Sugarfire Smoke House — Restaurant in Westminster

Will not be back. My husband and I thought we would give this place a try. Boy were we wrong. I read reviews and noticed that the poor reviews said a lot of the same things, but we tried anyway. Well I'm here to let you know that everything you have read in the poor reviews is true. First, I ordered online, as that is really one of the only options at this time due to Covid-19. When my husband arrived, there were people seated at the bar taking shots. My husband had to wait and wasn't acknowledged for well over 10 minutes as the staff seemed too preoccupied with serving shots of pickle juice and whiskey to the "patrons" at the bar as they hooted and hollered about "Oh man that's going to make me vomit". Additionally, at this time that would seem surprising because patrons really aren't allowed to be dining in any restaurant or bar due to the restrictions for Covid-19. Anyway, once he was acknowledged, the staff indicated they had no orders for my name or his name. He provided the check number and the individual still said they had nothing. Frustrated, my husband waited and waited. Finally after ho humming around, the individual found our order and my husband brought it home. This is the part you really need to listen to! (I'll say it one more time for the people in the back) YES the service there really is askew. And YES, every review that you read about poor service, wait staff not doing what they're supposed to be doing, disregarding customers etc. is TRUE. Believe it! And all the "conversations with our staff" you're seeing the owners post about as rebuttal to the negative reviews posted outlining these issues clearly are not having any effect on anyone as this is clearly a norm and just how they are choosing to run their business. Not because they actually want to address the issues and make sure they don't happen again. But to each their own. Secondly, the food. We are a family who loves our BBQ. We hail from Texas and so we have tried all kinds of barbecue from all kinds of places. So of course we ordered something of everything. We ordered sausage, pulled pork, turkey, brisket, ribs, baked beans, cornbread, potato salad and mac and cheese. I would go out on a limb and say that only the ribs and the pork are actually smoked. Even though they insist that (and I quote) "We smoke all our meats on two big Ole Hickory smokers for literally hours". I'm not buying it. The turkey was dry, and was more oven roasted than anything. No hint of smoke at all, just a dry rub that was used to impersonate the quality of actual smoked meat. The ribs were dry and overcooked. They didn't have much meat on them. The sausage was not smoked at all. Honestly, it reminded me of a sausage you would get from Costco at the end of the frozen food section as a sample from the little sample person in the blue aprons who just microwaved it. Really disappointing. The pulled pork was okay and the brisket was mediocre at best. But these were the only two meats we even found palatable. So instead of completely wasting our money, we conceded and ate them. Additionally, the corn bread was burnt burnt burnt. It was so incredibly dry. The baked beans were good. Yes, I'll give credit where credit is due. The Potato Salad. My daughter, my husband and I immediately spit out the potato salad. I have no idea how to even describe it. It was quite possibly the worst tasting potato salad I have ever had, ever. It almost tasted like it was spoiled. The BBQ sauces were okay. There were really only two that we entertained putting on the food we were eating. That was the Honey Badger BBQ and the St. Louis Sweet. Overall, we were highly disappointed. It was extremely expensive and not worth the money. There was a review that I read on here that I could not agree more with in regards to the food, and it was that this place was a shame because out of all the food they ordered, they only ate about 25% of it. The rest went in the trash. And honestly, as harsh as it is, that's probably...

I don’t know where to start with this. Because I hate giving negative reviews. However, the owners (who were there) need to hear the bad as much as the good. Cause that will hopefully help make corrections for the better.

1. the restaurant lobby is filthy. And all they have to do is sit at each area of the lobby and take a 360 scan. Up and down too. For instance, the soda bar is a disaster. Look at the floor under the soda bar. There was fur under that thing.

2. the staff are a disaster. Zero organization. This happens because they don’t respect the owners. And the owners have become buddy pals with the staff. We saw staff touching their faces and then serving food. No hand washing. Saw staff standing around like they were on vacation, while the lobby is dying for someone to clean it. And the uniforms a mix mash of “hey! I found these in my dirty clothes basket this morning!” Zero discipline.

3. the food! Wow! I came home and had to make myself a meal. I went there hungry and left hungry. The ribs looked, felt and tasted like they came out of a warmer 7 hours after the fact. The ribs had a hard shell of some glaze around them. They were so dry that the rib bone was dry. Couldn’t even eat the edges of the ribs cause they were hard, as if some overdid the beef jerky. And zero flavor. The Mac and cheese was absolutely disgusting. It had been sitting around so long (maybe days), that it had turned dark and soggy. The cornbread texture was weird. Really hard to screw up cornbread.

Bottom line. The owners appear overwhelmed. And the staff are ripping them off by not earning their keep.

How can this place improve. Fire all the buddy pal staff. Just stop hiring people who are bonehead freeloaders. No more hiring people that are “cool”. Hire nerdy hard workers. And lastly, put together an operations manual. The reason businesses get this way, is because they don’t have a proper operations manual that sets the guidelines for how the business will run. And then follow it.

It’s not too late for this place. They can fix these issues and come out big. I just hope they do it before a BBQ competitor shows up across the street. Cause right now, it wouldn’t be hard for a competitor to clean up.

Note: none of what I mentioned here requires spending more money. I actually think they can save money by firing current staff and hiring hard workers that will respect the owners.

Also - maybe I showed up on the worst day ever. Cause apparently 1k people gave...

It was our "maiden voyage" to Sugarfire. I was certainly hopeful that it would deliver the top end of BBQ in the front range area along with some things that have been lacking - great side dishes to accompany the great BBQ. Admittedly, I am just as opinionated as anyone when it comes to food and tastes that I like. So some in our area may love the sides at the high end BBQ places around here...but I've been disappointed generally with some exceptions (like the peach cobbler at Wayne's Smoke Shack - oh my heavens).

So walking up to the restaurant was an encouragement - the smell of great smoke, the fact that the dining room was full, and a very nice but casual ambience that invited us in. All good so far...and about to get better.

We were self led around the outskirts of the restaurant to the trough. We found some menus and started to figure it out. My son was a bit uncertain so he delegated to me the opportunity to feed him - "bless you my son". We settled on "a-la-carte" and ordered plenty of meat and two sides. Pulled pork (they pulled a fresh one out that was beautiful), sliced brisket, and a 1/2 rack of ribs, culminating in a true evaluation of Sugarfire - the trinity of BBQ meats. Then the sides. I've been on a quest to find collard greens that measure up to a BBQ place I used to frequent and have been loath to find any. I will try any collards once but unless it's close to being as good as Tennessee's BBQ, I won't likely eat 'em again. So we dutifully ordered the collards (which as i looked at them thru the window made me wonder if I'd in fact found a match) and the baked beans. Yet another standard measure of any BBQ joint.

The place is well thought out too. There's a separate bar fully stocked with many beers (local microbrews and some standards) and also the hard stuff with a LOT of whiskey. So enjoy that responsibly.

So did it all measure up? Oh heck yeah. Collards were truly delicious and I'm so happy to have an option now. The beans - Simply Great. The corn bread, we unfortunately did not order because I'm avoiding too many carbs, looked incredible as well...someday I'll splurge.

In a nutshell - Go. You will likely at least like it a LOT. For us, we loved it. Nice job, Sugarfire. Thanks for bringing us some true...