Smokey Bones - NORTH OLMSTED, OH Review

25785 BROOKPARK ROAD • NORTH OLMSTED, OH 44070
(440) 779-4384 • www.smokeybones.com/

Overall 5.00 of 5 view all 4 reviews

MacGyver
Cleveland, OH

Big burgers & lucious ribs, best in service also

Frequent Diner, appreciative of good service, expecting good, fair service, eating out weekly, appreciate nice things

Pros

Great Food, TV sound at table

Cons

long lines

NOV

2007

Smokey Bones - NORTH OLMSTED, OH —

The Bottom Line: Great food from 1/2 pound burgers to St Louis ribs. Side dishes are great addition & then the deserts which we haven't gotten as we are too full.

In what we call Great Northern Mall area by new new Dicks Sporting Goods in N Olmsted OH off Brookpark Road. They just drove me bonkers seeing the sign that they were coming soon, but that was over 2 months. Then we drive to the mall & the GRAND OPENING SIGN is up. Funny so were the N Olmsted Police with 4 cars there. Parking was packed so we had to walk from the mall area where we found a spot.

Turns out the police do not want large signs on buildings & the poor Manager was being harassed, even when he phoned the Mayor to do it & got the OK. The Police Captain had his way & only that!

The gal at the door greeted us, gave us a pager that will flash in a circle red lights. Then we are to come to the desk to be seated. About 30 minutes we were told. So folks were called that we seated on a sofa next to the desk, so we got seats, but it is now over an hour & no red lights flashing. So my husband gets up & asks & is told that we were called a long time ago. I stand up hearing that & stated that their pager is DOA then & why didn't they call out our name when we didn't come as we are seated next to them. So they instantly sat us, gave us free appetizer as an apology and that alone could have been a meal. We had SW chicken QUESADIAS. Thick, well packed with chicken, black beans, great spices. I would recommend it to anyone. The burgers are 1/2 pound & a huge pile of fries with them & we saw many coming out to folks.

We ordered the St Louis Ribs, $2 cheaper than restaurants in Cleveland that are cheap bones with very little meat coated with BBQ sauce that is ketchup, vinegar & no taste.
We go to Westlake's or Las Vegas' Tony Roma (both are now closed) but those have very little meat for $18 a full slab. 2 side dishes from french fries, mashed potatoes & gravy, hot apples with cinnamon, cole slaw. Husband took cole slaw & fries & got beans & apples. Meals was out as we finished the last piece of QUESADIAS.

The ribs are HUGE! Meat galore that falls off the bones. The waitress brought a bone bag, 2 hand wipes & plenty of napkins. 12 bones to a full slab. Down the strip mall at the end was another BBQ place was a Chi Chi's that went broke. This is called Dave's BBQ. Their ribs are 4 bones per slab & $18 for the meal. HORRIBLE there!

The apples were HOT as they are baked in cinnamon with a touch of sugar, very delicious as something different. The beans were amazing, a molasses base on them, again very hot. I tried my husband's cole slaw & that was very good also. Celery seed base for a unique flavor. But back to the ribs that are rubbed with the secret spice rub, then smoked overnight & placed into sauce to stay til cooked served. THE BEST! I would call the interior with all the wood & tree trunks around as a mountainside retreat decor. Fireplace burning to warm folks up, with a bit of romance in the evening too. TVs all over for folks to wash March Madness, Nascar, and we had CNN. The speakers are delivered to the table so you can hear what you want to watch.

We enjoyed the meal, but not the over an hour wait & then being told they called us when they didn't. So I got on their web site & left a note about it. I got an instant email from their head of C/S Darlene that I would be hearing from Dale Gainer the GM. Sure enough he phone the next day very apologetic. An new restaurant has kinks that have to be worked out. He is running checks on all their pagers to pull out the ones that do not work, He had 2 already. I told him we were #37 & he laughed that that was the first non-answerer he pulled. He thanked me for telling him where they were lacking & also how great the food was & the waitress & I gave him her name so she gets a raise. He invited us back as his guests. He was sending us a $40 gift certificate to use that weekend. I was impressed!

So Saturday's mail comes & still no gift certificate. But we went Sunday at 11AM for lunch. No one was there. They're at church we are told. I stated to Dale., who greeted us, that that is the perfect time to arrive & have the whole place to ourselves. He sat & thanked us for returning & also the great improvement areas that he had all week to fix. He guaranteed we would see an improvement even if we come at 5PM again.

So again we had St Louis ribs, I had beans & cole slaw as did my husband. What a great meal. Then the waitress returns with the box for my take home ribs & on the top is written MY GUEST - BILL $0. WOW! Then I am given an envelope with a letter inside asking me to phone him at the Darden Inc, home of Red Lobster/Smokey Bones/Olive Garden. Then we are driving out of the mall's lot & see Red Lobster will be on the other side of Dicks. They are already on the accompanying street for 20 years.

But I was very impressed with staff, the decor, as well as the food of Smokey Bones. Check their website out for locations as well as coming soon too also.

UPDATE 4/1/07: Quite a tasty one may I say. After all the reviews on the pulled pork & onion rings & went in with those in mind. Met Dale, the Manager, and we got a very sweet gal Erica. The menu had lunch specials as well as dinner being served at noon. Almost sold out too after opening an hour ago. $6.69 for the lunch pulled pork which includes 2 side dishes so I took the cole slaw, which is to die for, and the onion rings which Erica told us was $.99 more since that was a premium side dish. OK, I'll take it & glad I did since they were beer batter breaded & can you taste the hops. The pull pork is without a bun, on the plate & you can add the house BBQ sauce or their mustard sauce which I recommend with the pork. My husband had the chicken fingers & he got 6 of them with mashed potatoes & gravy with cole slaw. Both of us were happily packed to the max. Then a waitress show with a bag & a cup of strawberry puree. She is shaking the bag & puts it down with 6 donuts inside from Dale for us to try. WOW, crispy on the outside & like a cloud on the inside & dipped in the strawberry puree is another tasty delight.

AGAIN MEALS THAT WERE #1, service at its best

UPDATE: 4/9/07

Again I had to get something different & something quite rated here, so Brunswick stew & pulled pork sandwich, a lunch special for $7.99 was my choice & OH WHAT A GREAT ONE!

Brunswick stew is veggies with pulled pork, ground beef, beef brisket, and chicken in a great stock. I had a cup with the pulled pork sandwich & I was quite full. A bowl would be a meal with onion rings on the side. I strongly recommend it. Husband had the 1/2# burger with portabello mushrooms & blue cheese & the great cole slaw. He liked it but order onion rings as an extra side since he wasn't full. He commented that it wasn't a half pound cooked.

Poor Manager is working 8 days in a row 11 hours a day, but he is making sure everything is working 100%. Great guy Dale is!

UPDATE: 9/29/07 - Another great food order. Husband had the combo rib with fries & coleslaw & I wanted something different, it was one of those days as we just got home from a 2 week cruise. So I ordered the pan of cornbread with pecan butter & a bowl of Brunswick Stew. This was one yummy combination. The pecan butter is very very good on the muffin-like cornbread that is baked in a small fry pan that is served to you & beware as it is VERY HOT! The Brunswick Stew which is favorite of mine is a mixture of all meats served with corn, tomatoes, peppers & other goodies (a secret) inside. Then Dale sends over a bowl of the Tortilla Chicken Soup, which to me is great for someone with a cold or sinus problems since it will clean it right out. Very tasty & the more you eat the hotter it gets. I gave him the THUMBS UP!

Last edited on Jan 08, 2008