Weber Genesis EPX-335 grill review: smart outdoor cooking

Congratulations. You're considering the Weber Genesis EPX-335, which makes you almost as smart as this grill. After assembling, admiring, testing and trying desperately to impress this high-tech grilling Goliath by talking about 19th-century Russian literature while idly flipping burgers over the last couple of weeks, I'm ready to offer my review.

The Weber Genesis EPX-335 is a gas-fired, Bluetooth- and WiFi-enabled, patio-dominating centerpiece. It's a BBQ behemoth and one of the two premium models in the entire, expanded Genesis lineup, which Weber introduced as "the biggest grilling innovation in decades," promising to create a full backyard culinary experience. 

Indeed, whether that means cooking for your entire neighborhood or just making all your neighbors jealous, throwing some meat on and going inside to watch the game while monitoring the food with your phone or standing awed in front of the burners at midnight, like some sort of early man fire ceremony, witnessing the dazzling, incandescent glory of nighttime grilling, thanks to Weber's "night vision" LED lighting, the Genesis EPX-335 does create a full backyard culinary experience. (And if you think that's an exaggeration, you haven't watched many grill-dude reviews on YouTube.)

The Genesis EPX-335 goes far beyond just grilling, though. By replacing the cooking grate with custom-fit Weber grillwork, you can roast, bake, steam, or even stir-fry inspiring food you never thought possible on the grill. And with connected smart technology, you can receive real-time food temperature alerts, so that whatever you're making turns out perfect every time.

For 2022, Weber increased the number of grills in its Genesis line to 15 models — three more than it offered the year before — and also redesigned their appearance while adding new features.

The Genesis EPX-335 has all the barbecue bells and Weber whistles available, including the Weber Connect app, a side burner, and illuminated grill handle and control knobs. This — along with premium design, easy-to-use operability and smart technology — makes you a grill master whether you're standing in front of it or sitting on the couch. And that's why we included the EPX-335 in our Best BBQ guide. Of course, it also comes with a top-of-the-line price tag.

Is it worth it? Well, that depends on your grilling needs, the features you want, your budget and more. Let's open up the hood and take a look.

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: price and availability

The Weber Genesis EPX-335 is available now from all your usual outdoor grill retailers for $1,699 (£2,099). This model is currently not available in Australia. 

The jaw-dropping price makes it one of the most expensive grills that money can buy — though Weber would say it's a superior product that you will likely have forever, or at least a lifetime. If grilling is important to you, and you can afford the top-of-the-line model, the long-term investment may just be worth it.

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: unboxing and assembly

There's no way around it (almost literally): the Weber Genesis EPX-335 is enormous. It’s 62 inches wide, 27 inches deep and 48.5 inches tall (157x69x123cm), and it weighs in at a corpulent 210 pounds (95kg). 

Unsurprisingly, this is a huge, heavy grill, and it comes in a big, burdensome box that the delivery worker and I struggled to lug up the steps to my house. Once it had been deposited onto the porch, I opened the box to more easily transport the individual pieces to the backyard where the grill would reside — and presumably become part of the structural integrity of the property. 

The assembly guide says two people are required, and I would second that guidance. After unboxing and laying out all of the parts — a dozen core components, as well as the myriad screws, nuts, washers, fasteners and other hardware accessories — my teammate and I set about putting the thing together. 

As a devotee of budget-friendly furniture and appliances from drop shippers, and thus a victim of their often-maddeningly incomprehensible instructions and orders that sometimes are missing key items or damaged, I was very happy to find the Weber assembly guide easy to follow and the well-made parts easy to fit together. Certainly, you would expect nothing less for such a high-end and high-priced product, but it was gratifying nonetheless. 

The parts were carefully packaged, completely unscathed and gleamingly handsome. Holding them in your hands, you could feel their weight, durability and quality craftsmanship. The only tool needed that wasn't included in the box was my Phillips-head screw driver. 

Unlike many smaller grills that come mostly prebuilt, the Genesis EPX-335 requires quite a bit of assembly — about two hours. But with the clear, detailed instructions and intuitive fabrication, putting the grill together was a generally agreeable experience. Only once or twice did I feel a deep empathy with Homer Simpson when he attempted to build a BBQ pit.

The lid is the heftiest and most unwieldy part, and carefully affixing it to the rest of the grill — near the end — is when it's most helpful to have a second person involved. Also, because the motion-sensing LED lighting and the digital screen are powered by a wall plug — though the Genesis EPX-335 still works like a standard grill without being plugged in — there are wires that can be pesky to connect in the underneath compartment. 

But overall, the grill is straightforward to assemble and, once built, can be wheeled wherever it needs to go. The finished product is imposing and attractive, a showstopper you'll be proud to have in your yard and a far sight from some puny kettle grill or a cheap gas grill that looks like it could rust upon first use.

Following the manual’s instructions, I downloaded the Weber Connect app from the App Store and paired the grill to my smartphone. The smart technology enables remote, real-time food temperature monitoring and flip-and-serve notifications, as well as dozens of recipes within the app that offer step-by-step instructions for cooking food just right. Whether you're mingling at the cookout or running inside to use the bathroom, you're always in control with the Weber Connect smart tech. 

All that remained was to buy a 20-pound liquid propane gas tank. The tank fits snugly inside the grill cabinet and hangs from a scale with a weight sensor, which connects to the app and lets you know when you’re running low and need to get more propane. It's a neat feature, but one that I don't need yet, as my newly assembled grill is fully fueled up and ready to start cooking.

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: design and features 

The Weber Genesis EPX-335 comes with a range of well-designed features, including: 

• Porcelain-enameled, cast iron cooking grates
• Stainless steel PureBlu burners and side burner
• Large sear zone running almost the full length of the of the grill
• Expandable top cooking grate
• Extra-large prep and serve table
• Weber-crafted frame kit
• Oversized grill locker
• Weber Connect smart technology 
• Nightvision LED grill lighting 
• Remote control knob lighting

The three high-performance main burners total 787 square inches of cooking area — enough to fit 20 burgers — and can deliver 39,000 BTUs of heat input to reach an internal temperature of more than 500 degrees. There's also a handy side burner for sautéing vegetables, boiling sides or heating up sauces, as well as a warming rack to toast buns or keep food warm.

The cast iron grill grates allow for even heat distribution and there’s a large, high-heat sear zone in the middle of the grilling area to get the perfect sear marks on burgers or steaks. 

There's a side storage cabinet where you can keep extra grill grates and other accessories — such as a Weber-crafted baking stone for pizza, a fry basket or a rotisserie — and holders for your spatula, grill scraper, tongs and more. The pull-out grease tray is easy-to-clean. A propane tank level monitor tells you when you’re running low on fuel. And the digital screen has a built-in thermometer so you always know the internal grill temperature.

The porcelain-coated enamel grill and black enamel lid are sleek-looking and incredibly resilient. They are virtually resistant to scratching, chipping or other damage, and the lid seals in the heat so well that you could cook under a porch or in a small space without worrying about excessive heat release. I put my hand right over the top of the lid and felt almost no warmth. 

The built-in lights on the handle and knobs are a cool feature — attention-grabbing with a group and practical for making sure the last few chicken breasts are not overdone when the cookout continues into the night. And the Weber pizza stone is cut to fit just right inside the grill, so you can bake pizza, bread, cookies and more on it. There’s even an extra grate with an open circular area for dutch ovens, so you can make a big pot of fall chili on the grill. 

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: operation and performance

For the price, you’re expecting near-perfect operation and optimal performance, and that’s what you get with the Weber Genesis EPX-335. Once you’ve got the propane installed in the intuitive tank scale, have the gas on — waiting the recommended minute or so to get it flowing — and turn the control knobs up to the desired level, you simply push the ignite button and watch the grill burst to life. 

The burners catch instantly and give off an immediate, impressive heat, with the blue flames visible through the grill grates. It’s tempting to just stand there and bask in the warm glow, and you should let yourself take a moment and appreciate how much easier and more enjoyable it is to cook food over fire now than it was a few thousand years ago.

Now that you’ve properly recognized the passage of time and appreciated technological progress — this is a good use of the 5-10 minutes you’re going to wait to let the Weber heat up — you’re ready to grill. 

There’s very little fussing with multi-step preparation or waiting around, which is beneficial because you bought a gas grill over a charcoal or pellet grill for a reason. The Genesis EPX-335 is extremely powerful, efficient and responsive, heating quickly and evenly across a large surface area and adjusting temperature rapidly when you turn the knobs. 

The circular sear zone in the middle of the grill is a great option when you want to apply the perfect, photo-ready seared touch, but you don’t need to use it for most grilling. With potent burners and plenty of space, you’ve got practically endless options. 

The first time I used the Genesis EPX-335, I wanted to play it safe — and also honor my Wisconsin roots — so I grilled up some bratwursts, which was quick and easy. The next couple of times, I cooked shish kabobs with marinated chicken, peppers, onions and portobello mushrooms, and then smash burgers with corn on the cob.

I could practically hear the grill begging me for something more ambitious to let it show off, and — assuming I remember how to socialize with other people after two years of pandemic life — I’m looking forward to using the Genesis EPX-335 to make friends by enticing them with steaks, BBQ ribs, grilled turkey and homemade pizza on the baking stone. Not to mention amaze them with the night-grilling LED lights. 

The side burner is great for cooking veggies and other things that need a different treatment or timing, and with the lid closed and keeping the heat in, you don’t have to be tempted to peek or constantly flip to make sure the food gets cooked enough. The grill operates quietly, capably and steadily.

I found the app really easy to use, both via Bluetooth and Wifi. It lets you search for what you want to cook, suggests what settings to use on the grill and monitors the internal temperature with a probe. This really is a smart grill, and while that may not be something everyone — or anyone? — needs, it's also pretty useful to have. A couple of times I left to go inside and watch the NBA playoffs, and it was cool to be able to monitor the grill remotely. 

So far, everything I’ve made has turned out great, and as someone who once wrote a regular, ironic blog series called “In Poor Taste” that celebrated incredibly basic and often pretty bad food that I prepared, you can trust that has a lot more to do with the competence and capability of the Weber than with me. Whether you’re a BBQ veteran or a backyard rookie, the Genesis EPX-335 makes anyone a skilled grillmaster. 

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: verdict

It's probably become clear by now, but this review boils down to a couple of key points: One, the Genesis EPX-335 is a truly superb grill that you will love using, and two, it's very expensive. 

The construction quality and cooking ability of this grill are unquestionably excellent, and it makes an awesome addition to any outdoor space. You can grill, barbecue, roast, smoke and even bake food; you can cook creatively for a huge group of people thanks to the Weber's large size and various heating areas; and you can do it all faster, more easily and more remotely than most competitors.

I admired the craftsmanship of the Genesis EPX-335 and found the features and accessories user-friendly and effective — from the side burner to the propane tank scale, the digital smart screen and Weber Connect app to the nifty Nightvision LED grill lights, and more. 

However, it's not the grill for everyone — or perhaps the everyman. The cost will be prohibitive for many people and just unnecessary for some, given that you can buy another good grill for a lot less. 

This is one of the only major drawbacks for the Genesis EPX-335, but it's obviously a significant one. Other minor negatives are the huge size and weight of the grill, which is really just a concern during assembly, and the fact that you need to be plugged in to an electric outlet or connected to a USB power source to use the digital screen. 

Overall, the Weber Genesis EPX-335 is an exceptional product and a gas grill that anyone would love to have. But any recommendation also has to include mention of the price, as not everyone will be able to afford it. But if you're willing to spend the money, the Weber Genesis EPX-335 is one of the best grills available.

Weber Genesis EPX-335 review: also consider

If the Genesis EPX-335 sounds fantastic but you would prefer something a bit more affordable, the Genesis II EX-335 GBS is a great option for a few hundred dollars less. The gas-fired Genesis II EX-335 GBS includes smart tech that monitors the cooking with the Weber Connect app. It’s virtually the same grill but without some specific features, such as the LED grill lights. 

As we wrote in our Best Barbecue guide, “To some degree it behaves like a pellet smoker to make grilling as hassle free as possible.” If you want an actual pellet smoker, though, the Traeger Ironwood 650 is a serious, do-it-all, wood pellet-fired BBQ grill that makes it easy to cook basically anything for a large number of people — though its high price means you’re facing a similar issue as the Weber Genesis EPX-335. 

You can read more about two of T3’s top-rated premium, large, gas grills in this Weber Genesis II EX-335 GBS vs Char-Broil Professional Pro S2 comparison piece. Or check out T3's ultimate grilling guide, "Best gas barbecue 2022."