At Portside BBQ restaurant, Royal Caribbean Cruises introduced a bold hickory flavor that uses smoke from real wood. This BBQ is the real deal, serving up authentic barbecue favorites, cooked low and slow to perfection. The menu includes Texas style brisket, pulled pork, chicken, St. Louis style spare ribs, burnt ends, sausage links, and even smoked turkey legs & chicken wings. There are plenty of sides to choose from with the mac & cheese and cornbread being the most popular. We recommend you try the beans which are made with some of the burnt ends.
What is on the Portside BBQ Menu Royal Caribbean?
There are a total of 3 menus – lunch, dinner & late-night. We have included a sample of the Portside BBQ menu below. There is a selection of various types of sauces and rubs as well. Some of the meat, particularly the brisket and turkey sandwiches comes without sauce on them. There are 2 dessert options – the Banana Dream and the Brookiw which is a brownie-cookie mash-up. You can also enjoy southern sips under the stars at this backyard spot with iced tea, brews and, of course, a signature cocktail: Portside Spiked Palmer, a classic Arnold Palmer with a Bourbon twist and notes of peach and mint.
At the time of writing this blog, there were no seafood or veggie options other than corn.
How much is it to eat at the Portside BBQ restaurant on Royal Caribbean?
There is no cover charge, so you would just order from the menu and pay the listed price. Prices are reasonable, starting at $8 which includes an entree, 1 side, and dessert. Of course, prices are subject to change. If you purchased a specialty restaurant dining package, you receive a $20 credit towards anything you order here, which is more than enough to enjoy dinner and perhaps a cocktail depending on what you order.
Which Royal Caribbean Ships Have The Portside BBQ Restaurant?
So far, the Portside BBQ Restaurant is featured on the Allure of the Seas and the Oasis of the Seas cruise ships.
More About the Royal Caribbean Portside BBQ Restaurant
This is a counter service restaurant where you order and then take back to a table or your stateroom. The restaurant offers indoor seating a small bar and then outdoor seating along the port side of the ship and behind the restaurant. This area used to be the ship’s teen club which was quite spacious.
There is live music both during the day and at night, adding to the dining experience.
Royal Caribbean BBQ Ribs Recipe
Royal Caribbean shared their Smoked BBQ Ribs Recipe
What’s Royal Caribbean’s secret to making the meat “fall off the bone”? Once you’ve slow cooked the ribs for three hours, pour a mixture of BBQ sauce (1/4 cup) and water (1/4 cup) over the ribs, wrap in foil and cook for another hour before serving with your favorite southern-style side dish. This Portside BBQ-inspired dish will melt in your mouth.
This recipe was shared on Facebook by Linken D’Souza, Head of Food & Beverage for Royal Caribbean.
The first step it to get your dry rub ready. Mix the following incredients in a bowl.
Take your rubs and turn them to the backside. Use a knife to cut a strip down the center so that you can get under the membraine with your fingers to peel it back and remove it. Use the rub on both sides of the ribs until thoroughly coated.
Take wood chips… applewood .75 lb and hickory .75 lb … add half of each type of wood chips in water for 20 minutes to blend the flavors together. Take the remaining applewood chips and place them in aluminum foil large enough to make a packet. Mix with half of the wood chips you soaked in water. Do the same with the remaining hickory chips in a separate aluminum foil and mix the remaining wood chips that were soaked in water along with the dry hickory wood chips. This will make 2 packets in total. Fold over to make an aluminum packet and then poke 6 to 8 holes in each one.
Remove one of your grill grates while it’s still cold. On the side where you removed the grill grates, place one wood pouch with the holes facing up and turn that side of the grill to 300 degrees & close the lid. Once the wood starts to smoke, turn the grill down to low heat. Place your ribs on the side where the heat is off & close the lid. After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, add the 2nd packet of wood chips onto the side with the heat. Cook for 3 hours.
At this point, they are smoked and ready to eat, but Royal Caribbean suggests you keep cooking them so they fall off the bone. Pull the ribs out and place them on aluminum foil large enough to wrap around the slab of ribs. Please a white onion cut in quarters around the ribs. Take 1/4 BBQ sauce mixed with a 1/4 cup of water and brush over the ribs. Wrap the foil around the ribs and cook for another hour to an hour and a half. Again they are ready to eat but if you want them caramelized, remove the ribs from the foil and place on the grill once more and brush once again with BBQ sauce mixture. Remove from the grill in 3 to 5 minutes.
