Smokin' This and That BBQ — Restaurant in Florence

I'll preface this by saying that we enjoy BBQ and have eaten it all over the Southern US and are from Kentucky. I've also spent many hours smoking anything smokable, including pulled pork.

This place topped many of the 'Top Ten' lists for the area, so we stopped for a late lunch.

That said, the BBQ here was absolutely terrible. I will explain in detail below.

The place feels much more like a bar than a restaurant. Neat little dining room with a center bar and various seating, decorated with military gear/photos. It's definitely dark.

You order at the bar- menu is drawn on the wall and doesn’t have much info.

They give you a sample of each meat, which is neat.

We ordered a Pork Trifecta, which is 1lb of pork and two sides. It was served in styrofoam drink cups.

Now comes the problems.

The pork was exceptionally bland. No discerable smoke whatsoever, and very little if any seasoning.

The meat was also extremely moist - so much so that it tasted watered down.

It reminded me more of pork that's been cooked in a slow cooker or braised in an oven - nothing at all like a pork butt that's been cooked low and slow on a smoker.

If this was actually cooked on a smoker, whatever they did afterward - or their method - destroyed any flavor or texture qualities the smoker produces.

Second issue- sauce.

Normally, if you have bland bbq, you just drown it in some good sauce.

Here, there were two bottles on the tables. No writing or info of any kind, but one had a red lid and the other a purple.

I tasted both, and was very disappointed in both.

They tasted like someone had 'fancied up' some ketchup. Definitely each its own 'style' - but for us, both very underwhelming and overly sweet.

Not like a Kansas City sweet, just like corn syrup sweet. The most flavor on the table was a bottle of Franks Red-Hot.

For the sides, we got the mac & cheese and tater bites.

The tater bites looked like the seasoned potatoes you get at a hotel breakfast buffet. They had pretty much no flavor, were lukewarm, definitely not fresh, and pretty unappealing. Tried drowning then in ketchup, but it didn't help. We left pretty much the whole order sitting on the table.

The mac & cheese was pretty unremarkable. There is nothing wrong with it, but nothing special either. This is pretty much what we ate from the meal.

Overall, I would definitely not recommend this place. Maybe if you mainly want beer, but also a bite, it...

EDIT: since the owner or whoever wanted to respond with a rude, negative, nasty attitude, I am changing my rating from 3 to 1 star. Instead of polite education on bbq, I get this disheartening response. I have had real bbq many times from local mom and pop joints. To clarify, this is not the type of bbq I was HOPING for and NOT WORTH $88!!!! I tried to be open and honest, and I get met with hatred. Really shows what kind of people are running this place. Wow.

Starting off strong with service, service overall was excellent. But the food is a different story. We drove to cincinatti and wanted the best bbq we could find with what we wanted. 1pm on a sunday. Ribs, cornbread, and brisket. Walking in, it was dark and nearly empty. We were greeted upon entry, and helped with ordering. Ended up getting 3 1 meat and 2 sides with cornbread, half rack of ribs, 3 sodas, and 3 extra cornbread muffins. The ribs were a bit tough, dry rub, not sauced. The sauces provided were either very vinegar based or tastes store bought/basic. Nothing to rant and rave. All sides were okay. Green beans tasted like burnt oil. Slaw was a crowd favorite. Beans were pretty decent, tasted a bit too cumin or another spice. Brisket was unexpectedly more like beef pot roast. Not sliced, very oily/greasy and shredded and clumped together. Tater bites good cooked/seasoned well. Potato salad was good, but have had better from Sam's club. Mac and cheese dry and bland. Chicken was shredded, dry, with a mild burnt taste but not charred in a good way. Ribs had a dry rub and were pre cut nicely, and being one of the best things we ate, but still not worth the $88 for everything. $1 cornbread best thing i personally ate. Being out of state visitors, and choosing this spot over everywhere in cincinatti, we are not only disappointed in the food overall, but the price as well. We...

Finished work early and dropped in to Smokin This and That AFTER the place had been recommended by one of the tour guides at nearby Boone County Distillery. I was greeted by Guy, one of the owners, who could tell I was a "newby." Upon entering I had been looking around and quietly celebrating this iconic BBQ spot that obviously celebrates AND respects military and veterans, first responders, and Americana. "How refreshing!" I thought. I was directed to head down the back between the barrells and the bar where I waited to be given free samples by Rachel before ordering my lunch. Well, lucky for me, it was Taco Tuesday, so I could buy two get one free. I passed on the brisket Taco ONLY because beef was on my dinner menu later and I had one pork, one chicken, and one rib meat Taco and they were all delicious! Since I was dining alone a "regular" customer, Ed, who was sitting next to Guy invited me to sit by him at the bar. Despite my being an "introverted extrovert" I knew this was meant to be. God bless this group of men who were entertaining, real, and represented some of the great things about small town America. I love the green avacado sauce on the tacos though the meat probably doesn't need any enhancement. After lunch Guy showed me the smokers on site and I watched him take the pork shoulders (Boston butt) off the heat to prep them for the finish. As a home BBQ hack I was impressed with this operation. Don't miss Smokin This and That if you're ever in the Florence, Kentucky area. (I even got to meet Meghan the beer representative who regularly makes an appearance on Tuesdays.) (Visit Boone Distillery too.) God...