I spent the first 30 years of my grilling life using a charcoal grill; about 10 years ago I received a Charbroil Commercial series grill for my birthday. It took a while to get use to LP, but the convenience made me keep using it. On the list of things I didn't like about the Charbroil grill was how uneven the heating was and the absolute inability to get it hot enough to sear steaks, but I learned to live with it.
We recently added a new second-story deck off our upstairs "game room". It was time for a second gas grill. I was tempted to move my old charcoal grill up on the deck, but for fire-safety reasons decided gas was a better answer. I read everything I could find on LP grills and had all but decided on a highly rated Napoleon grill, but then I talked with a friend of mine who had been in the propane business all his life; he suggested I get a Broil Master. I went back to the online reviews, and through a comedy of errors ended up ordering the Broil King Regal 490, all the while thinking I was ordering the Broil Master my friend had suggested. I didn't catch my mistake until after the grill arrived. I decided I would keep my mistake and hope for the best...
The Broil King Regal 490 has FAR EXCEEDED any expectations I had for ANY LP grill. It heats evenly and quickly reaches searing temperatures I thought were impossible on a gas grill. The rotisserie burner makes a Boston butt or a whole chicken into a fool proof meal with no danger of flare-ups or burning. I cannot attest to longevity, but the grill is made from heavy gauge components that appear to be very good quality. Assembly was trivial, though the instruction manual is pictures only and several of the assembly steps include items that came pre-assembled. The quality difference between my Commercial Series Charbroil and the Broil King Regal are night and day though the price is about the same. I will say that even if the grill were to rust to pieces in a year or two (there are NO signs this might occur) I would likely purchase another one simply because it cooks so well. I can sear steaks and then lower the temperature and achieve rare to medium well without burning or over charring; it is truly amazing!
While I did not purchase an LP grill with the intention of using it as a pizza oven, it turns out to be ideal for the purpose. I received a "pizza stone" for x-mas a few years back, but it didn't fit in my convection oven, and my standard range oven simply doesn't get hot enough to make the stone affective. After cooking on the Regal 490 a few times I realized it would be perfect for the pizza stone. It takes about 5 minutes to pre-heat the stone/grill to 600F on high, then throw the pizza on the stone and turn the burners back to low; a thin crust pizza takes about 6 minutes and has a perfect crust! (I have been reticent to see how hot the grill will actually get, but it gets to 600F in short order, and holds 550F for quite some time even with all the burners on low). Commercial pizza ovens are typically capable of at least 1000F, but most use settings between 600F and 800F. I plan to experiment with different temps with different types of pizza dough, but I am already amazed!
Fish
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I put this grill together over the weekend and contrary to some online reviews I've seen, I found the assembly to be pretty simple. Assembly manual is all pictures so if you tend to like things explained in more detail, I can see where it might cause some stress. It does take a couple of hours though and you need to take care that screws are going in straight so that you don't accidentally cross thread any of the pre-threaded grommets that are riveted to many panels.
If you take your time and test each grommet to make sure the bolt goes in straight and doesn't bind then you should be fine. I also found that keeping things loose enough to give a little play while assembling helped to align things properly before tightening down.
The grill itself is very heavy duty and seems to be very well built. The box it came in weighed in at a hefty 186 lbs as per the label. This grill gets very hot. Much hotter than my old Char-Broil, approaching 700 degrees with all burners on high. We've used it a couple of times and I am pretty pleased. I cooked chicken on it last night and had to keep it at a very low setting which still produced temperatures of 300-325 or so. I am looking forward to trying out the rotisserie soon which is another nice feature that is not included with a lot of grills.
I've looked at Webers and Broil-King seems to be pretty comparable in terms of quality and sturdiness with along with some nicer features like the rotisserie. I looked at the grills at the big box stores and while they look nice, many of them are made in China and got poor reviews as they rusted prematurely or didn't get hot enough. Broil-King is made in Canada and U.S. and has a solid reputation from what I could tell. Broil-King also has a pretty good warranty at a price point a little below the Webers. This is my first experiment with a higher end grill and so far so good. I'll try to update this review after a few months of use and let you know what I've found.
7/14/12 Update After using the grill for a few months I am still pretty happy with it. I have been enjoying the rotisserie feature and have tried out chicken and a roast beef on it and they have come out juicy and flavorful. I have found out it is a lengthy process though, taking 2 1/2 hours or more for a 5 lb chicken.
From a wear and tear perspective the grill is holding up well. A tiny piece of the enamel cover chipped off after a couple of uses. Probably a minor defect and I've had no recurrences since. Also, I don't think the either the grill grates or flavorizer panels will last much more than a couple of seasons. The flavorizer panels already have significant rust on them and the porcelain coated grates are also rusting somewhat despite my attempts to keep them "seasoned" with oil. However, I have had the same experience with all the other gas grills I've used so the BK is no worse in that regard.
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Amazon has worked out a great delivery program with ABF for delivery of items such as the Broil King Grill. ABF called to confirm delivery arrangements and delivered 'on the pallet' as promised without my presence. After I started to assemble the BK Grill I started to feel a little disappointed with the quality of the product. I chose this 699.99 grill over a Weber that I had thoroughly examined locally. The quality was really a concern. However, I have now used the Broil King and have been rather impressed with the quick flame start. The convection/infra-red cooking and the smooth flame. It is early to tell, but I want to say the emphasis may not be on the cabinet but perhaps on the flame. I have been so very satisfied with the cooking experience. Time will tell but in the early weeks of my experience with the Broil King Regal 490, it may satisfy my craving for a quality grill. Accolades to the delivery process through Amazon also.
Honest reviews on Broil King 976184 Regal 490 Liquid Propane Gas Grill with Side
Let me start out by saying that I have been an Amazon Customer for more then 8 years (although being a Texas resident that will change 7/1/12) and have had some issues with the products that Amazon sells but they have normally been cleared up quickly.
That being said I had been looking high and low for a replacement grill for the charcoal unit that I had been using since 2003, it finally wore out. So I thought that I would look for a gas grill and began my search.
I read the reviews on several consumer websites and ruled out any weber gas grills right off the top (over priced junk, been there and done that before) and focused on grills made in North America (USA and Canada) and narrowed my selections down to the broil king units. In reading some of the customer reviews on Amazons web site on this brand I was a little skeptical of the quality but the pluses out weighed the cons and decided to buy the Regal 490.
The grill arrived a day sooner than Amazon had advertized and I checked the box it came in real good looking for signs of damage before I accepted the shipment.
I unpacked the grill in my garage and carried the parts to my backyard patio where the grill would be assembled and used. No visible signs of damage at this stage.
One of the major complaints about the broil king grills were the lack of written assembly instructions, just pictures and no text, I remember thinking to myself the assembly instructions can't be that bad, brother was I wrong!
It was at this stage that I began to notice things were wrong, I found 2 of the three side panels were bent and the paint had chipped of where the bends were, but decided that seeing as the grill was in a reasonably protected area that the bends were not show stoppers and continued with the assembly.
Note find some one to help you at this stage the panels flex all over the place and the next steps require some effort.
It was during the attachment of the side panels to the grill box that the real fun started, the holes don't line up well are in real awkward places, getting those side panels attached to the grill box was frustrating but the best part was yet to come, attaching the base to the sides. First the pictogram's don't indicate which screws go where and you have to think about it for a minute or two to figure it out.
Of course it would have helped if all the screws that were required were shipped with the grill!!!!
The rest of the assembly continued on in the same vein trying to figure out which screws went where and then trying them to go through the misaligned holes.
The sides burner and work surfaces were attached the screws are in a real awkward place and are difficult to install the protective plastic coating in the top of the right side work surface had a 5" inch scratch in it and underneath the coating was a 5 inch scratch in the brushed stainless steel surface (looks real nice, not).
Oh for got about the doors, they both installed ok and the right one works as it should, the left one well it opens ok but when you close it the darn thing falls off due to the missing screws.
Well after 3 hours of fooling around i got the grill assembled and rolled to where it would be used.
Made the gas connections and put the tank in the grill in the designated place, fired up the burners and closed the top to perform the burn-off process per the manual. Noticed a soft popping sound during the process and after the grill had cooled down I check the grill for blockages per the manual and found not. I will have to keep an eye on this and see if it continues or worsens.
Unpacked the cast iron grates to take them into the house to wash them and found out 2 of the 4 grates were broken. The ones that were not broken did not want to fit in the grill, just a tad to long but if you work with them long enough they eventually fit.
Cooked a couple of burgers on the grill and they turned out well, where the grates came in contact with the meat there were well defined grill marks, the rest of the meat was a nice shade of grey.
I have real mixed emotions about this purchase, I have owned may grills over the past 45 years and this is not the worst nor is it the best. I thought that buying a grill made in the USA would yield a better product and I was definitely wrong about that. This grill is barely better than those made in foreign sweat shops.
I am going to use the grill over the weekend and if anything else goes wrong I will disassemble it stuff it back in the box that it came in and request Amazon take it back.
Bottom line its better than average but not great.
Update# 1 05/21/2012 -
Well Amazon came to the rescue again, spoke with a CSR on Saturday and explained about missing/broken items and they indicated that the replacements should be here in 5 business days. No hassles, no arguments and the the CSR actually spoke English! Imagine that.
After using the grill all weekend it has proven to be a winner from the performance perspective, it does get hot and retains its heat.
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Grill came, as with other reviewers set up was a bit challenging, but doable. Several days after I purchased it a higher model that I originally wanted, but that was price-wise out of reach, went on sale. The difference between this grill and the one I wanted are some stainless steel parts. I contacted Amazon to ask if they would sell me the stainless steel parts, I was told that they cannot do that and I should call the Manufacturer.
When I called Customer Service at Broiler King in Canada I had to wait close to 30 min. when I got a person my request was met with a patronizing tone. I was told yes I can buy these parts from them at much higher prices than the model that is on sale. This made me recoil as it raised the issue of monopoly for spare parts, an issue that will come up during the lifetime of this grill. I intend to use a grill at this price for 7-10 years.
I had researched grills and decided on this model due to the high heating feature and the uniform burners. The heating is high, the burners are not uniform, they heat better in the rear of the grilling surface than in the front. Gas is leaking from the connection to the propane tank, takes considerable tweaking to stop the leak.
I am now also concerned that no big store carries this model and Amazon does not carry spare parts by themselves. Am seriously considering returning it, which in itself is a major headache, unlike returning a grill to a local store. A local store furthermore would have assembled the grill. At this price tag I should have considered all these points before the purchase. Lesson learned stay away from products that are not carried by other stores!!
