Blackstone 36 inch Outdoor Flat Top Gas Grill Griddle Station – 4-burner – Propane Fueled – Restaurant Grade – Professional Quality – With NEW Accessory Side Shelf and Rear Grease Management System

This review is for the 36” Blackstone griddle (model 1554) which I have been using for over a year now. Overall I have found this griddle to be an outstanding value, especially for its price point. You might be able to find a better griddle, but you will spend a LOT more money.

Some simple assembly is required. My griddle came in a single box. Cut the two plastic straps and the box lid lifts right off. The components seem well packed. I used a 10mm wrench, an adjustable wrench, and a Philips screwdriver to assemble. Once I had it unpacked, assembly took about 15 mins. If I had someone assisting, we probably would have been done in 10 mins or less. Blackstone has a helpful 3 min assembly video you can watch either on Blackstone’s site or on youtube search for “Blackstone 36″ Griddle Assembly”. I weighed the griddle top in at 55.5lbs. If you’re not comfortable lifting a bulky item of this weight, get someone to help you.

If you discover a problem with your new griddle, email or call Blackstone directly. Page 23 in my manual had their customer service phone and email. I had a small issue and found their customer service to be extremely helpful. Replies to email were prompt and when I phoned, I was talking to a real human being within seconds (a real human being who spoke American as a primary language). Keep in mind, customer service operates M-F 9a-5p Mountain Standard Time.

The griddle top comes coated in a protective oil to prevent rust. As noted in the instructions, your first step after assembly is to wash this oil off. I used dish soap in hot water. I followed this up with plain hot water to get the soap off. I towel dried the surface and then fired up the grill for a few mins to cook off any remaining moisture.

The top is carbon steel (not Teflon nor stainless steel) and if not seasoned it will rust. For many griddle users, at this point they slap on some oil or bacon and immediately start cooking. Over time they build up the seasoning that helps protect the griddle surface from rusting and the food from sticking. In my case I wanted to do a more methodical seasoning.

For a methodical, long lasting seasoning of the griddle, you follow similar steps as you would with seasoning cast iron cookware. Blackstone has a youtube video called “Blackstone Griddle Top Recovery”. This video was made to show people how to restore a rusted griddle top; however, at 2min39sec into this video they cover the topic of seasoning.

The Blackstone video agreed with several articles I read about seasoning cast iron cookware with flax oil. Make sure you get the organic, cold pressed, unrefined, refrigerated flax oil. You don’t want any ingredients in the oil other than flax oil. Check the date on it, and shake well before using. It is expensive oil, but you don’t need a large bottle. I did 6 coatings on my griddle and used just a little more than 3oz total of the oil. Each successive layer used less oil.

The seasoning coat/layer consisted of :
1. wiping on a thin layer of flax oil over the cooking surface (I applied with a paper towel).
2. wipe off excess oil (I used paper towel).
3. turning on all the burners for 30 mins or so to basically burn the oil in (I ran a little longer than 30 min).
4. turn the burners off and let the griddle cool
Repeat the process. Blackstone recommends at least 4-5 coats. The cast iron cookware seasoning articles I read recommended 6 coats.

Optimal seasoning will leave you with a shiny black cooking surface. After 6 coats of flax oil, I was nearing the optimal shiny black surface.

Check level. Before starting to cook on the griddle, check level. Use a construction level or a marble or anything you have handy. You want to be sure that liquid will flow towards the drain. My patio slopes away from the house, so I had to set the left wheels of the griddle on a scrap of plywood to get the grease to head to the drain hole.

Cooking. Even with a great seasoned cooking surface, I add a dash of oil with many of the things I cook (for example, eggs).

Cleaning the griddle: Helped along by my well seasoned cooking surface, I find the griddle quick to clean. It typically takes me 3-5 mins. I found a video from a griddle user on youtube that was helpful. Search youtube for “Easy way to clean the Blackstone Griddle (Revised)”. Guy in the video uses spray oil, but I use liquid oil.

My only complaint about the griddle would be the same issue that other reviews have mentioned: Blackstone still hasn’t conquered the grease drain problem. Randomly the grease running off will miss the cup and start running down the griddle leg. So use a paperclip or a piece of wire. If you stick it in the hole down to the grease cup, the grease will run down the wire instead of the surface tension causing fluids to flow up under the grease gutter. Or you can wrap a small piece of foil around the end of the drain to direct grease down.

Great griddle for the price! I was using the Camp Chef with the griddle attachment before and the Blackstone is way better! It came packaged extremely well and is built well also and heats up evenly. The table that goes with this is a lot of money, but I would highly recommend it! Blackstone 36″ Griddle Surround Table Accessory (Grill not included)
Also you need to do a grease mod on this, becuase it is a design flaw and without it, the grease runs along the bottom and down the front of the griddle, which is very messy! I used a piece of 3/4 inch copper I had lying around, so I cut a piece at 1 1/4 inches long, then I filed a wedge into it to fit the bottom of the grease hole, then I used J-B Weld 8297 HighHeat 500 Degree Epoxy Putty – 2 oz to attach it since I don’t have a welder and it worked out great! Lots of ideas on grease mods out there!

The only maintenance that is required, is the burner tubes should be taken off before use in the spring and cleaned out! This is for any gas grill, because spiders can make webs in the tubes and cause back fire which will melt the knobs and damage your grill. There is a special tool to clean the inside of the tubes out. This has not happened to me yet and I own a few grills, but I do clean them.

UPDATE 3/28/2017 – It is still working great, but since I am constantly moving mine in and out of the garage, I made the legs more stable! If you don’t plan on folding it up, use a 10 x 3/4 self drilling screw and screw one in on each leg to make it more stable.

My husband and I agree that this is one of the best purchases we’ve ever made. This makes the best food and is easy to clean. The more you use it, the better the flavor it imparts to the food you cook, like cast iron. The size is great, not so big that it feels there’s wasted space, not so small that you get cranky that you can’t fit enough food on it (see pictures). It heats evenly, but I generally like to have it hotter in the middle and on low on the sides. We’ve cooked everything from a steak dinner for two to breakfast for seven on it, and every time we love the results.

I suggest getting a waterproof cover (the Blackstone cover is not waterproof), flexible grilling spatulas, a scraper, and a melting dome.

There is one minor issue, and that is the grease drain. It tends to get clogged with bits of food, and then grease or oil will drip down the leg of the griddle instead of going into the grease trap.

This is the best thing to ever happen to me. I have an awesome son and a beautiful wife but they pale in comparison to my griddle.

Awesome grill and would have been 5 stars if not for the serious hot grease running down the leg from a poorly designed drain setup… I reemed the hole out to 1″ and tig welded a steel tube in, that’s really what Blackstone should do from the factory…

Love it, grills up burgers great and all sorts of breakfast. Mostly posted a review as to the issue of ‘cupping’ ie the grill surface warping due to circular burners underneath instead of line burners. Well as an fyi to anyone interested in a new purchase, I received mine here in September 2015 and there are 4 line burners underneath, just like the larger model. No problems with it here, they seemingly upgraded the 28″ sometime recently and now it should no longer be a concern.

Great grill. Would buy it again and have recommended it to several friends