Stewartstown Smokehouse And Beer Barn — Restaurant in Stewartstown

This place is awful. Like literally bottom barrel inedible swill coated in bbq sauce. I casually tried to eat here for 3 months before finally being able to call and get a decent wait time. It’s due to that concept that I assumed most of this menu would be decent….. it was not. Our family ordered beef brisket and ribs as our meat, along with close slaw, fries, and a beer cheese pretzel as sides. We also got an order of apple pie egg rolls as a dessert because whatever that was supposed to be sounded pretty good.

To start- the ribs had no bark, just basically bone, dry meat, and excessive amounts of bbq sauce all over them. Flavor was terrible and I couldn’t finish them.

Beef brisket- perhaps the largest disappointment as this was served and came out as pot roast. Stringy meat slivers, once again bone dry and covered in sauce. One bite was enough to tell me the cook was either new or had never touched meat before.

Coleslaw- not bad. Tastes, looks, feels and smells just like that jar of coleslaw they sell in Walmart’s canned goods section. Scooped out of the jar, chilled and sprinkled with some seasoning. This was perhaps the best thing we ate from here.

Fries- I don’t really understand how you ruin fries, but somehow these were served soggy…. No salt or seasoning either. Just a casually wet potato.

Beer cheese pretzel- for a dish that’s common to every pub in North America, you start to have an expectation that this will pretty much taste decent everywhere. 100% not the case. Pretzel was doughy, cold, and had no salt. The beer cheese dip was literally just cheese whiz smooth some seasoning in it. This reminds me of the old school ‘super pretzels’ they serve in every amusement park with the cold can of cheese on the side.

Apple pie egg roll- neat concept, terrible follow through. This is literally sugar, apples and flour rolled up in an egg roll shell. Deep fried and served with maple syrup. Not just any maple syrup though, the maple syrup that Burger King hands out with their French toast sticks. Little square boxes that are already sticky before you open them, open them up and find a consistency to thin to be called a syrup.

All in all, this ruined our evening. A highly recommended side shack that can literally only be described from now on as a pit stop. Save your money and go to rutters across the street. You’ll get better service, have warmer food, and at the price points I think rutters will come out as higher quality in a dollar for...

Very enjoyable!

Service was cheerful and reasonably-prompt. Ordered a full rack of baby back ribs with sides of mac-n-cheese and baked beans. The mac may not have been the most flavorful, but I give them kudos for not overcooking the pasta- no "bowl of mush" here. The beans were flavorful, if a little too sweet (this is strictly based on personal preference), but had some pork mixed in with them. Side portions were right for the price.

The ribs, however, nailed it! I tried the sweet and spicy barbeque sauces. The sweet sauce was very rich and molasses-heavy-- a little too much so for ribs, in my opinion (again, strictly a personal preference), but would probably taste great on a pit or bbq beef sandwich. The spicy sauce was much more to my liking, being a little more tomatoey and with more of a tangy zip to it.

As for the meat, I generally prefer St. Louis ribs because a lot of guys over-trim their baby backs, leaving them with too little meat, too little fat, or both. I'm happy to say this was not the case here! Whomever selected and trimmed this rack knew what they were doing- just the right amount of meat and fat left on the rack. Ditto for the smoker, as the meat had a deep smokiness without masking the taste of the meat. The meat was tender enough to come off the bone with just the fork, without being mushy (I actually get a little leery of the words "fall off the bone"). Honestly, this was one of the best racks of baby backs I've ever eaten in the Central Atlantic!

As ribs tend to be challenging (in my experience) in terms of consistency, I'm going to try it a few more times to see if they can deliver consistently, and I'll update my review accordingly. But, for a first visit, I was...

TLDR: Great BBQ spot near the Mason-Dixon line with solid smoked meats, a cool outdoor setup, and reasonable prices.

We decided to check out Stewartstown Smokehouse & Beer Barn on a Sunday for lunch, and it hit the spot. It’s tucked right near the Mason-Dixon line. The menu covers all the BBQ basics from pulled pork, brisket, and Maryland-style pit meats.

The setup is casual, with both indoor and outdoor seating. We chose a picnic table under the big outdoor awning, which also had a bar nearby. Just a heads-up the place sits right off a main road, so if you’re hoping for a super quiet meal, there is a bit of road noise.

Service was great, our waitress was quick with drinks and orders, and had us eating in no time. I went with the slider trio, which lets you pick 3 pit meats and comes with a huge pile of fries. I picked pit beef, turkey, and pulled pork. The turkey was hands down my favorite, juicy, and full of flavor. The pit beef was solid choice as well. However, the pulled pork was a little on the bland side, requiring some help from their BBQ sauce and malt vinegar. Another win was the fries. Handcut and came in a mountain-sized portion which was definitely enough to share.

Others in my group had full-sized sandwiches and agreed that the pit beef and turkey were the winners. At $13 for my trio, it was a great deal.

Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area and craving some good,...