Rackshack Restaurant: The Hippier Brother of Racks

With former University colleagues

Rackshack's owner, Chukri Prieto,  once revealed that this rib joint is pretty much the cooler younger brother of Racks, a popular house of ribs and smoked meat in the metro that's dominantly western. As smoke houses practically mushroomed in the metropolis for the past years, Rackshack wants to be different.

It is still practically a smoked meat house with a traditional ranch-theme dining just like Racks, but this hippier younger brother, is a little trendy and playful and relaxed. Its signature dining feature, and probably what makes them set apart from other rib joints, is its variety of sauces from different gournet influences.

I am not really into meat, and rib is not my thing, but I appreciated the savory taste of the dishes I tried at Rackshack. It also has a generous serving. Their fried chicken rocks! Flavorful and tasty.

Rackshack platter

Rackshack pride itself as a rib house that let diners choose their own barbeque sauce that is so ridiculously good! Their sauce varieties have distinct flavors, from sweet, spicy, chili hot and tangy. Diners can have their smoked meat and decide what sauce goes along with it.

Varieties of sauce in dark bottles are placed on each table. And each sauce has its own attitude. The mother sauce, Rackshack's most popular house blend, is a little sweet and can be mixed with other sauces. Hoisin sauce, a spike of an Asian flavor is a good partner of mother sauce. Carolina and Kansas sauces have western influences, thick and tangy, both have similarities to ranch sauce flavors.

I got a chance to mix my own sauce during our lunch. The mother sauce with Hoisin sounded like a perfect combination, spicy with a tad of sweetness. It was a good compliment to spice up the ribs and the pulled pork. Carolina sauce, which has a taste of a mustard delight, is a perfect blend for fried chicken.

Ranch style food

The menu offers a different set of meals for individual and group, a la carte and a groupie platter. They also have desserts and appetizers like nachos, cheesy fries and corn.

During our visit at Rackshack in SM Aura, we chose the groupie platter, it's good for 6 persons, and more like a budget meal. It has smoked ribs, pulled pork, Texas hot links, rice and a bowl of tasty fried chicken, that's so mouthwatering!

Crispy outside and tender inside, the fried chicken is Racks popular offering that has reinvented at Rackshank with some sort of delightful flavors. We also tried the chili cheesy fries as appetizer and Brownie S'mores as dessert. For my drinks, I chose a glass of cucumber lemonade. Indeed, we had a Ridiculously Good lunch!

Smoked ribs, Texas hot links and pulled pork. A ranch-style theme

But what really amazed me at Rackshack more than its signature sauces, good dishes and relaxing ambiance, is the customer service. It was so cool! I like the way the lady crew, Ren, accommodated us. Very attentive, courteous and solicitous. She made sure we had a good experience. She kept asking if we still need something or if we like the dishes.

Personally, one of reasons why I would make a repeat visit in a restaurant is the customer service, there's nothing more pleasing in a dining place than having an attentive food crew catering your needs. It adds value to the service of the restaurant. At Rackshack SM Aura, that excellent customer service can be evidently felt.

Rackshack in SM Aura

Overall, Rackshack is a good dining place for people who love meat and want to have their own choice of sauce to go with the smoked dishes. The mother sauce, can practically go with any smoked meat. It tastes good and even better when mixed with other sauce concoctions like Hoisin or Kansas.

Rackshank is distinctively western but has a filipino twist on its dishes. It also introduces flavors that can be identified with other culture. The nachos and cheesy fries are thoroughly Mexican influences.

Rackshack has a couple of branches in the metro. The one we visited is the SM Aura branch in BGC. It is located at the 5the level of mall, facing the garden. It opens at 10:00 in the morning and closes at 10:00 in the evening.