Taino Smokehouse Prime — Restaurant in Meriden

Took my wife here for her birthday 3/15/2020 with about 13 other family members. 1st impression: Beautiful building and parking lot. Plenty of parking. When We first walked in we looked around waiting and waiting for someone to say "Welcome to Taino", (we were the reservation at 2:00 PM). Nope, nothing. Finally someone comes over and asks if they can help, "Yes, we are your reservation for 14 people at 2:00 PM. Oh OK, let me get your waitress. Huh? As we looked around you can tell they put some good money into the place. However, the floors were brand new but scratched all over, random holes in the walls, etc. It just felt half done! Our waitress came and sat us, she was very nice but overwhelmed. She had good knowledge of the menu and the ingredients & the BBQ process and quickly started taking drink orders. This girl needed a bus person!!! The table was piling up with water glasses and dirty plates and even the menus were still on the table when we left. The bartender could have come to help her, but he just sat with his 4 customers. Please pretty boy, help out your coworker!!! As for the food, everything was cold and a la carte... Except for the macaroni & cheese which was hot, watery and flavorless. I can make a 100% better bechamel cheese sauce. Not even a flake of fresh parsley, salt or cracked pepper. Ribs were cold and greasy, sandwiches weren't hot, shrimp had greasy batter on them. You guys can't even grill a shrimp??? My Wagyu steak had great flavor, but was overcooked, not medium rare. I was very disappointed. Oh, and EVERYTHING is à la carte. Mashed potatoes, 10$, Sauce for them ribs $4. Salad, $10. Vegetables $10. I left the waitress a good tip, she had zero help from any other employees. For $600 dollars, we certainly didn't get our money’s worth. However, my wife did like her food and the company of her family, so it wasn't a complete waste, she was happy on her birthday! I will never go back there. One last thing, they did NOTHING for my wife's birthday, nothing. Not even a hostess cupcake with a candle in it... This restaurant will...

If you are anywhere near Meriden and even remotely craving something exquisite, you must stop in to Taino Smokehouse Prime. We were greeted and seated right away. Shortly after we were welcomed by a tremendous baritone named Derek. Derek should be doing voice acting for sure, so if you're reading this and happen to know someone who may know someone, then please have them stop by and at least just talk with him. Anyway, stellar service by Derek (or maybe it was just his voice). The food. Where to begin? My wife had the Pulled Pork Plate with the sauteed vegetables and potato salad. I ordered the 1/2 chicken plate with the sweet potato fries and sauteed vegetables. The presentation was 5 star. The flavor - beyond. The barbecue sauce in the tender pulled pork was fabulous. Each bite of my chicken was incredibly smokey and so delightful. The chunks of potatoes were plentiful throughout the salad, which was amazing. The blend of vegetables was interesting, and each one's flavor was unique on its own; just a vibrant blend. Fresh sweet potatoes fries actually were some of the best I have ever had. Grease? What grease. Each dish had potential for an overdose of grease, but each item was cooked so well, there was little to no concern of that. Taino Smokehouse Prime was a great dining experience. We haven't stopped in since pre-COVID, and we wondered why we waited so long.

Update: just finished the leftovers and an truly sad they're gone. Smokiness in every single bite of the Smoked 1/2 chicken....

We dined here for lunch and the first impression based on the look alone was very good. The building is quite nice and has a lot of wood decor throughout. That was the best part of the experience.

The wait staff was not interested in anything and said the fewest words possible. We order a beer, Cajun Bacon Blue Burger(rare), and Crispy Skin Salmon.

The beer selection was ok and I was happy with my choice of local beer. The food took a significant amount of time. This place has a partially open kitchen and I could see that nobody was really working on anything for awhile even though we arrived at 12:30 pm for lunch.

When the food came out the burger was cooked as I requested but was very salty. The blue cheese also was very mild in taste. The fries were also very salty. There was no balance on this, just salt. The same went for the Salmon. The salmon was cooked nicely but was even saltier than the over salted burger and fries. The salmon dish has no balance. The menu mentioned lemon bueere Blanc and we expected that this would have added an acidic and sour component to the dish but no only salt taste throughout.

Also since the server used the fewest words possible to communicate, we were never even asked how the food was. The food was so salty that I would have actually answered as such instead of the standard American answer of good but I was actually never asked.

The restaurant seems to have a solid plan and menu as a business but...