Good Smoke BBQ & Pub — Restaurant in Town/Village of East Rochester

Let me just say the best BBQ gems are indeed "holes in the wall." We were driving through East Rochester for a work meeting and saw this place just calling us. I said to myself, "This should be good..." It certainly was.

I was especially excited when, after walking through the front door, saw awards aplenty from the KCBS, NEBS (New England BBQ society), et al.

We ordered much of the menu, as we were a group of 10. A few of our group had burgers and they absolutely loved them; quite scrumptious.

As for the kids menu, excellent! Normally, at higher-end, better-than-the-norm BBQ joints/restaurants, the kids are forgotten. Well, these guys/gals get it. They had a great kids menu that didn't condescend. My kids like great food that tastes great; they have well-developed palates. They were able to order ribs off the kids menu (a first that I've seen). That huge to me as a father to multiple children who want to eat something tasty.

Personally, I ordered the ribs. Usually I don't because they are expensive and we are a bigger family. But I went all in, and I'm glad! I had the ribs, the brisket chili, some homemade creation called Moink Balls.

The Moink Balls came as the appetizer... think smoked-pork meatballs, wrapped in bacon and doused in their signature sauce - yum! The ribs were some the best I've eaten in my life - meaty, not over-cooked and covered both bbq sauce and their own Rib glaze (loved it).

Rib glaze (which we took home), along with their BBQ sauce, is a thinner consistency than the sauce and was quite the surprise - delish! The brisket chili was solid and was quite appreciated. It had nice, hearty chunks of brisket.

The surprise standout(s) is that the sides were not overlooked or forgotten but as much as a part of the thrust of the menu, from the Mac 'n Cheese to the Sweet Potato fries. The latter were the best I've had in my life; hand-cut, crispy on the outside but moist & velvety on the inside. I could have made the Sweet Potato fries my whole meal.

Now, for the get-better stuff, sort of... It took a while to get our food but the end result let me know it was cooked to order, so I wouldn't have changed the timing. The brisket chili could have come with the appetizers and not the main meal; that was my goal anyway. Other than that, on-point as Fieri would say. And in fact, if they haven't been, they should be featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. A-1, men, A-1! We...

The bar for BBQ is set low in Rochester, but not this low.

I called in preorder and asked if I can sub pulled chicken for the pork, they said yes and kept to their word. That was a plus.

I anticipated my food because people I know raved. When my food arrived, it felt hefty, which I hoped, since I paid $85 for 1 2 combo meal, SMOKED wings, and a pulled pork (sub chicken) quesadilla.

I was shocked when I opened my quesadilla to find that the size of it was a taco size quesadilla. Had I paid $7, this would be okay. I paid $13 for this. I it into and was shocked that for “SMOKED BBQ” to not be smoked or even seasoned, why were people saying this was great. Maybe a fluke…..

Let’s open the Smoked/fired wings. Come on…….. What are the chances that 2 items are no where near smoked? Specifically the wings since they’re advertised as smoked UGH!! Had they been smoked, I may have overlooked the lack of ANY seasoning. A little salt and pepper are okay, I swear. It will just amplify anything you were trying to do. I’ll say, the sauce (chipotle bbq) had potential. Had the wings been seasoned, this may have worked.

The 2 meat combo……. Wow…. There are times, specially when someone orders about 1 1/2 hours before you close, to say, you know what….. these people paid $85, don’t do that to them. My brisket was gray. I said, you know what— give a go. (Eye roll) why??????????? I should have know, but I was trying to to be optimistic. Gray beef = gross. This tastes like 3 days ago beef. Zero smoke, zero fat content, DRY DRY DRY not even the bbq sauce on top hydrated it.

I ate the Stouffer’s Mac and cheese because at this point, what else was I going to eat?

If you must order, get the turkey. Just get the turkey. Why on God’s green earth, of everything available for BBQ, was the turkey the only thing seasoned and with a smoked hint? My opinion, it was a “dinner” cut from the grocery store. It would make NO SENSE for none of the BBQ meat to be smoked other than the turkey slices.

Also, cheese tots were just that. Tots with Taco Bell cheese and thank God they gave us a break with boxed corn bread, because I had enough of this crap!!

Do something different. This isn’t fair to the people that choose to pay from their light pockets, shitty food that says it’s SMOKED bbq but it’s dry, unseasoned, oven, store bought, food you claim as your own. It’s just not right. If I’m wrong about the origin of your food,...

Clean and friendly environment, small but comfortable eating area. I went with a friend to get ribs, based on the reviews we'd seen. I was first a bit shocked at the price for a full rack, $29 seemed rather steep, but for good ribs, I'm willing. We sat down and the food was out to us in 5 minutes or less (first red flag went up) I unwrapped the plastic knife and fork and said "They must be pretty confident in their pork skills to serve ribs with plastic utensils". Over confident, as it turns out. Unfortunately not only were they the most expensive ribs I've ever ordered, they were also the driest. Cutting a single bone off with provided plastic knife was all but impossible, and chewing the meat once removed wasn't much easier. The flavor was good, the sauces great, but both my rack and my friends half rack were both very dry, like a skinless chicken breast left in a low oven for 6 hours. Not once were we asked how our food was, something I had never encountered in a small food business. (Upon reflection, there was a spilled drink emergency that may have contributed to this lapse in inquiry about the food, every other interaction with staff there was, as said before, friendly.) The Sweet Potato fries I got as a side were delicious, well cooked, crispy (not always easy with sweet potatoes) and seasoned generously. No complaints there, and the corn bread was soft, moist and slightly sweet; again, not hard to see why people comment favorably on them. I'm willing to believe they had an off batch of ribs that evening, and I may well go back some time to try something else, but it's going to be a harder decision that second time, sadly.

[Edit:] Upon reply from owners, I will most certainly be back again. Customer service goes a long way in these days of big companies being able to afford to not care about quality or customers at all. This is why I seek out the small joints, they still care. Thank You, fine people at Good Smoke BBQ, for still caring. +1 star this time, I'm confident of the full 5 next...