Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill

I’ve been to this Smokey Bones several times, and it’s always a favorite. As such, this review is for more than 20 visits in total. The service and the food are consistently good quality. I always get the «make your own combo» without fail. I’ve never had a bad meal here, but I have had some food come out every so often that wasn’t as hot as it could have been (maybe twice in 20 visits, and I order 5 or 6 food items per visit).
Last night, I had the BBQ chicken breast (burnt, but I like burnt chicken), pulled pork, fries, and cole slaw. Hands down, the best cole slaw I’ve ever had in a restaurant. My only complaint is that they seem to run out of brisket very quickly. I’ll come in at 5:30 or 6:00 and Smokey Bones will be out of brisket (they serve it beginning at 4:00). However, considering the quality of food and portion size, I recommend Smokey Bones every time.
The service is pretty consistent overall. Obviously when the restaurant is busy, I’m a little more patient. A handful of times (maybe 3 times in 20 visits, and I drink 4 or 5 glasses of tea per visit), I’ve waited longer than necessary for a refill on iced tea. My friends have no complaints about the bar (but I don’t drink alcohol, so it’s a moot point to me).
As I said, my only complaints are the running out of brisket and occasionally some lukewarm food. But, this is my favorite restaurant in all of Butler County.

Meh, I’d say they have earned most of their low ratings. Slow service, dry brisket, watery grilled salmon. All they did well were the potatoes. So they have that going for them. The barbecue sauces had good flavor.
Took 20 minutes to seat us when there were 4 open tables the whole time. Seems. like the wait staff bus their own tables, which probably explains the slow service. Took 40 minutes for food to get to the table, as the place was emptying out.
Not horrible, but definitely not good.

First visit after reading some of the recent reviews. I went for one reason… to get a decent burger not cooked on a flat top. The burger I got here was grilled and very tasty. I ordered it rare, knowing that it would be medium… it was and that’s OK. It was properly cooked and served with crunchy onion rings, without a bit of seasoning (lack of seasoning is the burgh way from what I gather). Note to ‘burghers: salt and pepper are considered seasoning as they enhance the flavor of nearly all foods. I sat at the bar and was served efficiently by Kate, the busiest person in the front of the house. The staff seemed friendly and courteous (not the burgh way) and the place was clean and worthy of my patronage. I didn’t smell anything that resembled bbq. Not sure why, since this is supposed to be a bbq joint. And NO Hipsters! Nice! I’ll follow up after my next visit which will be soon.

My husband and I were feeling nostalgic for our Southern home and craving some good BBQ. Overall we were glad we tried Smokey Bones — pulled pork sandwich was good, sweet potato fries were DELICIOUS. Husband had ribs, pulled pork, baked beans, and baked potato — all were devoured. It’s not the best BBQ on earth (that’s in Tennessee) but a solid, convenient chain restaurant with good food — we’ll be back!

We stopped here for dinner tonight. After being seated immediately, we were greeted by our server. We selected the «Pick 2 Favorites». The turkey breast was tender and delicious. The chicken strips were accompanied by a choice of tasty sauces. (These sauces were not suggested by the server, but we knew that we could order them.) The baked beans were excellent and the baked potato was perfectly cooked. The sweet potato stix were outstanding. The grilled vegetables were good, but they weren’t worth the extra dollar that we had to pay for them. Beverage refills took a long time to get. The table top computer took a while to process our gift cards, but it did eventually work.

I had a very positive experience at this Smokey Bones location. Some highlights include:
1. Upscale ambiance
2. Attentive waiter
3. Well-​seasoned food
4. No wait-​time at dinnertime on Sunday
This restaurant offers a dining area and a sports bar. The televisions by the sports bar are visible throughout the restaurant.
Prices of food are comparative to other similar restaurants.
I was satisfied with my visit. The steak was a little tough was my only complaint.
Bottom Line: Highly recommend!

Recently had dinner there with the fam and had a decent experience. We arrived at 5 so it was fast getting a table. They have the goofy computer ordering system at the tables, but don’t mess with it or you’ll get charged extra for games and whatnot.
The meal was decent except my wife’s burger, she asked for medium and that sucker was bloody as heck. The pulled pork was good but the serving was small. The fries are ok but totally coated in salt so everyone’s mouth was dry as the Sahara all night. I’d probably eat there again in 6 months or so after I try more of the local places, but I’m not in a hurry to rush back except maybe to check out the waitress’ butt again :)

Visited twice. Nice looking place inside. friendly staff. Ordered Ribs (okay, meat was a little dry), next visit ordered Brisket (tasted good, but was dry as well:(

Good food, but waited 30 minutes to eat in an empty restaurant. And out of Bbq Chicken @ 6:00 PM.
Ribs and corn are very good. Staff kind of makes you feel like a fool for asking about how empty restaurant is when we waited so long.

I was traveling through Pittsburgh… stopped here on a Thursday night and it was horrible. The staff (particularly at the bar) make you feel like they are doing you a favor. I will never go back or go to any Smoky Bones

Haven’t been here in 6 years cause the last time the food was subpar, decided to try it again tonight. Ordered the double trouble ribs meal. One of the racks was ok while the other one was tough as beef jerky and had multiple sinew type cartilage in it. Not the most appetizing.
Service was ok but the waitress looked and acted like she did some heroin out back and she had scars to prove it, very ditzy.
After my previous bad meals and now this, I will not be coming back anytime soon. This place could close and it would be better for the community.

Dropped in for dinner after a training class. Being from Texas, I was extremely hesitant but I was pleasantly surprised.
When you walk in there are two things you notice. The wonderful smell of meat being smoked and the very attentive waitstaff. The manger personally came by to make sure everything was good.
The smoked brisket and wings were excellent! Mouthwatering pieces that melted in your mouth. Add some of the different BBQ sauces set on the table for more delight. For sides I had the dirty rice and steamed veggies. Once again everything was excellent. The meal came with garlic toast which was kinda weird for me.

Went there for a party, needless to say it wasn’t that great.
We had some appetizers, they were ok.
What made me give this a 1 is no effort was made to serve drinks, appetizers, or food.
Our waitress was terrible!!!
How do you call pulled pork, brisket???
If it is not availible? Tell me what is?
I’ve been here before, and it is a 3 at best. But, you can’t do 1.5

Just like the regular chain. Slow night. Bartender was also the only waitress. She did a good job. The ribs and pulled pork are not as good as other smokey bones. Sides were fine except onion rings were not as i expected; too thin. They had a pool table in the bar area.

Went here with 7 people. The atmosphere is great. The burgers are decent, not great. The steaks were fatty. Appetizers were great, we had the pretzels and fried pickles. Drinks were on the watery side and had too much ice. I’d pass on this place.

Went there on Easter Sunday for first time
Appreciated that they were open
Service was very good
Smoked chicken was great… both dark and white meat — which is difficult to do without over cooking the white meat
It’s a bit pricey so I will pay more attention to coupons I’ve seen floating around

This was not my choice of places to go. It was requested by people I was entertaining for work because they wanted ribs and did some quick searching of nearby BBQ joints. It wasn’t my place to interfere so we went to Smokey Bones. The interior screams chain and so does the draught list. I was very disappointed to find that Smokey Bones only craft beer was Sam Adams which is hardly a craft anymore. So I got a PBR in a can…
We ordered two orders of fried pickles because they liked them so much at past restaurants. They good, the dip served with them was spicy and complemented the pickles well. Sadly that was the high point…
I ordered the Double Trouble. A ¹⁄₃ of Baby Back and St. Louis style ribs with chips and coleslaw. The coleslaw was good, but lacked crunch and seasoning. The chips did not seem like they were made from real potatoes… odd, very odd. The ribs… oh the ribs. Ribs are so easy to screw up yet so simple. Good ribs need pigs or cow, smoke, vinegar, and other sauce ingredients. Smokey Bones screwed ribs up really badly. Dry, no balance of flavor in the sauce, and manufactured «smoke».
Let’s just say I am very thankful I was not paying for this meal.

Maybe I am too nostalgic when I think of this place. My first few experiences with Smokey Bones was phenominal because of the Wings. The buffalo wings were smoked and tossed in a season and they gave you a bag to toss your bones into. Serving sizes were 10 and 20. Went here with my wife last week to experience the magic and it just wasn’t there. Serving size 8 bones instead of 10. Wings were crispy deep fried not meaty, it just didn’t do it for me.
Wings rated as ³⁄₁₀
Sausage I thought it would be Andouille but instead it was regular Giant Eagle sausage. Had I known it was that, I would have had the spicy Italian sausage. (I don’t know what I was thinking, I was trying to eat healthy. I should have had the brisket). ²⁄₁₀
Side dishes standard.
Coke is Coke
Bottom line. If you eat here, get the ribs. Don’t deviate from their strength.

The service was excellent and the atmosphere was fun. I don’t have any real complaints about the experience itself, it’s just that the food isn’t that good. I had the West Coast Club and my husband had the Pulled Pork Sammy. My club sandwich and the pulled pork were both served in an appealing manner, but I was not blown away by the flavors or texture. It was fine. I would eat there again if I had to, but I wouldn’t go there on purpose. We also had the smoked wings as an appetizer — good and unique, but I just didn’t love them.
I will say that if nothing else, the Big Cheese Macaroni was delicious. Really enjoyed it. With that said, since it’s an «Even Fancier Side» it was a hella expensive accompaniment to my club sandwich.
It’s good for a chain, but that’s about it.

If this is your idea of BBQ, I’m guessing that your idea of the perfect Italian meal is at Olive Garden, your favorite Mexican is at Taco Bell, and your ideal Chinese is at Wok N Roll in the food court at the mall. Furthermore, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I know more about you than that! You drive a white car, your favorite flavor is vanilla, your favorite beer is Keystone Light and your out of the box decision to paint your walls was to select between various shades of beige. I mean, who eats here? BLAH! Talk about bland! This is the epitome of tasteless food. BBQ? Are you kidding me? Smoked meat? They must be smoking it over cardboard! Tasteless.
I know, it’s a chain, what do you expect. How about something that makes you actually want to eat at least one thing on the menu! Pulled pork? Forget it. Dry as a bone. Real pulled pork is moist and flavorful with a distinct taste of wood smoke. Ribs? Not a chance. Another example of how NOT to serve ribs. I think they hope that the variety of sauces on the table will allow you to mask the real taste of what they serve you. You might as well just eat the sauces with a spoon and you’d be ahead of the game. No thanks. I’m giving it two stars because, if truth be told, I really wasn’t THAT sick after I ate there.