Gert’s Flavor For Your Soul

Seattle, United States

2.8

10 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 206-238-9949
Address:
5307 4th Ave S Ste 132, Seattle, WA, 98108
b/t Bennett St & Brandon St
Industrial District
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.6 miAirport Way S & S Alaska St
0.6 miAirport Way S & S Snoqualmie St
1.7 miEast Marginal Way S & 16th Ave S
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Today

Today –
Local time (Seattle) 5:14 AM Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Saturday 5:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Everyone likes to say we do «Southern BBQ» or «Kansas City BBQ» or even «Memphis BBQ»…we do «Seattle BBQ» and we are proud of it! We smoke our meat for hours until it just screams to be eaten. Sauce is a option, but it is damn good too. We serve the meat as DDOTS (Sliders) on a toasted bun if you prefer. Combined with some of the tastiest soul food sides like our Green Bean Casserole; not like your mama made along with Seattle style Mac-​n-​Cheese, Potato Salad, French Fries w/​special seasonings and the list goes on. Our food can be addictive, but we are here to serve you. It is all about how we season it and our special ingriedent «Love». We talk about it but we be about it too.

History

Established in 2008.

Gert’s was started because of popular demand; people demanded it so we are delivering it through our mobile kitchen. We started with the idea of having a restaurant but felt we wanted to share our food to all of Seattle and the Eastside. We feel we have some of the best tasting food in the area, so we wanted to share it.

Meet the Business Owner

Donnell J.

Business Owner

Executive Chef Donnell Jackson learned and polished his culinary skills at the side of his mother and inspiration for the business Gertrude Jackson-​Williamson. Mrs. Jackson-​Williamson was known for her cooking throughout the neighborhoods of south Seattle where family and friends gathered especially around the holidays to partake on her creative ways of making traditional «Soul Food» cuisine. Spending countless hours in the kitchen with his mother Donnell mastered these recipes and made them his own by testing them on anyone who was around. Chef Jackson can claim as his mentors Emeril, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay and others who he has studied and created his own style «Flavor for your Soul». Chef Jackson’s specialty is smoked meats with his secret marinades, but he also does tasty, creative side dishes that will make you say truly this is «Flavor for your Soul».

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10 reviews of Gert’s Flavor For Your Soul

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Place rating: 2
Shoreline, WA
They looked promising. I wish they had the pulled pork when it was time to order, it looked good, but so did the ribs.
The ribs were way too tough and over cooked. You expect your ribs to fall off the bone. They were also pretty bland, no real seasoning. The sauce was watery with not much flavor.
The potato salad was also bland and way too cold. They say it was spicy, but that was not the case. The corn looked really good, I wish I would have had that.
The people were nice and smiling. I won’t say a bad thing about the service in any way.
I have seen the BBQ Masters at work (Kansas City American Royal) and I know you can cook mass amounts of well cooked ribs, at a reasonable price; I just wish they could in Seattle!
Place rating: 2
Mountlake Terrace, WA
I went to Gerts during Mobile Chowdown III. The line was relatively short compared to other vendors at the event. On the menu were the pulled pork sandwichs, which were sold out by the time I got there, ribs, and ‘soul’ burger.
I got the ribs as did my friend. They came with a side of potato salad. The ribs were ok. They didn’t fall off the bone, which I really like. I think they are dry cooked wit ha rub. Gerts poured a slightly sweet sauce on top. The ribs lacked a smokey flavor to them. None of the food was cooked on site. The potato salad was nothing special in my book. It tasted like potato salad you get at Safeway. I wonder if the pork sandwiches are better?
Overall I think I my expectations of Gerts may have been too great. But I had to give it a shot. I really wanted to find some good ribs in Seattle. The quest continues.
Place rating: 3
Seattle, WA
Friendly service, but after reading the glowing Stranger review, I had set my expectations too high.
I visited the truck at its new home on Capitol Hill.
The ribs are good, served dry with a side of runny sauce and french fries (tasted hand cut) for $ 9. They sell sliders (called DOT; 2 with a side $ 7), which are un-​spiced slow cooked meat on little buns. The meat is missing flavor, and the bland buns get soggy and hard to eat in a few minutes. The sliders are served with green bean casserole, which was bathed in a thick creamy white sauce with meaty chunks. The green beans weren’t mushy liked canned beans, but were overwhelmed by the creamy sauce of which wasn’t my preference. Capitol hill is in desperate need of bbq, but so far, this truck hasn’t delivered what I dream, but is passable in a crunch.
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
Green bean cassarole icky. Potato salad, not bad. Ribs, well I am kind of outish on that one. Before I go on let me say that these were given to me in a to go box and not consumed many hours till I got off work. Now that said the ribs weren’t what I was expecting. When I think ribs I think sauce drippin off the meat and onto my chin, fingers and soon my shirt. The ribs I got were dry, meaning no sauce. The sauce I did receive was thin and in a container with a lid. I tried the ribs dry and wet and honestly both aren’t too bad. I might try this place again but I’d see about subbing the green bean mess.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
Ok I am torn on this Bar B Q
I got the Twitter that they are on the hill now 7 – 11 pm or when ever they run out from what I have seen posted, so I finally got over there tonight before they ran out, as my baby sent me a text saying don’t forget the Bar B Q truck is on 15th and Pine so I went to get some Yummy for the Tummy
So I checked out the Menu and the guys working asked if I liked Ribs? I said yes and he said well that’s what I would order if I was ordering, ok I will take some advice and try your Rib Dinner, it comes with Potato salad and Green Bean Casserole
the Ribs have been smoked to perfection and the sauce was on the side for me to add as I wanted later, now the sauce was a little thin for my liking, but it had a really good smoky flavor, kinda sweet but no kick to it and I like my Bar B Q kinda kickin, so maybe gonna add some hot sauce here in a few, I forget all southern places have the about 5 or so types of hot sauce out to add as needed, oh yeah that hooked it up some here we go
all I need is some bread maybe a dinner roll or some corn bread, and it would be perfection will have to wait and see what my baby thinks of it now
Place rating: 1
Seattle, WA
Read the reviews and decided to go to Gert’s when they were parked in my area (Capitol Hill). A nice short walk with a few sweet dogs to pat on the way. Placed my order and had to place it three more times. I don’t have an accent and my pronunciation of «beef» is understandable to everyone. Fast service;but, my oh, my! This is supposed to be the best BBQ in Seattle? The finely elocuted «beef» was jerkyesque to say the least. Stringy, tough and enough gristle to make a St. Bernard happy for days. The sauce was a combo of Liquid Smoke, water and Uncle Stubbs watered down sauce. The hand cut fries-weren’t. Crinkle cut and greasy-​reminds me of grade school. Speaking of grade school-​remember when a kid would throw up in class and the janitor would come in and sprinkle this grainy stuff on it to absorb it? Well, that perfectly describes the look and taste of the green bean casserole. It was that hideous 1970’s avocado green color and whatever sauce they used, it certainly wasn’t the same as Aunt Mildred’s made with Cream of Mushroom soup and those Durkee onions on the top. Gert’s was inedible, in fact, it was unlookable-​I didn’t want to even see it on my plate. It smelled, well, without getting too graphic-​biliously vomitous! Someone mentioned it was to die for! I think they meant it would kill you if you ate it.
The buns-let’s just say they made cute little Frisbees for the dogs in the neighborhood. Hard as hockey pucks.
Won’t be walking down that way anymore. My husband’s tummy is still reeling.
Place rating: 3
Seattle, WA
I like barbecue, so when I got an email telling me that GFfS would be coming to Capitol Hill I saw an excellent reason to try it out. The inital part was promising. Rodney at the counter was friendly and had a good banter, the sun was setting and things were good.
I ordered a 3 DDOT (the first D is the inital of the chef and the DOT part a slider seen from above) which came with GBC (Green Bean Casserole) Since this was my frost I ordered one of each, chicken, beef and pork.
Then the first not so pleasant surprise. The time it took to get the food. I guess that set my expectations real high. If it takes a long time to create sliders, then the result should be good. And more than 5 minutes at a cart. That’s a long wait.
Now to the food. I really liked the GBC. It had a nice cheezy flavor and was thicker than I expected. As for the DDOTs. They were slider sized, which I woul have expected, but the meet was dry and there wasn’t much of it. In addition there was a very small container, maybe ½ oz, of BBQ sauce that was more like teriyaki sauce in consistency. I split the sauce over my DDOTs and ate them. The flavor was OK, but not exciting. The pork was in my opinion the best of the three, but nothing to write home about. Good thing I don’t live in Unilocal,or you’d never heard of it.
Overall, I would not make a detour to get to Gert’s, but if I happened to come by and there was no line for ordering, I might consider it.
Place rating: 3
Seattle, WA
Today was the first night that Gert’s BBQ opened on Capitol Hill, in the parking lot on 15th and Pine St. It was around 8:15 p.m. when my friend and I got there and a line was already waiting.
The truck is clean with iced bottled water and Shasta cans within arms reach just below. The menu was posted near the order taking window — menu items included 2 DDOTs plain or with side, soul bowl or GBC. I never found out what DDOT stood for, but I learned that GBC means green bean casserole.
By the time we put in our orders all the pork had sold out! By 9:00 p.m. when our orders were called they were out of pork, beef, GBC and potato salad. Within a few short hours it looks like they’d run out of product!
That being said, the beef and chicken DDOTs were tasty and well cooked, but the sauce didn’t have enough kick for my liking. The fries were not crispy but the potato salad was well seasoned and filling. Despite some flaws, it was a great experience and if you like bbq it’s a great kart. I’d definitely suggest this to my friends, just make sure you arrive early. This will become a popular spot in an already populated area.
Place rating: 2
Bow, WA
I heard about Gert’s being at 15th and Pine a couple days ago and REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to go and REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to love it. The service was super friendly but I just wasn’t impressed with my meal at all. Now, I LOVE Q. I’m not All That nor do I have any desire to waive scripture about what is the *right* or *wrong* way to do bbq. Boils down to personal preference. I prefer my bbq saucy, real saucy. Finger messy saucy. And I prefer my sauce deep, rich in browns or reds, and on the thick side — not thin and looking like teriyaki sauce.
My observation: The DDOTS (bbq sliders) were small on the portion size and were completely void of heat or kick. The meat was tender but where was the sauce? The DDOTS were dry. The GBC (green bean casserole) was luke warm (I would have preferred a hot casserole) and seemed flat on the flavor.
There’s lots of ways to do bbq, this one just isn’t for me. Try for yourself.
Place rating: 5
Seattle, WA
I just had Gert’s from their mobile truck on Rainier in Columbia City… reminded me of BBQ from the Midwest!
The DDot Sliders were tasty and the sides (green bean casserole, mac & cheese and the fries) could not be beat. I’ll definitely go back and try their other offereings as well. Hope their mobile station brings them in toward downtown Seattle!
A must visit.