Smoke House BBQ — Restaurant in San Rafael

Stumbled here as I was staying across/down the street at the Intercontinental. I’m not local but visit often and have passed this place many times but seen no customers. After reading reviews I decided to walk over and try it tonight, and it didn’t disappoint.

Regarding the lack of customers, the location is in more of a business district so it gets busy on weekends and thus more of a lunch crowd. At night, there is little traffic. I think they’re considering moving a bit closer to the mall to entice more foot traffic at night.

Service is great. I dined by myself and the server and Junior (one of the founders/owners and chef) chatted with me quite a bit. Not overbearing but interesting and pleasant. Helped me order a combo platter that wasn’t really on the menu.

Food was excellent. I’m from Memphis Tn, which prides itself on being a bit of a pulled pork and pork rib expert. I smoke quite a bit of brisket and pulled pork on my own at home now. My wife gets upset at me when I order ribs from a restaurant because I usually don’t care for them. Most often it’s because they’re drowning in sauce.

The food was really high quality. I dumped their coleslaw on the pulled pork, which is very Memphis style. It tastes just like home. Then I had some St. Louis style ribs that were very good . In hindsight I should’ve asked for no sauce as I personally think it took away even a tiny bit from the well seasoned and super tender ribs . But that’s just a personal preference and I think most people would prefer the sauce , and honestly it wasn’t too much. I just don’t think I needed any. Then “rib tips” which were basically pork belly burnt ends as far as I could tell. Not overly fatty but just enough for most bites to melt in your mouth .

I also had a side of beans which I loved. I told the owner I was impressed because often times bbq beans are too mushy from sitting in the sauce forever . I think he’s perfected the right amount of tenderness as the beans have some texture and bite to them. They’ve been cooked for sure, but they don’t just turn into mush . I wanted to try the potato salad but they were out. Not sure I could’ve finished it anyway, I was stuffed!

Price I wouldn’t say was cheap but you get what you pay for. No frills inside as far as ambience. But it’s a bbq restaurant 🤣 and it appeared clean which is what’s most important. Everyone was fluent in English and Spanish which was a nice touch and would make ordering easy.

Biggest negative was prob just the location but only because I had to walk there and getting there isn’t super pedestrian friendly from where I came from. Plenty of parking if coming via car.

I hope to be back next time in town and bring friends next time.

Oh, they have a fun bourbon collection too. A variety of prices so you can spend a lot or a little if you’d like to pair your bbq with a nice glass of Kentucky bourbon.

~30,000 CRC for me, but that was with a glass of bourbon, a beer, and a huge platter of food. I definitely over did it . I think a pulled pork sandwich and fries was maybe around 8,500? So there are definitely more price reasonable options to...

AUTHENTIC BBQ. everyything, and I mean EVERYTHING carefully smoked on site.. By the owner n staff Amazing tender juicy wings and half chicke. Call for when the Brisket. TheKing of Smoked meat Available on the menu- Not always Smoke House BBQ *

Awesome Authentic REAL slow smoked meats of all kinds, made onsite in his smoker JR the Owner/Operator NorthAmerican PitMaster smokes everything prepared by hand. Always on scene. Quality Nica Meat. No fat ribs, smoked chicken wings (!) and Halves, Pulled Pork and Ribs Great handmade sides. St Lois style sauce, vinegar tangy, thin and soooo good No heavy smoke flavor Ketchup here! The BEST smoked meats I've found for looking. Right off Rt27 across from Ezcazu Mall Taking Christmas And New Years orders now for Dec 24 and New Years eve pickup. Get an order in NOW The King of Smoked Meats- the Brisket Pricey yes, so rarely on menu, buts takes these on order this time of year Expensive for him to buy quality and prepare- days of slow smoke, reflected in price His Whole Ham similar. And Less Ribs tender,...

I will start with the bottom line: The food is OK and the service is excellent but we expect for MUCH stronger SMOKY experience from a place that puts the SMOKE in their front.

We are smoked meat fans and we usually aren't missing an opportunity to eat in places that serving that kind of food. So it was natural for us to come to this place when visiting San Jose.

To be honest, we came with expectations due to the Google reviews and the unambiguous name. We ordered a classics: Wings, 1/2 Chicken, and 1/4 KG brisket.

NONE of them had enough smoky flavor in my opinion. The wings were nice, and the brisket was really good as texture and taste but almost no trace of the smoky taste we expected.

We let the waiter know about our disappointment from the lack of smoked flavor of the brisket and it doesn't seem she had something to do with it.

We ate at few places in Costa Rica which do not specializes in meat smoking but serving smoked meat with a much stronger flavor and smoky aromatic.

If you like really gentle smoky aromatic it might be the...