Yankee Smokehouse — Restaurant in Ossipee

Our visit was in October 2023 - just remembered I forget to review at the time.

We were a party of ten hungry people having spent our day hiking the white mountains when we decided to stop for some food on our way back to the NH/MA border. The place we would normally choose didn't have space for us so a quick call was made to Yankee Smokehouse to see if they could fit us in. If we could wait thirty-minutes, they told us a table of ten was just leaving and it was ours as soon as they had gone.

I don't think I have ever been more grateful to a party of people than I was to those leaving, for her they not been I would have missed out on one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. Obviously being from the UK visiting we are always a slight novelty to people and that's fine, we're used it and really quite enjoy the attention. We were with our born-and-bred US family as well who ordered some cornbread. We'd never had it before; we will certainly be eating again, and one of my cousins said it was the best she had ever tasted - praise indeed as she herself is an excellent cook.

One of my cousins and I chatted about whether to share a sampler-for-one before deciding they were for one anyway, and we were hungry. OH MY GOODNESS. I have never seen so much food on one plate, every single piece of it as delicious as the last. I managed to eat about a third of mine whilst there, but you can bet your last $ I took the rest home and ate it for breakfast (and lunch) the following day. I am a real meat lover and every bite of those ribs, the pork, the chicken and brisket was divine.

I am sure between us we had at least one item from the menu and not one of us had a bad word to say about it either.

As for the staff, they were amazing. Friendly, welcoming and warming. Makes me want to travel back to eat...

As a former executive chef of fifteen years and I thought there were some highlights and then downsides as well. My wife and I got the food to go. A tell for me is how the food travels. We live an hour away. I have also had BBQ all over the country, the Carolina's, Memphis, Texas, Kansas City, and all over the south. I thought the meat had great smoke flavor and portions were great. However, putting coleslaw that is supposed to be cold in with hot food is off putting. The garlic toast had good flavor, but for takeout it continues to steam and becomes more difficult to eat after time. I also would have liked to see a greater smoke ring on the brisket and ribs. The brisket was cooked well and was tender and had a very nice pull to it. The ribs were a bit over cooked and lacked the little bit of pull to them they should have had. Ribs should not fall right off the bone and again lacked the smoke ring that should be there. I have study with BBQ pitmasters and study world champions in my career. The likes of Melissa Cookston, Myron Mixson, and Johnny Trigg all world champions. The beans were tender and had chunks of meat, but lacked the savory sweet flavor that is most often looked for. The smokehouse fries were average at best and not something that wowed me. The BBQ sauce was average as well. However, I do believe the portions to dollars they were spot on. It was decent BBQ, but not great. However, better than most you will find in the region. I would only return if in the area. Most of the issues were technical and definitely can be improved...

We ordered for my 6-year-old daughter first. Then, after a few minutes, we ordered ours. Our food came out about 14 minutes before hers. By then, our food was cold and hers was WAY hotter than any food that should ever be given to a young child. She was hungry and couldn't even eat after 10-15 minutes because it was STILL too hot, so she spent the whole time crying. The server was not apologetic at all and had an attitude the whole time. She said she'd comp my daughter's meal and asked what she could do/what we wanted, and we asked for apple juice and ice cream. The server stopped coming back to our table. We had to ask someone else to give us another box and the check. I think the second server came over on her own to clear our plates. They tried to charge us for the "fixes," until we said something about it, and the server snatched the receipt and went to the back to take it off so we'd leave. We understand that mistakes happen and they did make attempts to "fix it," but her rude attitude and the suffering that my child went through because of their carelessness and lack of compassion are unacceptable. The look on her face made it obvious that she just didn't want to deal with us. We still tipped because we're decent people. We weren't rude or loud or demanding. I just wanted my hungry baby to be able to eat.

Also, the ribs were thin and tough, so we couldn't even eat half of them.

Btw, the server was a white woman with glasses and a red birthmark or scar...