Southside — Restaurant in Lakewood Township

One of the best dining experiences in the tristate area is located in Lakewood, NJ and is called Southside Smokehouse. It features authentic smokehouse cuisine by postmaster Yitzy Goldstein, who has travelled to Texas and some of the best smoking competitions around the world, in order to perfect his mouthwatering recipes. One of my favorite things to order off his menu is his Jalapeño Burger. The jalapeño sauce takes hours to make and tons of jalapeños along with the right olive oil from Italy. It features two all beef patties sandwiched between some amazing sautéed onions, some lettuce. It is topped with some yummy maple glazed facon. They have everything from mouthwatering burgers and sandwiches to delicious salads and sides. What brought me in this Tuesday was a new dish I saw that would be available that night. It was one of the most delicious looking duck dishes I have ever seen. This duck breast is marinated in duck fat overnight, then put into an empty pan where the duck gets rendered down and gets this amazing crust. Yitzy adds some garlic and thyme into that rendered duck and the flavor continues to build. The dish (pictured below) was THE best duck I have ever tried. It was juicy, not gamey with a nice crust and oh so flavorful. It came with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. It pays to check out specials from time to time. We also got the half pound of smoked pastrami brisket with their special rub, which is smoked for 18 hours. It is definitely one of our favorites. We had some Texas fries, featuring pulled smoked brisket topped with their special south side slaw. We also got an order of Smokey Tacos, some BBQ Poppers and a grilled chicken Caesar salad. Everyone left with a full stomach and smiles on their faces. Make sure to stop by and tell...

So much of me wanted to love this place so much more than I did... The reviews online were stunning and we were so excited to try. We're not from around here, we were here for the day for an event and wanted to try a local joint. When we pulled up we almost left immediately. The outside of the place seems super sketchy and we were honestly nervous. We checked to make sure we were at the right place we had read raving reviews about and sure enough, we were here. So we grabbed our bag of courage and headed inside. The place is super cute inside, exactly what I'd expect from a hole in the wall BBQ joint. We were excited at this point. Upon ordering it was a little odd, the guy said he couldn't tell us how much food we were getting or the cost until the butcher sliced the meat. We ordered (what we were told were going to be large) meals for my husband and I and our 2 kids. We ordered the prime rib meal and the lamb riblets meal. The prime rib was so incredibly tough and all they give you is plasticware. I'm over there sawing away trying to get it to cut so I could have a bite. It was room temperature and so tough I felt like I was chewing gum. We also ordered 2 orders of fries at $7.99 a pop and definitely expected a much larger amount than what was served. Those were also room temperature, I was super confused at this point. The only thing that was hot was the mashed potatoes but they were microwave hot. The riblets I almost don't even want to comment on. There were 4 and they were one bite each. Needless to say $100 and we left hungry. Very...

Discussing Jewish deli dandy with a friend I commented that I was longing for brisket pastrami etc sandwiches like I had when I lived in New York. My friend recommended this place said it was awesome. I went and before ordering asked a couple of questions. Is all the food smoked. Answer - no; is it sliced thin - answer - yes, does the meat have fat on it because I like it fatty. Answer - yes. Great and I placed my order. More than $175.00 later I left went home and my family and I sat down to eat. (By the way service was very good). I can’t say the same for the food which was cut into large slabs and was very dry. Piled high - no way. I don’t mind spending money on good food but I certainly do mind spending money on food I consider not edible. And above all I don’t like being lied to. I will not be going back. The next time I want goes Jewish deli food I will be heading back...