Smokey's Pit Stop — Restaurant in El Paso

This rant isn't about the bar, so if you're wondering how that is, it's awesome. Great ambience, normally-priced drinks, and they have a good work crew for the weekends (at least at the one on Zaragoza). With that said, we (wife, son, and me) stopped by for some grub on the grill side. It felt like if they were halfway through shutting the location down, as in closing the business down. There was a big empty cart and fridge, no actual decor around, and it overall just felt empty. But hey, who cares, we went for the food.

The food... Although the prices felt a bit high, we understand it's a local restaurant. My wife and I ordered the special which was a brisket burger and my son went big and ordered the ribs. I don't know if we're just used to getting large portions at restaurants or what, but the burger and the side of chili was more of a lunch type of meal than dinner. Granted, the brisket was decently flavorful and the BBQ only added to the flavor. A poor menu selection on our end. However, the ribs were just flat out disappointing. They looked amazing, accompanied by a large corn-on-the-cob with a little cup of melted butter, a dinner roll, and some mac and cheese. The ribs had a nice char on them and seemed quite tender - needless to say, my mouth watered quite a bit. Come to think of it, I should've just left it at that, but I decided to barter a rib for my chili and when I bit into it, I could feel my tastebuds hang their head in disappointment. Aside from the flavor that the grease provided, it was as bland as it could get. I'm quite certain that the ribs were taken out of their package and thrown right onto the grill - there was absolutely no trace of rubs, spices, or hell, even some kosher salt and pepper. I mean, seriously, what...

Just letting y'all know this place is dangerous.. Not even three manager is trust worthy. The two times we've been there the bartenders were drunk I don't know how they let the employees drink. The first time they added beers on our tab disputed it the bartenders got aggressive. We went there again seeing if it was better it was worse another bartender tells us about the specials were like awesome got some specials when we got our check we noticed that the charge was wrong and the bartender was like oh I'm sorry my bad let me fix it so she went to fix it All she did was change the name of the drink she's did not changed the price. A simple dispute about the ticket turn ugly. Bartenders all like you know what you don't have to pay just don't come to my place anymore Don't come back. I was like whoa whoa we're just asking you why this charges on there. The bartenders response was to my wife looks In her eyes and says look you don't have to be a b** about it. The managers play dumb all I said is give me my tablet and pay it and you guys shouldn't let your employees drink because they are drunk skunk drunk. Just stay vigilant on your tabs right there so many people have come out telling me the same thing about their tab. Like always y'all much love God bless...

This restaurant/bar used to be great. Over the years, the food has slowly gone from really good to mediocre as most of it tastes like it came from a can or a bottle. However the brisket is still very good and I enjoyed it after I put on about 20 tiny packets of black pepper. Do they really count those little pieces of pepper I ask? Last, music from the bar was being played very loudly Plus a television set was playing equally loudly. By the time I left I had a headache. We had dinner at approximately 6:00. I think some consideration should be placed on atmosphere. I did enjoy what I ate for the most part but again I could duplicate what they did at home and not pay $17.50 per meal plus an additional $4 for drinks, the non-alcoholic kind. I live on the west side and was shopping on the east side and decided to stop in there. I would not make a special attempt or extra trip just for this food. El Paso, in my opinion, is lacking in barbecue restaurants. I think someone with this proper skills, a great kitchen setup and a love for food would do well opening a place...