Smoke’n Hops

Stopped for bbq and I guess they don’t have food anymore still have beer which was okay. Bought out by Austin Java so will be changing this summer.

tl;dr: Great beer, good appetizers, good burgers, patio outside with fenced in kids’ playground. I’d give it 4 stars but my parents come more and would give it 5, so I’m averaging them and rounding up.
They changed their menu and got rid of the bbq plates, which is probably a good thing because they were inconsistent. Now its burgers and appetizers. I have only had the burger with brisket mixed in and one with brisket and queso on top and both were delicious. The buns are sweet. A plain burger may not be great, who knows with all that good stuff around it.
Pulled pork quesadilla is great. Stuffed jalapenos are fried and are pretty good. I liked the fried egg roll better.
The Beers they brew all very good.
The patio has a lot of picnic tables and there is a fenced in playground for the kids. They should turn the picnic tables so that every evening one side isn’t facing the sun though.
M-​F happy hour is $ 1 off beer and half price apps, excluding the sampler.

Smoke’n Hops is a great last stop after a day of visiting other craft breweries and distilleries in the Dripping Springs area to grab a small snack and maybe sample S’nH’s very own beer. The staff is helpful and friendly, and the patrons seem to be mostly regulars who won’t hesitate to strike up a cordial conversation with you. Very welcoming place!
The dining room is fairly large, includes a pool table, there is outdoor seating, and a small bar at the back with several TVs. Bar seating if preferable if you want to sample a few of their brews before committing to a pint. And you can see all the buzz going on in the surprisingly small kitchen behind the bar wall.
The brisket queso and chips are good eats with the right amount of creaminess, smokiness, and saltiness. And, the smoked then fried spicy chicken wings with ranch are great accompaniments to a cold beer. S’nH’s Blonde Ale and Porter are both solid choices.
Overall: Not a place I would particularly go out of the way to visit for great Texas Q or Hill Country brews, but if you’re in the area it’s worth stopping by. #SupportLocal
Tip: They also occasionally have live music. :)

4 of us spent a day visiting the brewpubs around Dripping Springs & decided to eat here. Overall is was OK but a bit of a letdown. The food was OK, the beers were OK and the service was OK. If I could do the day over again I would have eaten pizza at Jester King instead. If you are hitting all of the brewpubs in the area I recommend you go to Smoke ‘n Hops, but I’d just get a beer sampler and sit outside and enjoy the view.

We were VERY lucky to find this place. If you blink, you pass it by.
We came in and enjoyed a number of their beers. Admittedly, I liked some more than others, but I liked them all. The Vienna Lager was my favorite.
We had the stuffed jalapenos, which were lacking in actual meat but which were very tasty. The chopped beef sandwiches were delightful, and the green beans tasty.
The bar tender was excellent. He knew the beers on tap, and he could read the customers. I thoroughly enjoyed his recommendations.

We had higher hopes for this place. Possibly it’s better in the summer. The food was mediocre. They were out of several things on the menu. The interior décor/​ambiance needs a major updating. The server was friendly and the service in general was fantastic. They have an outdoor playground and deck which would be great for kids when it warms up.

Out house hunting found this little gem of a place in the area. Will def come back for a live music night. Super friendly staff and tasty food and drink. Lovely views and patio area. In photo: house rocks Rita, small brisket quest, and a a flight of their home brews (ATX Java Porter, Vienna Larger, Perle Jam, Smoke’n Blonde Ale)

Decent BBQ sandwich. My friend enjoyed the pulled pork tacos. He said the Mac & cheese was average.
I don’t think I’ll come back, unless I’m in the area with my kids. They have a huge play ground, that I’m sure my kids would love. Other than that, I’m not planning to become a regular.
I’m still looking for good food in the Dripping Springs area. Been disappointed twice now.

Really good burgers. We got the blue cheese and bacon burger number 16 that was delicious. We also got the queso with the brisket for an appetizer which was OK.

This place is great if you’re into really bad, over-​priced stadium food! And it’s about what you’d pay at a pro football game too. The 290 Burger looked and tasted like a frozen patty from the freezer section at HEB. Oh, and $ 9 for a whisky & coke? Maybe at the Renaissance Hotel or the Driskill Lounge! This place had real potential, but has fallen so short. I will never go back.
The service was pretty good, but they weren’t busy at all.

My husband and I stopped here because they brew their own beer, so I’ll start my review there. The beer is amateurish at best. Regardless of style, the beers were thin and watery, with a common malt character (which shouldn’t be the case for a wheat beer, a pale ale, an IPA and a «porter»). Beers with 6%+ ABV shouldn’t lack mouthfeel, yet these do. There’s also a hint of caramel in each beer; is this from the malt, or lack of sanitizing of the brewing equipment? The flavor of the IPA was a weird mix of caramel and grapefruit; had it lacked the caramel backbone, it wouldn’t have been half-​bad. The porter was probably the best, with the typical, subtle flavors of coffee and chocolate, but it was very watery and verging on dark red in color.
We were hoping the BBQ would be better than the beer, based on reviews. All I can say is that we were disappointed. Both my husband and I had brisket and ribs. The brisket had no bark, but the exterior was black, sooty and acrid. The meat was tender, but lacked smoke flavor. I had one slice that was nothing but fat cap; the fat wasn’t rendered or caramelized. The ribs were confusing; obviously from two different racks, some were overcooked and dry, while some were undercooked and tough. The undercooked ribs were too smoky, as if the fire (if they are actually using a wood-​burning pit) was smoldering. All in all, the most memorable thing about the BBQ was me burping it hours later.
The service started out poorly. We were seated ahead of multiple groups, ordered a sample flight of beers and glasses of water, then sat and watched all the groups seated after us receive their drinks and appetizers. When we attempted to get the server’s attention, she made eye contact with my husband, then blatantly went to help another table. After complaining to the manager, we quickly received our drinks, and our food order was taken and quickly delivered. Our original server was relieved of our table, and the service greatly improved. If it wasn’t for the gracious response to our complaint regarding the service, I would have rated them one star.
Given the quality of not only BBQ, but breweries, in the area surrounding Austin, I’d avoid Smoke’n Hops and go somewhere else.

I normally don’t write negative reviews, but I felt I had to in hopes that the chef/​pit master might read this. The brisket was terrible. I swear it was boiled. It was grey, watery, tough, and full of fat. If it was smoked an appropriate amount of time most of the fat should have melted into the meat. I smoke meat myself regularly and my first brisket ever would have put this to shame. I couldn’t even eat it. The formula really isn’t that hard. Make a rub with a lot of salt and black pepper, smoke on oak, pecan, ash, or hickory for 12 hours at about 200 degrees. And to charge what they do for this is a travesty. The 2^nd star is for the beer. The Octoberfest was very good and 20oz. for $ 4 is a great deal!

Loved this place! I had the quail dinner, and I can’t praise it enough. Small fowl often arrive on the plate dry, but these two birds were perfectly cooked — juicy all the way down the legs and wings. The flavor was exceptional — I didn’t bother with sauce. The green beans were unusually good, as well. Our party enjoyed the acoustic duo on the patio, and the kids loved the big playground. Service was friendly and reasonably prompt. Definitely worth a visit.

Strong points:
* Good burgers
* Very good fries
* A great play scape set up where its easy to keep an eye on the kids
* A delicious, highly sessionable (3% ABV) stout
* Good turkey
* Friendly staff
Could use improvement:
* The brisket
* The flies (way too many outside even when you don’t have your food)

Pretty tasty BBQ and an on-​site brewery that wasn’t half bad either.
I flew into Austin for a day or so and wanted some really good brisket and a good beer, so my girlfriend found this place and we went. As soon as she said «On-​side brewery», I said «Lets go!»
It was about 5 in the evening and there weren’t too many people there yet, but there was only one server it seemed, and she was all over the place. She forgot about us a couple times, but… whatever. The service was mostly an overall friendly and quick experience.
We got the two meat plate to split and soon found out that they don’t give you enough to split between two people. Our mistake. We should’ve asked. But I guess for one person, those plates would have been enough, but splitting it was just enough to satisfy a hunger, not to fill you up.
We got the brisket and ribs. The brisket was a bit dry, but it was VERY tasty and tender. I had to load it up with the house BBQ. The ribs were falling off the bone, just like they should be, but… it seems like they should include a few more for the price. We also got the green beans as a side and they were really good too. Grilled with some ground peppercorn topping. My gf got the mac and cheese and potato salad and she said it was good.
I got a couple of their house beers and they were good. Their heffewiezen was very unfiltered, and it was tasty. Their blonde ale was very good.
I mean… I’d go back if I was ever in Austin again. It seems like they have live music at times and the entire place is very open in the back where we sat, but quite close quarters in the front of the house. It was almost like two separate restaurants.
Reminder: You don’t want to split those plates between two people. They don’t give you enough for that. It’s tasty, just not enough for a Texan-​sized appetite and definitely not enough for two people. I’ve guess I’m just too used to New Orleans cuisine where most places load you up with more than you can eat. That’s not their fault, tho.

I really, really want to like this place…
I really, really want to bring my kids back to their awesome playscape…
but the food just isn’t very good so I can’t and I won’t. We’ve been twice and both times we’ve been disappointed.
Almost every day, I drive by this restaurant and I see that gorgeous playground, and I want to stop but then I remember just how bland the food is, so I don’t.
Also, the service seems to be hit or miss. We’ve had a really nice server and we’ve had a server that didn’t seem to care much about service.
and I’ll remove another star because the manager is crazy rude and obviously does not know how to run a business.

My first time here (visiting from out of town). The food was excellent. We got the 3 meat platter. I mostly recommend their drinks. The margarita’s are AMAZING!!! They have patio seating, a kids outdoor play area and live music on Thursdays. Service was a little slow because they had some staff call out. But besides that, everything else was great and delicious. Staff was very friendly and musicians were also very friendly!

This is truly one of the worst BBQ experiences I have had ever. Truly, ever. in my life. In my life ever.
I did however, learn a lesson — If you pull up to a BBQ joint and you don’t smell smoke, get back in your car and go somewhere else. I think the entire place might be suffering because the cook is terrible. I’m not sure. Chef Ramsey would have his hands full trying to turn this place around. Specifically, here is what I experienced when I went there with my 2 year old and 5 year old:
My beer was lukewarm. It felt like a cold beer was poured into a warm glass. Rookie move and sec religious at a brew pub.
I ordered the quest plain with nothing in it — It came with pico in it. Jalapeño peppers and kids don’t really mix. Even though the waitress knew we didn’t want pico in there, she still brought it to the table and just said «sorry, the cook forgot to hold the pico».
We ordered green beans as a side. The waitress came back and told me some time later that they were out of green beans. It was 12:30 on Sunday. So we ordered the broccoli casserole. She came back again and told me they were out of that too. When I asked why they were out of it she explained that «there is none left over from last night to reheat». Finally we settled on the pinto beans, hold the pico and yet, you guessed it, both orders came with pico on them.
The mac and cheese sauce was the runny and watery — Kraft’s is thicker.
Here is where the use of the microwave is a crime… It would explain why, when the brisket came (our main lunch meat), it had clearly been microwaved. I ordered moist and lean brisket and there was not a drop of fat on my plate. No juice, no nothing. I’ve nuked left over bbq at home and this was it. Rubbery, juiceless and just plain bad. it was the first time in my life I didn’t clean my plate of bbq. Even my kids thought it was bad and they love bbq.
Lastly, like other reviewers have said, it took for ever to get our food and it all came out at different times.

Horrible. I don’t even know where to start. Let’s start with the good… The kids play area was nice… we could watch them while we had a beer. The staff was incompetent… didn’t have a pen… took forever, lost our food… goes on and on. The food… after 45 mins…½ arrived and was freezing cold. The kids food (quesadilla and a grilled cheese) never made it. We had to finally get them to reorder it (those ARE pretty tricky dishes). They arrived cold… and I swear I made better grilled cheese in college with a steam iron and some wonder bread. Really wanted to like this place… lots of work to do to correct this train wreck of a place. On the upside… they are right next to the road… so it was enjoyable to hear to pleasant roar of roadnoise while I waited over an hour for cold food.

Man. Hickory and Pecan smoke. Crushing it. The brisket sandwich was perfect. The meat was smokey and juicy. Full of rich flavour. The brisket queso was on point.
They even brew their own beer. The Blonde was a good pair.
Check this place out