Holy Smoke — Restaurant in Town of Carmel

I've only been here once, and I almost never review a place after only one visit, but the experience was so good I felt I had to.

Granted, we had an early dinner at 4:30-6pm, but we had prompt and attentive service (the name on the bill said our server was Blondie), but we were also the only ones seated. Starting around 5pm the place began to fill in with regulars, but we she still checked in promptly for refills.

This place has a fantastic beer selection, with a lot of taps (20? maybe more). They're a bit on the pricy side, but I think it's just the going rate for craft beers these days. There were too many to choose from but I settled on a Maine King Titus, Brooklyn Blast, and Southern Tier Pumking (which I correctly assumed would go fantastic with the barbecue).

Now for the food: The cornbread was a disappointment, part of why I didnt give another star. I had the tomato+cucumber, and creamed spinach sides (I didn't want carby sides to bog me down since it was the meat I was really after). The creamed spinach was fantastic, better than some steakhouses I've been to (though I think their recipe was probably 50% parmesan cheese and 50% spinach). My wife and I each ordered the Pignic because it was our first time and we wanted to sample, and we expected to take home the leftovers. We were shocked at how much food the pignic is. I still have leftovers 2 days later. It's easily 4 normal meals. My wife had chicken, ribs, chorizo, and pulled pork. It was a normal sized portion of each, with half a chicken. If the portions are always that big, then this is a very good deal. I had the brisket, brisket (yes, I like brisket, usually), chorizo, and ribs. The ribs were the star of the show. They were very meaty and very smokey. The chorizo was smokey and very spicy but not overly hot. Usually chicken skin prevents the flesh from getting any smoke but their chicken had a good but subtle smoke to it. The pulled pork was also good, though I prefer it more smoked and unsauced. The brisket was a bit of a letdown, and the other part of the reason I didn't add another star. Compared to the rest of the food the brisket was good, but not as good. I'm assuming they only smoke the lean cut, and I'm assuming they prepared it pastrami style to make up for the lean cut (smoked, then steamed to add moisture). My plate was swimming in liquid, the brisket had soft onions that also seemed steamed, and the doggie-bag was filled with liquid when we got home. I've since made two Brisket Melts at home, and it did retain a good subtle smoke to it. Perhaps the real problem was comparing it to the very smokey pork ribs.

Overall, you get your moneys worth here. Good food, good service, good menu, good beer, and the sum for me was greater than the parts. I just have to find more reasons to travel an hour from the Bronx to go...

Some of the very best bbq that we have ever had. Loved their bbq sauce and they have a nice variety of sides. We got the Pignic for 2 which incuded 4 smoked meat choices with 4 sides. We chose chicken, ribs, brisket and pulled pork which were smothered in bbq sauce making the meat very tasty, moist and succulent; we had baked beans, mac n cheese, creamed spinach and smashed garlic potatoes and all were tasty and terrific, especially the smashed garlic potatoes which were creamy with the skins in the mix and it was our favorite side. We were so disappointed by the mac n cheese which tasted dry because of too many bread crumbs and it really didn't taste cheesy at all so skip that one unless they improve on it significantly. Other than that, they have an excellent selection of various beers on tap and the service is very good with friendly attentive staff. This place is definitely worth the trip from anywhere, can't wait to go back real soon. Also, weather permitting, they have a large outside eating area with overhead pergolas for a better eating ambience and spacious inside dining with a cool bar. So glad that we had some leftovers...

So disappointed!!! Where should I start! I hate giving bad reviews, but with this experience I have to. We went on sat 4/22 at noon. The waitress threw the menus on the table and ran away: "be right back". We just wanted 2 good burgers. What a mistake! I ordered the bacon n cheese with sweet potato fries. My hubby ordered the holy smoke with fries. We ordered both medium well. The burgers were so dry. You can even see it in my pic!!! My bacon was so hard and dry, so was the bread. They threw a thick chunk of "RAW"white onions. Disgusting!!! My sweet potato fries were inedible. Dry, hard, and barely warm. It felt like a collection of all leftovers and reheated. The beer was good!!!! The place needs help and a good cleaning. The place was in complete silence. No music! My hubby suggested to play pandora on my phone. Embarrassing but I had to play it at least very low not to die of boredom. We left parched because water wasn't served. I didn't even dare to ask for it. What an awful experience. So different than the one in croton....