Teddy Bear’s BBQ

TEDDY BEAR BBQ IS CLOSED. I’m the founder and namesake of Teddy Bear’s BBQ. After my ex-​wife and I separated in November 2009 the restaurant was renamed Giddy Up BBQ and I was no longer involved in the operation. After our divorce was final in 2011 the restaurant was sold by my ex-​wife. Being that I’m the Teddy Bear, I retained the name which has not been associated with this location since the separation. This is just historical fact and should not be taken as disrespecting any party. These days I’m working full time teaching BBQ and am based in Texas.

I’ve had inconsistent results here and I’m glad to know the place is under new ownership. My pulled pork sandwich was good, and the sauces ranged from ho-​hum to wow. (the hot sauce was the wow… really good). The sides were forgettable — literally — I can’t remember what I had.
I’d like to bump up their star rating, so I’ll try to revisit later and see what things are like.

UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP! I just stopped by Giddy Up on my way home at lunch today. Things inside the restaurant had changed a bit including the folks greeting me. Phyllis was no longer there and I talked with a young woman at the front counter who let me know her mom had bought the place from the owners. Her mom has been the cook at Giddy Up/​Teddy Bear’s for quite a while. I will miss Phyllis and her funny comments about everything, especially the day a lady came in wanting BBQ for herself but hot dogs for her kids — they don’t sell hot dogs but some reason they lady thought since it’s a BBQ they must have hot dogs, HUH? Anyway, happy retirement Phyllis you will be missed by us.
Anyway, back to the food — stellar! I found my Quarter Pound Pulled Pork Sammy to be very delicious, especially with the small shake of dry rub over the meat, add the sauce, and a baked potato salad — I am set for the afternoon! Great food, wonderful people helping, and looking forward to continuing to support this local establishment.

Tried this on a whim. I was looking for a caterer for a holiday party and really wanted bbq. Needless to say their ribs are amazing, pulled pork absolutely delicious, and drumsticks melt right off the bone. My son ordered the macaroni and cheese, I tried a bite too and it was delicious. After I ate lunch, I booked them for the catering job!

Good BBQ. Terrible service. Poor hygiene by staff. Brusque/​rude service.
That being said, the chef blowing his nose loud and juicy in full view of the entire restaurant was a absolute deal killer for me.
Service was brusque. The general feel of the restaurant and staff was slovenly.
*** I originally wrote this review a year ago. Since, they have changed their name. I’m not certain they’ve changed their service or practices.
If you’re jonesing for BBQ head up to sultan to the BBQ bus.
***update, I still look back on our 2 experiences here years ago and shudder. I sure wish the Wicked Baking Company would come back***

(Please read) Horrible!!! I tried this place more than once hoping my bad experience was a fluke. Unfortunately not. My husband and I will not go again! They even gave me a $ 20 gift card because they screwed up so bad. I gave the gift card away ;o) …That’s how much I don’t like the place!
Let me explain a little more. The first experience they were out of a lot of stuff and were really rude. Eh, okay whatever. I ordered something they had and it was okay. I decided to go there again 6 months later and we took our order to go. We got home and noticed they forgot half of our order. I had to drive back into town (that food is not cheap so I want to get what we ordered/​paid for)…Well, the owner (lady) was rude to me about them messing up. She said they are too busy and so what if they mess up now and then. What?! Wow, I can’t believe she said that. All I said was that they forgot half of our order and I left the rest up to her as how she would handle it. I think she thought I was going to be rude about it, but I wasn’t. Perhaps that is her personality, or perhaps she is trying to thin out their customers. There was a customer in front of me complaining about their order too. She handed me a gift card and substituted the missing order with something else than what we ordered because they were out of the original food and they weren’t going to make any more that day she said. Their service and food has left a bad taste in my mouth. If you go, I hope your experiences are not like the ones we had with them.

Okay so they’re called «Giddy Up BBQ» now and say nothing more than the name has changed… boy what a lie.
I haven’t been here since they were Teddy Bear. I liked it so much better then. Got some sliders with the mac and cheese today. Sliders were over seasoned and full of fat and the mac and cheese was mush. Not to mention the ladies there weren’t exactly friendly like they used to be.
(Oh, the $ 1 sliders are no more also)
Oh well… BBQ places are abundant. I’m just glad I came back in to see it’s changed before I tell another person to come here!

As someone who has lived in Monroe my entire life, it was nice to see a sweet little barbecue shack, and when I found out they had $ 1 sliders, even better! Now, unfortunately they’ve stopped serving the sliders which really were the thing that made the place worth it. I’ve also always been fairly disappointed at the customer service every time I’ve gone. However, if you’re twenty one you’ll probably enjoy Wedimer Wednesdays and Thirsty Thursday ($ 2 beers)
Adding them on Facebook can be pretty helpful too because they advertise a lot of specials there.

Very good BBQ ribs, excellent sauces. I was impressed but it was a little overpriced and the cornbread was a little dry. I will be back to this place again.

I am a fan of this establishment…
I have been a patron of this bossiness since they opened their first location in Duvall, WA…
Konrad, and Phyllis (the owners) are really awesome people…
I also like the fact that they cook all of their meats over cherry wood. It gives their barbecue a unique flavor, that can not be beat…
They make all of their own sauces. Three total, that range from sweat to super spicy (the habanero is my favorite).
These people can make some of the best ribs ever…
They have delicious side dishes, and a good selection of beer for the win…
Honestly in my own opinion. No other barbecue can hold even compete with this one.

I need a Unilocal BBQ application for my mobile phone that features Steve B’s reviews first…
I am also a TN BBQ person… the picture of my Tuesday Tips special LOOKS yummy… it was horrible… everything shiny on the photo was fat… there was nooo taste to any of the meat… just some vague smoke… and the sauces were not my cup of Que
Hubby liked his Mama Bear sandwich well enough after mixing enough sauces to get the right vinegar /​sweet balance… and he’s not the picky one.
He rated his three stars… I rated mine zero… the atmosphere was ok and the can of soda cold so 2 stars seems right.

Although we have only been here once, I will give this place four stars based on that single experience and will update accordingly when we make more visits.
The restaurant is right on west main but tucked back a few hundred yards from the street. It looks like a converted rambler, the inside is quite small but there is seating in the back. For you sports fan there is one large LCD screen.
Yes, the prices is high but that’s what you will see typically at many BBQ places. BBQ is time consuming and if you are a family/​small mom and pop establishment it takes time to find a balance between how much to cook with how many covers you expect to have that day.
Because the price was a bit expensive for what we wanted to spend for lunch, we ended up sharing a rib and brisket platter. The owner is a bit brash but not rude.
The brisket and ribs were good. If you crave BBQ and don’t want to go through the process of making your own ribs, brisket, etc… then give Teddy’s a try. However, if you are avid cooks then it would be more economical to make ribs and brisket yourself.

I’ve had the pulled-​pork sandwich twice from here. It’s tasty and predictable, but I wouldn’t call it the best BBQ.
It is a small operation, so expect them to be out of things later in the day. For example, slaw, some meats, and other side dishes.
The one thing I didn’t enjoy were the beans.

I’d have given this place a 0 star if possible. Tiny pork sandwich
swimming in grease and fat. No side was included in price. You have to purchase separate. I’d call the BBQ sauce– water. Yuck.
Arbys is better. Expensive Garbage. Avoid
Go to Carolina BBQ at the County village in Bothell.

I’m a southern boy at heart and my family is all over Georgia and Tennessee so I have a certain type of BBQ that I go for. Teddy Bear’s BBQ was not like any kind of BBQ I’d ever had before. I’m not sure what the Food Network people were smoking when they went there.
The pork was really fatty and dry which makes for a jello-​like texture that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. I sort of imagine it’s what that blue blob from Monsters vs Aliens would taste like. Just not good at all. But, there was sauce — so hey, sauce makes everything better.
Of their four sauces (that were disguised as catsup and mustard) none were really that good. None were really that spicy. Come on people, let’s get something right!
As far as the sides go, I can’t even remember. It was so forgettable that the whole experience wasn’t even worth it.
The food was semi-​edible and they had a signed picture of Josh Turner in the bathroom so they get an extra star for that.

Decent BBQ, I guess, but my ass was seriously chapped when I asked the counter lady for napkins and silverware and then got a mile down the road and DIDNT HAVE ANY SUCH THING! DAMN YOU ANGRY LADY!
Also, too pricey

Disclaimer: I’m a NORTH CAROLINIAN and a former chef who made BBQ in NC. I spent a LOT of time in Texas and love that style as well and have been to KC three times and ate my way through all the locals’ fave rib joints, so I can’t be called unbiased.
I seem to be the one peeing all over the love fests here (see Four Swallows), but if I’m obliged to be honest, that’s the way it works out, sometimes. I went to Teddy Bear’s on the recommendation of about a dozen people. I told EVERY ONE of them that I’m the most particular SOB who ever lived about BBQ and they all insisted that I still go. It was okay. I don’t know anything about their multiple awards and it wouldn’t have mattered if I had. I’ve won over fifty awards for chili cook-​offs and I still have the occasional person who simply doesn’t like my chili. Teddy Bear’s BBQ was acceptable, IMHO, nothing more. I’d put in in my Top Five for Washington but that’s not saying a whole lot. Specifically, I thought their smoke technique left a lot to be desired. I didn’t ask before going what they smoke with but it was obviously cherry, from the first bite. I use cherry, sometimes, especially to smoke venison but, for pulled pork, it’s a little too delicate for me; not spicy and assertive like hickory and doesn’t produce that «sweet» smoke flavor. It works better on the brisket than on the pork or chicken, on which I just think it’s completely wrong. Some woods, like alder, pecan, and applewood, have more of an affinity for white-​fleshed meats like chicken and turkey, while the cherry/​oak/​mesquite continuum works better for game and dark-​fleshed meats. Even hickory has to be used judiciously with poultry, smoking a fraction of the time you’d use for pork. To simply smoke everything with cherry seems like a fashion statement, frankly. It didn’t translate all that well to either the chicken or the pork.
The buns for the sandwiches were the standard Gai’s/Franz dough-​balls, the original sweet sauce was ponderous and glutinous, the grizzly bear medium sauce was almost gummy, and the sides, to my infinite weariness, were the same «classic» stuff that is served at every BBQ joint in WA state, and a cut below many of the others I’ve tried. In Texas and NC and KC, you’re just as likely to find hush puppies, sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes, yams, Fried okra, green onion potato salad, fried pickles, fries, collard greens, or any of two dozen other sides, as the dreary line-​up that sits on every BBQ menu in this area. Why can’t someone get out of the Smoked-​Baked Bean/​Slaw/​Tater Salad/​green salad mold? I had their cucumber and onion salad, just for variety and it was so lifeless that I just left most of it. And the smoked beans had obviously been given the cherry treatment, too, or something that tasted very much like it. Barely detectable smoke and waaay too sweet.
Last, WHY the friggin’ habanero sauce? It was like that crap at Dixie’s, the abominable «The Man» battery acid they push; a silly, tasteless, palate-​numbing test o’ manhood fetish that adds no actual flavor at all to the meats but lets guys feel manly, I guess, if you’re one of those who derives his sense of manhood by doing things like downing 20 tequila shots, eating the worm, or slugging a whole bottle of Tabasco to show your friends you’re cool. This had no place on the table of any BBQ place that prides itself on proper smoking.
I am, despite this review, glad I went to Teddy Bear’s. Glad, because now I can assure all those people who ragged me to do it that I did. And, glad because even a two-​star review for BBQ means, in Washington, that I ate it and went away at least partially satisfied. I have only twice had four-​star BBQ in this state and have had TONS of one-​star or no-​star. I would probably let friends drag me there again, in fact, but I’d just stick to the brisket and leave the pulled pork alone. WORD TO TEDDY BEAR’S OWNER: In NC, you rarely find any meat in a BBQ joint but pork. In Texas, it’s almost always beef. It’s no shortcoming to do the same here. Your brisket and ribs are solid good. Just stop doing the pork and maybe ease up on smoking the chicken, if you’re absolutely devoted to the cherry. You’d be a better restaurant and make less work for yourselves.

I have been thinking of ways to start this review on my drive back from a very delicious lunch. Do I start with, «Holy hell that was amazing!» or «Thank god I eat meat»? I don’t know and now I’m too sleepy to care. One thing is for sure, that was really good.
While I’m fortunate enough to eat meat, I’m not fortunate enough to be able to comfortably digest pig so I wasn’t able to have the full bbq experience with some pork ribs. Ah well…
There’s beef brisket and chicken. I had the beef brisket this trip. I’ve been trying to think of a way of how to describe how tender the beef is but all I can think of is jello? Jello isn’t an appetizing word to describe beef. It’s just so tender it melts in your mouth. And the beef by itself is flavorful and moist but if you choose, you have four choices in barbecue sauces.
The sides aren’t anything really worth discussing. When I went, they only had the cold stuff (coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad) and they were your traditional sides – nothing unique. They would get five stars if their sides were as amazing as their meat. Hint: add bbq sauce to the pasta salad, it’s quite delicious.
The atmosphere was very comfortable. It feels like a family barbecue without the awkward mingling and socializing… and you leave when you want. The owners treat you like a welcomed guest. I felt very comfortable here.

a bit expensive and my hubby is a fan of beef ribs, which they don’t do. The beef brisket was good and they had several sauces on the table you helped yourself to so you could add on as much as you wanted. The pork ribs were very good and tender. I can’t even remeber what we had as sides as they weren’t very memorable. They supposedly have chicken which the folks behind us were coming in for but they were out of it (and I guess where out of it the last time these folks came in as well — they complained loudly).
Nice big tv tuned to the Food network, which I liked since I’m not a sports fan. Will try them again now that I’ve got a coupon!

Really? 5 stars? I thought the little restaurant that used to be the Wicked Bakery was good but not great, but maybe this is because I have friends that can make really good brisket and bbq. It’s too expensive for me. I would rather use that money for an Italian or steak dinner.