| rev:text
| - I've been wondering how long it would be until I had the chance to write a review in this sort of situation; namely, where the reviewers have averaged 2.5 stars but where I personally found the experience to be something completely and utterly different from their experiences and worthy of a very significant deviation. I've written 26 restaurant reviews and only given out 5 stars on two occasions.
Time to give out #3!
My "party" included myself, my wife, and our 9 year old girl. We came up from North Phoenix and arrived at "Frontiertown" on Saturday night at about 745pm. After briefly walking around the "town", we entered the smokehouse and were politely told to seat ourselves wherever we'd like. I would say the restaurant was only at 35% capacity at the time, the "Pourhouse" side seemed much busier (and rowdier). Clearly, this is a place usually filled with Cave Creek locals.
Our waitress - I failed to get her name - was a friendly young lady with shorter dark hair and a tattoo on her right shoulder. I suspect that if you get her as a waitress you are going to be very pleased...she is friendly, attentive, and quite knowledgeable about the restaurant and its offerings and she has an excellent tableside manner.
We ordered:
-the smokehouse platter (essentially, a four meat platter with two sides for two people)
-Pulled Pork sandwich with onion rings for the 9 y/o.
-One salad bar trip for two adults
-Cave Creek Smoked Porter beer in a mason jar for me.
-A couple of glasses of house wine for the wife.
The platter meats surpassed my expectations given previous reviews. I had set my expectations pretty low, but was very pleasantly surprised by the brisket, pulled pork, and beef ribs. The only thing that seemed ordinary on the platter was the pork ribs, and even they weren't bad at all. Portions are generous, I'd say this would satisfy two fairly hungry large men. If I were to pick a standout, it would probably be the brisket. For me (and the wife agreed) it was perfect...light-to-moderate smoky taste, lovely char on the tips, and NOT served swimming in sauce (sauce was served on the side). All four meats were especially tender and quite juicy...very well done, folks-in-the-kitchen!
My 9 year old really had no hope of finishing her sandwich due to the excellent portion size. Her onion rings seemed freshly cut and breaded, we agreed they were actually quite fantastic.
The salad bar does seem to be a fairly consistent hit with other reviewers, and I'd agree. It isn't particularly fancy, but has a very pleasing array of protein and vegetable components, and I found them ALL to be fresh and tasty. The dressing bins were messy due to use over the recent hours, but they weren't unsanitary and dressings were accordingly easily managed. The soup of the day was actually extraordinary, and clearly made from scratch. Indeed, as I was pulling a fresh bay leaf or two from my bowl of Chicken Fadelle, I took the time to closely inspect the soup ingredients and structure, and I was truly taken with the craft and care that went into the simple but superbly seasoned soup. Again, well done!
The beer list, for a craft brew fan like me, was somewhat limited but I found it sufficient. I came for the food, and if I REALLY need some craft brew, I can walk a bit west to Big Earls. :)
Service consistently excellent throughout the night. As we were finishing our meal, a lady emerged from the kitchen apparently to give a complimentary sundae to another patron for a birthday....yeah, I could definitely believe that folks would find this place to be worthy of a birthday meal, or any other special occasion for that matter.
Anyhow, in conclusion, I have tried just about every BBQ joint in North Phoenix, from Lovejoys (when it existed), Satisfied Frog on Bell, Toms in Tempe, Hammered Hog/Notorious P.I.G., Thee Pitts Again, Stacys, and so forth. For me, the Smokehouse routed 'em all, from decor to service to food to location. We'll be back for sure. I'm pleased to "go against the grain" on this review and vote with significant deviation from the crowd.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)