The appeal of Smoke's is the array of poutine toppings on offer, what is not appealing is the poutine itself. In full disclosure, I'm from Montreal so I am consciously trying to suppress the 'snob factor' in my review. I also ordered the regular veggie, which I'm guessing (based on taste), is not their specialty.
From the top. I had to wait for what seemed to be an excessively long time for gravy and cheese to be applied to french fries. Is it just me or should this not take all but one or two minutes, as opposed to ten? And what's with the cameras all over the place? I always find that level of surveillance unsettling since it suggests that management is mistrustful and overbearing on staff. The counter staff are actually the only reason I'm giving the place two stars, they were friendly, competent and ..well, that's about as much as I expect from fast food service.
On to the poutine. I find $6+ to be pretty steep for regular, which is essentially "small". I might have been able to let this go if the poutine had made up for it but the gravy was beyond underwhelming: bland, overly sweet, kinda gross. On top of that, or maybe below(?), the curds weren't all that fresh and nary a squeak could be heard. The fries didn't exactly steal the show either, there was nothing 'bad' about them but I didn't have any "mmm, these fries are delicious" moments.
I knew going in not to expect the blissful poutine of my Quebecois yesteryear, but my only hope is that Smoke's does not become the standard for Toronto.