Smoqe BBQ + Wood Fired Pizza

Looks like my previous review was spot on since they closed it down.
It was just a matter of time (and poor BBQ).

This closure has brought on an eternal sea of tears to myself and Dear Boyfriend. We miss you SmoQe and hope like the mighty phoenix you may rise from the hickory smoked ashes and return.
Because I never got to try the Smores trio but I loved your pork.
And BF will miss your Brisket Fries forever.

I’ve been 6 – 7 times now and I haven’t had anything bad at Smoqe yet.
Smoqe tacos — I had a BLT and roasted chicken with the spicy BBQ sauce — it’s vinegary and savory and mouth-​watering. Every piece of meat here is perfect; the chicken is moist and flavorful. $ 10 it’s because they use a spice rub. AWESOME lunch!
Brisket Fries — Fries covered in their Mac N’ Cheese 4 cheese sauce and brisket beef, again, a smokey-​moist, flavorful cut of beef. You think chili-​cheese fries are good! These fries kicked chili fries to the curb!
⁵⁰⁄₅₀ Burger — Bacon, beef (perfectly cooked; just a line of pink down the center), sauce, tomato, lettuce, gruyère (or a choice of 3 – 4 other cheeses), on a delicious bun (where do they get them) and served with sweet potato fries.
Avocado Salad — A whole freakin’ avocado, sliced, with a half a tomato, lettuce, bacon (their own bacon, I believe), and a touch of vinaigrette to bring it all together.
4-​Cheese Mac ‘N Cheese — Pasta shells and their cheese sauce, baked in a dish with some green onions scattered on top. Crispy on top, cream underneath, giving this wonderfully-​tasting dish some texture.
SooOoOOoOOooOooOOoooOOo Good!
A few other things I noticed. There are bar stools, small tables, medium tables, and big, thick tables that can seat 8 people. Just great for larger groups and dates.
And they serve the food on metal trays, but still in fancy dishes, so it’s chill, but classy, like the decorations; just Santa Cruzy enough, but not too Santa Cruzy that it is annoying. There is even a cardboard puzzle of a buck’s head on the wall.

Delish! Stopped in after a day at the beach. The front man really knew his beers and gave me a nice rundown of what each beer would taste like (floral, stout, etc,). My husband ALMOST ordered the King (a monstrosity of a burger (, but the dude gently said, ‘Uhm, that’s $ 25.00, it’s huge’. Something my carnivorous husband could eat, but wasn’t quite ready. Instead we ordered the pulled pork, Smoqe burger and 4 formaggio pizza. Everything was outstanding in flavor and the portions were good. At first, the $ 50.00 tab was daunting, but we took 2 boxes home for lunch the next day. So, decent price for lots of food.
We happened to see friends there who let us try the chicken wings. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, so good. We will be back to try all the other yumminess.
Service was great, very friendly staff.
I wish I could give 4 ½ stars. I’d give 5, but I’m taking off ½ a star for the flies in the restaurant. It wasn’t gross, the restaurant was VERY clean. But, if you going to have your doors open and serve delicious food, then get some kind of screen.
Can’t wait to come back!

Great food, OK service but then again it is cafeteria style (order at the counter and its brought to your table) .
We’ve been here four times now and the food is always good but the service can be good and bad. The last time we were there the guy at the counter just couldn’t be bothered and seemed completely bothered but last night everyone was welcoming.
Caesar Salad: Large is $ 8, nice portion for a few to share and full of flavor.
Pizzas: Brick oven and full of flavor. We’ve now tried three of them and they were all great.
Margherita; roasted garlic, quattro formaggi, tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil
Bufala: mozzarella di bufala, sausage, grape tomatoes, basil and garlic, fired-​roasted tomato sauce
Picante: spicy pepperoni, whole roasted garlic, serrano peppers, dried red chilies, quattro formaggi, fired-​roasted tomato sauce
Pork Ribs (St. Louise Style): Nice smokey flavor and fall of the bone.
Beef Ribs: One huge beef rib full of flavor.
Salmon: Tender, served with the skin over wild rice and collard greens. Also served with a spicy and sweet chili sauce. Very good. Salmon portion does vary.

Yep, it’s a BBQ place. You can smell the BBQ right away. I’m not a fan of the floor but it goes with the restaurant. They provide friendly service. I went during the day, parking was fine.
Everything was good until I saw the cashier get bread with her hand for an order. Hmmm… How about having wax paper (or some kind of napkin) handy for stuff like that?
We had pepperoni pizza, and hot wings.
My husband really liked the hot wings.
My husband and son said the pizza was good.
I personally think the pizza was a little too oily (I don’t like hot wings).
It seems we will be back for hot wings.

Why are BBQ places closed on Monday’s? It always happens to be Monday when I’m craving some BBQ. Anyways, the craving continued on into Tuesday and I wound up at Smoqe.
The food was delicious. I got a chicken sandwich and had them add an onion ring to it for fun (the BEST and biggest onion ring ever!). We took it to go so I think the extra star probably would have been added but they forgot my fries, salad dressing and didn’t give us any BBQ sauce. Of course we didn’t realize until we got home so we used sauce from home.
The only item we got that we weren’t absolutely in love with was the mac n cheese. It was a little lacking in flavor. Everything else (and we tried quite a few items!) was really delicious. We’ll definitely eat in next time to see if we can add the extra star (and try a dessert!)…

After a day out with Thomas the train in Felton, our group of 6 was hungry and tired. Made a reservation, but we got there late and lost our seating. The place is really small inside and there were only 2 high chairs in the entire restaurant. Don’t ask why!
Food and service however made up for the small space and toddler meltdown caused by lack of high chairs. The server checked on us constantly and brought us whatever we needed.
Beef rib reminds me of Korean Kalbi chunk. Very good. Portion is huge though, so do share with 3 other people. Cornbread was moist and delicious. Mac and cheese that comes with the meal is mushy, but my daughter with 8 teeth loved it. Table next to us ordered a mac and cheese casserole type of thing with melted cheese on top. That looked pretty good. Gotta try it next time.
Ribs were smoky and beef brisket tender. Our husbands loved all the BBQ. Salad was usual fare but chicken in the salad was dry and tasteless.
Definitely will return, maybe after my 10K run through redwoods.

I had the most heavenly meal last night that I have had in a very, very long time. I ordered the pulled pork plate with collard greens and cornbread. The pork reminded be of Eastern N.C. style barbeque that I grew up with (but even better). The collard greens were the best I’ve ever had and I’ve grown up eating tons. And the cornbread, although slightly dry, was amazing with the maple butter.
The only reason I give it 4 stars is because my husband didn’t love his meal. He’s not a big fan of overly «smoky» flavors… thinks it just tastes like a campfire. The name of the restaurant deterred him from this place for a long time. He thought my pork was amazing, but his chicken and ribs were too smoky-​flavored for him. The pulled pork that came with his combo was totally different than the one I got (not sure why?). It was good, but not as flavorful as mine.

I don’t understand how so many people like this place, of course this is the norm for Santa Cruz, to boost up some restaurant as really great when it really isn’t.
I’ll admit this place was good when it first opened but then about 6 months later it became ridiculous. Small portions & an overpriced menu are never a good mix. Add in overcooked, dry meat with mediocre sauces and you really just don’t have a good combo.
And forget take out. Nothing we’ve ordered travels well (and we live only 8 mins away), by the time we get home nothing tastes fresh or is even remotely warm.
Last time we ordered take out we got brisket, corn bread, mac & cheese and chicken and were charged over $ 40 but it wasn’t even enough for two people who eat modest portions (not cheesecake factory size portions!)
Oh and parking is a nightmare. They only have about 7 spots and closest street parking is not very safe (on a corner of busy soquel dr.)

WOW. HOLY EFFING EFF.
This place is AMAZING. I went in with low expectations. I’ve been eyeing it for months and but finally had an excuse to go in today after a nice ride in Nisene Marks. The food was crazy good. I ordered way too much (on purpose), but wanted to try everything. The spicy BBQ sauce and pulled pork sandwich were both really good, but the pork ribs were out-​of-​this-​world! The dry rub on them was amazing.
My buddy said his burger was also really good (the burgers in general came highly recommended by the staff person who helped us). As for sides, the macaroni and cheese was alright, but the baked beans were LEGENDARY. For the sake of completeness, the bread roll was nice as well…
The staff was super friendly, though the food takes longer than you might expect for a BBQ place. Still, for how good it came out, I think it was worth it… especially since the length of time probably had something to do with the fact that they were putting so much love into it in the back.
There’s a good amount of seating, a couple TVs, and lots of condiment options including a regular (tangy) BBQ sauce and a spicy option. They’re bold for choosing white, cloth napkins… but I have to tip my hat to them for their courage.
5 stars… easy. As good as it gets.

I’ve eaten here three times and I was hoping three times would be the charm. I really enjoyed my first experience, was a little disappointed in my second experience and was supremely bummed in my last. I want to love them because they do everything organic and sustainable with delicious local beers and wines but my last experience was really bad.
I am basically a vegetarian who eats seafood occasionally. The first time I had the shrimp Tacos and they were delicious; made on their yummy homemade flat bread with spicy sauteed prawns in a yummy sauce with fresh arugula and avocado. At 5 dollars I was happy enough I ate two and they were huge.
The second time I went I had a pizza as I love thin crusted wood fired pizza; I opted for the wild mushroom pizza with Ricotta cheese. The Ricotta was not very generous and the mushrooms were oh so dry! :(
I kind of made a special order so I figured my bad, I’ll come back again and just order direct off the menu.
Came back and ordered the shrimp Tacos again! I was so excited. i was super hungry so I ordered a cookie to snack on right away while I waited for my taco. The lady asked if I wanted the cookie right away or to go; i said right away. She handed me my beer and number and said it will be right out.
About 20 minutes later out came my cookie and Taco and a HUGE glass of milk. When I told the server I didn’t order a glass of milk (I HATE Milk) and was I charged for it she said yes then no and said that’s how we serve the cookie in house. nice idea for most but it would have been nice to know that when I ordered the cookie. And I still don’t know if they charged me for it.
The TACO??? It was a piece of their yummy flat bred with three prawns with a slice of avo; no sauteed sauce, no arugula. Last time there were five, succulently marinaded and cooked in a yummy spicy sauce and where was the arugula that is on the menu? I asked they brought out some mayonaisy sauce and some organic spring mix greens. I was told they didn’t know what sauce I was talking about as they have been out of prawns for weeks and this was the first taco made in awhile. And they were out of arugula…
For 16 dollars not including tip I think this was a joke; a beer, a taco and a cookie? If the taco had been made properly I might not have been tempted to write this…
I’m going to give them one more chance; I sure hope they have people working that know the ingredients and make sure they have them in stock when people pay for their meal.

I’ve corresponded with the owner about how our last visit was, and he laid out some valid reasons for some of what we experienced, along with a commitment to address the others. Kudos to him for being on top of it. And in retrospect, my experience didn’t fully deserve the 1 star rating I’d given. It was a solid 2.
As I told him, I look forward to my next visit, where I’ll hopefully be adding more stars, since my previous visits would have rated a solid 4. And maybe that was part of my rational for the initial 1 Star rating. It’s because I was judging them against what I know they can do.

Can a mock vegetarian/​pescaterian find anything at Smoqe? Well, since I do eat seafood I was in luck. (If you are a purist vegetarian there are pizza and salad options for you as well.). We had a group of 5, and finding a table requires hovering. Since, you order at the counter and then find a seat. But, the turnover of tables is pretty fast. For apps we had the staple sweet potato fries. I won’t go into too much detail since it was one of the most mentioned items :). For dinner, I had the clam pizzetta. It was my first experience with a clam pizza. I would definitely get it again. It had the perfect amount of toppings and was nice and crispy! Overall, I’m stoked on Smoqe.

This was probably our favorite spot we tried while staying in the Santa Cruz area. Walk in and place your order (from a fellow who seemed mildly annoyed at our big party, but not rude by any means), then take a seat. The atmosphere is casual and can get a little loud depending on the crowd.
The menu is impressive mix of BBQ meats, salads, interesting pizzas, even BBQ-​infused tacos. The BBQ was solid and my Duke pizza was divine. Pulled pork, sweet onions, fresh cubes of pineapple and BBQ sauce– how can that possibly be wrong? My side garden salad was fresh and tasty.
Please eat half of your entrée, save the rest and save room for desert. I chose the apple caramel dumpling: sliced apples wrapped in pastry, sitting in a delectable sauce of caramel and slowly melting vanilla bean ice cream. Other choices included lemon meringue pie, 7 layer carrot cake, and a gourmet S’more sampler.
I’m still dreaming about my food — I would probably give it a 5 if the guy behind the counter had been more friendly and welcoming.

Four Star Food. Two Star service
I had been waiting since the coming soon sign
I salivated at the Good Times article
moment of glory
fail…
I have no issues with waiting 30 – 40 minutes for my to go order if I know the food is going to be good. I do not however want to go back once and then go back again because of an order mix up.
This place is a hole in the wall and at the time all of the seats were filled so we decided to get our meal to go. The smell here is amazing, they let you sample some of their house wine to make pairings with the food and these guys mean biz. BBQ has been a fail here in SC. let alone BBQ with a gourmet twist. They do EVERYTHING in house from the croutons to the s’mores dessert with homemade graham crackers. I waited to see what other Unilocalers thought and in seeing 4 and 5 star reviews I was sure this was a winner… sigh.
1. The half rack of pork ribs… that was delicious. Smoky flavor, nice crust… all off the bone meat.
2. The caesar salad was good. Huge portion enough for two people
3. Bison burger… wait…where is the bison burger?
They had given us something else so half way back home we turned around… The woman handling to go order traded, apologized… and then we got back in the car… in the parking lot I rechecked and they had not given me sweet potato fries… at that point I was over it… my burger was getting cold and I wanted to just eat and be over with it.
The Bison Burger with its onions, irish cheddar etc was okay…
In looking at the other reviews I am assuming that going on a Friday night before 8:30 is not a good idea… parking is crazy. if you are the crappy parker in your group of friends don’t drive here…
So am I crazy with my initial two stars? The reviews are so inconsistent! But then yesterday my plus one’s parents went in and they were able to get seating but their pork pulled sandwiches were super inconsistent. One had a good portion of pulled pork the other had more bun than meat… neither were too impressed
So third time is a charm I suppose… more to be continued…
Third Time
So I went when they opened and there was already folks there. Good lord is there any good time to come here? I got the DUKE pizza and the bbq trio. The Duke was delicious. smoky bacon and pulled pork (made in house) and the crust was perfect. Grilled pineapples… nom nom nom. The chicken was okay… the brisket was decent… still think the winner is the pork ribs… The trio I got had a leg of chicken, three ribs and a handful of brisket. There 3 bbq sauces are good. the spicy is not spicy but smokey with a hint of kick.
I learned they use Vosges chocolate for their s’more trio which is my favorite chocolate (their Oaxacan and Bacon bars) nom nom nom nom.
The owner is super nice!
So the fam bam has gotten take out the past three times… one of these days we are going to sit down… and try some of the appetizers and sides.

Sensitive to gluten? Cry that you can’t eat pizza (or have a significant other that falls that category)? Then Smoqe is a good place to satisfy you’re pizza cravings w/​o sending your celiac friends into convulsions.
Likes:
1. Gluten free pizza dough that didn’t taste like cardboard. Sure, it’s not light and fluffy like your normal wheat crust. But I didn’t expect it to be.
2. Flavor’s of the ‘Smoqe’ pizza — sweet Hawaiian onions FTW.
3. Real CocaCola. Not like it’s that tough to find the mexican import coke, but I was really craving one and they had it. Right place and right time.
4. Proportions. Their one size pizza was perfect for the GF and I.
Potential issues:
1. Limited parking. Wasn’t an issue for us (mid-​day on a saturday).
2. Small eating space. Don’t throw a kid’s bday party here unless you rent out the whole place. Otherwise, all non-​party goers will hate you.
3. Not a lot of ‘visuals’. If visuals is what you want, go somewhere else — cause you’ll prob complain about the food, the service, and how there isn’t a butler to wipe your backside when you get done in the bathroom. They have 2 big TV’s, pizza, beer and bbq. It’s enough.
4. BBQ sauce, has beer in it. For you celiacs, if you’re ultra sensitive, this might pose an issue. Just an FYI.
Con’s:
Both had to do with the bathroom.
1. Fake deer horns. Seriously? I get the cardboard deer head mounted on the wall. But come on.
2. The bathroom I used was out of soap. Had hand sanitizer, but no soap.
I could prob complain about the price too, but when was the last time you priced wood fired pizza? Stuff ain’t cheap. I won’t speak for anything but the pizza at this point, but I can say that the GF and I will be back. For sure.

Attention fellow celiacs: YOU CAN EAT PIZZA AGAIN!
Being that I can’t eat anything with gluten in it, pizza has been out for some time and I LOVE pizza.
To my very pleasant surprise, I walked into smoQ and was told they offer gluten free pizza crust. HEAVEN!
I indulged in the Smoq’er pizza and I’m still tasting it (I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing TBH). The Maui onions were super yum and sweet, matched with their beer BBQ sauce and smoked chicken and bacon, more please!
Place was pretty cool being off the beaten path, you can see it from the freeway. Kinda of eclectic with the stuff on the wall and in the bathroom. Prices were lower than I expected for pizza.
Minus a star for lack of toiletries in the bathroom like SOAP! But other than that, I’ll be back again to try other pizzas for sure!

Mac and cheese is huge and home made (no fake, neon orange glowing cheese like product) — great deal for $ 4!
Pulled pork sandwich is as big as my head — awesome deal for $ 8
Brisket was tender, juicy and mouth watering good with a sweet and spicy sauce (molasses flavored)!

Affordable, gourmet, and a bit playful: Smoqe is a different sort of BBQ restaurant. Don’t come in expecting huge portions and to leave cradling your gut. Think BBQ for health concious Aptos natives. The décor backs this up – rustic BBQ meets coffee shop.
Let me start with the menu: it’s not a cookie-​cutter BBQ menu. It’s clear a lot of thought has gone into how things are put together, and what sides are offered with what (burgers have different options than the sandwiches (tacos).)
I had the Brisket «Taco,» a serving of brisket inside of a taco made from slicing a piece of focaccia bread and then toasting it in the wood oven. The brisket was exceptionally soft and tender; being cut into chunks definitely helped. The order came with a choice of beans, coleslaw, or chips; I choose the chips. Nice BBQ flavor, had some spice to it. The spicy BBQ sauce was good too — a slow heat, that built up, and didn’t kill the BBQ flavor there. The flavor definitely was not the big & bold you expect from BBQ, but it was good.
I have to say, everything that came out looked fantastic (the oysters in particular had very nice presentation, from what I could tell.) The offerings on the menu were a bit unique, and I have to flag the salads (all about $ 6 w/​o meat) as what looks like a nice steal.
I’m also very happy to see pizza on the menu — maybe it was a requirement for using the location.
The only problem I had was the time it took to get my food. I think I cam during the rush (there was next to no parking), but it still took them about 25 minutes to get the sandwich out.
Final impression? The food here is what I expect to see on something like Top Chef: standards remade in different ways, updated, unique, and a bit playful. It was a good looking place inside, with a nice personality. I hope they succeed and prosper; I could easily see Smoqe showing up in other markets.