Ottawa Foodies

3

I also went on Monday with a friend. I had a 1/4 rack of ribs and the caesar salad with bbq shrimp. She had the 1/2 rack of ribs with mac n cheese.
We didnt find the food overly salty unlike others who went on monday, but we also didnt have any fries or anything other than the meat, salad and pasta.

Food was warm, tender, well seasoned, prompt service and cheap. no complaints whatsoever.
the caesar salad (ordered with dressing on the side) was lovely, and the shrimp were well cooked and the bbq sauce was very tasty.
The ribs were tender but didnt have too much "give" (I hate when ribs fall off the bone *too* easily!)
I didnt try her mac n cheese but it certainly looked creamy.I love that you can order 1/4 racks of ribs and 1/4 chickens.
With beaus $5 pints on mondays I will be going again!

2

Really wanted to like this place after the brutally disappointing experience at the former Jean Albert's/Leroys, nuff said there.

After two less than inspiring experiences at Smoque Shack over the past winter, I'll satisfy my BBQ cravings at various friends homes during summer. Also coming to the realization that I need to up my BBQ skills, though it's not that far off from the Smoque Shack as I too can mess up a meal.

First visit our table ordered the Jerk Chicken, briskets and the burger. Much like Caper's experience, the chicken was dry and brisket had way too much fat and was not enjoyable. The burger was apparently passable but nothing special. Had some sides with varying degrees of success. Rings were really good but we strongly felt the beans and mac and cheese were over priced for what they were. Truly don't understand the wow factor these two items have seemingly received, it's mac and cheese and beans for $5 each. They're not that great, or good, or am I expecting too much.

Second and last visit we were mistakenly served the Sample portion as opposed to the Sharing portion. This was a happy mistake as would've been punished by trying to eat bigger portions of what was ordered. Ordered the upgraded beef ribs, pulled pork and bbq chicken. Ribs were small but big on fat! Pulled pork was the biggest disappointment as we had a discussion trying to figure out if we have ever tasted less inspiring pulled pork in the city...nice strings, not. Chicken was too sweet but the best of the worst. Quickly paid and went for dessert at Piccolino's to get rid of the bad taste in our mouths.

Highlight of our visits have been the service, friendly and efficient, shame about the food.

Had dinner last night with a few friends. Place was mostly empty at 5:30pm and was only 1/2 full when we left at 7:15pm. Sorry no pics ... was too hungry to remember.

Started with wing tips (a 1/2 price special on Mondays). Tried Sweet/Sour, Creamy Garlic and Peri Peri (sauce on the side). All were nice and BBQ smokey. They seemed fresh and not from on warmer etc. Good thing we got the Peri Peri sauce on the side ... mam that's packs a lingering burn ... but the front end was tasty-tasty.

I had 3 meat combo. Side ribs, Jerk chicken and beef brisket. Ribs were the best of the three. Although the jerk chicken was a good jerk a piece (leg/partial breast) was disapointly dry. Brisket was enveloped in a balanced BBQ sauce. My portion contained quite a bit of (pure) fat sections. It was not really off putting when eaten with the lean sections. Quite rich though.

Southern greens were cooked up nice. Not over done mush. and he smokey bacon chunkies were an welcome touch. My friends enjoyed the creamy coleslaw and onion rings. The rings did look good in a Dick's rive-in kinda way.

No room for desert but the pecan pie was calling me.

Last note: All of us experienced a major thirst about 1.5 hours after dinner. Lots of salt was suspect. (Hopefully not MSG though).

1/2 price specials occur Sun. (Wings), Mon (Rib tips) and Tue. (forgot).

Would go back ... but not race back.

2

Do not forget the chicken wings. The peri peri are awesome but extremely hot. The hot bbq are less hot and are the best I have eaten in a long time.

2

On a Frinight i'd say get there before six or expect to wait 30min+/- .

I find getting there around 545 and having a drink and an ap then ordering dinner is usually effective.

It is worth the wait tho and PB&A is entirely correct about the bar.

3

It does get busy by around 7. If you're more than 4, expect to wait over an hour; if you're 4, probably around 30-40 minutes. For two, I'd say anywhere between being seated right away and 20-something minutes would be my guess. But this is just from my past experience.

The upside is that the bar is right near at the entrance so you an normally grab a pint while waiting.

1

Am going to edit this after we go with my review, but will start with a question:

Planning to go Friday night for my husbands 30th birthday, just the two of us. Website says 'no reservations'. Is it often a long wait to eat? how long should we expect?

just wondering if we will have to time it to head down when we aren't quite hungry yet, I think the smell of cooking BBQ might drive us over the edge if we arrive famished!

This will be a good prep for our upcoming trip to the real South(South Carolina and Georgia) in April!

3

We went for dinner this past Friday night before a show at the OLT.

It was my first time and hubby's second.

I had the pulled pork sandwich which came with tangy slaw on the side. Bun was toasted (bonus) and the pulled pork was delicious. Tender, moist and nice balance of sweet/vinegar. Sandwich was the perfect portion as well. I wasn't too full after.

Hubby got the DBK sandwich and said it was food-gasmic :) You have to ask what the DBK is as it's not described on the menu. Wonder if a lot of people don't order it because they just skim over it on the menu. He said he didn't notice it there the first time he came.

We shared one side and it was the macaroni and cheese. I am afraid that was a fail for us.

Macaroni was perfectly cooked, but the cheese sauce to us tasted like the powdered cheese you get with boxed mac and cheese - but the really low budget mac and cheese - like the GT Boutique brand or something. It was very bland and kinda gritty - just no flavour at all.
Also the crumbs on top were not light and buttered bread crumbs, but again some weird tasting totally dry gritty crumbs as though they used gluten-free bread or something LOL.

Beers were good and atmosphere was great. We will go back and try a different side dish next time.

Update: I wrote a thread in the Forum a while back about the sewage smell hubby experienced when he ate there last time. Happy to report that when we walked in Friday there was a really nice vanilla smell. Guess they got some air freshner or something. I did detect a slight smell on my way up to the bathroom but nothing that bothered me.

1

Took my in-laws here this past week for lunch after not having visited in almost a year. Everyone enjoyed the food, drinks and service and it was the perfect sit-down option for a larger group (seven of us) post sightseeing. The big hit was the pulled pork, though I preferred the chicken, which was very moist (unlike my last visit) and had obvious and enjoyable bourbon flavour to it. I also tried the piri piri wings, creamed corn and dirty rice for the first time. Just the thought of that piri piri sauce has my mouth watering. However, it is definitely spicy, so not for everyone. Really enjoyed the corn too as a fresh counterpoint to the other, heavier items on the menu, but found the rice dry and in need of salt.

The service is friendly and super accommodating and they were great with my one-year old son. I wouldn't hesitate to bring guests or kids again. The only thing I found unpleasant was an offputting odour in the hallway leading to the bathroom. Because we were seated at a table directly in front of the door leading to that hallway, I also occasionally caught a whiff while eating. Not sure that most people would even notice it, but I'm pretty sensitive to smells. The bathrooms were very clean, etc. so I didn't question the cleanliness of the restaurant, but rather chalked it up to being an old building. I would try to sit in the back next time for that reason though.

1

I finally hit up the smoque shack. I went with 3 colleagues form out of town. All of us had sampler platters. The colleagues enjoyed their meals however I was disappointed. I had the st. Louis side ribs, the jerk pork and the brisket.

The side ribs were over cooked and dry. The flavour was ok, and would have been great if not so over cooked.

The jerk pork was really salty. The jerk heat was ok, but I couldn't get past the saltiness.

I enjoyed the brisket - it was really moist, and I enjoyed the sauce. I'm curious how they cook the brisket, as the texture seemed like it was cooked a bit too long, however it was still really juicy.

I also had a side of the beans. These were nicely cooked with chunks of pork in the beans. The sauce was heavy on the vinegar/heat. My personal preference is for something more subtle, but they were good.

I'd try the ribs again if I go back, but I think I'd skip the jerk pork.