Smoke on the Water BBQ Okauchee — Restaurant in Town of Oconomowoc

Mother's Day 2025 Review:

My daughters asked me where I wanted to eat on Mother's Day. I chose Smoke on the Water because its one of my favorite places in the area! We were a party of 6 and I was excited to be there, but that excitement quickly faded. I originally gave them a 5 star review 3 years ago, but unfortunately, that is not the case any more. Google does not let me add a new review so I just have to edit my old one from 3 years ago. I am so sad it turned out to be a huge disappointment. Our waiter was just not good, and he really did not seem to care at all.

When our waiter served our food we had no eating utensils and when I mentioned we did not have any, he said I know I will get them. He then went and cleared a table and disappeared for a bit. We all sat there with food in front of us that we could not eat unless we wanted to use our hands. Finally, when he did not return with utensils, my husband went and asked someone for silverware so we could eat. It also took us 3 asks to get BBQ sauce - a different server finally got it for us.

When we started eating the food was COLD, not even warm.

Then my Son-in-law (SIL) told us he ordered potato salad and got tater tots instead, so when the waiter finally came around I mentioned this to him and he just shrugged and said we were out of potato salad. He never asked my SIL what he would like in place of it, they just made that choice for him and he is not a big tater tot fan.

My SIL also pointed out none of us got corn bread and he ordered the dinner to get the corn bread instead of the sandwich. When we saw a waitress walk by (because our waiter was not around) we asked her and she said she believes they are out of it. We were not told this or offered any substitute, credit or anything. But later my SIL saw them taking orders of corn bread out to the patrons on the patio. So either they were not out of it and just did not give it to us OR they made more and had it back in stock. Either way its not acceptable, we were not getting what we were paying for.

At the end when the waiter came and gave us the bill I told him it just was not very good service and we were disappointed. He looked at us and shrugged and said it was busy. He really acted like he did not care, he did not even ask if there was anything he could do to make up for it - no I am sorry. Nothing. It was like too bad.

Let me just say we were there at 6 pm and it was NOT packed, I do not know how busy it was earlier, but at that time it really was not that busy - I do not even think we needed our reservations. There were several open tables in the dining room. It filled in a bit after we were there awhile but still it was not overly busy and they had many people on staff.

I just feel when you are a waiter or waitress you know there will be times it is busier but that does not mean you do not have to give people good service. You still need to care about your customers and if you are out of something ask the customer what they would like instead - not just give them whatever. Don't leave your customers with food in front of them that they cannot eat because you did not bring them silverware, etc.

Its now 3 days after Mother's Day. I did not rush home to write the review because I like to pause before saying anything even though I was very disappointed. I may have even skipped this review, but last night I was eating my pulled pork left overs and I found BONES in the pork!! And not just one bone, but THREE bones or if it was not a bone it was very hard cartilage. I believe that was my final straw and what prompted me to just go ahead and write this review.

My 5 Star Review 2022: Have been here a few times... and we always have good service and excellent food. I LOVE their pulled pork platter and my husband loves their Mac n Cheese w/ pulled pork - My favorite sides (a MUST TRY) are the Maple Bacon glazed Baby Bakers and Bourbon Glazed Carrot Pearls. The only thing I noticed after being there 4 times is the portion size went down from the first time I was there to...

We had reservations for 6pm for my husband's birthday. We had been told that the ribs were worth the 25 minute drive. We got there a few minutes early and were told it would be 10 minutes to sit at a table outside. So we agreed to wait on the couch. We sat and had chatted over the noise as we wanted to be on the deck. The table we were waited for decided to order dessert and the hostess updated us frequently. She also asked if we wanted a drink and maybe order appetizers so that they would be ready by the time our table was cleared. We were happy with the offer and impressed by the service. Finally, after 35 minutes our table was ready. We sat down and were greeted right away by a server. Two of our drinks arrived, but the sparkling water with a lemon was missing for my husband. Server said she would go grab it. My husband was so excited to have the ribs and then saw what they had a spicy sauce on them. We asked the server and she said it was their signature rub. Didn't offer another option. The disappointment on my husband's face was very evident. So he ordered a steak with brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and the baby potatoes with a side salad. Next a salad showed up at our table, but no appetizers. Which had been ordered previously inside. We asked and the server said the kitchen was backed up. We asked about our drink, and it was delivered with a lime, not a lemon. But we just let it go. We were getting very hungry by now. Appetizers arrived, mushrooms and cheese curds. Both were very good. Finally the food arrived. Everything on the steak plate was cold except the steak. We brought it to the server's attention and she said oh, I'm sorry. My friend's chips didn't show up with the burger so we had to remind the server to bring those. No offer to remake the cold food or a discount on our bill. My husband spoke to the hostess as we left and we got excuses about a backed up kitchen and training new college kids. She also said the server could have made a request to have the ribs with another sauce! We mentioned it was a disappointing birthday. And they said, oh we have a gift for you! It was a red bag with tissue paper. We were expecting a free dessert or drink or a coupon. It was a can coozy! Couldn't believe it. So disappointing. As a person who has been a server and a manager of a restaurant, there we so many opportunities the server or the hostess/manager could have saved this evening. But this...

My family and I made a reservation for Father’s Day. It was our first time here, we wanted to try a nice bbq restaurant. Upon entering the establishment it was packed with people which was great for business! I arrived first and then my family. Our server was friendly, we chatted for a bit and she said she has been working here for some time. Overall, our first time here was poor: we were missing quite a few things which made the experience less than desirable. First, we ordered an appetizer and were not given plates, when the server noticed this she said she would be grabbing some right away. Fast forward 17 minutes later we decided to just eat from the bowl with our utensils before the food got cold. Then, we talked and chatted for 30 minutes after our appetizer (we put food and appetizer order in at the same time) and began to wonder where our food was as the table next to us (who had gotten there later) seemed to have their food already. We began attempting to flag our server down for refills on water and when she had gotten to our table, she offered to go back to check on our food. She came back later, to the other table who had gotten their food before us. This is the kicker: It turns out, our food was dropped off at their table!! It was busy- so they could not alert their server that they were delivered the wrong food until she checked on them 15 minutes later. She did something “illegal” in the food industry- which is dropping off food items which was touched down for over 10 minutes to another table. As someone who worked as a server for many years I am familiar with the rule that you have to return the items to the kitchen to remake. It’s a sanitary concern swapping food from tables, the manager has to also be alerted that this had happened. It was very disappointing to be on the flip side of this experience and we were shocked. Given that it was busy, it was Father’s Day so we didn’t make a fuss, and we didn’t want to wait 30-45 minutes, we all ate. The food looked mostly untouched. I was too shocked that no apology was given- it seemed like our server just ignored us after until I asked for the bill. This was our first time at this establishment and not a great experience to...