Broil-Mate 155154 Liquid Propane Gas Grill, Black and Black Chrome Review

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I have nothing but praise for my Broil-Mate 155154 gas grill. Prior to this grill, I owned a Weber for 20 years, which I left behind when I moved 3 years ago. I then bought a $250 Charbroil, which lived up to its name and charred everything. It had the most uneven heat of any grill I ever cooked on.

So this spring, after much research I purchased the Broil-Mate 155154. It reminds me a lot of my old Weber, in that it heats up fast, cooks even, and has great heat control. I now enjoy grilling again. This is a quality grill with a cast aluminum oven and porcelain coated cast iron grills. I searched all the offerings at the local box and hardware stores and even the Webers they stocked were cheap made in China grills. This grill is made in Canada. Do be fooled by some fancy painted sheet metal grill or cheap stainless steel grill that will rust. Sometimes old school is the best way to go.

I've grilled out 14 times in the 10 days I have had this grill, and everything has turned out perfect. I would give it 6 stars if I could.

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Ordered this Broil-Mate online, sight unseen, since it wasn't available in any nearby stores. It arrived in good condition. During assembly there were some mismatched holes in the front sheet metal panel that I fixed with a drill.

I tightened everything snugly with a wrench instead of screwdriver tight. I think that makes a difference in the overall sturdiness of the frame. However that metal panel clattered and banged whenever I moved the grill anywhere. It sounded like a rolling piece of junk until I put some foam tape between the panel and legs. Also the side trays are not secured in place so I drove some extra screws in from the bottom to keep them from popping off. I read about the plastic handle getting hot so I put the metal washers between the handle and lid to create a little gap. I think it helps. These are annoying little flaws that kept me from giving this grill 5 stars, because otherwise its a great product.

The grill comes up to temperature quickly and there are no hot spots. For once I was able to grill steaks 4 minutes on each side the way I've always read about, but couldn't do on our old one. Likewise salmon fillets cooked perfectly. Cooking for a small group shouldn't be any problem at all.

Pro:

Fast, even heat

Simple, no frills design

Cast aluminum oven

Large upper rack

Heavy cast iron grates

Made in North America (though the grates are from China)

Cons:

No grease can supplied

No enclosed storage space (but there are hooks for utensils)

Needs to be tinkered with to fix minor design flaws

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We've had this grill for 2 years and it still as good as new. It cooks evenly and heats up quickly.

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First of all, I'm not sure why this particular grill is not readily available at local stores. I had to order mine from an Ace Hardware store, and paid $199.00 for it, with free shipping to the store. I was aware of this brand only because my daughter lived in Canada for two years and bought one when she was there. Since she raved about it, I decided to buy one to replace my three year old Fiesta grill which was almost totally rusted out in spite of being covered year round. I can't even think of an appropriate analogy to compare the Broil Mate with the Fiesta. The Broil Mate appears to be made of top quality materials, and has outstanding features for the price. I did read several reviews regarding the misaligned holes, but didn't encounter any problems. I have learned not to tighten every bolt/screw until a section is completed because often the holes can easily be aligned by simply moving one piece a little bit. Whenever I used my old Fiesta grill I had to wait forever for it to get hot enough and then had to constantly adjust the two burners because the right side was considerably hotter than the left side. The Broil Mate has no problem heating up very quickly and maintaining an even temperature on both sides. Since I just bought this, I have no way to determine how long it will last, but based on it's quality I would have to disagree with the reviewer who says it will last only one season.

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I purchased this grill over three years ago and it has worked well for me. I recently replaced it though with a CharBroil "Tru Infrared" Patio Bistro Grill.....a much smaller and much better unit...... A lot better.... (see my recent review about it at Amazon).

This Canadian made Broil Mate 155154 reviewed here is a big hulk of a low tech grill and burns a lot of gas...45,000 BTU when both burners are on. So expect to be refilling your gas tank quite often. I think this grill was designed to cook well in cold Canadian winters!

My biggest complaint is that the heat is not evenly distributed over the two heavy duty cast iron cooking grates. There are "hot spots" and "not so hot" spots on the grates. But this is typical of most gas grills however.

A good test of this (with the grill on) is to cover the grates with white bread slices and note which ones toast faster than the others. You will be surprised to see the large difference in toasting capability over the grate surface. So if you want a steak to be cooked quickly you must find the best "hot spot" on the grill grate. Even then the grill seems to cook the steak a little on the slow side (for me anyway).

Actually this grill works quite well when cooking a bunch of hamburgers with a 15% fat content. The dripping fat causes flareups which actually help to cook the hamburgers more quickly and

evenly and give them a bit of charred flavor. This grill has a very large domed cook space so it's quite good for doing whole chickens, turkeys and large roasts. The grill temperature can be adjusted to maintain an even cooking temperature with the two gas valves. I've done a lot of standing rib roasts on the grill and they've come out to perfection. So I am generally pretty happy with this grill.

My new CharBroil "TRU Infrared" Patio Bistro Grill is a horse of a different color however. It is much more compact, uses much less fuel (13,000 BTU), heats up to cooking temps much quicker and the grate surface gets much hotter (excellent for searing steaks). But there is a downside...the CharBroil grill requires a rigorous cleaning after every cooking session while the Broil Master grates can be brushed clean in a few seconds.

I think both grills are quite capable but serve different purposes. The Charbroil does steaks and chops to "SteakHouse" perfection while the Broil Mate is more of a "lots of hot dogs and hamburgers" grill that requires little or no maintenance. The Broil Mate handles big cooking jobs better too...chicken, turkey and large roasts, etc.