The Mammoth Smoke Shack — Restaurant in Mammoth Lakes

What to expect: Food truck style smoked meat (pulled pork & tri tip). Service was great, the fella taking orders (and presumably filling them - it was slow when we stopped by) was very friendly and offered to serve the sauce on the side when we couldn't decide between spicey or regular. The food: We ordered a pound each of the tri tip & pulled pork, Mac n cheese side, got some of their sauce (regular and spicy) on the side and brought it home for dinner. I also got an order of the pulled pork Mac because it looked so good from other reviews. We arrived about 45 min to close, so perhaps that's why the food didn't live up to the hype from other reviews. The tri tip has good flavor, but was a little dry - sauce helped. The pulled pork had little flavor and was soggy, the sauce didn't help. I liked the pork Mac, it was a good mix of tang from the sauce and creaminess of the cheese sauce. The Mac they use isn't anything special, I think Red Robin Mac n cheese (which my kids love) is similar in taste and texture. Full disclosure - We are a family of smoked meat snobs, we've been smoking our own for years, and actively seek out great BBQ spots of all types from KC to TX.

What looks like the showstopper for this place is the shakes - we didn't get one this time, but hubby is determined to make one more stop here before heading out of town to try the...

The delicious food sold for a fair price & fair portions mostly make up for the terrible seating options and poor customer service.

My group of 5 ordered two quesadillas (choice of red or green salsa), 2 Mac n cheese bowls, and 1 smoked tri tip sandwich. We all REALLY enjoyed our food! If we didn’t finish it there, we took it home for leftovers. We ordered 2 sodas for $2.50 each, and they only have can options. The guy serving us had little to no patience to clarify menu items and made it unnecessarily awkward when he replied “Uhh… I guess?” when I asked if I can add cheese to my tri tip sandwich.

Aside from that, there is only one lonely table with an umbrella for shade that only works when the sun is basically at its zenith, since you cannot adjust the height or the angle of the umbrella much… Since the food truck is kinda on the street, you have to walk across a section of road where cars and cyclists drive/ride along. It’s an odd setup, but again the food makes up for all this. If you happen to get a good cashier and get your food to-go, you’ll avoid all...

Main: Tritip sandwich was very good, bread was freshly toasted, spicy bbq sauce was excellent. Felt like the beef could have used a bit more salt (minor critique), but the sauce made up for it

Sides: Mac and cheese needs a bit of work IMO, generic cheese sauce that didn't taste like much with overcooked pasta. Beans were good but seemed canned to me

Staff was super friendly and helpful.

I've been waiting for a decent bbq spot in mammoth for a long time, this seems like Santa Maria style bbq, super tender long smoked tri tip I just missed the excessive garlic bread like firestone grill in SLO.

Hope to return next time I'm in town, cheers...