Holy Smokes BBQ — Restaurant in Mountain Home

Repeat visitor for their great smoked meat — though the staff and staff/kitchen crew communications could use some serious polish. Seated our party of three, all of whom had expressly stated interest in the prominently advertised daily special “Smoked Meatloaf.” Reassured by the posted special still up on the wall, all three of us ordered just that — drinks and three specials: only to be informed several minutes later that there was “only enough smoked meatloaf left for one plate.”

“Fine. We’ll take it.”

Waiter returned after several minutes for our updated order — only to now announce that there was NO smoked meatloaf left at all: it had been prioritized for phone-order customers!

We were disappointed. We were especially disappointed by the poor communication between front and back staff: there was plenty of time to see that they were running low on the advertised special meal.

Since they’d suddenly and unexpectedly “run out” of the only entree we’d come for, we decided to leave and inform our busy waitress as we headed out that we’d “return some other day.” But in a rookie and unprofessional response, the waitress publicly announced from the cashier station, “…fine, but you’ll need to pay for your drinks before you leave!”

Told her directly that I thought — for certain — that they’d comp our drinks [water, unsweetened tea, and a Coke] since they couldn’t provide any of the specials we’d ordered. No suggestion was made that they’d fix “to go” cups — even though we didn’t even have time to take the first sip!

In yet another rookie, highly unprofessional response, our waiter said she couldn’t comp our untouched drinks “Because I’m not a manager.” (And for that matter, she admitted that no “manager” was even on site.)

Take home: we’ll only get take out from now on and recommend “take out” ONLY — phone orders take precedence and dining-in NOT RECOMMENDED. Popular food items sell out unannounced and without warning: don’t expect availability until you walk out the...

Like the food.

DON'T LIKE having my debit card overcharged because someone doing the nightly tip batch can't add the right tip and then not hearing back from "Chris(?)", the woman who supposedly has possession of the sales slips and won't return a call that I've now waited 36 hours to hear back from after leaving my name and number on her voicemail. Can't recommend at this time based on this extremely poor customer service experience. I guess I'll not leave a tip in the future to ensure such errors don't happen again.

WATCH YOUR BANK/CREDIT CARD STATEMENT CLOSELY IF YOU PATRONIZE HERE!

11/21/2018 Update: After making same claim on their Facebook page, the Kriss, the aforementioned person who has possession of the receipts, made a public statement replying to my cautionary recommendation, and basically said I did not contact her, not that she hadn't received a call, that I had not contacted her. I posted an image from my call log to correct the record adding to the poor overall experience in trying to get THEIR ERROR CORRECTED! How you handle mistakes speaks volumes about your part of the business, please do not word your replies that make the victim feel...

Sadly i cant comment on if the food was good or bad. I just had a Frustrating experience. I'm visiting from out of town and had heard good things shout the food and wanted to try it out. Tried calling ahead for takeout but the phone was busy for 15 minutes. Decided to drive over and order takeout. We got there at 6:25. The blinking open sign was clearly visible, as was a digital Sign showing hours open until 7. I saw some patrons through the window eating and another was leaving when I pulled up. I tried the door once out of the car and it wouldn't budge. Thinking it was stubborn pulled on it again but it was definitely locked. I looked through the glass and there sat an employee just staring at me and shaking his head. He finally mouthed the word closed without the courtesy of talking to me or explaining why they were closing 40 minutes early despite the blinking Open sign.

It was a lost opportunity for both of us. As I don't live here I'm sure it isn't a big loss for them, but a Frustrating experience...