Double S Smokehouse — Restaurant in Town of Warwick

EDIT: As an industry professional... After seeing the response from the owner, I just have to say, "shame on you." Do not blame your staff for not notifying you of issues. It is clear from my own experience and from other reviews that there is rarely a manager on site. You rely on your servers to run your restaurant and give them zero authority to make managerial decisions and they are forced to call an off-site manager instead. And based on my experience and others, you're not looking to compensate the guests you've swindled out of their money either. 10% off or a free dessert for inedible food? Grow up.

In my case my server did call two managers and no one responded to her. I have a culinary degree and worked in service for over 12 years. Poor leadership, poor management. BAD FOOD, like I'm worried about food safety considering what I've seen and what I ate. And let's not forget about the fly infestation. That ain't cute.

Let me tell you, the absolute dumpster fire that is the meal we had at this restaurant.

We ordered a cheese steak and a wrap with prime rib. Simple, no? Two "sandwiches" and one cocktail: $60

The side salad (greens and shredded carrots) and the water were legitimately the most edible part of the meal.

First, the cheese steak: Old. Dry. Flavorless. With a side of Mac and Cheese that was: Dry, cold, flavorless, lacking cheese broken to bits and obviously had been sitting in a warming tray for far too long.

Second, the prime rib wrap: I bit down on several chunks of large bone. Ow. Tough, dry, grey meat that when I took a bite, the entire wrap was ripped apart due to how tough it was. Now I will say that the wrap was made well enough and the flavor was okay. But I'm not paying 20 bucks for quarter sized chunks of bone and questionable grey meat. Also, my fries, though warm and crispy, were grey and saturated in oil. Oil that tastes like the fryer has never had a deep clean.

Thirdly. A $12 martini that was basically pineapple juice and Malibu. It tasted awful. (No shade to whoever made it, I know they didn't design the drink proportions)

Finally, I can handle bad food. I'm not afraid to admit when I'm not happy and I'm not looking for a free meal. However, there was not a single person of authority in the restaurant to address the complaint. Not a manager, not an owner. That's the real issue here.

I don't expect a five star meal at a restaurant like this. But this place needs HELP--leadership and better food, or at least, lower your prices if you're gonna serve slop.

Also the...

UPDATE 09/17/2023 - Downgraded to 3 stars. We had friends visiting from out of town and we brought them here, after telling them how great Double S was. What a disappointment and embarrassment! The only good thing about our visit was the hostess, who was extremely friendly and pleasant. It went downhill from there.

Our server seemed not happy to be working and not friendly. It took a while to get our drinks, and one of our guests had to ask twice to get what he ordered. We ordered 2 orders nachos as an appetizer. Both had minimal toppings and most of the cheese was melted to the parchment paper, so you either couldn't get the cheese or got a chunk of paper with it. They weren't hot and were mostly chips.

The entrees weren't any better. I ordered the Hot Chicken Sandwich. The 'Fresh Baked Biscuit' was burnt to a crisp and crumbled as soon as I tried to pickup the sandwich. It was odd that the biscuit was burned and the sandwich itself was lukewarm. My wife ordered a garden salad, and the greens were wilted. Another order wasn't what our guest ordered. We let the server know, and it took over 10 minutes for her to get the corrected order. One person in our part ordered bread pudding and had to send it back because it was cold and extremely salty.

The entire experience was extremely disappointing! Because we have eaten here many, many times, and have always been pleased, we're hoping this was a one off and just a bad night for the restaurant. We will be back, hoping everything will be back to normal, but if this was our first visit, it would have been our last.

UPDATE 01/15/2022 — Upgraded to 5 stars. My wife and I stopped for breakfast after grocery shopping. Our servers were great! Very pleasant and made us glad we stopped in. In addition to our breakfast entrees, I also ordered biscuits and gravy. It was one of the best I've ever had. Whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, you can't go wrong stopping here.

Great place to eat! Varied menu, lots of options. Everything I've ordered has always been great. The staff is always courteous and friendly, making you glad you came in. If you like smoked meat, this is the...

Stephen R. San Francisco, CA

Aug 1, 2023 FOOD: The prime rib came to the table dead raw in the middle (asked for medium rare,) had to send it back before it jumped off the table and ran away. Garlic mashed potatoes had too much-undercooked garlic. The Decaf cappuccino was undrinkable, the cheese curds were overdone, and the cornbread resembled cornbread but not convincingly. Lights were so low (4:40 PM) that we all had to share a flashlight to read the menu. Even then the print on the menu required reading glasses - it is tiny. The ribs were tender and fall off the bone. Sadly, they were falling off the bone in the way passengers fall off a sinking ship. There was no taste, no seasoning discernable, no flavor. The various plastic containers of 'sauce' were no help. Barbeque sauce in this case would need to be intravenous. Any supermarket brand is better. The same is true for the mac n' cheese side. The beer was in a bottle, however, so it was not guilty of anything - it was cold.

SERVICE: The service was indifferent and negligent, and the prices were astronomical. Not high, not exorbitant - astro-freaking-nomical. When we arrived, with a reservation, there was a protracted wait at the vacant "wait here to be seated" sign while the single, earnest Greeter/Maitre'd/Hostess/receptionist/barmaid/reservationist/waitress finished taking an order from one of the two occupied tables. The two guys at the bar grunted in her direction to let her know there were actual customers waiting at the desk.

AMBIANCE: The aura of the place was like a Quentin Tarantino movie set. The murder scene. The rough-hewn lumber and sparse decor would be appropriate for the Kenosha Wisconsin Polish American Steelworkers After-hours Club. Dark and ugly. Just referring to the atmosphere as an "ambiance" would be like attributing the scent of a Chicago slaughterhouse to "An air of cultural prerogatives."

SUMMARY: Let's face it, folks - you're not going to find much Haute Cuisine in the Hudson Valley, but you can find equally bland, ill-prepared, uninteresting food awkwardly served around here for a helluva...