Smokeys Joint

I’d read about Smokeys food challenges before (they do a burger, a hot dog and a burrito) but Walsall is quite a bit out of my way. But we were in the area so popped in.
I wasn’t overly hungry and couldn’t decide what I wanted so went for a mixed platter — mini burgers, barbecued meat etc. It was pretty average. I wouldn’t go back for the food. After trying the mini burgers (overcooked) I’m glad I didn’t go for a full sized one. To be fair though, it is common for a mini burger to be a bit tough and well done.
My companion went for the burrito challenge. Had this been a burrito like the ones I’m used to (y’know the Chipotle type thing — veg, choice of meats etc) I would have gone for it myself. But this only came in a chilli variety and was basically a giant wrap (or several wraps together) filled with rice and chilli. I’m told the taste was heavy and it just seemed thrown together. So created for size rather than flavour. It’s a shame.
I wouldn’t go back to Smokeys. Service was ok — could have been better on such a quiet night but no real complaints. But the food needs some work. Not overly bad, but certainly not good.

very nice food, only a couple of small issues, we ordered the ‘American’ beer coors light on draft being in an American style restaurant and they didnt have it… Only carling or bottled items! My fiancé ordered the challenge meal to find out u have to order in advance which isnt stated on the website or the menu, but he was able to order the hot ghost wing challenge, which he did and BOY was it hot lol, i had the pulled pork, fries and the slaw (as the beans were tomato not BBQ as u would find in america) was very nice, not enough food tho, it wasnt very expensive but it was cheap either, it needed an extra side or more meat, waitress staff were very nice and helpful, unfortunately the night we went the card machine was out of order so we were limited due to the cash in our pockets!

Aptly named, this place is definitely a joint, in the best possible way.
Big hearty American style food with a great BBQ sauce with a blatant disregard for subtlety and calorie counting it’ll satisfy anyone (seriously, you can get a ONE METER LONG HOTDOG!!).
They were clearly on a tight budget when then set up so it’s a little rough around the edges but they spent their money wisely and it errs onto the side of charming rather than tacky.
Oh and they do a ghost chilli challenge, but I’m not that brave…

I had to come to Walsall for a very dull reason and wanted to make a bit more of a day of it by having lunch. Smokeys was recommended to me on Twitter and it is very close to the train station.
Smokeys is an American dive type place, selling lots of deep fried foods, burritos, hot dogs and burgers. The decoration is generic American– route 66 signs and pictures of yellow taxi cabs, you get the picture!
It needs to be clearer what to do when you walk in– we were unsure whether to just sit down or to wait. Eventually the waitress called over to just sit anywhere. There were a few people in there but I got the feeling it is busier in the evenings.
I had three chicken drumsticks with BBQ sauce, chips and coleslaw. The coleslaw had far too much mayonnaise in it and I couldn’t really eat it. The chips were lovely, the chicken had a great smokey taste and the BBQ sauce was delicious! Edd had a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep fried and covered in pulled pork! Wow! He absolutely loved it.
With two soft drinks and two meals, the bill came to twenty pounds, what a bargain! There were lots of things on the menu I would have eaten so if I’m in Walsall again I will certainly pop in.
Have a look at the Wall of Fame– pictures of people who have completed their Man V Food style challenges.

I had heard of Smokey’s some time ago from a fellow BBQ fan, but being based in Walsall — I hadn’t had an excuse to go all this way for some food… Until last Thursday night. Some time ago I had bought a voucher thingy for 2×2 course meals for around £11. What a total bargain (and a great way to escape the washing up for one night). I hadn’t noticed it had nearly expired until I had an email from the voucher service provider telling me I had less than a month to use it.
This provided a great chance to grab a proper meal before going on our annual pilgrimage to Bradford to go to a music festival. So, booking… Well, that’s a story in itself. It turns out that although the voucher hadn’t expired, I should have booked it by the 1^st August. Great fun. To try and get some clarification, Dan G. dropped the venue an email to ask if it was still OK for us to go. After receiving no reply, I also tried… Both emails bounced back. To Twitter I went asking the venue to contact me… No reply on Twitter. I tried to call the venue twice and left a message both times… No reply. Luckily (finally) I contacted the venue through Facebook and was told the staff would be made aware of my booking with no issues.
So off to the restaurant we went. Armed with a voucher and an almighty hunger, we were ready for a night of good eats. When we arrived, I enquired as to whether they had a record of our booking… Nope. Nothing. LUCKILY this wasn’t a problem (and our lovely waitress apologised for the problems we had, had getting in touch with them). The voucher had stated that the starters were to be under a certain value (not a problem), so I opted for the chicken wing starter whilst Dan went for pizza nachos. I was a little disappointed that the mains was limited to a choice of two. In the end I opted for the pulled pork meal and a nice alcoholic Jeremiah Weed thing to wash it down.
The Chicken wings were great, if not a little inconsistent. The menu stated these had been BBQ’d and then deep fried for a crispy coating. About 3 of them were properly crispy, but the others just seemed to have been BBQ’d. The sauce was excellent (even though it was hotter than the sun and a bit hard to pick up), so the food was pretty darn good to start.
The mains were also not to be sniffed at. I had upgraded my fries to chilli cheese fries and this paired with a big pot of pulled pork and beans (shame they were just beans rather than BBQ beans) provided a very large and tasty dinner. The waitress was attentive throughout our dining experience, checking everything was ok without bugging us. If I was rating the service at the restaurant on it’s own, it would be a 4* venue I think.
We ordered a sundae to share as a dessert. I had seen someone else’s waffle dessert which, quite literally, took up a whole plate and decided I wasn’t that hungry. The sundae was just enough to share after all of the meat we had consumed over the other two courses.
On top of the voucher (which was £11), our meal came to around £14 without tip (I did tip, just for the record). £25 for a 3 course meal for two with drinks really isn’t too bad at all! The prices here were very reasonable and the food was definitely good enough to justify another visit. I would give 3.5 stars, but as that isn’t an option I’ve plumped for 4. They lost 1.5 stars due to poor booking facilities, inconsistent wings and non-​BBQ beans — but I would still recommend this joint for some really tasty BBQ food.

I love a good BBQ restaurant and to try out an American style smokehouse restaurant just up the road in Walsall was a chance I couldn’t pass up. We arrived to find Smokey’s nestled away in the middle of a row of terraces on Station Street, super close to the train station if you’re coming by public transport. Unfortunately they had no record of our booking but that didn’t end up being a problem and we were quickly seated.
Armed with a living social voucher for a 2 course meal for two our options were somewhat limited but I went for the pizza nachos whilst Vicky went for the chicken wings to start. The nachos were good but not incredible, but the size of the portions were bordering on epic! For mains I went for the sticky BBQ chicken meal, upgrading my fries to chilli cheese fries (naturally) — again, a dish of epic proportions was delivered to my table. 5 pieces of beautifully smoked yet crispy chicken and a pretty damn good slaw were accompanied by a good sized basket of fries smothered in chilli con carne and cheese. It was touch and go as to if I’d finish or not!
The main downside to the whole experience was not the restaurant or the food — the staff were helpful and friendly, the food was good and plentiful. The issue was trying to get in touch to book a table. Emails bounced back, there’s 2 websites I found but I wasn’t sure which one was current, phones just rang out. Admittedly they are going through a compete overhaul of their online presence so that explains a lot but trying to book a table was a bit of a nightmare, and even the booking we ended up making through the Facebook page wasn’t filtered down to the front of house staff.
We will be back though, there’s a whole gamut of burritos, burgers, dogs and meat to try!