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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 574 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
390 of 394 found the following review helpful:
 Great grill, great price Jul 14, 2005
By Betty Jack
This is one appliance that lives up to every one of the manufacturer's claims. I follow directions and spray the grill surface with cooking spray and put half a cup of water in the pan below, and the grill really is, as advertised, smokeless and extremely easy to clean. I like the adjustable grill temperature, a feature I'm not used to since my faithful antique Farberware, now deceased, had only two settings, namely "plugged in and on" or "unplugged and off". The Sanyo cooks everying in half the time the old grill did, and without cabinet-endangering flareups. I particularly like the enormous cooking surface since I'm regularly cooking for 5 adults and a child and with this grill I can cook for all of us at once. The dimensions make it easy to store if you set it vertically rather than horizontally. The appliance is so low in height that I set mine on a silicone countertop protector, but I'm not sure this is really necessary. My only complaint is that there is no surrounding rim to keep your hamburgers from sliding right off the grill when you try to flip them over, but using a second spatula as a backstop solves that problem. This grill is a terrific bargain even at the suggested retail price; at the current Amazon price it's even more terrific.
148 of 154 found the following review helpful:
try this Oct 10, 2007
By tvguyer
"tvguyer"
I read the review about how long it takes to preheat this grill, well being a full time chef (aa culinary arts) and over 20 years in the industry, I have used many different types of grills, and in most cases when I needed it to heat up quickly we would just place a sheet pan over it and it decreased the startup time significantly. Well I found a aluminum baking pan which fit this grill perfectly, the metal does not come in contact with the plastic base, and it took only 4 minutes to reach the high setting. I used a litte non stick spray and placed 2, 1 inch thick lamb chops on it and it seared them perfectly and quickly, placed the cover (pan) back over them, waited about 3 minutes, turned them over, and grilled another 2 minutes and they were well done. Totoal time grill was on 10 minutes. Now lamb is about the greasiest meat and I did get a little smoke, but that was only when the searing was taking place, and with the cover very little splatter also. I think if they could the would make a cover for this unit, but it would probably not pass U.L. standards? Not sure but if you are using this grill as with other appliances you must keep a close eye on them. I got this item next day with amazon prime total was only 34 bucks. Great deal and product.
210 of 221 found the following review helpful:
Cooks good food, but not smokeless Oct 09, 2006
By Gadgester
"No Time, No Money"
All considered, I decided to give this Sanyo indoor grill a 5-star rating. It's probably more like 4.5 stars, but Amazon doesn't allow that. I'll explain.
On the plus side, I really like the simplicity of this grill. It's also light-weight, registering a little under seven pounds, which means it's easy to move around - no breaking your back! It's also quite easy to clean: just soapy warm water and dry! The grill consists of three pieces: a metal grill, a sheet metal oil drip pan, and a plastic base. The base does feel a little insubstantial, but the whole thing, put together, is quite sturdy. The 200 in^2 cooking surface is good for a family of up to four.
I also loved the price: I never imagined I could have a quality indoor grill for such a low price. (Thanks to Amazon, too?) This is probably what tilted me to the five-star rating. The grill, made in China, is of pretty good build quality, and looks like it'll last a long time. The price and value just can't be beat.
Above all, the grill really gives you delicious BBQ food! I've grilled steaks, pork chops, burgers, franks, chicken breasts, chicken legs, chicken wings, vegetables, and more, and *each and every time* the food came out absolutely delicious. For example, I bought 2 pounds of semi-boneless rib steaks at Shaw's for ten bucks. I sprayed the grill with some oil spray, pre-heat the grill to 350 F degrees (which took about 20 minutes), and then grilled the steaks (together with a couple burger patties and some green peppers) for about 15 or 16 minutes to well-done. Then my family enjoyed a delicious steak meal. Not counting the cost of the grill itself, but including electricity (the grill is rated at 1300W), the whole meal came to less than $15 for four full-sized adults! Imagine if we had eaten out at a steakhouse; the last time I went to a steakhouse in Manhattan, I had to shell out over $80 per person, with no appetitizer ordered and only tap water! In fact, I found my own grilled steaks (served with Diet Coke bought on sale) even better. Even if the Sanyo had gone meet its makers after this one meal, I'd have more than broken even on the meal, compared to any restaurant that serves steaks.
So I'm really thrilled about the value and the quality of the food.
Now, why not a full-hearted five stars? Well, because this is a low-cost product, there are a couple items that I dislike. One, the thermostat is a joke; it has temperature ranges like "200-250" and "300-425" but doesn't give you exact markers, so you have to guess where to turn the knob to in order to preheat to 325. Not a big deal after a few tries, and I seem to get it right (more or less) each time even though I'd never operated a grill, indoor or outdoor, before. Two, cooking time is not short, period. Preheating to 300 takes about 15 minutes and to 425 takes over 20 minutes. Cooking itself takes between 10 and 20 minutes depending on what you cook and the meat's thickness. Also, the cooking time seems to vary with room temperature.
Three, more important, this grill is not completely smokeless. The oil spray will give out the most smoke, although it hasn't set off our smoke alarm yet. (I keep the doors and kitchen windows open when cooking.) In fact, I don't think any open grill can give you smokeless cooking. As long as you have oil heated to over 300 degrees, you will get smoke. Please keep this in mind if you live in a meticulously maintained house and cannot stand any grill smoke.
But all in all, I love this grill. I'd gladly buy another one any time. While grilled meat may not be healthy, this grill cooks yummy BBQ meat and veggies and saves me tons of money. I recommend this grill.
110 of 115 found the following review helpful:
 I really tried to like it... Jul 22, 2008
By Ryan Mitchell
Given the great reviews this grill has, I was really excited to order it and have way to grill in my small apartment. The first few times I just made burgers, and all seemed well...but as I grilled more steaks and chicken, the weaknesses of this grill really came out.
Let's start with the smokeless claim...it is smokeless, up to a point. At the lower temperatures, it does seem to be fairly smokeless, but I found that these temperatures were just too low for me. I cook (and especially grill) with high heat, so I crank this when cooking steaks or other meats. Two problems emerged: not enough heat and too much smoke. Both were unacceptable.
Now cleaning...I grew to despise cleaning this device so much after just a few uses. Sure, the top is a nonstick surface, but the underside of the grill surface is where all the grilled-on gunk accumulates. I tried all kinds of scrubbers and brushes, but nothing could get out all the burnt on mess. And if you don't scrape and scrub every little bit out then, you guessed it, the grill pours out smoke the next time you use it as these little bits burn.
I've moved on to a new apartment where I can have a little Weber Q, which I truly love, so the Sanyo grill will never see another day of action. Bottom line: even if you're an apartment dweller who can't have a grill, I still think you're better off cooking your burgers and steaks right on the stove top.
34 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Love it! Jun 28, 2007
By G. Travaglini
I've had this grill for one week now, and I'm perfectly satisfied.
Someone was complaining about the base being cheap plastic that melts, and that it's impossible to move the grill without spilling the water in the grease pan. Well, you're not supposed to move the grill when it's assembled! And not enough heat reaches the base to make it melt.
Others gave a one star rating because the grill is too big... maybe it's a good idea to check the dimensions before buying something! The dimensions provided in the description are accurate, so you can't say it was a surprise.
Smoke: no miracle will completely prevent the formation of smoke when you place something that contains grease on a hot surface. The amount of smoke obviously depends on what you're cooking, but I've found that if you follow the directions and have the grill in a well ventilated room, the smoke is not even enough to stick on your clothes, and it surely doesn't trigger the fire alarm.
Cleaning: if you have a big sink, just put the grill in a hot soapy water bath while you're eating (don't wait until it cools down) and then a damp cloth will do the rest in 5 minutes. Much easier than other grills you are forced to let cool down before cleaning them (those surfaces you can't even remove while they're still hot).
Long cooking time: I cook my burgers (and I love thick ones) for 7 minutes at 350°, and they're perfect (for me... must say that I like them still pink inside). As for the time required to heat up, it's enough to allow me all of the preparations like slicing vegetables and marinating meat. Overall in half an hour start to finish I have a complete meal for two (one vegetarian and one carnivore) and I don't have to cook twice if I want to eat meat.
The cooking surface does have some hot spots, but if you're wise enough to place on those spots things that need longer cooking time then you can turn it to your advantage.
And it's as close as I can get to the BBQ flavor, without the hassle of a BBQ.
See all 574 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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