Smokey Oaks Tavern — Restaurant in California

Smokey Oaks Tavern​. The restaurant is situated in the building that was once The Mighty Tavern on Fair Oaks Blvd on the edge of Fair Oaks.

After visiting this establishment a number of times I found it difficult to find a meal that I absolutely loved. I really have tried. I believe I have tasted the best BBQ in the world in Memphis, Texas and Kansas. It seems Smokey Oaks Tavern is trying to obtain a flavor all of their own but it fails as none of the meats are smoked. Don't think I'm trying to fool anyone as I've given the ribs, the brisket burgers, wings and Tater Tots a chance. The ribs are dry, on the tough side and sometimes seem underdone.

I want to touch on the undercooked meats. The serving of undercooked meat has been so frequent that one has to eat with caution to prevent consuming food that may make one ill. The very first time we ate there, the chicken was obviously undercooked. In fact, it had blood in it. Friends visited the restaurant and have complained of illness the very same evening.

The ribs. They must boil them and then put them in the oven. They definitely aren't smoked as there isn't any hint of a smoke ring. As the meats are normally tough and the flavor is a rancid sweetness, one needs a few pints to wash down. The ribs stand very low on the scale of good BBQ.

The brisket is served in their burgers ground up. Why would any place grind brisket unless they don't have a clue on how to smoke it? Every other BBQ place gives the choice of ground or sliced so the patron can see the smoke ring. They serve them massive to allow your eyes manipulate your mind. Again, the flavor of the meat is lacking and therefore it's camouflaged with fillers to make the patron think they are getting a good meal.

The last time I had the chicken wings they were undercooked. Enough said on that.

Tater Tots with pork and cheese has steadily become popular in the Sacramento area and its a very difficult meal to mess up. Smokey Oaks Tavern has done well in creating a sauce that gives the meal a unique flavor that sometimes has a kick. The issue is that when the chef doesn't feel like cooking, he/she tends to put the cheese in one part of the plate so it becomes congealed by the time it reaches your table. So, add to that the pulled pork of which is again not smoked and rather fatty. The sauce is a masking flavor for the poor quality meat. The tots? It would be hard pressed to mess those up.

If anyone thinks this place serves decent BBQ, they have no idea what they are talking about.

Beer. They have a selection of beer on tap. They are all microbrews. They used to have 805 which was easily the best they have ever served. Suddenly, it was not available. I suppose that gives an indication of what the other beers are like.

The service is mostly good although one particular server has a rather prickly character. I will just say her communications skills are rather lacking but she bounces around that by trying to look pretty....

I really wish I had anything positive to say about my experience at SOT, however we unfortunately had FAR from a positive experience. My company and I have been planning a corporate group lunch for weeks. Despite our excitement, we were not only let down, but felt incredibly disrespected by their staff. We called our order in just after the restaurant opened and they said it would be ready in 30 minutes. My colleague arrived at the restaurant 30 minutes later where they informed her that they actually did not have stroganoff at all, and the meal would need to be replaced with another option. This was a big problem, NOT because they were out of stroganoff... but because they did not inform us at the time we called that they did not have the dish. Because of this, 4 of our meals sat for over 45 minutes before they got to us as we had to wait for the final meal to be made. All of this could have been avoided with simple communication and quite frankly it is their job to know their inventory BEFORE the doors open. When the food arrived my french dip sandwich did not come with the au jus dipping sauce, so I unfortunately had a very dry sandwich. None of these things are why this was a terrible experience.

My real problem with this entire experience is the service I received when I called the restaurant to provide feedback. I called and kindly asked to speak to the manager. Working in customer service management for many years, I know how to provide constructive criticism in a professional manner. I was not rude by any means. I attempted to provide feedback about why my colleagues and I were frustrated with our experience. The manager that took the call was defensive, talked over me, and was overall very rude. He never once let me finish speaking, he did not apologize for THEIR error and the inconvenience it caused us, and he simply was not listening to my feedback despite my best efforts to be kind. Excuses and defensive behavior do not rectify customer complaints. To clarify, I did not once ask him to remake the food or provide a discount for the inconvenience. I only wanted to be heard. He made it seem like me and my team were the problem, and we were just being picky. When my colleague arrived with the food, she informed me that after the manager ended the call with me, he proceeded to walk around the restaurant being very rude and talking poorly about me. If a "manager" cannot handle PROFESSIONAL constructive criticism from their customers about an error on THEIR PART, and then proceed to talk trash about them in the business.... they have absolutely ZERO reason to be a manager in any setting. Its a shame that the food was half decent because we will never bring our...

Terrible experience. We were so excited to celebrate our 21st anniversary here since we hadn't been in a while and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner the last time we went. This time, not so much. It was hard to celebrate while feeling completely disregarded by our server. Upon sitting down, we were greeted by a young man who was polite and asked if we wanted water. We never received that water until I asked when he came to get other drink ands possible appetizer orders. My husband got his beer, I didn't get my drink. About 5 minutes later, he came to get entree orders and said they were out of the berry marg I had ordered. We then placed our dinner orders. The WHOLE time we were there, our server sang so loudly to every overhead song that played, nevermind us and the other two tables there trying to enjoy our company. When our appetizers arrived, I asked for tarter sauce. He went to the kitchen, came back out to hostess podium, laughed and conversated with the bartender, went back to the podium, brought me my replacement order drink, and I had to ask him again for the tarter sauce, which he clearly forgot. Moving on, we get our entrees which were subpar to the likes of a frosty stand but with a much pricier tag. NOT once was there a 2-bite check in, a "how is everything tasting?" Completely unacceptable. To top things off, we are trying to finish my husband's beer, and our server (who never pre-bussed throughout our meal) began to do so by taking our water carafe from our table. Were we being rushed out?! We were there at 8 and left right at closing time. I overheard him ask the bartender if she turned off "the sign". She responded with "yeah, 25 minutes ago." 30 minutes prior to closing. Poor practice. I'm sure the owners wouldn't oblige to that or the obnoxiously loud kitchen music playing over the dining room music. We give a lot of leeway as we spent 20 years in the restaurant business, but this experience just simply couldn't be ignored. Pretty sure we won't be going back to spend our hard earned money. We were not appreciated or respected as guests. This was supposed to be a special night out without...