Holy Smokin Butts BBQ — Restaurant in Tucson

I had a party of 15 to 20 people to cater for. We got 7 lbs and two 32oz sides. Brisket, sausage, pulled pork, pork belly, and ribs.

When I called to place the order, I spoke to a wonderful lady named Crystal. She was happy and smiling on the phone and helped me decide on how much food we would need. I asked if plates and utensils came with it, and she told me they normally charge for it, but she could toss in a couple of plates since it was a smaller party.

Fast forward to Saturday when I had the order scheduled for pick up at 1:30. I called that morning to advise them I was going to pick up around 2 pm instead, and they said that was fine. I arrived just after 2 pm. to pick up the order, and the young lady at the counter immediately turned the mood sour. She was talking to a friend? Another employee? Someone and complaining that the phone was driving her crazy and that she doesn't want to answer it anymore. I know work can be frustrating, so I tried to leave it alone, but then she started making the complaints to the other patrons, including my mother and I when we were at the counter. I paid for the food just under $200 (great value for how much food we got and the quality of it!) But then proceeded to have to wait 40-50 minutes for our order to be put together. During that, another person walked up, and the worker again complained about the phone ringing. At one point, we overheard her tell someone on the phone, "The only way you're getting delivery is doordash not through me." Finally our order was ready and then I noticed that it was just in normal to go boxes. I was expecting the foil tins to serve people, but that was not the case. I thought it was no big deal. I would just need to put it in dishes. Finally got my bags, and she asked if I needed utensils or napkins, and I told her that when I called, they said I could get some plates since it was a smaller party. She then said she was out and proceeded to "show me" that she was out. I just said, "No worries, I'll figure it out." She went to the back to check if there was more and brought another lady up with her, then had to check my receipt, then told me it would be $2.75 per plate if I wanted them. I told them for 15 people? They said yes. I just told them I'd figure it out and left really disappointed.

I wanted to do catering because I did not want to have to do dishes, but I had to use dishes to serve it, buy plates and utensils, and serve ware. It's not a big deal, but I think the attitude of everyone was just poor and put a bad taste in my mouth.

The food was absolutely delicious and my party went very well. However, I will likely not be using them or recommending them for any...

The brisket at this place was the best I've ever had in my life and I travel often for leisure and work. Nothing compares after eating this. My wife had the Tri tip and the flavor had me wanting more. Holy Smoking is on fire with this meat. Service was top notch, way better than most restaurants in my travels as well. Amanda was very welcoming and helpful with her recommendations and prompt with her service even though the place tonight was jam packed. It was exhausting to watch her and other servers fly around the place helping tables. The word on this place is getting out and I'm telling ya it's FIRE! A++ for service and A+++ for flavor, price and overall experience. Don't wait to check this place out, you will thank me. Great local beers on tap as well, a couple more dark beers would be nice to add to menu but that meat and service makes up for lacking those. Just what a prefer.

3/7/20- Not sure what happened to this fabulous restaurant I raved about last month but we went in yesterday and whole experience was less than great. Lady seating us told us we had to sit where she put us as if we couldn't request a booth, I've never experienced that before in a restaurant, told no we couldn't have a booth they were dirty but did not offer to clean one for us like should have done, so sat at a wobbly table that also wasn't fixed for us even after asking lady and our waiter. They were busy but showed no sign of concern or help with our requests. Waiter screwed up our order not once but twice and couldn't get his or anyone elses attention to fix the second mistake. Never got refills, never got toast, pickles, onions as we said we wanted upon ordering. Brisket and Tri tip were still both bomb as heck but cold and not as great without our condiments like pickles. My wife had to get up and get our to go boxes herself and took at least 10 minutes to receive our check after getting our own boxes and then probably another 10 minutes to hand cash over, server had no change, and just told him to keep because not wanting to wait another 10 minute for our $3.00 We all have bad days, and place was busy but that's no excuse for poor service, especially not the 10+ things that went wrong from entering. Not sure if we will be back but might try take...

Not a big fan of Holy Smokin Butts BBQ. On a non-busy night we were carted around the restaurant to a table that wasn't ready, after waiting 10 minutes. Several other empty tables, but we weren't allowed to sit in those. After being taken back to the front, we waited another 5 minutes before a clean table to open up so we could be seated.

So, I got the sampler plate that included 1/4 lb of brisket, 1/4 lb of tri tip and a double order of ribs (4). Even though the brisket looked seasoned it virtually had no taste was was dry. The brisket did not have any smoke flavor to it, it just tasted like meat. The ribs were dry rubbed with a heavy hand of pepper. Very little smoke flavor since there was so much peppered dry rub. The Tri-Tip was outstanding. Lightly seasoned and a great smokey flavor. My 2 sides for this were the BBQ beans and potato salad. The beans which looked like black and pinto beans had no BBQ flavor and just tasted like beans. The potato salad was rather plain.

My daughter had the Pulled Pork Sandwich. She noted that it just tasted like pork, with no other flavor.

We went through there sauces to try and find one that we would like, my daughter like the spicy, and this helped her enjoy her pulled pork. I found all the sauces to have too much vinegar. I am not a big vinegar based BBQ kind of guy so my experience here what not what I hoped it would be. If you like vinegar based BBQ then this might be the place for you. Also, if you like your BBQ to be flavorless and like to add sauce to get your flavor this might be the place for you. For me it is a no go.

Overall, since the place is fairly new, the place was clean including the restrooms. Service was a bit slow and inattentive. Food is served on cafeteria style trays, which had me wondering if I was in a cafeteria or...