, hotdogs etc
The chips were amazing, I had never even seen chips with balsamic on before, but after these will be covering them in it in the future!
The Mac n cheese was average, nice but in all honesty we didn’t’ need it… the portions were big and we were pretty stuffed!
So food wise this is one of the best meals I have had for the price range it’s in, and will 100% be going back.
The only thing that really let Meat & Shake down was the service, and it wasn’t just us. 3 tables around us were moaning to each other about it as well. The issue wasn’t staff themselves, it was clearly there was not enough of them. We waited ages to order, and in the end skipped dessert before I aged another week myself. It’s a simple change that would have given this place 5 stars… get some more staff on busy nights, and organise them better!
In summary, give this place a visit, and you won’t disappointed! Maybe just avoid the hot sauce, as it’s lethal!

Was relatively excited to visit this place after the positive Unilocal reviews.
After a 1 HOUR wait the food finally came after watching many people arrive, eat and leave in the time we waited for our food.
Thankfully the food was really good.
Highly recommend the Hot Links sausage. Most of the bbq sauce stuff is quite fruity which isn’t my vibe usually.
What really irked me was ordering a bootle of tap water for the table which took 20minutes while the waitress prepped two empty tables with water before us.

I’ve visited this branch of Meat & Shake to eat in twice. I’ve also ordered a takeaway via deliveroo! All were delicious.
The first time I visited was with the boyfriend, around 9.45 on a Friday and the restaurant was very quiet. Almost a little too quiet but staff were attentive to the fact and didn’t stand too close so we didn’t feel uncomfortable at any point. The second time it was a weekday lunch time and again quiet but we were left to our devices to chat.
The first time I ordered a Plain Jane burger which I tried to customise slightly and alas the waitress got confused and my order came out wrong. It was no biggie though and the burger was delicious! Charred outside and moist and tender in the middle. We ordered the truffle fries & pit beans to share which were utterly amazing! The beans were the best BBQ beans I’ve ever had. I ordered exactly the same as takeout a couple of weeks later.
The second time I ordered the two pieces of fried chicken and shared Mac N Cheese and Dirty Fries with my friend. The sides were delicious but came out a little on the cold side. The fries were good but I’ve had better, the cheese wasn’t properly melted. The fried chicken was amazingly tasty but the coating was a little too thick for my liking, I found it really difficult to eat and it made it a little too greasy for me personally.
The décor inside is lovely and staff also fantastic.

I’ve never been to any other Meat & Shake, and I’ve been to this one twice since it opened (plus a takeout feast via Deliveroo) so I feel I am ready to review this.
First time we went, we did so with the intention of trying the Tomahawk, for which unfortunately we need to give at least 48 hours notice so that the chef can book the cut with their butcher. So we decided to go for the TBone, but alas that evening they had sold them out already.
Were we going to give up? NEVER.
I finally had the pleasure of trying Fried Chicken & Waffle, which is a lot tastier than I had imagined. Two big pieces of chicken, deep DEEP fried (seriously, the breading was so thick) and served on a round big waffle. It comes with Maple syrup, which you can pour on top of it yourself to your liking. Very tasty.
My other half had the Von Longhorn burger, which, to this day, I regret not trying because it looked incredible (and he swears by it). As sides we had truffle fries, corn on the cob (very nicely steamed albeit a bit bland, as it is) and the most crunchy and flavourful onion rings.
One piece of advice, don’t touch the sauces on the cutlery rack that’s on your table. You THINK you like hot sauces, you don’t know how wrong you are.
You have been warned.
We topped it off with dessert: oreo fried doughnuts. Unnecessary, Martina. Unnecessary. But tasty (there’s five in the portion, I only managed to eat one and a half).
That same evening we booked a Tomahawk for the weekend after.
So there we were, 7 days later (during which we doubled the order above as takeout), we entered the cosy and stylish little restaurant, our bodies were ready.
No Tomahawk, their butcher didn’t have the cut. They did however reserved two TBones for us and MY SWEET LORD how delicious they were. And because you can never have too much meat, we accompanied them with their Bone Marrow shafts, which I was a bit sceptic about and turned out to be pure deliciousness. Smear those buggers all over your steak and you’re in beef heaven. Guarantee it.
The poor chaps at the restaurants had to face a neighbourhood-​wide black out which meant closing down before 9pm on a Saturday night, and yet instead of charging us for 2 TBones and 3 sides (1 Tbone + side comes at £35) they charged us for 1 Tomahawk (£55) because that’s what we had asked at the beginning. We were happy to leave a good tip for their generosity and top notch service even during kitchen panic.
Will DEFINITELY go back again.