BBQ Grill

[pocodinero]

Does anyone know how much a Barbecue Grill costs in Cancun (and where to get one - home depot?)? Not the best one or the worst one, just one that is good enough to have in the backyard to be used 3-4 times a week.

[LTL]

Gas or Charcoal?

I bought a gas one a few years ago and had a hard time finding one for under 1500 pesos. I think I finally picked it up for about 1300 on sale but then had to buy a tank for another 450 after that. Better quality ones are normally about 2500.

Charcoal are inexpensive starting at about 800 or so. You can find both on places like Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

[pocodinero]

I am looking for a gas grill.

[TraceyUk]

Charcoal tastes so much better !

[elleboogs]

I have to agree with TraceyUK!!! Charcoal tastes SOOO much better!!!

However, when we were looking for a gas BBQ a few months ago we really had a hard time finding one that we liked, for a price we liked. We ended up buying a fantastic charcoal BBQ at Costco for $1400MXN. They carried the same model, with less grilling space for about $1000MXN. They still have them if you are interested.

Good luck

[kellygirl]

There is a Weber Grill distributor here in Playa. The grills are expensive; we paid over $4000pesos for the medium size, but we have used it so much it was worth it. I was shocked to see that the deluxe grill we had in US which cost $700 dollars, was $1500 dollars here. But you can't beat the brand.

[T.J.]

I learned this the hard way.

Charcoal may taste better but it is so humid that the humidity takes over, possilby before your charcoal runs out. And where are you going to store a big bag of charcoal unless you have a huge place. But as Tracey says, it is better.

Bundy/Trina and I lived in the same building and agreed to buy a single grill. We went all over the area looking for something reasonable. We did not want or need a big silver thing like Emeril would use, for over $1,000 US.

The closest place we found with anything that we wanted, in gas, was Servi Mart or is it Servi Star, in Gran Plaza. If you park near Suburbia, and go through Suburbia into the mall, it is a few stores on your right.

But where we actually got it was at another Servi ?? whatever, at Cancun Mall. This is on Niños Heroes about 1 km east of Rodrigo Gomez (Kabah). From Lopez Portillo you go north on RG to the 5th major intersection and go right. They are grilliing chicken on the near right corner and there is a Pemex on the far right corner. You will soon see the big MEGA sign on the left and that is where you are looking for. But enter in the center of the mall, and take a right. It is a bigger store that at Gran Plaza and a favorite place for me to bargain hunt. It has everything.

I think we paid a $1,400-$1,500 Mxn for a 2 burner with side areas and a warming rack. It was already assembled. You can cook for 1-4 ppl pretty easily.

Bundy and Trina moved but I still have it, like 4 years later. They have more space and we got him a killer one for his b'day. It was NOT $1,500 but worth every peso. And I get invited for food pretty often. He could teach Emeril things about cooking on a grill.

Don't go to Cancun Mall thinking English. Our first time there we were the only gringos within at least a mile. Little Mexican kids had never seen Americans. They were hanging on to their moms and crying - scared of the White Giant Devils.

[LTL]

I bought mine in the Servi Star, or like you say what ever it is called as well in Gran Plaza.

It was the last one and assembled also. Only problem was that it was assembled backwards and some nuts and bolts were missing. I had them pull the odd nut and bolt from another one before I would buy it. Then broke it down and reassembled it once back home. So be sure to check if you buy anything assembled as it is not likely to be done with any care or level of quality.

[T.J.]

LTL,

Interesting point you make. Before I bought one, at the Gran Plaza store I saw a great one, a floor model, with no backup in a box. Lifting the lid revealed a slew of missing parts. When asked, an employee pretty much said "It is what it is."

The day we bought we ran into a guy we know and he suggested trying Cancun Mall, which he called Plaza las Americas Dos. We thought he was kidding. No way was there a real live mall that neither of us had heard about. Hell, my Mexican g/f had never heard of it. We followed his directions and were shocked and they had a very good selection.

Back to the Gran Plaza store, they had a Pyrex measuring cup that one of us wanted one time. They refused to sell it, saying that it was part of a set. But they could not produce the rest of the set, any part thereof, or a boxed set that was complete. All of the sets were another brand, Anchor I believe.

We offered varying amounts of money as this was really irritating. You are in a store whose business is selling stuff and you want to buy something and they literally refuse to sell it. We went so far as to offer $200 pesos for this $50 peso max item. No deal.

We asked "if we broke this, would we have to pay" and the answer was "YES." So how much would we have to pay if we broke it. By this time we were at the store manager level. At that time most of the employees were watching the gringos trying to work the manager and we knew there was no way to buy this stupid cup.

The manager directed some underling to call Security and we decided we had to be somewhere else and got outta there. But we both still go to that store bargain hunting. Give it a try. Another warning, go with a pocket full of money allowing you to pay with exact change. They rarely have enough in the registers to make change and I have literally walked out as I simply could not buy the item I wanted. What are businesses thinking here when they start a shift with inadequate money in the drawer to do business. GRRR. Makes me crazy. But they have gas grills and some accessories. Which reminds me of when I needed a grill cover to replace the one our neighbor put back on the grill when it was still hot. They only had one in the store and it was like handcuffed, with electric ties, to a store fixture. Thank God it was priced. I told a clerk I wanted it and did he have any more. No, this was it. So I asked if he could cut it off and they had not scissors in the store. I headed over to the tool department and was coming back with a saw when another employee produced a pocket knife, or nail clippers and got it off. What a store. But they have gas grills. Have to keep this thread on topic.

[CancunTom]

I recently went into the new Apple Computer store in the new part of Plaza Las Americas to buy the new cordless Apple mouse. This was to be about a $90.00 USD purchase. I took it to the checkout counter and the salesman could not ring it up.........so he called the store manager over to help.........he couldn't ring it up either......so then they told me it would take a few minutes..........I finally left after waiting 10 mins. without my purchase. No one in the store was able to get the computerized cash registers to work!

[T.J.]

Tom - Do they have gas grills at The Apple Store? I thought I had strayed to another thread until I saw you went off on a tangent to my tangent. Je Je.

Do you prefer gas or charcoal, gourmand that you are?

[KTDLP]

There is a store that sells the gas/charcoal Webers on the way to the airport. That way you have the best of both worlds. LOVE IT!