Smoke Shack BBQ — Restaurant in Sydney

We visited recently for dinner on a Friday night and ordered the brisket platter for $49. The portion consisted of approximately 1.5 thin slices of brisket, one small sausage, a large serving of cubed potatoes, and coleslaw.

The dining experience felt more like fast-casual than the price point suggested. Food was served in disposable cardboard containers, seating was limited to outdoor style picnic tables, and customers were expected to dispose of containers in provided bins. For $48, we expected either higher quality food or a more substantial portion size of meat. Comparing to other establishments, this felt significantly overpriced for what was delivered. The self-service dining format and disposable packaging didn't align with the premium pricing. The coleslaw was fresh and the potatoes were well-seasoned, but these sides couldn't justify the overall cost. We left feeling the meal didn't provide good value for money.

Pal, don't try to invalidate my experience. I would rather concentrate on the facts: I gave you a go, you gave me stingy portion of meat. I won't be back. I felt ripped off!

Update: Your aggressive response to every negative review reveals exactly what your business model is: maximize profit while minimizing customer value.

Let's be honest about what you're actually running here:

Fast-casual service at fine-dining prices - cardboard containers, plastic bins, picnic tables, self-service clean-up, yet charging premium rates.

Corkage fees on beer - customers buy their own beer then pay you extra just to drink it at your picnic tables.

Portion manipulation - bulk up plates with cheap potatoes and coleslaw while being stingy with the expensive meat customers actually came for.

Defensive deflection - instead of addressing legitimate value concerns, you attack customers and claim they "don't understand BBQ"

Your pattern of hostile responses to criticism isn't about "accountability" - it's about protecting a business model that depends on customers not questioning what they get for their money.

The fact that you consistently react this way to portion complaints tells the real story.

If your portions were genuinely generous, you'd invite dissatisfied customers back to see for themselves rather than attacking their character.

"Premium ingredients" mean nothing when you're deliberately minimizing them.

You're not running a BBQ restaurant - you're running a profit extraction operation with a BBQ theme.

Other potential customers can read these exchanges and judge for themselves whether they want to risk similar treatment when they have...

When you have an adult family, it's fun to go out and try new dining places. This one's a winner! Tucked away in far northern Sydney, adjacent to a carwash......yes car wash! You'll find a familiar building from the 70's...an old Pizza Hut franchise, that's been refurbished into the Smoke Shack (Texas) BBQ. We opted for dinner last week, and found ample street parking at 5:30pm....note it gets very busy in another hour or so. Reservations are recommended for tables of 4 or more I reckon. Simply decorated with lasos (rope) and low wattage lamps, you are ushered in by the very attractive young staff, (can I say that?), past the counter and the open kitchen. I saw the chef, complete with the mandatory black nitrile gloves, expertly carving meats, firstly a tender slow cooked roast brisket, then a juicy roasted pork belly....he topped this with what looked like a bbq bratwurst, chicken wings, coleslaw, pickles, roasted potato dinner rolls and their signature bbq sauce....I had to ask..."Wow! what's that?"....He replied the Family Box!! ($228)...I was so impressed, I said I'll have one of those!.....and more! We ended up ordering extra wings, sweet potato chips, Mac n cheese, beans and brisket. The brisket was as good as it looked.....tender juicy, smokey, and when eaten with their sauce.....heaven. Same with the belly pork, but even better! Big surprise was the Beans and Brisket ($15). My daughter also loved the Mac n Cheese ($15), onion rings ($12?) and the extra wings ($20). With a few soft drinks, you'll be looking at over $300 for the 7 of us, well worth the drive, and certainly a memorable dining experience. and will go again when hankering for...

Overpriced. $39 per portion of beef brisket or pork belly. We had one of each, total $78. Had 2 slices of meat per portion. Comes with slaw, potatoes and sause. Served on paper trays. Use wooden forks and knifes. Pork belly was really good. Brisket wasn't as tender though but good. Slaw was just a slaw, couldn't get excited about it. Garden or Greek salad would have been better but there was no options. Potatoes were a bit too spicy for me.

Generally you are expected to buy a bottle of soft drink, which we are not fans of. Usually restaurants have a bottle of table water brought to the table, but not this place. We had to go to a counter and ask for table water and were given 2 small plastic cups of water. No bottle with water was brought to the table. Hmm..

We were seated at the window table with direct view of skip bin located just few metres away from the window. Unappetizing...

We didn't like backless chairs neither. There's simply no chairs that have back rest. I guess backless chairs encourage visitors to leave sooner instead of sitting around and chatting for long time, taking up tables.

To sum it up: For $78 ( for only 2 mains) we got food served in the same manner as at food court at any shopping centre. The only stand out was pork belly, the entire 2 slices of it! Everything was disposable: paper trays, cutlery, cups. No, I'm wrong, food courts have more comfortable chairs, the ones you can lean back and relax!

As soon as finished our meals we have left.

And I am not...