Smoke Barbeque and Grill

The main BBQ dishes are great. The beef ribs take a lot of work, so be warned. They are good tho, but they’re not easy to handle like pork ribs.
The sides are a weak point esp the potato salad. To runny and not very Texas.
Def the best spot for BBQ we’ve found. But still need to try more dishes.
The cornbread or bread are not complimentary. They cost $ 3. Don’t be fooled into thinking they’re table relish.
Chech out Smoke.

CLOSED??? Smoke closed nearly 6 months ago, supposedly for renovations that were to be completed in a few months. It is still closed, no signs of remodeling/​reflagging, and the head chef, Dave DelRio is busy running his own DelRio’s Café on N. Armenia. And if you try to go to the Smoke website listed here, you get bumped to a Tropical-​themed place seemingly unrelated to Smoke.
So if anyone has better information on the status/​plans for Smoke, let the rest of us know. Meanwhile, no point planning to eat there.

3.5 STARS. Get the Brisket, Ribs, and Mac ‘n cheese! Maybe it was the heat and humidity (I’m from Cali), but I remember having a hard time savoring the food while trying to catch my breath. There’s outdoor seating, but after walking here from downtown, you’ll be sweating like a pig.

Smoke’s a good little neighborhood hideaway. Their food is always great, as well as their live music performers. Ribs are good, fish is good, and beer is nice and cold. A little more fancy than Kojak’s, without the long drive all the way down Bayshore. Nice bar area too!

If I were to have reviewed Smoke over 2 years ago, when my friends and I first discovered what we thought was an amazing and interesting BBQ place, it would have received 5 stars. If I had reviewed it even 3 or 4 months ago, it would have received 4 stars. Now, however, I can only give it 3 stars. And I wonder how much of that is based off of my fond memories of what this restaurant started as rather than what it is now. For some context:
We used to come here weekly. There was a huge selection of entrees and sides. The winter that we first started coming they had a soup of the day that changed daily. For months I never had the same soup twice and all of them were incredible. But its been almost 2 years since they served soup at Smoke. But I had many other favorites on the menu. Twice baked sweet potatoes, cornbread, beef ribs, and kugel were just a few.
But a year ago they purged their menu again and kugel got the axe along with a few other items. A few months ago, the cornbread and sweet potatoes vanished. And now, with my most recent visit, there was no beef ribs to be had. The owner even came to talk to me after I lamented about the shrinking menu to the waiter and let me know how he had to throw away a lot of beef ribs every day.
They also used to have a pair of beers that were both great. Even those have been switched out. I’m ok supporting the Florida amber that’s brewed locally (and its pretty good) but the other one, from NY, is pretty mediocre. Its a pretty weak lager.
So we have a BBQ restaurant now that has lost most of its character with the disappearance of its most eclectic items. And it doesn’t even have the items I would consider standard at most BBQ places like beef ribs and cornbread. The sauces they have are pretty good and the quality of the existing items is still great. And on Sunday they make a ‘thanksgiving dinner’ that has the cornbread & sweet potatoes so I can still get them with that meal (which is, again, great).
Service, overall, has always been mediocre at best. I was left sitting at my table for 10 minutes on Sunday without anyone coming to even take a drink order from me.
I’ll revist this review if they revisit their menu. Hopefully, its an increase in both.

Interesting BBQ place. Real nice patio seating when weather is nice and thats most of the time. Ribs are without tips but are very good. Mac & Cheese with green pepper salsa is best ever. Tomato, feta and basil salad is my wifes favorite tomato dish of any where. From the sea kabobs are really good but over priced for a small portion. Home made Sangria is a real treat.

In my neverending quest for barbecue in Tampa, I have been told to head to Smoke by at least 10 people, and after my experience there there are now 10 people who have invalidated their opinions of food… Let me preface this with my expectations of barbecue; tender, smokey, juicy and with a decent helping to boot. Good sides are a kicker really, the icing on the cake, and i suppose reading the Unilocal reviews should have been a heads up with others suggesting to structure a meal around sides. Well that is fine and good when youre paying 10 $ a plate. But they are charging 18 dollars for brisket (?!?) A week ago I visited Holy Hog and for $ 9 received a vastly superior cut of meat, better sides, and a friendlier, personal atmosphere.
The Montréal brisket at Smoke is overly salted, naggingly dry and lifeless. The ribs were alright, but overall stringy and still lacked that real barbecue flavor. A concession is to be made to the sides — the pepper mac n’ cheese is good, they top it off with what seems to be a roasted pepper salad. The Italian grit cake (read: polenta) was fairly good as well, topped with pesto and fresh Parmesan. The barbecue beans were lacking any flavor beyond a soupy tomato texture. On the whole however both plates were tremendously lacking and definitely not worth the price of admission. Some would chalk this up to «atmosphere» but to that I say, what atmosphere?
I feel like there is a complacency about this restaurant. Service was a mere exchange of formalities nothing more. The food is a shade of what it was claimed to be. I feel like there are a fair number of other, low-​key but substantially better places to go.

Been here for dinner and happy hour a couple of times, and have had a pretty good experience as a whole. The atmosphere is inviting and enjoyable overall for a bbq restaurant, complete with a decent sized bar, open grill emanating enticing aromas of smokey beef and pork ribs, as well as a humorous signs (ie free beer tomorrow, not sure if its true haha).
I have had the Huli Huli Chicken Sandwich, Smoked Pork Ribs, and BBQ Shrimp, and they were all tender and flavorful with medium sized portions. The Huli Huli chicken was especially good with exceptional hoisen sauce and freshly chopped pineapple. The sides and happy hour specials are also pretty good, with 5 dollar domestic pitchers, and chipotle baked beans, tasty coleslaw (with crunchy cabbage, not soggy like some places!), and corn of the cob-​all cooked on the grill. However, they have unfortunately stopped serving my FAVORITE side of mashed sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows on top, dropping the review 1 star. Bring them back!

So good! I was in town visiting friends and we wandered into this gem in the midst of trying to avoid gasparilla traffic during lunchtime. Great laid back atmosphere! I have to confess that I’m a meatlover. Seriously, I might be known for it in some circles. So of course when I saw the burger description I was sold… beef patty + pork + applewood smoke bacon. Sign me up! And I was absolutely not disappointed. It may not have been the most amazing BBQ I’ve ever had (I am, after all, Texan) but it was very well constructed and an excellent choice!
My only regret was not having enough room to polish off my sides (of course I focused on the main dish before trying to stuff down anything else). Great portion sizes and overall a good choice for some grub and a beer or two.

Inconsistent, but can be blissful.
My advice is don’t take the staff’s advice. Focus your meal around the side dishes. I recommend the twice baked sweet potato. I also recommend the Huli Huli Kabob (Hawaiian Chicken Kabob).
But if you have no ego, then order three twice baked sweet potatoes, which can be done…
I have no ego.

Maybe I don’t know BBQ, which I’m fine with because I don’t really love BBQ. But with that being said, I LOVE this place. I recall driving to the grocery story once when I passed smoke and my only reaction was to jerk the wheel and pull into their parking lot. No groceries were bought that night.
The best pulled pork and brisket I’ve had. I usually use their tangy BBQ sauce. Big portions, but kind of pricey. Their sides are also great. I love the tomato basil salad and the macaroni and cheese. And they have Kronenbourg on tap!
Love going their on friday nights to enjoy some live music.
Didn’t love the cheesy biscuits though, kind of doughy.

3.5 stars
Went here on on a wednesday night large portions so bring a friend to split the portions. Had the ribs, the chicken wings and the cornbread. The cornbread was dry and I would not get it again but the salsa mac and cheese was great. The ribs were good though not fall off the bone. Wil be back

I went to this restaurant with a large group of people around lunch time and they easily accommodated us on their quasi-​outdoor patio. Parking was a bit inconvenient at that time of day (at night you’d have no trouble, as local businesses allow the restaurant to use their parking lots at night).
One member of our group had been to the restaurant before and ordered an appetizer for which Smoke is apparently famous. They were some kind of cheese-​type bread rolls and they were delicious. I felt like I could’ve just eaten those and been completely satisfied.
I was a little concerned when the group had first mentioned the restaurant, as I’m a vegetarian. However, I quickly found their vegetable kabobs on the menu, as well as several side dishes that, once delivered, I realized could have served as a meal in their own right! The vegetables were grilled to perfection and served with a great vinegar reduction sauce.
I didn’t hear any complaints from the meat-​eaters – everyone was too busy chowing down to talk. ;-) It also seemed they had a wide variety of beers, though we did have some delay in getting refills from our server.
Smoke takes a unique twist on traditional BBQ and it works.

Ah, a dream shattered. Ordered something besides ribs… brisket had great texture but was without taste. Pork shoulder was dry, dry, dry. Ribs were still pretty good. But service is intentionally sucky so you will order more drinks and the music volume is better suited for a bar than a restaurant.
Every time I’ve been here, most patrons are 30s to 50s, but it seems like they’re still trying to appeal to people in their 20s.

Hmmmm… Not very many places to park at all, all of the surrounding areas are not available until after 5:30 p.m. There is a lot across the street that may be available. There was no hostess available to seat people, you have to ask at the bar if you can sit anywhere. Not very welcoming. The service was very slow. The catfish po boy, nothing to write home about. I won’t be going back there.

Only 3 because service is slow as molasses, but the food is fabulous.

Some of the worst BBQ I have had. One diner at our table ordered the chicken on a skewer… which came to the table raw and bloody inside. We brought it to the attention of our server who apologized and took it back. It was returned a short time later, absent the skewer, and looked suspiciously similar. The server assured us it was not the SAME chicken and went to confirm that «they don’t usually do that». The chicken was now dry and well charred (read burnt) on the outside. We asked to speak to a manager… who went to the wrong table and asked the folks sitting next to us if there was a problem with their meal. Once he made it to our table he immediately noticed the problem himself and was not surprised that they DID re-​cook the same chicken… NASTY. A weak apology and an offer to sell us something else. Service was so-so…won’t go back. The mgr did have a server follow us out and offer us buy 1 get 1 breakfast coupons… NO THANKS!