I have had 3 Foreman grills over the years, first I got the Champ for college, then I moved up to the Next Grilleration, and now its on to the 360. The 360 has really stepped it up a notch. The multiple removable plates make this grill the one to have I think. I have made a massive omelet and it turned out perfect. I made quesadillas and they turned out perfect. I made chicken and once again came out perfect and had the classic good amount of drippings. Every plate worked like a charm and cleanup was so much easier. than the previous models i think. I look forward to using this grill for years to come!
Update:
Okay run into my first issue and its a BIG one. For some reason the area made to hold the plates on have gotten warped or bent after their first use (assume it was after I had set it to its highest and had cooked some chicken). I'm not sure if its from the heat or what but the top plate will no longer stay in place!!! I locked the plate in place to cook some chicken, lifted it up 2-3 times and it was fine, but I opened it up once and the plate popped off and ended up falling to the floor as I wasn't about to catch the thing. The plastic handle shattered and now any plate I try in the top does not seem to sit right and pops off after use :( I'm not sure what to think at this point, I was really impressed at first but after this debacle I'm not sure what to do with the thing as its now junk if I can't put any top plate on without it falling off.
I've used and loved Foreman grills for years. I had one of the first generation grills and then replaced it with one that had removable plates. This 360 version is my third Foreman grill, but it is by far the worst of the three, although there are still some good points to it.
The first and biggest problem is the temperature. It just doesn't get hot enough! Nothing gets brown and if you have to cook in batches, it will cool off so much by the second batch -even if the green light is off -that the food takes forever to cook. (The light goes on and off during cooking, on meaning it is heating and off meaning it has reached the correct temperature.) So far I have tried quesadillas with the quesadilla press plates and the tortilla never got brown and crispy. The grill plates were used a few times, once on fish which didn't get those attractive grill marks that previous Foreman grills would have imparted. I used the grill plates again on bacon-wrapped shrimp and had several soggy pieces of bacon even after cooking for over twice as long as required.
A second problem is that some plates don't have a good fit. The top grill plate is very loose and wobbly even when it's connected properly. I made a pizza in the grill (using refrigerated dough and homemade toppings) and while it tasted just fine, the top grill plate didn't fit right and the lid wouldn't close properly. The back part of the pizza near the hinge was dark brown while the front part of the pizza was hardly brown at all.
Another problem is the size and the short power cord. Because the unit is round and has the handle on it, it takes up more counter space. You don't have a flat side to scoot up next to the wall as you could previous versions. Also, the unit is quite tall and you can't open it fully when it's anywhere near a cabinet. Combine these size issues with the extremely short power cord, and I almost have nowhere in the kitchen to use this grill.
The good: The plates do wash up nicer than in earlier Foreman grills. The pizza won't stick to the pan at all, and the marks in the quesadilla press are pretty handy. It's an attractive unit. The handle is bulky but otherwise handy.
I think this is a great idea for a grill, just executed poorly. Part of the appeal of a tabletop grill is to get grilled taste and appearance indoors, and the 360 simply doesn't achieve that.
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I'm going to get all my all my gripes out of the way first. Several reviewers have already talked about the annoying sticker. I pulled mine off with my fingers and used Goo Gone to get the remainder.
The operating temperature of the grill varies widely. I used an infrared thermometer to measure the heat the grill produces. On "high" the temperature tops out around 450. But the temperature must drop by over 200 degrees before the grill cycles back on again. It's not unusual for modern appliances to have swings of 50 degrees or more, but 200 degrees is a lot. It explains why the grill seems slow at times. If you want your food to be done quickly, put it in the grill just as the green ready light goes off, when the grill is hottest. One good thing, the grill was uniform, never varying more than 20 to 30 degrees from edge to edge. No cold or hot spots.
The round shape and large size means that this grill takes a lot of room on your counter. When you try to stand it open, you find it is too tall to fit under overhead cabinets. The only way it will work in my kitchen is to place it directly in front of the outlet I want to use (it has a short cord), and turn the unit 90 degrees so that the hinge is perpendicular to the edge of the cabinet and the lid opens left to right allowing it to clear the overhead cabinet.
Even while you're using the grill, you must store the extra plates. They're over 12" in diameter plus the handles, and they don't stack easily. They're too big to store vertically in some cabinets. The manual warns not to use metal instruments on the Teflon surfaces, so stacking the plates against each other would seem just as bad. I used paper plates as a cushion between the grill plates.
There are 5 interchangeable grill plates. Two quesadilla plates, an upper and a lower grill plate, and a bake pan that is used with the upper grill plate. So there are three configurations you can make; quesadilla grill, regular grill and bake pan. Of these, the bake pan is the least useful. With the other configurations, the upper plate comes in direct contact with the food, greatly speeding up the cooking process. With the baking pan the top plate radiates heat to the food, but doesn't touch it. A frozen pizza, a DiGiorno Ultimate Thin Crust, took nearly an hour to cook, about three times what it would take in a regular oven. The crust came out crispy, but also tough and thick. All in all, the George Foreman Grill is best when used as a grill and not an oven.
Still, for all these gripes, I'm only taking away one star because what the grill does well, it really does well.
Hamburgers, the most obvious food to make in a grill, come out perfect every time. I have to admit, I was surprised how much fat came off a single 1/3 pound patty. The same is true for steaks. There is a difference in flavor when foods are pan fried in their own fat and when they're grilled. As an amateur cook, I appreciate appliances that make cooking a no-brainer.
By far, though, my favorite thing to do with the George Foreman Grill is to press sandwiches. My favorite? Shaved brown sugar cured ham, shaved beef salami, provolone and creamy italian dressing on a ciabatta roll. After I assemble the sandwich, I put it in the grill and, for a short time, I use light pressure on the lid to press the sandwich. It doesn't take a lot of pressure, gravity does most of the work. I'm eating one of these sandwiches as I write this. It's crunchy on the outside, hot and gooey on this inside. It makes me wonder what other varieties would be good. Ham and cheddar with ranch? Plain old grilled cheese? Mozzarella and pepperoni with pizza sauce? I bet that would turn out far better than a frozen pizza made with the bake pan.
Sometimes the sandwiches spill over, but the removable grill plates are dishwasher safe. The manual warns that the backs of the plates will darken in the dishwasher but I can't imagine why anyone would care. The back of the grill plates aren't finished anyway. The accessories (drip tray and spatula) are dishwasher safe too. About that spatula, at first it seems like a flimsy afterthought. Once you use it, it seems well though out. Perfect for, say, scooping a pressed sandwich off the grill.
My experience with this George Foreman Grill was a lot like this review. I didn't really like it until I used it enough to discover its talents. It's not a baking tool. (I wish it weren't marketed as such.) It's a poor pizza oven. But It's a great grill, a great sandwich press, and fun to boot. I think it would be fun to invite friends over to assemble and press their own sandwiches.
I recommend it if you have three or four mouths to feed. For one or two people consider a smaller model.
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I too was so excited to get this grill and cook up something for dinner the day I got it. Unfortunately, there is a paper plate sized sticker affixed right to the top of this unit that clearly states to remove before use. The sticker did not come off easily at all. Just as you start taking it off it rips so you move to another section and start peeling and it rips again leaving sticky gooey glue behind that is very difficult to remove. After two hours, and using several different things to lift the stickiness we were finally able to use the grill. We made quesadillas and they were awsome! I can't wait to make pizza and to grill up some steaks. All around the grill itself is fabulous, but the person who decided to slap that huge sticker on there should be forced to remove every one from these grills themselves.
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It is worth every penny! I wanted the latest from George because I know that it knocks out the fat and thought I would give this 360 Grill a shot. Now i'm cooking so much more right in the grill...I dont even take it off the counter. Its like a one stop shop. I didnt notice the adjustable angle at first, but once i looked at the manual i thought what a clever feature...it flattens out so that you can griddle or make pizza on the grill (I have not made a pizza yet, but cant wait to get creative!)
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I have to say that the con to this devices is the spit itself... come on why would make a spit in two pieces attached by a nut that bind the two pieces together ... to me it seems it is the weakest point in the whole device. I broke mine while I was tightening it... luckily I ran out to buy a cheap rotisserie for the 1 piece spit it contained... The spit need to be sturdy and appears to be flimsy... stay away from this one. Char-Broil 2584727 Deluxe Electric Rotisserie
