Smokey Mo — Restaurant in Tucson

From the street, Smokey Mo BBQ looks pretty plain. Its plain white building does not draw the eye, but if you get close enough you will start to smell the beautiful smell of meat combined with mesquite smoke. On this first visit I took my girlfriend Meghan, who preference in taste tends to be more toward the sweet while I prefer bold, spicy flavors. From the very first second we walked through the door we were greeted by amazing, and friendly customer service. I ordered for takeout a 2-meat combo plate with brisket and dry rub wings that came with two sides, made-in-house coleslaw and made-in-house mac and cheese and a drink and so did Meghan with rib tips and brisket and fries and made-in-house mac and cheese. As we waited, I was encouraged by the steady stream of patrons that came through the door, and I was impressed by the level of customer service as the friendly host seemed to know the regulars. In that moment all I could think of was: Cheers, where everybody knows your name. Could this be the BBQ version of that I wondered, and the answer is quite possibly. When we arrived home and sat down to eat the smells emanating from the bag had both of us, and our dog Thor, very excited to begin eating. I started with the dry rub wings which had nice but not overstated smokey flavor which did not make me feel as if I had lost out for choosing dry rub over the more traditional sauce method. Then I began to try the sides so as to save my personal favorite in BBQ, brisket, for last. The Coleslaw was perfectly balanced between sweet and tangy without being to much of either while still having a nice crunch from the slaw. While I loved the mac and cheese for the great tasting cheese choice and the not overstated presence of a little bit of spicy both Meghan and I agreed that the liquidy nature of the cheese left us wishing for a thicker sauce to really capture the great flavor. The fries were quite good, being slightly thicker, it was refreshing to see that they still had retained a crispiness. I enjoy slightly salter fries, so these were perfect, but if salty fries bothers you, I suggest asking for light salt. Although I loved the bold zing of the sauce, had they given me that piece of brisket dry, I still would sing its praises to the high heavens. For those, like me, guilty of an obsession with melt-in-your-mouth, falls-apart-at-the-touch-of-a-fork, perfectly-seasoned, fatty, smokey brisket, you may decide that you don’t want to leave Smokey Mo BBQ. The brisket for me, absolutely stole the show. Meghan, being not as big of a fan of the fattiness, enjoyed the meat but didn’t care for the amount of fattiness. She loved the rib tips for their sweet and tangy sauce and the great mesquite flavor that permeated through the meat. She felt the amount of sauce on the meat was perfect, but she definitely wanted a side of to use as a dipping sauce. I came to Smokey Mo BBQ in an effort to support local black owned businesses and now I am angry with myself. I am angry that I had not come here sooner. I will be returning for their fantastic brisket and am not afraid to say that, having tried many of the other BBQ restaurants in town, Smokey Mo BBQ has set the bar very, very high with their fantastic food and I believe it will be along time before...

I have been grilling and smoking for over 20 years and I have had KC barbeque in Kansas City and all around the USA from award winning smokehouse chefs and this offering is not worthy of the trouble or cash. Smokey Mo's restaurant has a small indoor dining room and a large outdoor area to accommodate larger parties but the ordering area is not built to handle diners and to-go orders at the same time. There were people crowding the cashier trying to pick up orders, place orders, see the menu or to request other services. The area is only equipped to handle about 6 people at a time. The cashier and kitchen staff appeared to be in disarray due to the arguing and bickering they were displaying in full view of the customers. The cashier was very snappy and borderline disrespectful to my elderly mother when she asked about menu items. Our party of six probably added to the tension because this was our first time here and it was an hour before close with a rush of customers inside and out. Food came out within 10 minutes and was barely warm. We ordered 2 lbs. of brisket, a full slab of ribs, 2 hot link sandwiches, 2 meat/side plate, beans, and potato salad. My wife wanted a Turkey Melt but was told there was no turkey which turned her off to the rest of the menu. The brisket had no smoke flavor (ring), it was also dry, flavorless, and had way too much fat content. Every time you tried to pick up pieces, it would fall apart in small bits and brisket is supposed to have a bit of pull. The ribs were tender but too full of moisture which made them soggy to eat. The beans tasted as if they were from a can, had little seasoning and no smoke flavor. The potato salad had a small mustard taste but that was it, no seasoning, egg, onion, nothing but smashed potatoes mixed with mayo and mustard. The hot link in the sandwich was descent. It was a link split in half and placed between two pieces of perfectly browned Texas toast which came with pickled onions and dill pickles on the side. For this to be a winner it would have needed more meat. Mo's sauce lacks flavor but is thick and everyone just thought is was Ok. Mo's has a 4.6 on Google but looks and tastes were deceiving for us. To future customers eat and pay at...

Love the "hole in the wall" feel. Stopped by on my way home from work because the wife wanted bbq. I got her the brisket, ribs, and the dry rub wings along with okra, greens, and beans. I got tri-tip, brisket, and pulled pork with the potato salad, corn bread, and onion rings. Here's the breakdown on the sides we tried: beans were disappointing (reminded us of plain canned pintos), okra was great (wifes not sure about the breading, but this is the only okra I've enjoyed), greens were peppery and delicious (if a little thick on the cut), potato salad reminded me of the pot luck potato salad from my Iowa childhood (in a very basic but good nostalgic way), onion rings were crispy and had a slightly sweet breading (I love it, wife's not sure again), and the corn bread muffin was too sweet as well as being a little old. Now, for those of you who made it this far... the main event -meats: the pulled pork was good (a bit bland, but once you mix in their peppery sauce, perfection), brisket was well smoked and cut beautifully thin, wings were their basic dry rub (smoked completely through), the tri-tip was so buttery tender it fell apart as I tried to remove the fat cap (yeah, I'm one of those, deal with it), and the ribs? I don't care for ribs (especially pork, usually too fatty) and these were so tender they fell apart not as you bit them, but as you picked them up. Needless to say, I think we found a bbq joint that I will go out of my way to visit any time I'm craving it. Way better than brother johns (dry and tough), brushfire (overpriced and over hyped), and famous Dave's (better...