Four stars because this is a local business that I want to support and Jon is a great community guy and cares about is clientele. Thanks for being a Madison institution!
If all this wasn't the case, I might take off a star. If you've read my reviews you know I'm more about service than food. I'm not a fussy eater and perhaps even eat my food too quickly. I just want to be treated right and not held hostage when it comes to paying the bill at a restaurant. None of this is an issue at Smoky Jon's.
But in this case I do take a bit of an issue with the food. My ribs are always good (remember, I'm not fussy) but hubby has been disappointed with the brisket. In the time it takes me to eat my 1/2 rack of ribs, he has just completed trimming the fat off of his brisket. People have different preferences with the amount of fat in their meat and perhaps hubby is unique in this manner preferring a fatless cut of meat. In the end, the whole experience leaves him a bit frustrated. The sauce is also a bit too sweet for us and we choose to get it on the side so we can be in control of how much is on the meat.
One other note -- in general we prefer eat-in to carry-out and the restaurant is quite loud. The music could stand to be turned down a bit.
We will be back, but probably not until winter when our favorite BBQ food cart closes up shop for the season.