Smokeyard BBQ and Chop Shop — Restaurant in Mammoth Lakes

I came to Mammoth for business on Nov. 5-6, which is technically the slow season. The first night, I went to the Westin Hotel for dinner and had a rather disappointing experience. The next evening (Nov 6), I did not want to stray too far from my hotel and opted for here, which is in the ground floor of the Villages. Thank goodness I did!!!

I sat at the bar and was one of very few patrons in the restaurant on a Monday night. I was greeted by Sami and Shondra (I believe I have their names right!), two positively delightful wait staff, who proceeded to treat me like I was a VIP guest! They were so incredibly helpful by offering suggestions for great wine and food. Both were so sweet to keep chatting up a single business traveler, such as myself, so I wouldn't feel lonely or ignored. I cannot tell you how professional and considerate these two are and I hope when you visit this restaurant you have the experience of being waited on by them!

I also had the pleasure of being able to meet one of the chefs (I want to say his name was Pedro) who gave me a sample of his incredibly delicious take on cream corn with jalapeños when I couldn't decide on a side dish. The kitchen team were equally welcoming and friendly and made my experience all the more pleasant.

I ordered the pork chop covered in a savory glaze, which was a huge portion and included two big thick pieces. It was probably one of the most delicious pork chops I've ever had. Likewise, the garlic mashed potatoes and the mashed sweet potatoes were divine. I ended up taking half home with me. I finished my meal with the hot brownie dessert with ice cream and it was positively heavenly. Overall, the food and wine was fantastic and I would go back to this restaurant to try everything on the menu if I lived closer.

On my way out, I thanked the manager for such a surprisingly delightful time and told him what a great staff I had. He was gracious, asked about my business trip, and encouraged me to come back anytime.

This restaurant is wonderful, the staff is great, and you should definitely stop in if you are in Mammoth Lakes and want a quality meal with...

Below is the review I'd left on Yelp. Within the same night, the owner responded accusing us of being rude. In fact, we were intentionally cordial because ultimately, it makes no sense to piss off a restaurant if you're trying to get seated. The owner's response really just reinforces that there were other motives behind their refusal to seat us, and my suspicions of discrimination are stronger now than before.

Came here at 5 pm. We were a group of 10. Apparently, there were a couple of large parties that got seated just before us - a table of 14 and another of 10. Besides them, there were lots of empty tables. However, right after they seated the other large party, we checked in and got a response that it would be an hour wait, at least. There was a large empty table right by thethe check in table, but the guy refused to sit us. His reasoning was that if he seated a bunch of large groups at once, it would overwhelm the kitchen and the workers wouldn't come back. So we ended up waiting, and during that time, he seated lots of other parties, essentially filling all the tables, including groups of six and seven. It literally made no sense to us, that we couldn't get seated because of the risk to the kitchen but he ended up putting way more people than our party in. Perhaps there were other motives. I can't say for sure, but the reasoning made no sense.

In the end, we ended up having to split up our group just to get seated 90 minutes after we checked in, and the food was perfectly bland and unimpressive. I guess having a restaurant in a resort town is a good racket -- bad service, mediocre food, captive customers.

Definitely would...

Horrible Restaurant. BAD Policy. Mediocre Food. STAY AWAY! Two nights ago we tried to go in at 5:30pm with a pregnant wife and a 2.5 year old. We had friends meeting us in 5 minutes also with a young son. Now the twist… they would not seat us until the entire party was there AND the restaurant was EMPTY! We asked for the manager and she said that it was the owner’s policy. Once again… no one was in the restaurant and they new my wife was pregnant as we had a young son! They couldn’t sit us and have us order drinks and get the table set while we waited for a few minutes for our friends??? What type of “policy” is this? We obviously left and went down the way to Shelter Distillery which had amazing food and drinks. The story sadly doesn't end there. The next night we actually tried some takeout from SmokeYard but after waiting 65 minutes for the food, let’s say, my 2 year old could have cooked better. As someone said before, “this is the worst excuse for BBQ I have ever seen in my life.” Cold, undercooked, bland food that was horribly overpriced. The ribs were chewed and the Salmon tasted like a day old soggy sock. Stay away from this place and let’s hope it goes the way like many of the other restraints in the Village over the years and gets replaced with a place that actually wants business and...