Aviator Smokehouse — Restaurant in Fuquay-Varina

Aviator Smokehouse is a great rustic style atmosphere restaurant located in the Varina part of Fuquay-Varina. From the old building, beefy tables, entertainment and fun environment, this bar/restaurant seems promising for a good time.

We arrived Sunday for lunch and were told to find a table and the hostess would follow us. As we wanted a booth we headed quickly in that direction only to find that the birds had been bussed... But they were definitely not clean. So they quickly brushed the crumbs on the floor. Our server was very attentive to our needs and we were quite happy with the service. The Maple Bourbon Brussel Sprouts were quite good even though they could have been a bit crispier from frying vs vegetable crispy. But the maple bourbon was an interesting take.

I ordered the Aloha Burger, and that's where things went downhill. The burger as you can see in the picture looks quite good overall. Boasting a large slice of pineapple, a healthy spread of teriyaki sauce and some greens to top it off. The patty itself was cooked to my requested temperature joined with a nicely toasted brioche bun... But if this all sounds like they hit the mark, you'd be mistaken. The burger patty was flavorless, like it was pulled from a frozen package only moments before arriving at the table. Relying heavily on the teriyaki sauce to mask any lack of flavors it seemed. There was so much of that that it had spilled off of the burger and into the tray only to soak the bottom bun. The pineapple I assume was a fresh pineapple, maybe too fresh as it lacked the flavor of a ready and properly ripe pineapple. So the pineapple really didn't bring much to the combination. For something like this, a canned pineapple quickly tossed on the grill can change the flavor as it will have more of a juicy pineapple flavor and you wouldn't have to rely on the teriyaki as much. With it being an Aloha Burger, I would think some thinly sliced spam quickly seared on the grill would also help make it hit better.

The side that I got were the baked beans, however it was rather soupy. The flavor was OK... Really nothing special to be had there.

The other sandwich was the Brisket burger which was heavily stacked with brisket, bacon, and a burger. The bun was a bit overcooked offering up a heavy flavor of charring, while the bacon was not crispy despite being requested to be crispy. It was also delivered without the bourbon bbq sauce. This burger was stacked so much that dislocating your jaw is the only option to taking a bite... But overall, still seemed lacking of any real flavor. Maybe eliminating the boring burger patty and keeping the BBQ topped brisket (which was dry and chewy vs moist and tender). I cannot recommend brisket like that. There are plenty of great options for brisket and while it's a process to cook right, serving it dry and chewy is an insult to the cow it came from.

I know, it sounds like this was a solid miss on Aviator Smokehouse's part, but there was potential behind these things and I feel as though it should receive another try.

The location is great, the atmosphere is rustic, parking is hot or miss depending on...

My wife and I stopped by on a whim, late Sunday afternoon, after reading a number of reviews mentioning wings. The place looked nice and clean and wasn't too busy. We sat at the bar and found Alex was quite attentive and friendly throughout our stay. She's definitely a pleasure to talk to.

We ordered the Pint O'Bacon and Mac & Cheese Bites to start. The bacon was very good, with a nice smokey flavor and very peppery, as described. The bites were just ok, though; sadly, we suspect they were of the frozen variety. After a while, we asked Alex what was "can't miss" under the smoked meats options. In sequence, she recommended the brisket, the ribs, and the pulled pork. She then suggested we might want to try the "Meat-a-Palooza" sampler to get a bit of each of them, including the wings.

The ribs were quite good. Not fall off the bone, like a lot of places serve them. Personally, I prefer them this way, which is also the way competition judges happen to expect them, so I appreciated this. The rib sauce was surprisingly flavorful, but not overpowering and, thankfully, they didn't drown the ribs in sauce, either.

The pulled pork was also juicy and needed nothing added to it. If you've ever tried to smoke your own pulled pork, you know this takes practice. I'm curious what the spices are because I couldn't identify any of them. Again, bravo!

We ordered the smoked wings on the sampler with Aviator's dry rub, which Alex informed us all of the wings have on them during their smoking process. She said a number of people like the additional dry rub, so we gave it a shot. For us, it was just a bit too much rub, so we know for next time (yes, we'll be back!). The wings were nicely cooked and had a slightly crisp skin to them. Delicious! I look forward to trying some of their wing sauces next time.

The slice of brisket, on the other hand, came out pretty dry. Knowing this was the first item Alex had recommended to us, I had to assume this was a fluke, possibly due to it being late on a Sunday and, understandably, running low on supply. I let her know about the brisket and we quickly got another (unexpectedly large!) slice from another slab. This piece was 10x better than the first one and we enjoyed it, but I do look forward to getting a full order in the middle of the day at "peak-supply-time".

We also had the hush puppies and beans as our sides and I enjoyed both. My wife wasn't too fond of the beans, though, considering them slightly undercooked. After she mentioned it, I supposed I agreed, but it hadn't occurred to me prior. The... sauce... served with the hush puppies was outrageous. If I had to guess, I'm thinking honey, cinnamon, and maybe even some butter and/or maple syrup. After trying it, I understood why Alex took a look at our sampler and said something like, "WAIT! Lemme get you the sauce for the hush puppies!" It's a little thing that pushes an every-day-side to a can't-miss-side.

We'll definitely be back here and we hope to see Alex behind...

Sad, sad,sad. Went back to try Aviator again. Service terrible, prices outrageous, and food quality below average. Collards were dry and brisket was all fat. Talked with many others who have recently been and agreed with our view. At this rate aviator won’t be around much longer. If you’re going to run a restaurant run it right. If not close and concentrate on your beer.

What has happened to one of our favorite restaurants. We went for dinner tonight and we know they have staffing issues as do most restaurants but getting a server was not the issue. It was getting a server who was willing to do a descent job. We placed an order for 3 beers and an appetizer. 20 minutes later I asked about the beer and he made an excuse that the bartender did not see the ticket and he would get right on it. We eventually got the beers. 20 more minutes go by and we asked above he appetizer and he said the kitchen was backed up and he would check. 5 more minutes later I asked again and he said the appetizer was being made. Meanwhile we noticed that several tables who were seated much later than us had already received their food. Obviously it was not the kitchen or the bartender’s fault that our evening was going very wrong, it was the server. We asked for our check for the beer and left. If the server had just been honest that they had forgot place our order we probably would have stayed but no he had to always blame others for his lack of effort. I know it’s hard to get good help but the manager needs to do a better job in monitoring his employees. We probably will give it a try again the future but so disappointed in our...