Smoking Jay's BBQ — Restaurant in Omaha

We ordered the Combination platter for $23.99. Came with almost 1 of everything. Smoked chicken, pulled pork, pork rib, sausage, riblet, beef brisket, 2 pieces of toast (its slightly sweet), 2 pieces of corn bread, 2 sides and a drink. We upgraded the one side for fried okra for a $1. We enjoyed everything. I will say I have a preference for smoky flavor. Felt that the beef brisket was exceptional, tender with fat. Lots of places tend to have lean brisket, but I like the fat. The pork rib also stood out along with the riblet. Everything was fall off the bone tender. The underwhelming thing was the smoked chicken which didn't have as much smoked flavor. It was a large piece that we received, all white meat. It was still moist enough, and if you added the sauce it was fine. The beef rib though good, was not exceptional. I can understand why it wasn't included in the combo platter, as its not a necessary item. The potatoes are a good choice for sides. The corn bread was better than a lot of other places I've been to in Omaha. We ended up ordering 3 extra orders to take home (At $1.50 for 2 pieces, felt very affordable). For dessert we tried their corn bread pudding. IT is pretty much bread pudding made with corn bread. It tasted good. I could see this being at a hipster restaurant for $7 for that serving, but here it was $2.99.

I will say its a no frills environment. Some of the seats had pieces torn out of it. I thought the pricing was good for what you got. The service was exceptionally polite, friendly and helpful. Very talkative and communicative of their offering. If you have questions, the man in the front was happy to answer them. My friend from Kansas City enjoyed it. (I'm from Canada so my taste buds might not be as primed as others?) For the drink we got root beer. He said it was a Minnesota one. Had a nice flavor. Slight medicinal flavoring like Virgil's, but not nearly as strong. Also not as syrupy sweet as the 1919 that Famous Dave's in Kansas City usually serves. They also make their own BBQ sauce in house.

One thing to note. There wasn't much use of salt. I find a lot of restaurants tend to use that to enhance the flavor. There was little to no salt on most of the meat items we had. If you feel it is lacking, you might want to add salt and you'll notice a difference. It is GREAT for people who are concerned with their sodium levels or who just prefer to salt things to...

I'm a huge BBQ fan, eat it regularly. Been making my own for 20 years, was a certified BBQ judge several years ago. Yes I'm a little picky, but I've also eating a lot of BBQ from many states outside of Nebraska so I have a lot of BBQ to reference. I've eating a Jay's a few times and on those occasions I would give it a 3, maybe an occasional 4. There is better BBQ restaurants in Omaha, which isn't exactly known for its BBQ, but once in awhile Jay's location has me swinging by. The last time was a big disappointment mainly because of the service. It took 20 minutes for me to order, there were only 2 in front of me. Then another 20 minutes for my food which consisted of nothing but meat. There were 3 workers. This is BBQ folks. Its not cooked while you wait, just assembled. The 3 girls were trying real hard, but they didn't know what they were doing. Especially the girl behind the cash register acted like she just got the job an hour ago. I blame this on management who is inflicting poorly trained workers on their customers. As a comparison we order 3 pounds of pulled pork from Hog Wild last night (I gave them a 4 BTW). From the time i ordered in the drive through lane to the time i pulled away took all but 5 minutes. And the pulled pork was better than Jay's. Service at Jay's gets a 1.

As far as the food at Jay's I ordered a pound each of burnt ends and pulled pork. The pulled pork was decent, the burnt ends were not. If I was Smoking Jays I would remove them from my menu because they have no clue how to make burnt ends. Hint, it doesn't involve throwing chopped brisket on the same cooking surface you use for all the other food and stirring in BBQ sauce (you can watch them make the food while waiting). Pulled pork gets a 3.5, burnt ends a 2. The restaurant itself isn't a place you would like to spend time, but if the food and service is great I wouldn't care. Overall, a 2 is the best I can do. A 3 means I would eat here again, but only if I don't have access to better BBQ. A 2 means, yep, I won't be back. I'll drive a little out of my way next time to get decent BBQ...

Came in for lunch. Ordered the combo brisket/ribs. Around $22 with two sides. Cornbread and slaw.

The ribs were the best meat. Decent smoky flavor. Moist texture and definately fell right off the bone. Of the bark/seasoning, its got a very faint hint of spice on the end, but I'd still give it to kids. Could get a hint of the brown sugar and see the coloring/paprika. There isn't great texture to the bark, I'd say its thin yet flavorful. But overall the ribs are solid. A good 4 star.

The brisket was slightly below the ribs in my book, but very good. It still had a bit of toughness, but the fat cap was still gelatinous. Good color and flavor. It was a touch dry for my tastes for brisket.

*I tried the BBQ at the very end, very sweet Q, works.

The cornbread was a little too moist/buttery. I'm assuming this is just a flavor/style that either you like or you don't. It was good though, I ate it. Usually I prefer a little drier but fuller flavored.

The slaw was on point! Best item on the plate. But to be fair it is a bit more unique so some may not like it. I did. It had that tart vinegar flavor, but topped with a little parsley? and red onion. It went with this meat very well.

I'd honestly lean towards a three and 3/4 stars. Very worthy of a visit. Is it top of the list? I would say no. I miss Smoke Pitt.

Edit: just as luck would have it, I tried their ribs the very next day. they had a stand at a local competition, Ribstock Omaha 2019. Their ribs were actually my favorite of the 8 I tried (also tried Big Al’s, Smoking Lefty’s, Big Green Q, Leblanc’s, Boyd & Charles, Huey’s, And Wayne’s) It was cooked a bit longer and accordingly the bark/rub was more on point. Meat flavor was still good and moist. It was made in a trailer on site and I’d give this sampling top notch level which is different than made in a brick and mortar.

So my above statement still stands (not changing the rating)but this says to me a) Jay knows what he’s doing and is definitely capable of good Q but b) consistency... not unheard of in...