Smokey Bones Chattanooga — Restaurant in Chattanooga

My husband, grandsons, and I had dinner here. We had the four piece cornbread appetizer. I’m not a big fan of sweet cornbread, but if you like sweet cornbread you’re sure to love it. My husband liked it, but agreed that it was really sweet. It had good texture, it was very moist, but just too sweet for me. I must say that the honey pecan butter had a good flavor and the pecan flavor wasn’t overwhelming.

I had a cup of chili. It wasn’t spicy at all. I have never eaten chili with sour cream, it was good, and had good flavor. I also had the brisket stuffed grilled cheese with mashed potatoes and gravy. The brisket stuffed grilled cheese was delicious. I normally wouldn’t order brisket, but I’m glad I did.

The thick sliced bread that the brisket and grilled cheese was in was buttered and perfectly toasted till crispy. The brisket was moist, the flavor wasn’t bad, it didn’t taste like it was smoked at all though. The brisket paired with the grilled cheese was perfect. The mashed potatoes and gravy on the other hand was very bland, even with pepper and salt.

My little ones had the kids chicken bites and fries. The chicken bites were better popcorn chicken and chicken nuggets in size. They were very crispy and had good flavor according to the boys and my husband. The fries were just plain restaurant fries, no seasoning. My husband would have rather had the chicken bites over his meal.

My husband had the any two favorites meal. He picked the pulled chicken, and pulled pork for his meats and the fire roasted corn, and mashed potatoes and gravy for his sides. He said the pulled chicken was very dry and crumbled when he picked it up with his fork. He said that it didn’t have flavor at all. The pulled pork was also very dry and flavorless. I don’t think that any of the meat was smoked. Barbecue sauce did not help.

My husband was also disappointed in the mashed potatoes and gravy and the corn. He agreed that the mashed potatoes and gravy was bland. He also said that the fire roasted corn tasted a little different. He said the best part of his meal was the toast. The toast, like the bread on my sandwich, was buttered and crispy.

For a one-year-old, three-year-old, and two adults our dinner was $78.15. That was very expensive for the 4 of us. We spent $79 at Cracker Barrel the night before and there were 4 adults, a one-year-old, and a three-year-old. I don’t know if we will eat at another Smokey...

Let me start by saying: I really wanted to like Smokey Bones. Very few things are open as late as they are, especially on Gunbarrel Road, so a spot that can serve as a late-night dinner spot for someone like me who gets off work right as most places are closing is a welcome one.

That's what got me interested in it in the first place, and the first time I went with my partner was amazing. Great food, great value, and the service was excellent, even if they were a little slow. I was super happy to have another option for when I don't want to cook after a long day of work.

Unfortunately, that didn't hold true for very long, and after several disappointing visits after that first one, I can safely say we've never had a great experience there again. To be clear: the food was never the problem, and every time we got consistently hot and fresh food that was served at a reasonable price. It was consistently the service, or lack thereof, that disappointed every single time.

Consistently, we'd be waiting at least 10-15 minutes to order, and at times we would never get refills on our drinks while we were there, even if the food took a bit longer. It was also incredibly frustrating how hard it was to get the attention of wait staff. I recall one night, we had come in and our server was replacing bottles of sauce at all the tables on our side of the restaurant, and she went as far as to replace the bottles at our table and go to the next one before we were able to ask for refills on our drinks.

It's really frustrating because I really like the food at Smokey Bones, and the "vibe" of the place seems like it could be a lot of fun or at least a decent place to eat late at night (not Taco Bell basically). We've been regulars at Millers' Ale House down the way because both me and my partner tend to get off work late at night, and their service has always been excellent to the point where the staff knows us even after a month of not eating out. Obviously, I'm not expecting that kind of recognition anywhere- but it's definitely a sign that just because a place is open late at night, the service doesn't have to be bad. Even Waffle House has better service, and I expect chaos anytime we go there! All this to say: we gave Smokey Bones the benefit of the doubt and still came out leaving with a bad taste...

Last night on 7-3-25 at around 5-10 after Midnight I went to go and pick up 2 DoorDash deliveries for the same customer. I wasn't really greeted or acknowledged. I politely told them I was here to pick up 2 orders for the same customer. I then proceeded to wait for over a hour in order to pick up 2 chicken finger combos. Inside of waiting I could see workers, managers and customers acknowledging that I had waited for over an hour and laughing about it and my inconvenience. In that entire time of waiting no manager apologized or talked to me. Just a young kid that was woefully out of his depth to handle the to-go orders. Other people showed up and everybody else got their orders before me and they got apologies. They could've done whatever dark and unspeakable acts to the food and I wouldn't have cared because I wasn't the one eating it. The fact that you would do that to someone and not apologize or show even the slightest bit of empathy much less not laugh at their plight shows me the type of business that is being run and what lack of morals you show by hiring people and encouraging behavior like that. I get it that it doesn't matter if I eat or drink at your establishment. I just thought Smokey Bones and customers reading this should know that in spite of being treated like that in what seemed a effort to get me to crash out and say something stupid so they could've washed their hands of me and the situation I refused to rise to the baiting. I have worked in Food Service for over 25 years so I try and have empathy for the work and its plight for everyone in FOH as well as the BOH. You guys should try doing better but if you can't be bothered to do that then maybe give the people the courtesy of a heads up. I hope you and your employees have the day, week, month, and year you lot deserve.

UPDATE- 7-7-25 I was emailed by a manager and was told in about a paragraph that they had discussed it with the people who worked that night and would train them to do better. STILL NO APOLOGY! Feel like I am being blown off and with that I can't and won't trust anything thing they do or say from...