Smoky Sue's Barbecue Penrith — Restaurant in Sydney

Until I find another place better that’s west of Sydney city, I can confidently say Smokey Sue’s is a strong contender for best American style bbq “west” of the city.

The #1 American bbq restaurant that I have been to in Sydney itself is Vic’s Meat Market inside Sydney Fish Market, I’m fairly sure they use wagyu beef for their brisket which gives it an unfair advantage.

The best west of the city was Bovine and Swine in Emu Plains, but I believe it has since shut down, possibly due to the pandemic.

Then you have BlackBear Bbq which has a few branches in western sydney. Been to Vineyard and Blacktown branches. It was average, at best.

There’s Meat and Fire, located in Rouse Hill, which before I visited Smokey Sues I regarded as the best you could get in western Sydney; but now in hindsight was only slightly better than BlackBear, the brisket was nicer but it wasn’t always consistent.

There’s also Fire and Brimstone bbq in Castle Hill and Smoking Gringos in Kingswood; both I haven’t been to so can’t say much about.

Now, one of the reasons I believe Smokey Sues is better than the places I have been to is value.

A 2 meat platter at Smokey Sues comes with 2 sides, and the included sides are quality and substantial in portion. Chips, onion rings, slaw etc. $34+

An equivalent 2 meat item from BlackBear Bbq that’s similarly priced at $32+ Hungry Bear Box comes with potato crisps/chips and a small side of coleslaw. I don’t consider potato crisps as a proper side. I believe the meat portions were also less than what I received from Smokey Sues as well as dry.

Meat and Fires equivalent is a $65 combo albeit with chicken wings (not tasty) and a link of sausage. Or you can get two individual meat boxes for around $50, blowing out the costs; the included sides are better than BlackBears though.

At Smokey Sue’s you can also get beef short ribs included in your meat platter. Disclaimer: at the time of the review there was a $19 surcharge for this as the supplier recently raised prices sky high. I thought for a second about paying it and really hesitated cause i really wanted to try it, but decided against it as the price was too much.

The manager/staff member who served us at the counter did come and see me at our table to check on us a few minutes after we received our orders and apologised that they had to charge an extra fee for the beef ribs and let us know that this surcharge was temporary until prices normalise again.

This interaction stuck with us, and my whole table was impressed with the customer service. That staff member did not have to approach us and explain/apologise. This was amazing customer service, empathy and social awareness for the staff member to do this unprompted. Simply amazing!

Another reason why I have ranked Smokey Sues so highly:

We arrived around 8pm Saturday night, fairly close to closing time. Usually American bbq places smoke their meats early morning, so to come in late night and have the beef brisket and pork belly be tender, juicy, fatty and not be dry is a huge achievement. Their smoked meats are so good! (at least in my personal experience)

I liked their chips and onion rings. Get the blue cheese sauce. I didn’t have a chance to try the coleslaw or salsa.

The nachos were okay, but really it’s just nachos, pretty much how you would imagine it. The mac and cheese balls were alright as well.

You’d be okay just sticking with the regular sides if you aren’t splurging.

My friends had the signature and royale burgers, they say they liked it.

The restaurant fit-out looks great and there’s an outdoor dining section. Booth seats are nice.

You order and pay at the counter and the food is delivered to your table. Make sure you ask for a free jug of table water + plates & cutlery.

I will definitely be coming back again and will try the beef ribs next time. IF the quality is consistently good, it’s probably the best American bbq in the west, in my opinion.

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Review date/date of visit: Saturday 13...

Brisket & Pork Belly on point, Links nothing special reminded me of the Jalapeno and cheese smoked sausages available from Costco.

The real disappointment is the price gouging, I've never been to a BBQ place where the prices fluctuate as if it were seafood. Ordered 3 meats + 3 sides menu lists ('from' in fine print) $65, actually came up as $80 on the till. All around the world, including Sydney prices are listed per portion/kg/pound.

Not only did the price increase by 25% - the promised quantity of 150g was not fulfilled. Two thin slices of brisket & one slice of pork belly. This was the same for all 3 couples (spent almost $300 between us)

Won't be back due to this poor experience, which is a shame because the food was decent.

Edit: Thanks for your response, although I believe you missed the point - the pricing structure isn't transperant. I'm glad you mentioned 'premium' meats as nowhere on your menu does it identify what constitutes 'premium'. You're right beef prices have risen ~9% which doesn't correlate with the 25% charged at POS & considering we ordered Brisket, Belly & Links I'd hardly classify the pork as 'premium'. As for the labour market, it's the same for every other hospitality establishment & yet I've never seen this used to justify a floating pricr structure.

You could display the 'surcharge' before payment if you wanted to choose the less deceptive route instead of covertly inflating at POS.Another option is to have a fluctuating price per 100g & publish that daily, but again this would limit your ability to inflate the price with sides, that you enforce upon your customers.

Edit 2: Yet no mention on your menu of what meats or sides are 'deluxe' - I consider that misleading, why not publish that? Since when is Coleslaw &...

Was looking forward to visiting this place, has a great feel and vibe. Staff are friendly.

Sitting down to review the menu, we opted for the two meats and two sides combo - choose any two meats and any two sides for X amount (can't remember and didn't take a photo of the menu). We opted for Brisket and beef rib and were surprised to be hit with extra charges at the counter for the meat selections. Would be good to be notified about this on the actual menu rather than be told by the staff when ready to pay.

Side of chips and onion rings were generous in size (I've never had more onion rings in a serve before in my life)both were crisp and not oily, but they lacked flavour.

Beef rib and Brisket were both tender, but flavor didn't penetrate into the meat and you really needed sauce to enjoy it.

If you take your bbqs and briskets seriously this place isn't for you, but it will do if you're craving and don't want to cook.

When we asked the chef how long they cook the meat for and at what temperature, the response was 65C for an hour, which meant that it wouldn't have been cooked at all. Perhaps the meats are precooked and reheated up to temp as there was no smoky deliciousness in the air that you would typically expect from a BBQ restaurant with...