Smokehouse on Main — Restaurant in Santa Clarita

2 thumbs down for horrible service. I really wanted to like this place, as I love good BBQ. Got a referral from the AA Dining website, I thought it looked real good and wanted to give it a try. So the wife and I went down there expecting to get a nice dinner, but it went downhill immediately. Waited 4-5 minutes outside at the podium for the hostess to seat us. We were only ones in line. Nobody came out, even though it was not crazy busy - there were many open seats at the bar and a few open tables as well. Finally a hostess comes out (rather apathetic); we asked if we could sit at the bar, she said OK and pointed us in that direction, then said she would bring menus to us (odd - why not seat us with menus like a normal hostess?) Waited another 4-5 minutes, no menus and nobody even looked or acknowledged us at all! And there were employees behind the bar milling around washing glasses, etc. and other employees talking and moving about the restaurant. But nobody even made eye contact with us, and there was only us and one other couple sitting at the bar (we were in the center - pretty obvious). So, I finally got up and retrieved a couple of menus myself (hostess never came back). Read through the entire menu and discussed the selections with the wife, but still no service for drinks, appetizers, or anything at all. Was getting weird at this point. So we figured out what we wanted, set our menus down, and gave it a few more minutes. Nothing. And it was not super busy. Finally gave up and left. On the way out (again the hostess was nowhere to be found) my wife stopped a waitress on the patio and told her that we had been in there for over 15 min and no service at all, and she had no concern whatsoever. Said "sorry and have a nice night". Oh well, 15-20 minutes of our lives wasted on a place whew they could not have cared less. So, I recommend doing what we did - take your money and time and go to restaurants in the SCV that care about their customers and value their patronage, because this one clearly does not. Too bad, we could use another good BBQ restaurant in this valley. My guess is that it will not be here for very long, and probably will not be missed. BTW, nothing in this review is exaggerated, nor do I have an agenda. Both of us have worked in restaurants before and we are pretty understanding, but the service here (or lack thereof) was just unacceptable. Someone could have at least acknowledged us. This is actually what happened (Sat night,...

Where to begin....the wife and I entered the restaurant at 7pm on a summer Friday. Asked for a table and was told that I could only have a bar seat. Which is OK I guess, the restaurant was busy but not packed. Bartender was friendly and took our water and beer order. We ordered an appetizer (skillet cornbread) and waited for it to come. So far, everything was OK. Then after waiting 20 mins we still haven't gotten the app so we also put in dinner orders to get ahead and hopefully speed things up. 10 mins or so after ordering dinner, the friendly bartender tells us the kitchen is getting backed up. We have been at the restaurant over 30 mins by now. Finally the appetizer comes and its OK. nothing special, small but not bad. the real issues start to pile on now. The food is continuously delayed. The bartender is apologetic and keeps us posted but we are hungry and losing interest. Around 8:30pm (90 mins after being seated). The entrees arrive...COLD. Other patrons at the bar are still waiting on their food orders and some regulars next to us are starting to get frustrated too. At no point did a shift manager, GM or owner come to say anything or apologize for the issues. After eating our cold food in relative silence, we request the check. Thankfully the restaurant has the QR code payment option, which sounds good at this point since we're more than ready to leave. We pay via the QR code, tip well because the bartender was nice and the issues are not his fault and we get a payment confirmation screen. Then we leave. As we exit the front door and walk into the street, another person (whom we've never seen before) runs out and accuses us of not paying. I'm in utter disbelief as we used their QR code system and got the confirmation. I politely ask, "wait did you not get it, we definitely paid and got a confirmation". The gentlemen jets back inside and we leave even more upset than at any other point in the evening. I can understand having kitchen issues, but it really should be on the shift manger, GM or owner to alert all patrons in a timely manner. Not once did anyone with authority even apologize. That, plus the subpar COLD food and the accusation of not paying were enough to give this establishment 1 star. Really very disappointing. We will obviously not be back and will let others know of our experience. This was all on a Friday as well, a night where restaurants typically need to bring their A-game as many patrons are new and things...

Not a bad place if you are looking for a beer and sports on tv on Main in a bbq style setting. HOWEVER, if you actually want good BBQ, a LOT more of it for a lot less $$$ then go to Bear Pit BBQ in Mission Hills (not amazing but so much better by comparison). Unfortunately, service is super poor with a smile in a classic LA way (see below), sides are ironically much better than the proteins which also cost more per ounce than Larsen's steakhouse. Initially sat outside but it was getting too cold for my wife and several tables freed up inside (visible and confirmed by server). I specifically told the server that my wife was pretty cold and asked for a warm inside table. After making us wait for another 20-25 minutes she literally sat us at a table right in front of the door so that we would get blasted with frigid air every time the door opened (frequently). Took forever after we ordered a beer for us to be told that the beer we asked for was unavailable and then even more time for server to return so we could order another one. This was either intentional or careless. Like too many places in L.A. fake server and staff were superficially quite pleasant but not actually helpful, attentive or responsive... (in addition to the table, asked for an extra knife then nothing for 5-10 minutes, had to ask twice so we could actually eat and then got two knives dumped on us, despite taking so long to serve, staff constantly hovered over tables to clear plates before they were finished I supposed to turn tables, etc...). Not great either way and the place was a little busy but not packed. Expect to pay $50-90 per person for a complete meal before alcohol. For that money, go to Salt Creek or Larsens and actually eat well. $20 for 6 wing drumlets (which were pretty good actually) and $40 for three strips of dry brisket (maybe 8 oz) and $40 for half a smoked bbq chicken (LOL). The spinach side was quite good as was the corn (warning you have to pay $2 extra for corn lol). First time I have been to a relatively well rated BBQ place where the BBQ was the worst thing on the plate. The BBQ sauces in glass whiskey flask style containers is a cute touch but the servers apparently don't clean the caps or mouth as they were all gross. At the end of the day, everyone knows SCV is not a BBQ town and Main is much more about alcohol and our experience at Smokehouse merely...