Smoky Tony's BBQ — Restaurant in Holly Ridge

I really wanted to love this place, but sadly it didn't live up to expectations.

I want to start with the good. The waitress was fantastic, our cups were never empty and she checked on us enough without being too overbearing. The restaurant itself was clean, well decorated and overall was just a nice atmosphere. A man I can only assume was a manager or the owner also came out to check on us, he was super polite and friendly.

On to the not so good. Multiple things we ordered came out room temperature which, as a restaurant manager myself for the last decade, made me worry about holding temps being proper in the back. That kind of started things out on a bad foot and it was made worse by everything either being dry or having no real flavor to it. This is the south, we're known for good food and I was looking forward to it so much. I think we'll stick to the place we normally go for BBQ.

Now for the really not good. I want to say that I haven't contacted the store about this, and don't plan to. It is what it is, it has been handled and I don't want to bother them in case it has nothing to do with them. When we paid I used the debit card to my personal account. Usually we use the joint account when we go out, this was a very rare situation where we didn't. I only use my personal account for a few bills that come out automatically each month and nothing else. The day that we used my card here, I started getting charges for Amazon digital products that evening (was told by amazon it was likely for movies on prime video). Not just one or two, but SEVEN charges over the day we went and up to three days later when I noticed and cancelled my card. Nearly a hundred dollars worth. I'm not saying that someone here took my card number, but what I can say is that there's no other logical explanation for someone getting my card number because usually I don't even have that card with me and there have been no breaches at the few places the card is used for bills.

But as I said, it is what it is. My credit union's fraud department was notified and they're going to handle it, so if it WAS someone here...I guess this is your heads up that you're in trouble. If it wasn't, I'm sorry I even mentioned it in this review. I didn't take any stars off for it, the two removed stars are...

This was my birthday dinner, very disappointed on literally all levels except meat portion size and our server eas awesome (Maggie). To start, there were a couple people playing guitars, appeared very dingy, music and singing wasn't pleasant, it was terrible and distracting. I went for one thing, and ONLY ONR THING, the brisket. Ordered the 1/2 lb platter (pictured) and it looked OK, no real smoke ring as expected. There was mild bark but not memorable. The brisket itself was tender and well cooked, just not smoked. The collards were passable if hot, same with the beans, barely warm. Thus was at 6 pm on a Friday, pretty peak hours and most wasn't really warm to include the cornbread. A different story, it was actually COLD like out if the cooler cold. We had a vegetarian with us, not any real options other than a salad. They said the would make her the super grilled cheese on a clean grill (no meat cooked on it), the $16 sandwich and steak fries showed up, you could taste beef on the bread and I swear the fries were cooked and under the lamp since the day before. Very unhappy, our server said she would get it taken odd but then the manager came over and s!I'd they would NOT take it off as they 'tried to accommodate her', I tasted the sandwich and not only tasted the beef on the bread, the cheese wasn't melted inside. This was a $16 dollar sandwich!! The manager was rude, knew it was my birthday and didn't offer anything so we left totally irritated, birthday ruined and recommend YOU DONT EAT HERE, WE NEVER WILL AGAIN. Whoever runs the smoker needs to learn how to do a brisket as they have no clue what it should taste like. Save your money, much better bbq can be found for less...

Very disappointed. It started with our order of hush puppies being delivered to the table next to us by mistake and we had to wait for them to make a new order. While the pulled pork ordered by 2 of us ordered was good, they brought dinner after long a wait. Understandable since they had a table of 20 before us. What was disappointing was I ordered 1/2 grilled cheese and Brunswick stew. When the 4 dinners were brought out I got a 1/2 grilled cheese that the cheese was not melted on and was then told they were out of Brunswick stew. Another person at our table ordered a hamburger and they did not bother coming to the table to let us know the Brunswick stew was out, they just waited until they served 3 meals and part of mine. Online only menus so I asked for Mac and cheese since that was all I remembered. The cheese was not even melted. After our checks were paid, an older woman came because we said something to the waitress. This woman said the waitress was the only one not informed that the stew was out. She then said the delay in our food was because of the table of 20. She was borderline rude saying they only make so much from scratch and they wouldn't serve canned stew. There was no apology for no one notifying they were out when they were starting to prepare our food instead of waiting until serving, no apology for the unmelted cheese 1/2 sandwich, just excuses and attitude from this woman. We will...