Baldwin's Smokehouse BBQ — Restaurant in Buena Vista Charter Township

A friend and I met at Baldwin's Smokehouse in Saginaw, MI for the first time a couple of weekends ago (mid-September 2020). OMGoodness was their food scrumptious! I'll add that neither of us are big on "BBQ" in the sense that it can be assumed that everything is smothered with bottled BBQ sauce. NOT HERE! I ordered the Triple Threat Platter . . . the brisket was amaaazzzing! Soooo juicy and tender. The chicken was kind of shredded but so full of smoky flavor with just the perfect amount of seasoning. The only thing with BBQ sauce on it was the pulled pork, and that was just enough (just a light drizzle) of really good BBQ sauce, clearly not from a bottle. The sides I chose were: Nice and creamy, well-chilled, homemade potato salad, and a great-tasting homemade macaroni and cheese with just the slightest bite of sharpness to it. I can't even remember what my friend ordered but she said it was pretty good too. GREAT STUFF and oh - the staff were all equally good. Our sweet waitress was very attentive and polite. The chef came out to see if there was anything we needed - and ask if we were enjoying the food. MMMMhhhmmmmm! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE - even if you aren't a big fan of BBQ - guess that's why they put "SMOKEHOUSE" in their name. Really good place to eat and catch up...

Baldwin BBQ, housed in a remodeled former franchise restaurant, feels rather cold and lacks the warm and inviting atmosphere one might hope for. The ambiance could use improvement in terms of comfort.

When it comes to the food, I usually eat with my eyes first, but their menu disappointingly lacks pictures or illustrations of their offerings. Because of this, I played it safe and ordered a salad. The salad was generous in size and featured some of the freshest vegetables I've had in a long time. However, the BBQ chicken on the salad was not what I expected. Instead of pulled chicken, it was diced, which didn't quite work for this type of salad and left me with the impression that it wasn't of the highest quality. Next time, I'd go for the brisket.

As for the BBQ sauces, they only have one – quite boring for a BBQ joint. I enjoy trying different sauces, so this was a letdown and a reason I might not return. While Baldwin BBQ shows good effort and the industry is tough right now, some simple, low-cost changes could give this place the...

I would like to say that the food and service was great, but since we never got waited on, I can't. I told the owner that I saw her on Under the Radar Michigan and that was why we came. She told us to sit where we wanted. Someone brought us menus after about 5 minutes and that was the last time anyone came to our table. We watched at least 4 different groups of people come in and and get waited on and still no one came to even take a drink order. It was pretty clear that we were not going to get waited on, so we left. My son loves good BBQ and I was excited to take him and my granddaughter to the area the I grew up in for what looked like on TV, was good food. We should have a brought a camera crew with us and we may have actually been able to order some. We succeeded in raising our children to be non-predudiced, but I feel we were discriminated against because we are not persons of color. This makes me sad and disappointed. I wish you success, but I cannot recommend your restaurant after our...