Smokehouse Pizza and BBQ

I went there this last Friday because a friend of mine had a coupon for 25 dollars off of a purchase of 50 or more. There were a couple of good things, but I honestly have no desire to go back. Here’s why:
Pros: location is good, wait was short, waitress was nice.
Cons: Plastic cup, plastic silverware (for ribs and meat this was annoying), baskets and no plates, food was over priced, food was only decent tasting and they didn’t give you much for what you payed for, they are understaffed and the wait was really really long, waitress made my friend clean off his ribs and give her his credit card while standing for five minutes waiting for him.
For the money, go somewhere else that’s nice. I would avoid this place.

Was up in Utah for business and was looking for someplace to eat when I came across Smokehouse Pizza & BBQ.
Have to admit that I was a bit taken back by the décor, just wasn’t what I was expecting for a BBQ, much less a BBQ place in Utah. It had an industrial feel to it with red walls and a collection of 70’s posters on the walls including a Star Wars (the original) movie poster and even a Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon Poster. The tables and chairs are basic wood table with their BBQ sauce sitting right there on the table.
The waitress showed me a spot and I opened up the menu and took a look. The menu diverse. It offers a good selection of smoked meats to choose from such as Ribs, Chicken, and Brisket, a good selection of sandwiches such as Pulled Pork, and Chicken, they got some interested Pizza Options as well that have some of their smoked meats as toppings. Pricing here is reasonable, especially for a BBQ joint, most sandwiches are under $ 8 and your combo meals (ribs, chicken, pizza) are under $ 16.
I decided to go with their Smoked Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich that came with their pulled pork, onions, peppers, and mushrooms, with melted swiss cheese. The order came with fries and just sounded a bit different and worth trying.
I put in my order and just took in the atmosphere. The waitress had my food ready in about 10 — 15 minutes and all I can say is wholly mother of all Philly Cheesesteak! This thing was fricking HUGE. It must have been a foot long and it was just stacked with the pulled pork, cheese, mushrooms, and peppers. They must have put on a couple pounds worth of stuff there. To say the least, eating it like a sandwich was utterly useless and treated it like and open face sandwich.
The flavors here blended well together. The pulled pork was tender and mixed in with the cheese and mushrooms and peppers and the bread that was buttered and toasted gave an nice round smooth taste to it. I tried some of their BBQ sauce and the waitress warned me the spicy was extra spicy. Decided this was the way to go as I wanted a little bit in my sandwich. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I would classify their «spicy» sauce more as a sweet mild. I thought I had the wrong one so I tried their regular, and that was just sweet. So not much punch to their spicy BBQ but of course I do eat Thai on a regular basis, so maybe my standards are a bit high. The sauce overall was decent, but nothing to write home about. The fries that came with the meal were good. Nice home cut french fries, went well with the meal.
As to rating, I may be a bit harsh, but I’ve been fortunate enough to been to some of the best BBQ places in the US (such as Corky’s and Rendezvous in Memphis) as well as do a lot of smoking at home myself. I guess my major complaint is that while the meat was good and tender, it didn’t capture that smokey taste you should get from a dry rub and from using say either a hickory or mesquite. The meat tasted more «boiled» than smoked and must be using say an Apple wood.
Any other place, I would probably give a 4 star rating, but since I’m a bit more particular about my BBQ, I’m going to have to knock them down one star and give them a 3 star rating. Portions are great, meat good, the sauce especially the spicy could use improvements, but overall you could do worst than Smokehouse Pizza and BBQ and worth a stop if looking for something different. Solid 3 star rating.

I’ve been waiting years to express my frustration with this restaurant and now that I’m a Unilocaler I finally have the chance. Their barbecue sauce is quite simply the worst I have ever had in my life by far. And I have had a lot of barbecue sauce. I still tell stories about how horrible their sauce was. Its like a family legend.
While we were waiting for our order our table seriously got into a debate about whether the sauce was supposed to be barbecue sauce or if it was, in fact, plain ketchup. The table was split but it was obviously a hard call for everyone. THAT IS NOT A GOOD SIGN!
The meat was dry as a bone and the sauce was terrible. The two cardinal sins of a BBQ joint. What could possibly redeem them from that?

The reuben sandwich is FANTASTIC!

All this place is missing is a medley of cold beers on draft. But what it does have — pulled pork and chicken, yummy-​sounding pizzas, and three great barbecue sauces on every table — makes it a gem in We-​Love-​Chain-​Restaurants Provo.
Service was attentive, speedy, and helpful. And although my smoked chicken sandwich (see the pic with this business) was a tad dry, some BBQ sauce remedied that.
I love justifying the calories of BBQ by ordering a salad. And the side salad that came with the sandwich was so good! Sliced red onions, a bit o’ feta, tangy and creamy honey mustard… Yum.

This is one of my favorite BBQ restaurants ever. Definately my favorite in Provo, and I have tried them all. I know it’s weird to say that because it’s a chain, but there you have it.
The ‘Q is wonderful, the sides are all good, and there are rolls of paper towels on the table inviting customers to lose their inhibitions in the glory of the messy goodness that is their food. A good idea for a first date it is not. A relaxed environment for homey, filling, delicious BBQ? That’s what I’m talkin’ about. It would be one of my first choices for a place to eat in Provo. Only downside: The wait can be atrocious. Make reservations.

It’s trapped in an LDS wonderland. But, it’s not bad. I get the pulled pork, the pizza and the parmesean whatchamacallits. Good.

Let’s break this down:
Location
Surrounded by Emergency Essentials, Sister Missionary Mall, Knee Shorts, Deseret Book and the LDS Distribution Center, you’d figure this place to be Mormon central. But it’s pretty normal — just seems like a strange place to house a restaurant.
Layout
Sort of sucks. It’s really small, and you’re not sure what to do when you walk in. The first section of the restaurant is all tables and chairs, though I saw only about 12 tables total. You have to walk back to the second half of the place to figure out that you’re supposed to seat yourself until someone comes to help you. My friend Kyle wasn’t impressed with the «cafeteria feel» that Smokehouse gives off.
Food
Unfortunately, the three of us ordered the same thing — pulled pork. I know that’s a pretty typical request at a BBQ place, but I had been craving it for weeks now. While it was a little salty, it was easily remedied with some awesome BBQ sauce. The portions were pretty good, and their homemade potato chips are pretty good. They’re essentially Kettle Chips, but not as tasty. Kyle ordered baked beans, which were a little runny and bland. Josh’s highlight of the meal is that they serve apple beer. Why do so many people crave that stuff around here? Is it because we don’t drink REAL beer, so we get our jollies from beer made with apples and carbonation?
Service
Not bad, not stellar. She was there when we needed her, and didn’t take too long with the check. That’s all.
Price
My meal, consisting of a sandwich with chips, was $ 5.50. I guess that’s not too expensive. It was $ 2 less than the meal that was only pulled pork and two sides, but Josh ordered that with a kaiser roll and chips… so it was basically the same as mine, but more expensive.

My favorite Utah Valley pizza joint. Smallish dining area and OK service, but the food really shines. It’s the only local place I know where you can get wheat crust pizza. All pizzas are baked in their wood-​fired oven. The dough is made fresh not frozen and thawed.
The BBQ is good too and most of the sides (homemade potato chips) but that’s not what I go for.
The space is tight and often noisy which makes it all the more fun.
There’s a bigger location in Provo on University Ave, near Center Street.