Brothers Smokehouse NJ — Restaurant in Ramsey

While I'm only giving Bothers Smokehouse 3⭐, let me state that I'm a tough judge on BBQ. I grew up on Texas BBQ. My grandpa had a smoke pit, my dad had a "real" bbq pit, and I've been smoking meats on charcoal and hardwoods for over 30 years. It's in my blood. Besides loving Texas style BBQ, I also always get BBQ when I visit my sister in Kansas City for comparison. That stated, here's my review.

Bothers Smokehouse has a prototypical menu with smoked/BBQ meats including ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and sausage. Their side dishes offerings were also pretty standard including collards, bbq beans, coleslaw, mac and cheese, potato salad, green beans and the like. However, I'm a bit surprised that they don't have any cornbread(!). Appetizers we're also pretty standard. Being that is was our first visit, my wife and I tried many different items to see if this could be our new go-to place for BBQ.

Brisket - They state that it's smoked for 15 hours. It had a good smoke ring, so I don't question them about that. However, it appears that they finish the brisket in the oven or pressure cooker because the meat was overly tender with a soggy bark and the texture and flavor of a tender pot roast. I was disappointed by the lack of flavored promised by the impressive smoke ring. I would not order it again although it's my personal favorite BBQ meat.

Ribs - Not enough smoke on them and while they were very tender, they too tasted as if they were finished too long in an oven. They were disappointing in overall flavor.

Smoked Sausage - Very little added smoke flavor, but THESE WERE DELICIOUS! They are a masterful combination of beef sausage and jalepeño. They are medium hot and not too fatty at all. This was my personal favorite of the night.

Pulled pork - Very tender and not too fatty. Only problem is that it was under-seasoned. Adding some of their BBQ sauce helped to bring some flavor. Otherwise, pretty bland.

BBQ Sauce - And while I'm talking about BBQ sauce, I was not a fan of theirs. For me, it was coyingly sweet. Also, they only have one choice (sweet). If you're a big fan of sweet BBQ sauce, you may like it.

Grilled Shrimp Appetizer - Six good sized shrimp were grilled very well and then coated with their sweet BBQ sauce. Again for me, the sauce was overpowering sweet. After taking some of the sauce off, the grilled and BBQ sauce complimented each other. The shrimp themselves, unfortunately, had that slight taste of chemical s they sometimes use to prolong the shelf life. I've had worse, but I've had shrimp without any chemical taste.

Collard Greens - The collards were cooked very well and had a very good texture. And while they were cooked with bacon, the overall flavor was watered down. Personally, I found these to be bland also. Full disclosure, I like collards seasoned with a little vinegar and heat from chilli's in addition to bacon and onion.

Brussel Sprouts - Pretty good, I'd order them again. They were not over cooked (neither mushy nor bitter) and we're seasoned nicely.

Cole slaw - pretty standard, nothing outstandingly good or bad.

French fries - I appreciate the fact that they are hand-cut, but they are cut too thin in my opinion. Within 5 minutes of coming to the table, the were all cold. Thicker cut fries would stay hotter longer (these are smaller than even McDonald's fries). Flavor was good otherwise.

Service - We dined four weeks after Bothers Smokehouse opened so I wasn't sure what to expect. Unfortunately our waitress was not very knowledgeable. This was especially true about their beer offerings. Since they're relatively new and these are "challenging times," I'll give them a Mulligan on that.

All in all, the food was okay, but not good enough to replace our current favorite...

I had been really excited to try this place, but I was shockingly underwhelmed by the food.

We got a decent spread of food during our visit. For appetizers, we ordered the smoked wings and burnt ends. The wings were good, and the smokin’ hot Buffalo was great, but they brought us fried wings instead of smoked. We didn’t complain about it. I thought the burnt ends were also delicious, and probably my favorite thing I ate even though the fat wasn’t fully rendered down and was a little stringy and chewy.

For dinner, I got the smoked half chicken, green beans, and Brussels sprouts. My husband got a 3-meat platter of ribs, brisket, and sausage, with collard greens and Mac and cheese.

My husband and I loooove trying new restaurants, and we also love cooking but are by no means professional chefs. Over our years together, we have tried cooking almost every single thing we ordered tonight. And nearly everything we tried left me feeling like we have made it better at home in the past, which was disappointing because again, we are not professional chefs or pitmasters. I was expecting to have some of the best BBQ I’ve ever tried (and we’ve both traveled and tried a lot, and we have a smoker in our backyard, so we know a bit about BBQ), and this was the first time I can recall ever being disappointed by BBQ.

The chicken tasted surprisingly bland and didn’t seem to hold up to the claim that it had been brined before cooking (it seemed wildly under-salted which is unusual if something sat in a salt brine). The green beans tasted like they came from a can. The brussels sprouts were okay, but a little soggy - they were supposed to have honey, but I didn’t taste any sweetness or see any carmelization. The ribs also were underwhelming, and the Mac and cheese was dry and felt like it was missing some flavor depth and salt.

I left feeling surprised that this place has such great reviews, but then maybe the biggest fans of this place may not have much experience with BBQ? Maybe I caught the place on an off day? Maybe we ate too late in the day and the best supply had already run out? Idk.

I loved the atmosphere though. It was nice to walk in and immediately smell the smoked meats. It’s beautifully decorated and it just felt good to be in there. So I’m just real bummed about the food, because when I walked in I felt like this was somewhere I’d love to come...

Very clean, spacious, with modern decor. My main gripe is that for a place that prides itself on being a "smokehouse", you barely get any of that in the food itself.

For starters, we got a couple of "smoked" wing orders, which more than anything seemed to just be fried, a tad dry, and scarce on the sauce despite asking for them tossed. We also ordered the buffalo shrimp along with the cornbread (that comes with the table), which were both VERY oily, to the point where you were tasting butter more than the food itself.

Onto the main event. We got a chance to sample the headliner plates by ordering the, "Eat Like The Brothers" plate, which consisted of spare/baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and one whole chicken. As I mentioned previously, there's little to no smoke flavor in any of the meats so you're left with uninspired and overly generous Texas-stlye salt and pepper seasoning. The brisket was pull apart tender but very salty. Pulled pork stayed moist throughout the duration of the meal and turned out to be my favorite of the 5 offerings. Ribs were meaty but pretty dry. The chicken wasn't even worth writing about so just stay clear of it!

None of the sides were nothing to write home about. Mac and cheese was pasty to the point where it stuck to the root of my mouth. Fries were on the soggy side and baked beans were tender but their in-house sauce that they're bathed in was just too tangy to be enjoyed on anything.

To a casual, this place may scratch an itch if you're looking for a change but for anyone that strives for real, authentic barbecue this definitely isn't the place. From someone who's visited dozens of BBQ joints across the country you become skeptical of a few things; one of them being the fact that the only smoker visible in the restaurant is non-operational and kept behind a glass encased room for show. I'd put money down that they're using a hickory fragrance to create the illusion that there's smoking food. Just seemed phony. I should also mention this place is VERY pricey for what you (don't) get. You'll probably get a better bargain in the city, which in itself is crazy.

One other last minute observation. "Brothers" prides itself on being blacked owned but you wouldn't find one African American working there. It's primarily white, with a hispanic kitchen staff. Oh...