Smoqehouse — Restaurant in Brandenton Beach

I never leave reviews. EVER. If I don't like what you have to offer, I simply won't return. I'm just too dissappointed I have to say something. My partner and I are BBQ fanatics, so, we had to try this place. We went at 6:30 p.m. this evening after reading good reviews. Overall, I found it mediocre at best. I give management and the business model an even lower score. This turned out to be just another poor sandwich shop. Visually, A small, trendy looking smoke house with a modern, minimalist ambiance. I was expecting great food. We wanted to try the rosemary chicken because of the rave reviews, only to find out they were out of it this Wednesday night. This speaks poorly of management when you only have eight items on your menu to keep track of. The dining experience was reminiscent of McDonald's or Burger King. Order your food at the counter, pay for it first, then clean up your table, dump your own trash and place your tray on the shelf above the trash can. We were the only people in the place and no one approached our table to ask us how anything was. Since you have to pay for your food first they put you on the spot over the gratuity. The gentleman swung the screen in my direction with three options of 15% 20% and 25%. A tip jar was on the counter, staged with a few singles in it. I don't recall an opt out option. After spending more than half my life in the hospitality industry, mostly food service, I find it to be presumptuous and insulting to expect a gratuity before you provide any form of service. I chose 20%, it's my standard. 30% ++ for great service. Around the holidays I am known to leave as much as 50%. You have to screw up pretty bad in order to get less than 20% from me. After all, poorly made food is not the waiters fault. I paid $9 for a pulled pork BBQ sandwich with less than 4 oz of meat on a store-bought bun served with no side, no chips, no slaw, not even a pickle. There was a little coleslaw on the sandwich. The plain sandwich was served on a sheet of wax paper on a small metal tray. This is supposed to be a "smokehouse", at least that is what the name implies. There was nothing smoked about the pulled pork and the BBQ sauce was completely unimpressive. When I asked the gentleman that took our order what cut of beef was used for the Hawaiian shaved beef sandwich, he had no clue. It seems the owners have not made up their minds what this is supposed to be, but disguising a cheap sandwich shop as a trendy restaurant is a bad move. Please learn how to smoke meat, improve your sauce recipe, offer your sandwiches as platters or entrees including sides, get rid of the trays and hire a couple waitresses. The public will pay handsomely for genuine quality. Deception will cost you in the long run. Feel free to invite me back when you have figured this out. Everyone deserves a second chance. For now, I won't be...

WOW! This place is legit! Lets start with this, if you are expecting traditional BBQ, this isn't it. I love me some real pit bbq and was apprehensive to visit Smoqehouse because the menu did not reflect traditional bbq. Wow, am I glad I still went for it. We got there at about 5 on a Thursday evening and it was not busy. When we walked in we were greeted by a young man eager to take our order. I was struggling to decide between the brisket burger and the pulled pork sandwich. I asked him what was better and he informed us they were the top two items on the menu. He also informed us that when he is ordering bunless he goes pork but if he is having a bun he goes burger. We decided we would get one of each and split it. The food came out in a flash and looked amazing. First bite was the brisket burger. Wow! Bursting with flavor. I am not a huge brisket person normally, but this was so good. The meat was so tender and flavorful. The sauce was top notch and bun was great. Wow, wow! Next was the pork sandwich. Again, not a huge coleslaw guy, but this was the total package. So good. Only problem was it went way too fast. We also split a large fry. These fries are just like five guys fresh cut fries. So good. And the dipping sauce was excellent. Here is my only complaint. They didn't have any merch. I wanted to give them more of my money and buy a t-shirt and sticker and they had none. I am legit a little angry about this. The Smoqehouse is the real deal and I can't wait to come back to AMI and have some more. I really appreciate them using their God given talent to bless us and give us a taste of what a feast in heaven will be like. We need more places like the SmoqeHouse. I am looking forward to spending...

We were at the beach and wanted to grab something to eat. Since they were walking distance I gave them a shot. First, we called to ask about an item in the menu, the response we got was, everything is online and we are in lunch rush... Hmmm, at 2pm? Ok. Looked at menu online which was kind of hidden but whatever. Still didn't really answer our question as we were trying to get chicken instead of pork. Figured I'll overlook the attitude over the phone and order the food. Place the order and asked about having chicken since I can't eat pork (particular sandwich they had); the response was "NO we can't do that". Fine, so we order something different and some fries. I go to pick it up, waited a few minutes before someone decided to show up to the counter, since everyone was in the kitchen. Not understanding the need as they weren't busy at all and I was trying to look where was their lunch rush. Anyway, young man came to the counter without greeting so I initiated the greeting. Told him my order, paid and left. Now in the interim, I observed the staff not pleasant or enjoying working there. People, if you are that miserable, work somewhere else or make life adjustments. About the food, it was okay. Nothing crazy about it and the fries were soggy and salty. I know fries will get somewhat soggy if enclosed but the saltiness didn't help. Would've given them another chance but the lack of customer service and average food is not worth it to me....