The Smokin' Oak Barbeque Restaurant, Bar & Catering — Restaurant in Vancouver

I normally don't leave reviews unless the service is exemplary or one of my worst, this unfortunately is the latter. My girlfriend and I were craving BBQ because we ordered some yesterday to celebrate new years eve, unfortunately it was dropped on the way back to our place because the food cart we ordered from literally just plated it on a paper plate and covered it in foil.

So come new years day my girlfriend and I decided that we'll go try another place after she donates plasma, unfortunately she couldn't donate that day so we were able to go eat early, and we chose this place, it happened to be happy hour, so my girlfriend and I decided to order from that menu to try a few of there dishes and depending on the portions order more to go.

Well unfortunately after our orders were taken we proceeded to wait 20+ min for our happy hour food, for context, after we ordered the guests next to us got their food, and judging by the size of the bowls I could surmise it was from the HH menu so after ordering our food I already knew we were going to order more.

During our wait we started being checked on by a completely different server, which still had long stretches before we got checked on again, I was half way finished with my beer when they checked in the first time and I finished it shortly after we got our food, none of the various servers noticed and asked if I wanted another, even after we finished our food and my girlfriend deciding to order more as she was curious if the rest of the food tasted as bland as the brisket sliders she got, we were still not offered if we wanted any refills.

Unfortunately I knew we were going to have to wait another 20+ min for our to go food, so being offered another beer would have helped with the wait, but it took another server who was cleaning another table to notice we were sitting there, again as predicted another 20+ mins twiddling our thumbs to finally ask "would you like another beer?" We decided to order some since we didn't know how long it was going to take, since our HH food took so long, but then we got our food shortly after making the drink order which made the experience even worse, since now I had to sit there and finish the beer.

I don't recommend this place for Happy hour unless you want to be treated with terrible service, it's crazy because we weren't going there for their HH it just happened to be during, I don't like it when establishments immediately judge you because your ordering off a discounted menu, why even have HH if you're going to treat your guests this way? We even informed our original server that we may want to order more, so why was our service so bad? I can only assume it's because we'd order from the happy hour menu, we weren't even given the courtesy of being informed that it was going to end and if we'd like to order more from that menu before they'd charge us full price,

There are better places for BBQ, the service was terrible and the food was bland unless you had sauce which they did not provide, my Mac n cheese had some so it tasted fine, so go someplace else and actually be appreciated for...

Honestly, pretty disappointed and don't think we'll return soon, if at all. We don't go out to eat very often, maybe once per month, so I got excited when my husband chose The Smokin' Oak for his birthday dinner celebration.

Myself, husband, and 9yo daughter were seated quickly at 6pm on a Saturday night. After the hostess brought water, we waited 15-20 minutes with nothing. The server for our section repeatedly served other tables (at least two, maybe three) who arrived after us (and seated on both sides) without so much as a glance or a word in our direction. After 20 minutes, a server from another section took pity on us and took our drink orders, but we'd had so much time to look at the menu and weren't sure we'd get another opportunity, so we ordered food, as well. In the meantime, a table sat at least ten minutes after us had their drinks and appetizers delivered. I did try to get our own server's attention more than once but she zoomed right by us.

This started things off very badly in my book. I was tempted to suggest leaving but my husband really wanted barbecue and it was his birthday dinner so I didn't want to ruin it for him.

The server for our section checked on us twice after that but did not apologize or acknowledge at all that she completely ignored us for more than a half hour. The second server who took pity on us offered a free dessert for the trouble, which was appreciated, but did not erase my pretty negative first impressions.

The food was ok. My husband got the Texas Trinity with mac & cornbread and said he liked the brisket & sausage best. I actually got the portobello sandwich and jalapeño pinto beans, both of which were good. Not great, but good. I did like that the beans had meat in them. My daughter didn't particularly want meat so she had coleslaw and mac sides for dinner, both of which were good, better than the portobello sandwich. The banana pudding was probably the best thing we ordered, aside from the brisket in the Texas Trinity.

My husband and I ordered two drinks each, which were good. Again, good, but not great. My second drink had some sort of paper residue in it, which I discovered at the last minute but we were already paid and getting ready to leave, and I was still annoyed, so I didn't bother to mention it.

Overall, for the $135 we paid, including tip, I don't feel like we got a good value for money, and the service was definitely lacking which cast a pretty negative pall over the dinner from...

I had been talking to a friend about good barbecue places, having just been to Famous Dave’s. She suggested The Smokin’ Oaks, so we tried it out. I was satisfied, but not impressed, which isn’t the restaurants fault as I was expecting “much better than Famous Dave’s”:

I ordered the smoke stack.

Environment: when I walked in at just after 5 pm it was fairly slow with open tables and full bar. Sign said to seat myself, so I chose a corner booth. The noise and feel was pleasant enough.

Service: the waitress (i forgot to get her name) came up to the table with a positive energy. She was friendly and diligent, and gave us her full attention even though things were picking up. She provided fantastic service for our entire meal. Five out of five stars.

Preparation: The meat was cooked well, and was appropriately tender, no complaints there.

Flavor: the meat was ok, but as far as “barbecue” goes, it was just cooked plain, with little/no barbecue flavor. Still, no complaints to the actual meat flavor as the cuts were premium. Certainly not on par with Famous Dave’s flavor.

However, the big disappointment were the sides: the “Jalepeño beans” were basic unflavored, canned beans with some kind of spicy seasoning or sauce. Certainly a disappointment as all I could taste was basic beans fresh out of the garden… with some heat. No flavor.

The coleslaw was basic coleslaw, like you would find at Safeway labeled “original”. It appeared fresh though, and the vegetables were crunchy.

The Mac and cheese was ok, but again, basic. Nothing special, if a little greasy from the cheese as it was at least not from a box, but used cheese from a block.

Price: Now this is where it really comes in. Sure, I ordered a sampler platter, but it wasn’t any more than a normal order, albeit marked up to $42 as if it were… I spent $91.97 at Famous Dave’s for two adults and a child, with a $30 tip as we had a small spill.

The Smokin’ Oaks full bill was $102.69 with a $20 tip.

No offense to the staff and their environment, because they nailed those, but if you’re looking for barbecue, make the trip to...