Weber Griddle Review – New 28 Inch Weber Griddle for 2023

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If you’re looking at the new 28 inch Weber griddle, then this post is for you! Get my full Weber griddle review for the new 28″ griddle from Weber Grills.

Griddle cooking is on the rise… and if you don’t believe me, just check out the new product line-ups for the big name grill manufacturers like Traeger and Weber. Companies that previously had specialized only in grills and smokers are now jumping in to the griddle game.

So naturally, when I saw that Weber Grills was coming out with a new griddle line, I knew that I wanted to test them out.

And then I just happened to be shopping in Target as they were stocking the brand new griddles, before they were even available to purchase online. It was fate… or at least that’s what I told my wife as I explained that I was going to be bringing home a 3rd griddle to set on our back deck.

But how does the Weber griddle perform, and more importantly, how does it stack up against the competition?

Read on for my Weber griddle review for the brand new for 2023 Weber 28″ griddle:

The Basis of My Weber Griddle Review

Let me start by saying that I have been a hardcore Weber Grills fan since I started cooking 20+ years ago. My Dad always had a Weber kettle charcoal grill when I was young, and so naturally when it was time for me to purchase my own grill, I went with the Weber kettle.

Fast forward to today and I’ve had hands-on experience with most of the grills in Weber’s line up, including the Weber Genesis gas grill, the Weber Performer charcoal grill, and the Weber Summit Kamado that I currently own. So I had high hopes for the new 28″ Weber Griddle, and since I’ve owned so many Weber grills in my life, it was just natural for me to gravitate towards Weber’s new griddle line.

At the time of writing this griddle review, I’ve cooked on the new Weber a total of 6 times… long enough to already know what I like and what I don’t like about it.

And as with any review that I post here or on my griddle cooking YouTube channel, you can rest assured knowing that I have first hand knowledge of the product and multiple cooks under my belt so that I can give you the most honest and informed assessment possible. *Anyone else get super frustrated when they read reviews that clearly show that the actual reviewer has zero experience with the product? You will never have to worry about that here!

28″ Weber Griddle – How it Measures Up

Before we go into the pros and cons of the new Weber griddle, let’s look at the specifications and measurements. Here are some quick stats about the 28″ Weber griddle:

Griddle Cooking Area	504 square inches
Width (including side shelves)	53.55″
Height (to top of griddle with lid open)	41.45″
Height (to top of cooking surface)	about 35.25″
Overall set up dimensions (with lid on back)	41.45″ H x 53.46″ W x 23.94″ D
Overall weight	110.25 pounds
Total output	36,000 BTUs
Warranty	5 years, excluding rust and normal wear/tear

And here are some other notable features of the new Weber griddle:

• Hot rolled steel griddle top – This is different than other griddles, like the Camp Chef flat top grill, that have cold rolled steel tops.
• 4 accessory hooks
• high capacity front grease tray
• hard cover included

Weber Griddle Review – What I Like

As with any piece of cooking equipment, there are some things that I like about the new Weber griddle and things that I don’t like. Let’s start with the pro’s:

Even Griddle Heating

The biggest pro that I’ve found since starting to cook on the Weber griddle is the actual heating of the surface. Not only is the heat distribution across the 28″ surface very even in temperature, but the griddle temperature actually gets cooler as you adjust the knobs to low.

This is a HUGE benefit of this new griddle.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that the actual griddle temperature and the responsiveness of the knobs and heating elements is the BEST that I have experienced on any griddle that I’ve used so far.

But why does that matter?

Well, if you’re familiar with griddle temperatures then you know that most griddles can get super hot, even when the dials are turned on low. And by “super hot” I mean way too hot to cook the perfect griddle eggs. So you have to be strategic about when you cook certain foods.

For instance, you would have to cook your eggs first as the griddle surface is heating up or you would have to turn off your griddle and cook the eggs after it has had a chance to cool down a bit.

But for this Weber griddle review, I did a few different experiments and the 28″ griddle passed with flying colors:

1. First, I pre-heated the griddle on the low setting for about 25 minutes, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the surface temperature was still only about 325 degrees. For every other griddle that I have owned, the temperature would be mid to high 400’s after heating on low for that same period of time.

2. After cooking some bacon and sausage on the griddle at a higher temp, I experimented with the actual responsiveness of the knobs by turning only one burner to low. Within less than 10 minutes, the temperature had dropped a good 100 degrees on that one side of the griddle. That’s a great sign!

Solid Build

Besides the hard cover which seems to be a bit too lightweight in my opinion (we’ll talk about that later), the overall build quality of the griddle is solid and what I’ve come to expect from the Weber grills brand.

The four legs are sturdy and seem to be pretty heavy duty, and the side shelves are well-built, even though you can’t lower them for storage. In fact, the design of the side shelves seems to be superior to other griddle brands that I have tried, in my opinion, because they stay cool to the touch while the griddle is turned on.

I also like the placement of the storage shelf underneath, because it is at a height that is easily accessible. A solid side panel on the side of the griddle opposite the propane tank is a nice touch to hide some of the items on the shelf from that angle.

Easy to Assemble

The unit was easy to put together, and I especially liked that the screws, nuts, and washers were clearly labeled in different individual bags that coordinated with each step… Great user experience on the assembly!

The full assembly took me only about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and that was doing most of the work myself. Not bad compared to some of the other grills that I’ve put together.

Front Grease Trap

If you’ve seen some of my other griddle reviews, then you know that I prefer the grease trap position to be in the front of the griddle closest to me. That’s because when I was cooking on commercial griddles as a US Navy cook, I got used to having the grease trap in the front and “pulling” the grease towards me. I just find that it is much easier than using the bench scraper to push it away from you towards the back.

Longer Warranty

The Weber griddle comes with a 5 year warranty for most of the parts, cook box, and cooktop. Here are the warranty specifics for the Weber griddle, taken from their website:

• 5 years – Cookbox: no rust through/burn through (2 years paint excluding fading or discoloration)
• 5 years – Hard cover assembly: no rust through/burn through (2 years paint excluding fading or discoloration)
• 5 years – Stainless steel burner tubes: no rust through/burn through
• 5 years – Carbon Steel Cooktop (excluding rust)
• 5 years – All remaining parts (excluding normal wear and tear)

This 5 year warranty is definitely one of the longest in the business. For instance, Camp Chef and Blackstone both offer 1 year warranties on their griddle products.

Weber Griddle Review – What I Don’t Like

As I mentioned, the Weber griddle performs amazingly well in terms of temperature control. However, in my opinion the actual look of the griddle doesn’t exude the “wow” factor and there are a few features that I would change:

Lackluster Appearance

The first thing that I noticed after assembling the Weber griddle was the very basic appearance. I know that not everything should be based on looks, but in my opinion, the design looks like that of a toy griddle that I would put together for my kids. It’s definitely not a “WOW” statement piece.

When you compare the design of the Weber griddle to the commercial industrial look of the Camp Chef with its stainless steel and bold red knobs, or the bold black and blue color scheme and impressive lines of the Pit Boss, the new Weber just doesn’t look as nice, in my opinion.

Hard Cover NOT a Hood

Weber gets points for including a hard cover with the griddle… When you’re spending $400+ on a piece of cooking equipment, it’s nice to not have to immediately fork out for a separate cover. But in my opinion, the design of the cover could be improved.

The cover seems to be on the thinner side, which means it is lighter weight and seems to be more flimsy to me. In fact, it is so light weight that I may be concerned that a strong gust of wind could cause it to blow away.

It’s also important to make a distinction between a cover and a hood.

The hard cover that is included with the Weber griddle is NOT meant to be set on the griddle top while the griddle is turned on, so you won’t be able to use it as a substitute to a melting dome to melt the cheese on your smash burgers.

*If you do decide to purchase the new Weber griddle, then I HIGHLY recommend the melting dome and wire rack combo in this post: 6 Flat Top Grill Accessories You Must Have for Your Outdoor Griddle – minus the Blackstone hard cover of course.

No Leveling Mechanism

From what I can tell so far, the new Weber griddle does not have a leveling mechanism to help with leveling out the cook top surface. If your deck or back porch isn’t built perfectly square, that could be problematic because you could have your grease, eggs, sauces, etc. pool up in certain areas on the griddle.

In comparison, the other griddles that I have owned do have different ways to make sure that the griddle surface is level, like 2 screws right under the griddle top that allow you to adjust the surface leveling.

How your griddle top is leveled is really a matter of personal preference… Some people prefer their tops to be perfectly straight and level while others want their grease to naturally run towards the grease trap. Overall, the inability to level the surface is not a deal-breaker for me… It’s just something that I’ll have to get used to.

No “Bells and Whistles”

I would definitely consider the 28″ Weber griddle to be a “stripped down” flat top grill. Besides the 4 utensil hooks on the front side and the included hard cover, there aren’t really any special features. In comparison, some of my other griddles have built-in paper towel holders or bottle openers, and the Pit Boss even comes with a nice black propane tank cover to hide your dirty tank.

The lack of “extras” certainly doesn’t prohibit the Weber griddle from performing well when you’re cooking, but it would still be nice to see a few more features… even just an attached bottle opener to pop open my daughter’s Root Beer.

Not a Fan of the “Chute” Style Grease Trap

While the new Weber griddle gets points for having a front grease trap (I prefer the grease trap in the front because that’s what I was used to from cooking on commercial griddles), I’m not a fan of the actual “chute” that funnels the grease into the drip tray.

With the design of the griddle, that grease funnel is very difficult to access, which means it will probably be difficult to clean as well. And I can foresee that when food debris gets down in there, it may be difficult to clean it out.

Also, you’ll need to be careful when emptying the grease trap… especially if the grease is still hot. Because it is a “high capacity” grease trap and it is more elongated in shape, when you pull it out too far, the grease tray naturally wants to tilt downward a bit which could cause the grease to spill out if it is overfilled.

Also, because of the shape and the weight of the grease tray when it is full, you naturally want to place your second hand under the bottom for support. But the hot grease inside the tray causes the bottom side of the grease tray to get hot, so be careful!

Other Outdoor Griddles to Consider

With so many different griddle models available to purchase, it can be difficult to decide what griddle is best for you. And it can also be easy to get distracted by the “latest and greatest” and end up purchasing a certain model with features that you won’t end up using.

Case in point, I have the Blackstone Air Fryer Combo griddle, but I’ve only used the air fryers a total of 5 times.

So to help guide your buying decisions and focus on what flat top grill or griddle to buy, I wrote this epic post on the best outdoor griddles.

And you can check out my full reviews of the Pit Boss and Camp Chef here (full review of the Blackstone griddle coming soon!):

• Pit Boss Ultimate Griddle – Pros, Cons, & What I Wish I Knew First!
• Camp Chef Flat Top Grill Review

Final Thoughts on the New Weber Griddle

Overall, I’ve been very impressed with the actual heating up and cooling down of the Weber griddle cook top, and the quality seems to be on point. Besides a few features that I would personally change if I were designing the griddle, like the grease tray and the hard cover, the new Weber 28 inch griddle is a solid choice.

The most important thing with griddle cooking, however, is the actual person using it. You can produce restaurant-quality, delicious food no matter what flat top grill you choose to buy. As most members of our griddle community will tell you, what griddle you have doesn’t matter… just get one and start griddling! And don’t be surprised if your other grills or smokers barely get used once you add a versatile and fun griddle to your back deck!

I hope this Weber griddle review helps to clear up some questions you may have about which griddle you should buy. And if you want to see the Weber griddle in action, you can check out these YouTube videos:

• New Weber Griddle First Cook – Double Decker Cheesesteak Tacos
• New Weber 28 inch Griddle Review and Seasoning