Sugar Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

Sugar Smoked BBQ (Bronx) First Impressions I recently visited Sugar Smoked BBQ, a new BBQ spot in the Bronx. With limited BBQ options in the area, I was excited to try it out. Compared to Hudson Smoked House, my last BBQ experience a few years ago, Sugar offered a more nightclub-like vibe. While the hostess was friendly, the initial takeout experience was a bit bumpy.

Service Hiccup The hostess originally greeted me and politely directed me to the bartender to place my takeout order. However, the bartender seemed hesitant to take my order because I wasn't planning on having a drink or dining in. The hostess, noticing the situation, kindly intervened and eventually secured a waiter who was very accommodating.

Menu Recommendations The waiter, genuine and helpful, recommended the rib-eye steak as the most popular item and his personal favorite was the chicken donuts. While tempted by the steak, my budget for this visit was under $50.

Food Review Chicken Wings (4.7 out of 5): Perfectly fried, juicy on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside, these wings achieved a fantastic balance in texture. The accompanying sweet chili sauce, while good, seemed commercially available. Crispy Chicken Donuts (4.5 out of 5): This unique appetizer was a pleasant surprise. The consistent breading skills shone through again, delivering a delightful combination of chicken, mozzarella cheese, and a creamy element that tasted like mashed potatoes (though not listed in the description). Beef Rib Sandwich (3.0 out of 5): Unfortunately, the most expensive item was the biggest letdown. The tender beef rib and toasted bun were overshadowed by "cheap" lettuce, tomato, and onion, seemingly thrown together as an afterthought. Most concerning was the complete lack of sauce or condiments on the sandwich. Final Verdict While the chicken wings and chicken donuts were delicious, the disappointing beef rib sandwich and initial service hiccup bring the overall rating down to 2.5 stars. This score might have been higher if I had dined in and received full table service.

Recommendations for Sugar Smoked BBQ Train staff to be more welcoming to takeout customers. Offer a wider variety of sauces for the meats. Improve the quality of the ingredients used in the beef rib sandwich, and ensure it's properly dressed with sauce and condiments. I would consider returning to Sugar Smoked BBQ in the future, hoping for a more consistent and...

If you are bored and want to grab something to eat locally, this is a decent spot as long as you manage your expectation accordingly.

My guys took me out for dinner on a Saturday evening a couple months ago. I didn’t want to go too far so I elected for us to try Sugar. A reservation was made however, it wasn’t clear that it was needed. We were seated quickly before the hostess realized we had one and then moved us.

Here is where you must mange expectations, service was extremely slow. Even though our server was sweet, she seemed to be totally out of her element and this definitely hindered the experience. I don’t know if it was age (she appeared to be older than the others), a language barrier (English was not her first language), or unfamiliarity with the menu and/or equipment. It could have been any combination of all of the above. We literally entered our own orders into her handheld a couple of times.

The table next to us was seated after us, order and received their food & drinks (a couple of rounds) and was done and we were still waiting for our orders to be entered correctly.

I kept it simple with a Jack and Ginger ale, she wasn’t sure if they carried Jack. Thankfully they did, they seem to focus on pre-made frozen drinks and none of those appealed to me.

We order wings, and I must admit the wings were a bomb 10/10. Seasoned well, crispy, yet juicy and cooked to perfection. I did the stuffed red snapper and the guys both did chicken breast one with white rice and the other with a house salad. The guys enjoyed the chicken breast and while I enjoyed the stuff part of my snapper the fish itself was a little dry and in much need of a sauce since it also lacked flavor. I requested a chimichurri-ish sauce to help carry the dish.

As you enter the front is a little misleading as it seems to be the staff chill spot, but once you go up the stairs, the main dining area was cool with cute lighting and decent tunes playing.

Overall a decent local spot.

Just A Note:

I would return on a chill night, when again I don’t want to go too far and probably just do the wings...

Came in for happy Hour and order passion fruit margarita that was to sugary and calamari was extremely salty, both batter that was used to fry and the actual calamari. The mozzarella sticks was given with no presentation The mozzarella sticks looks like they came from a frozen box from the supermarket. . The wings Was dry. The waitress that has served us came once to provide a menu than an additional menu was provided, but the tablet was dead. The waitress was seen twice in a matter of 2 hours sitting at the table, but the location was busy as it was Friday afternoon past 5 o'clock. Hookah was asked if wanted, but they were a lot of children, toddlers and infants in the establishment that I didn't feel comfortable using it. The bill was provided in the end of the service in which they had already placed gratuity in the check charged 15% from a 62 bill which brought it up to 83 and then additional tipping was requested on the bill. The establishment is meant for younger crowds who knows no better to understand what good Quality Food is and wants to just sit there and smoke hookah and get drinks. The architecture of the restaurant was nice. The music was decent. The restaurant has potential, but they definitely need to work on their Quality and happy hour even if it's just a cheaper pricing the quality of the food just...