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| - I've been wanting to try this place for months, and finally made it the whole way over the Waterfront over the weekend. I was not disappointed, thought in all honesty I was expecting more.
Smoke's menu is meat-forward, and includes most of the items you'd expect to find in a BBQ joint...in a taco. The meat is most & flavorful, and has most definitely been smoked.
I think my rub with this place is that they rely on the meat too much, and don't try to dress up the tacos much at all. I feel like they should stick with the BBQ theme and dress the tacos as such, or go the "gourmet" taco theme, and do some really good pairings with their toppings. They do neither, and that fell a bit flat for me, considering there competition in Pittsburgh.
I tried pork, brisket, & vegetarian + chicken tacos. The pork was far & away the best; it had that slight crunch that a good carnitas should have. The brisket was good but needed jazzed up a bit more, and the vegetarian/chicken was mostly beans & corn with some chicken on top.
If the tacos were $3 each, I'd like this place a lot more. For $4-$6, I think they're too expensive for what you get...layer the flavors like they do at Round Corner or Yo Ritas, or drop the price down to a range that makes them a good value for the money.
I will go back & try it again; we were there closer to closing time. The owner is super friendly and I hope this place does really well, I just think they need to tweak their menu a bit more, as in theory I love the concept.
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