The Smoking Rooster — Restaurant in Saint Thomas

When we arrived the inside was closed and nobody tells you so us along with everyone thereafter pulled on the door. We guided a few in but it was tiresome after awhile. We sat outside and it was mostly fine minus this cat that seemed to live there wandering around each table and it’s just not my preference to eat with animals brushing against me periodically. The other true nuisance was eating and having to swat flies every few seconds. This was my birthday dinner but I’m assuming they don’t do anything for birthdays—a free dessert, song nothing lol. We tried the sampler, the loaded Mac-n-chz, the loaded fries, root beer and lemonade. The food was mostly fine. For me it wasn’t seasoned enough—Smokey enough but needed more seasoning. The loaded fries were extremely filling, I wasn’t a fan of the cheese sauce I’m assuming that’s what it was—it had a peculiar taste but after a drizzle of bbq sauce it was fine! The platter was overpriced for what you got and the brisket baked beans were lacking brisket and it was soupy—it had a good flavor though. The loaded Mac was also good, we added brisket which lacked seasoning but salt and pepper did the trick. I really enjoy the root beer over ice—it balanced out the sweetness! The lemonade wasn’t sweet enough for me but it was nice and chilled. It appeared you could leave your “I was here” in chalk on the barrels outside but nobody could find us chalk—small detail that we were looking forward to. I don’t think they were staffed appropriately, we had a very attentive server until a large party came in and then we were kinda forgotten about. It wasn’t upsetting seeing he was busy but an area of opportunity as we were paying customers as well. It leaves you with an ill feeling knowing gratuity is built in so it doesn’t matter much how they attend to you—small or large party—they get...

I wish I had the same experience as the others, who have posted here, but unfortunately that was not the case. We were seated at 6:20pm and Bill promptly took our order. We gave him our drink order and also our food order...there was only 2 of us. We finally got our drinks around 6:30. (literally 10 min to get our first drinks). My Pina Coloda was, by far, the weakest Pina Coloda I've had all week. We sat there and talked and watched the movie that was playing (Kong, Skull Island...not sure if that's an approprate movie to play in a restaraunt.) We saw families come in, order, get their food, eat and leave and we still had not received our food. Around 7:10, Bill finally came back (we didnt see him for 40 min) and asked if we got our food yet (as if it wasnt obvious)..we just said "No...not yet"...he walked away...we continued to watch the movie and continued to see more families come in, order, eat and leave. Just a few minutes after 7:40, he brought us our food (more than an hour after ordering) My pulled pork was completely cold and my son's Italian sandwhich became a chicken sandwhich...so we waited for Bill to come back to tell him the order was wrong. 5 min, 10 min, 15 min....no Bill...so we stopped the other waiter and told him our order was wrong. They took it back, and finally brought the right order at 8:10. The sandwhich was awful!! All the while, our drink glasses have been empty and he never refilled them or asked us. FINALLY, Bill returned and said, in a very hurried rush "sorry guys, next round of drinks on me" ....We didnt think it was worth waiting another 20 min to see if he was going to bring the next round of drinks. We finally ate what we could, and got the check at 8:35. Overall, the service was extremely slow, the food was kind of "adequate"...at best. I dont...

I've never been crazy about southern BBQ, we just don't eat this type of food often, but smoking rooster definitely is a different and tasty concept in St. Thomas, so it's worth checking out.

Be prepared to eat meat! There are not a lot of non-meat choices outside of a few tofu options (not sure about that BBQ tofu), baked potatoes, slaw and brisket beans so it isn't a place I'd bring my vegetarian in laws to. The hubby and I decided on splitting the sampler platter ($19). You get to choose from a variety of their BBQ meats and also your sides. We got the brisket beef and pulled pork, both were spot on delicious and cooked perfectly. For sides we had the potato mac, brisket beans and cornbread which complimented all of that meat well. I've also never had picked okra before, and I have to say that it's surprisingly very good.

Service was friendly, our server was a chatty fellow that made the recommendation that we try the sampler because he could see we were very undecided. The ambiance of this restaurant is really cool and laid back with a majority of their seating outdoors. In the evenings they feature live entertainment and have a massive screen outside for Sunday football, and parking is easy to find in the mall area so even if a lot of people show up you know you'll get a spot.

If you're here at Havensight from a cruise ship this is a pretty good option for a...