The Smokin' Boxcar — Restaurant in Morgan

My husband and I came to Morgan, UT to dine somewhere else, but with the holiday weekend, the other place was closed. We looked around on Google and saw this place had (mostly) amazing reviews, so we stopped in. The waitress / hostess was very friendly and polite. We were seated quickly. I ordered a Diet Dr Pepper and my husband asked for a Coke. My drink tasted watered down / flat, but it wasn't horrible, so I drank it. I asked about the cheesy potatoes before I ordered and the waitress explained that they were au gratin style potatoes and I believe she said they were cooked on the grill (I could be wrong). I was uncertain about whether I wanted those or the Mac n Cheese, and so the waitress also explained that the Mac n Cheese was not like Kraft. It was homemade with seasoning added for a little spice. Therefore, I chose the one-meat dinner (pulled pork), mac n cheese, & waffle fries. My husband ordered the sloppy joe sandwich called the Smokin' Joe, I think, with baked beans n bacon. He saw my indecisiveness & asked for an extra side of cheesy potatoes. We received our food pretty quickly, & the portion size was huge. My husband said his food was "alright", but I don't like sloppy Joe's so I didn't try his sandwich. His baked beans were decent, but mid-range. Nothing to write home about. They were one of the best tasting things I tried, though. My pulled pork had the smoky flavor, but lacked seasoning. I added some salt & ate it bare, because there was only one BBQ sauce available and it tasted heavily vinegar based. I just prefer a more hearty, sweet ketchup based BBQ sauce with molasses. The Mac n cheese was horrible. It had very little visible cheese and had seasoning that did not belong in Mac n cheese. I love cheese so I was disappointed with its absence. The potatoes also lacked the presence of cheese. They seemed to have been seasoned with the same seasoning as the Mac n cheese and it was not pleasant. The waffle fries were the best thing on my plate, sadly, because I'm sure they were just frozen, out of the bag, and fried. I honestly was going to give this place a 3- star rating because the waitress was so friendly, but then the guy (who I'm assuming is the owner) stepped in when we were trying to pay. The waitress, who I'm also assuming was his wife, made an error when putting our order into the system so our food was put under a different tables tab. She was trying to correct her mistake and apologized. My husband and I was waiting patiently and had no problems with that, because things happen, we were in no hurry, & we were not mad, by any means. But all of a sudden, this guy inserts himself into the situation & was very rude to the waitress. He told her she was doing everything wrong, face-palmed a few times, & made myself very uncomfortable in watching the transaction so I faced away from them & watched the traffic outside while she tried to recover our tab. He took the handheld device away from her at one point & she snatched it back & said "thank you, I've got it." I felt so badly for her, and wanted to leave ASAP. We finally paid and left.

I'm not sure how this establishment gets 5- star reviews repeatedly, but from my experience, it is not 5-star worthy. I think if they made some adjustments to their cheesy items & added options for BBQ sauce, they'd be 100 times better.

EDIT AFTER OWNER'S RESPONSE ● We did, in fact, drive to Morgan to eat at River Burger, & they were closed even though Google said they were supposed to be open. ● Read my review again, I NEVER said you yelled at your waitress / hostess, who I also stated that I assumed was your wife. YOU, sir, were the one talking down to her like she was incompetent & made US feel uncomfortable. Maybe your judgment of us being "impatient" was because you could literally feel the tension & uneasiness in my stance & body language while you were degrading your wife publicly. So, that's on you. Your lack of reading comprehension is the least of your worries. ● I'm from Texas; I know good BBQ ● Downgrading my rating due to...

Smokin Boxcar BBQ was recommended to me by a new friend. I hear their breakfast is too good to be true. But I missed it so I had lunch instead.

You'd think a vegetarian or pescatarian might not want to step foot in a smoke house BBQ but that just means you might not understand who they are? With all the crazy labels and misconceptions in this world (that often misrepresent others) I think this brings an honest view.

I'm a farm girl and grew up making sure every kind of meat was on the table (and I was good at it) but in-so doing my mom gave me permission to eat what I wanted. Because I regard animals as friends long before vegetarianism was a trendy theme I choose to limit any kind of flesh in my food.

But that doesn't mean I haven't tried many kinds of meat or that I abstain for arbitrary reasons like culture or religion. It also means that when I'm in Rome (literally or metaphorically) I do as the Romans do. I eat.

I'm flexible to my circumstances and locations.

Basically what I'm saying is that whatever I put in my mouth it's my choice to do so. I can adjust myself in various places of the world and as certain times might require and then whenever possible make my own food exactly how I like it. But I'm also happy that others get to enjoy what they choose to eat. I don't dictate my views or make other peoples choices.

So I had no fear at-all walking in to the Smokin Boxcar to get a bite to eat. One reason I have no fear is that I know I can decide what I want. Usually what others seem to get really wrong about so-called vegetarians is that we eat only certain things like lentils (yuck) or eggplant (double yuck) or shiitake mushrooms (no thanks).

About the Boxcar and its smokin BBQ, I found a lot to love and plenty to eat. Whether you step in there for the meats or just want something to eat I think they have you covered. I loved the coleslaw! And like any Irish girl I loved the tater tots and waffle fries. They were super yummy. The lemonade was good too. The sauces (condiments are my things) are fabulous as well.

What I loved more than anything was the cleanliness, the hospitality for weary travelers and the options on the menu. They have plenty of great foods to offer every palette.

Oh and of course the trains. They have a really spectacular collection of train art on the walls. I'm a descendant of a clan of Irish folks cousins (too big families) who came to America to build the railroad. I love trains!!

While it's true that veggies, beans and fungi can be seared and smoked like any meats, and they taste and smell great, too until they choose to put them on the menu I'm not complaining because they have great potato salad and many options for me to choose. .

Maybe Smokin Boxcar BBQ will one day add more to the menu like baked beans without bacon? But even-if they don't choose to do that Smokin Boxcar offered me plenty of great food. And it wasn't the meats. But for meat eaters I can see why they also flock here too!! If you are a meat-seeking BBQ lover this is truly your space.

Often times when traveling it's not easy to eat things that can cause upset or distress (don't ask about the burritos in Nebraska) as driving requires alertness and wellness. Everything I ate at for lunch agreed with my palette as a picky-eater and I was soon happily, back on the road.

Good food is good food, great service is always friendly and helpful. Thank you Smokin Boxcar for a great lunch.

Smokin Boxcar BBQ is also pet friendly with wheel chair access in the back, plenty of parking and nice restrooms. It was hot outside but...

This place just was not good. The location and theming is absolutely great. The potatoes and Mac and cheese were both cold and not very good, the ribs were soggy, the brisket was just an untrimmed TDO (meaning it was extremely fatty), and the burnt ends didn't seem double smoked. It's almost like they were just burnt on a flat top and there ya go.

Service was meh. Lady insisted I get a box, stating "it's already reheated, it'll keep". Not exactly what we wanted to hear. Owner seemed like he had an attitude. Overall, nah.

Edit After Owner Response:

I'm going to respond to it piece by piece.

I do believe that Potatoes and Mac sell well, I just didn't like them (that's an opinion). I also believe that you keep your food hot. However, by the time I got my food, it no longer was. That's kind of just a fact.

When I say the brisket is fatty, I meant the untrimmed fat between the top of the TDO (I don't recall the name) and the flat. Which is not a huge problem, but is does mean that there's a lot to throw away. I don't know if you do, but if it were sold by the pound, you would be paying for waste.

Of course there's no law on burnt ends, but there is a way there generally done. However, they are pretty much always double smoked, and not literally burnt like they were when I got mine.

For the ribs, they're just soggy. I don't know that they always are, but they were when I went. There's juicy and tender, and there's soggy. The ribs were grey and soggy when I got them, and that's just the truth.

On your next point, I didn't write a review to get my name out there. I honestly don't understand that point you made. I'm not writing a review to look cool and whatever. I'm doing it to inform those who look to reviews before trying a place.

As to you, I do understand that you work hard. Just running any old restaurant is hard, but a BBQ joint is even harder because of just how long smoking meat takes. I'm sure you work super hard, but that doesn't give you an immediate excuse to be harsh, sir. It's not even that you didn't go out of your way to be nice, but you made an effort to be a bit rude. I've met owners at other BBQ restaurants (I've been to many) where the owners are just incredible, even when they work 80-90 hours per week. Also, you're kind of proving my point with the slightly harsh response.

Working that hard means something, sure. However, it's not an excuse to be pointlessly rude to the people that make your business run.

And finally, to wrap this all up, just know that I really wanted to like this place. The location and atmosphere were incredible, and I could tell when I walked in that it was family owned. However, there wasn't really anything else I found positive about the experience, and that's just that.

So, with all due respect sir, I do believe some things could be done to improve the restaurant. None of what I said was ever meant as an insult to your character, but instead intended as constructive criticism and as info for others.

Also, just one more thing I forgot to mention, for some reason my Diet Dr. Pepper tasted chemically? I know that sounds crazy, but it was off. When I switched to Dr. Pepper it was fine. Just thought you'd...