Coal Creek Smokehouse

Great food and service. Something for everyone in the family. Great place to eat with family and friends.

Absolutely fantastic. John, the owner, is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. The brisket, ribs, coleslaw, candied bacon and rib tips were all top notch. Excellent homemade sauce selection & decent beer selection.

We found this place on Unilocal on our way to Atlanta. Super cool place. Almost as if you were eating in a local’s private house. We had the beef brisket. The food, sauces and sauces were all good. Service was good, but was expecting more being in Tennessee and having the feeling of being in someone’s house.

Everything was awesome! Don’t miss this… the real deal! Nice people too! Pulled pork, dirty beans, potato salad, banana pudding nice cold beer. Just go! Only a couple of minutes off 75 exit 129

This place is awesome! I got the brisket plate with jalapeño cole slaw and spicy dirty beans. My girlfriend got the big pig baked potato. It was more than either of us could eat! The only disappointment was that we got there too early to try the ribs! They came off the smoker right as we were finishing and smelled better than they looked (and they looked amazing!).
Definitely going to stop back in my next time through! Thank you Coal Creek!

Excellent BBQ. John was super and even shared some local history. Good luck for the future. We’ll be back.

We stayed nearby and looked up places to eat on Unilocal.We had to try this place with the 5 star review. We went out of our way to stop when we were on our way home.
We walked up and the place is adorable. We walked inside and there was a very friendly, inviting vibe. John greeted us immediately and pulled tables together for us. We ordered the candied bacon. To die for. My 2 y/​o was whining for more immediately. I got the pulled chicken plate with spoon bread, baked beans and hash brown casserole. The first bite of baked beans gave me the warm fuzzies. Best baked beans I’ve ever had. The flavors in all the food were perfect. Then I had the banana pudding. Oh my. AMAZING.
I absolutely great food and I it when people care about serving great food.

Amazing BBQ. Family ran, and good conversations. Really great people. They let me sample a little pork (not dry, killer flavor), brisket (real moist goodness, if you aren’t a fan of grease food you might want to avoid the brisket, but you will be missing out), and bacon (sweet honey glaze). They make their own BBQ sauce which is better than any store brand, and would be a good contender for awards. Had Mac & Cheese (taste home made, and baked), coleslaw (little watery, but great flavor), and fries (big and tasty, not from a frozen bag).
Only con was the bun for my pork sandwiches fell apart. But that didn’t stop me from grabbing my fork and finishing my meal.
I went on a rainy day around 3pm, and was told the local don’t tend to go as much with bad weather. So even though there weren’t many tables, there was plenty of seats that day.
I recommend this place!

This is truly a mom and pop BBQ Joint. GREAT food, GREAT atmosphere, GREAT Service! We stopped by after googling BBQ while driving to a Vball Tournament in Knoxville. This place has the best ribs we had EVER had… and that’s not all. When we pulled up my husband said this smells sooooo good, the food has got to be good. It doesn’t have a lot of indoor seating (5 Tables of 2) but plenty of outdoor seating (picnic table style). One of the owners, Jon was fantastic! He gave us a behind the scenes tour so we could see how they make all that delicious BBQ. John was very kind and gave us samples of Bourbon Candied Bacon (to die for), Bourbon soaked onions (also to die for) Bourbon Bacon Tomato Jam (have I mentioned it’s all to die for) then we ordered. Note: I do not drink alcohol but the above mentioned was fan-​frickin– tastic and my firefighter husband/​bartender bought extra of all of it to take to friend of ours.
My husband got the ribs, jalapeño cornbread, and cheesy bacon grits. «these are the best ribs I have ever had» was his response after the first bite. I had the Brisket sandwich with seasoned kettle chips. My Brisket had great flavor but was too chewy for my liking. We got the homemade Coconut Cream to take with us for dessert (was so creamy and rich) and sweet teas to go.
While there we got to chat with the table next to us so this place is perfect for those wanting an intimate relaxed setting where everyone is friendly and you make new friends. They have a great selection of beers and lots of choices on the menus including desserts. This will be on our list of must-​stop-​when-​traveling on I75. Make sure to stop by and say hi to John!

This is a quality, down to earth, southern-​hospitality BBQ place. The service was outstanding. The waitress was incredibly helpful and kind, but not overbearing. She was incredibly friendly as well.
The food was great. Nothing crazy, just quality food down the line. The portions were great, and the menu is varied enough to try how they cook a bunch of different meats.
Good Southern-​style BBQ place, all around!

Have made two visits now, and left very happy both times. I’m not ready to call it «best ever» bbq yet, but it is very, very good.
Have tried the pulled pork and brisket, and both were excellent.
The sauce alone is worth checking out. They have about 6 different sauces to choose from, the best of which is the house «Mama’s Sauce» they also have a spicier version of the Mama’s sauce as well as a mustard based sauce, a hot sauce and a couple other to choose from.
Not much room for seating, but I hear they are planning to add a Knoxville location.
They also have a really good beer selection for a place this size.
Both visits, the staff has been very friendly courteous and attentive.
I will definitely be going back again and I’d highly recommend checking this place out.