Smoke’s Poutinerie

So after crossing into Canada from the Thousand Islands Bridge, I followed the recommended procedure: (1) Put away your passport. (2) Set up the mobile phone for Canada. (3) Unilocal «Poutine.» This Smoke’s was not far out of my way, and lunch here was a great way to start the weekend. I did not know initially that they were a chain until I saw the information in the restaurant. But I guess that explains why there was so much variety — I would have been content with a privately owned restaurant and a smaller number of selections, but I was certainly satisfied. I ordered the Montréal poutine, because I assumed — Hey, Montréal, therefore traditional, so I was surprised when the smoked meat was, to me, more like corned beef. I should have realized this had I read the description more carefully to also notice the words «mustard» and «pickle.» Note that this in no way prevented me from consuming this order quite rapidly (you think I would have noticed they actually have something called «traditional poutine» on the menu, duh). We also had one of the chicken poutines, equally interesting, not quite what we expected, but still delicious.
But also, in both cases, they were very heavy and filling, I’ve dined at places where the fries were a little lighter and crisper, which is more to my liking. Then again, I’ll never claim to be an expert at this (but that «thrill of the hunt» thing kicks in again, even here in Canada).
I’ll continue to prefer looking for small privately run poutineries, just because I’d prefer to support them first, but it’s nice to know there’s places like Smoke’s as a reliable standard.

Fries are cut pretty thick, which leaves that weird, dry crumbling texture in the middle when you eat them. The cheese curds keep their form pretty well — some like that for poutine, but I like it when they totally melt apart and spread over everything. The gravy was alright. There’s better poutine in the city.

I really like this place. They’re not stingy. Some places I’ve been to are so stingy on the cheese curds. This place gives you a lot of toppings. I had the bacon Mac and cheese poutine. It was great.

Mehhhh… Was ok. Fries not hot, gravy cold, and cheese hard. Maybe they got slammed right before we walked in… But that shouldn’t matter. We had the standard pontine straight. No bs toppings. The poutine at Wild Wing is way better… For a speciality shop, these guys should be doin far better then this. We’ll go one more time just to be fair in case it was just a bad day.

Great place to get Poutin

Reliving the past in a new place! ;) Stumbled upon this Poutine Haven while visiting Kingston and needed a place for a late night bite. We were not disappointed. It has more poutine varieties than you can dream up! I only wish this place had been opened 6 years ago when I lived here!
** Additionally, If you eat Gluten Free, I recommend the Veggie gravy, as the regular gravy has wheat ingredients. (The girl at the desk was nice enough to allow me to check the labels of both). The veggie gravy tasted delicious.

I was recently in Kingston and before leaving to catch a train back to Toronto I thought I had better try out the poutine at Smoke’s Poutinerie. I write a food blog and I keep seeing posts about Smoke’s everywhere I go so I figured it was time to try it out.
I was blown away by the variety of items that one can put on french fires! The sign I read on the way in said to watch for the return of perogies on poutine! Who would have though???
I had a small regular cheese curd and gravy poutine on fresh cut fries that was delicious! The gravy was a chicken and rosemary sauce (tasted homemade) and the curds had just the right amount of «squeakiness». Filled me up for the train ride home.
Highly recommend this place. AND THEY DELIVER!

I have visited Smoke’s once and was happy to see that they had vegetarian poutine options. I tried the standard veg poutine and it was pretty good. I thought it could use some more cheese curds, but that might just be me. The servers were nice and there was a definitely energy to the place. I will be back to try out some other options.

Sorry, Bubba’s, but I think Smoke’s has you beat.
I’ll still go to Bubba’s from time to time (it’s a Kingston landmark) but you can’t compete with the options at Smoke’s. I’m sorry, but I like variety, even when it comes to poutine. Usually I’d say «why mess with a good thing?» but this place made me rethink this theory.
My fiancé, who is 100% American, insisted on some poutine during our last visit to my homeland.
I was going to take him to Bubba’s again, but decided to look on Unilocal to see if there was a newer option. Living outside of Canada, I missed the whole Smoke’s phenomenon and had never heard of this place, so we decided to give it a try. So, so, so glad we did!
I had the Montréal poutine. Mustard on poutine? Oddly delicious. Perhaps a bit too much mustard, but it was in a corner of the poutine box so it was easy enough to just leave some behind. The smoked meat was good. The fiancé tried the pulled pork, which was a nice sweet & smoky chipotle. An interesting combination with poutine.
The gravy had a nice consistency and the curd was perfect — a little melty, but not too gooey.
There was only one employee working, as it was mid-​day on a weekday, but he was friendly and efficient.
Highly recommended for visitors like myself, and of course, those drunken late night cravings for the locals.

I chose the country style poutine. I found the gravy a bit too salty. But I loved the caramelized onions. They were perfectly cooked and had a hint of sweetness which went well with the fries and gravy.
My friend took the veggie poutine. All it had was small chunks of mushrooms. I would’ve liked having more roasted veggies such as red peppers and onions. The crunchy texture and taste would go really well with the poutine.

Visited last night after a few hours of revelry; Smokes’ at the Hub was the first location we could think of. Very crowded at 1 am on a Friday night, so the order took around 15 – 20 minutes to make.
Delicious poutine though; ordered a small traditional style and loved it. A friend got Country style, which would probably be a better choice as they add mushrooms, onions, and meat. Gravy was awesome and the portions are the right size.

Another jewel in the Smoke’s crown. Yeah, yeah, I know I said «once a season». Guess what, kids? It’s fall!
I found myself in Kingston during Fauxcoming (it’s what happens when bad kids get their real homecoming taken away), and saw that a new Smoke’s had opened up. I was happy. Very happy.
I got in line for the standard pulled pork, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Turned out that the recipies travel well. The next day I heard some bitching about the gravy, but you have to understand one thing about Kingstonians: If they don’t complain about everything, they realize they’re living in Kingston and collapse, catatonic.
The experience of walking out of the restaurant to encounter a squad of mounted police was certainly one I’m not used to at Smoke’s Toronto locations, but it added to the ambiance.
A small is still enough.