Smokin’ Dave’s

Never reviewed anything before, just use this app to locate popular restaurants when I’m traveling, but I had to make note of this one.
I’ve tried bbq in over 20 states including some of the best Tennessee has to offer and I put Smoking Dave’s BBQ & TapHouse at the top of the list. I’ve never had brisket done quite the same, KC style ribs were fantastic as well. Staff was great along with the service.
A must try if you’re going through Estes Park

We dropped in here for a late lunch, like most folks, after venturing through RMNP.
It was midweek and very quiet, therefore seated quickly and promptly tended to by our top notch server, Adan – he was awesome, very nice guy!
The menu options all looked rather tasty, so narrowing it down proved quite the task. I was on a BBQ/​brisket tip for some reason during my week stay in Colorado, for whatever reason, so I had the BBQ wrap with beef brisket, sweet potato fries and coleslaw. Enjoyed the food, no doubt. Their craft beer selections were great too, which meant, I washed all the above down with an Odell Brewing Myrcenary Double IPA; the beer paired nicely with the spicy BBQ sauce on the table, I might add.
Overall, a very good experience with an ideal location, in a most relaxing little town. Would return again!

Great food bad service. The kids were charged for their drinks which are included. Waiter dropped food on my son. Won’t be back.

Had dinner there on a crazy busy night. The service was fast, helpful, and friendly and the food was good. I like the single, double, triple option on the menu. Gave us the opportunity to try a couple different things.

Great, fast, friendly service. Perfect environment for the location. AMAZING food. I had the fried pickles, and BBQ nachos. Everything was cooked perfectly. I can’t think of anything wrong with this place.

Great BBQ! A great BBQ surprise in a small mountain town. The food was great and the service was good. The place wasn’t busy when we were there in the off season (winter) in the middle of the afternoon. We were seated almost immediately, service was prompt, and the food was served quickly.

Awesome food and atmosphere. We had Dave’s triple. Chicken, pulled pork and brisket. All were good. The brisket was especially tasty.
Green beans and apple sides were like Momma makes.

Hey there Smokin’ Dave, thanks for the pulled pork smothered in my choice of bbq sauce, perfectly sautéed fresh green beans, creamy cole slaw and crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, cornbread. It was all quite delicious.
I love the menu feature of Dave’s Single, Double, and Triple. What a great way to let your customers try a number of different meats. I chose the double to check out the pulled pork and the ribs.
So why did I give Smokin’ Daves 3 stars? The ribs. What a disappointment. The meat… well it was all fat and came off the bone in a chunk. Makes me sad.
It was a nice dinner to refuel after a strenuous day of hiking in RMNP, but all I wanted to do was dig into a slab of ribs and get my hands a little messy.
Maybe next time.

first time here. used Unilocal to find it (yay Unilocalers again for helping steer this traveler). Ate dinner here. Ordered the pitmaster sandwich, a combination of Carolina pulled pork, a Texas brisket, and a spicy sausage. Quantity was good as was the taste. The sweet potato fries were a nice touch. I also had a side order of red beans and rice with smoked ham in it. They were good too. Along with a nice glass of Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro this was a nice quick dinner at the end of a busy and cold day at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Fantastic tap selection of local Colorado beers! I was told this is the best place in town for craft brews and was not steered wrong. Definitely coming back to try the BBQ in the future.

After a beautiful day in RMNP, we decided to fuel up ourselves, before our drive back to Denver. We both had been craving BBQ for some time. Colorado unfortunately has been overall disappointing on the BBQ front. This is pretty good, and for a tourist outpost, very very tasty!
We decided on the appetizer sampler, and the three BBQ meat mash up, with ribs, home made sausage, and brisket. The ribs were quite good, the sausage was as well. My favorite sausage and probably BBQI have had is still in Lockhart TX. The brisket was okay, I like mine a bit melty fattier.
The surprise favorite thing I ate were the smoked chicken wings, that came in the app sampler. They were so smokey and tender. I would go back and get a whole order of those next time. The app sampler is nice and could be a meal, you get a pulled pork slider, a brisket slider, fish fingers, fried pickles, potato skins, onion rings, and the chicken wings. The beer selection was very good too, and there are the pint and 22 oz mug options to heal your rubber hiking legs.
This is a tasty, homey establishment, which you will not leave hungry from, in Estes Park.

I highly recommend this place great BBQ and a great beer selection. The staff is also friendly and helpful. We drove up to Estes Park from Denver and because of a flat tire we didn’t get here until after dark. Dave’s made an otherwise bad day good. I also really enjoyed the entire atmosphere. Next time we drive up here we will be stopping here.

This may be colorado mountain tourist alley, but Dave’s is straight legit BBQ. I eat a lot of bbq, and this no excuses good stuff.
I tried the pulled pork, brisket, st louis ribs, bbq beans, slaw, and corn muffins. The brisket was tender and smoky, the pork was moist and delicious, and the ribs were some of the best I have had in quite awhile. The tangy and hot sauces were excellent with complex and balanced flavor profiles. The slaw was fresh and tangy, and the beans tasted home cooked with lots of meaty bits-​just a tad too sweet.
The only strikes on the food was that the texas toast and corn muffins were a bit dry, and the iced tea was a bit bitter.
Service was friendly and a tad slow, but they had wait as always.

Get the Smashed Potatoes.
It was my favorite. It is buttery, soft, smashed potatoes. Mmmm.
I also tried the ribs, the pulled pork, and the spiced apple. They were all good. Not the best I ever had, but good. They came with a corn bread muffin, and a slice of bread for less than $ 15.

That was some delicious BBQ. The choices of sauces perfectly complimented our tender juicy selection of meats. Everything was cooked perfectly.
word of warning, good food in a small town means long wait times. We waited an hour and a half for a table even though we were quoted 30 minutes. They also ran out of the beef short ribs and all of their porters.

O autêntico pé sujo americano.
Quando pensava que já tinha visto de tudo em termos de hambúrguer (sou um apreciador confesso), me deparei com este lugar.
Ambiente escuro, típico do interior dos EUA, como vemos em filmes.
A decoração tem porquinhos para todo o lado, graças a veneração americana por bacon.
O serviço é pouco atencioso, mas o hambúrguer vale a pena.
Pedi um man handler com fritas de batata doce.
Simplesmente delicioso!
Vale a pena, e as calorias!

Wow, this was delicious! When you pull in you know it’s going to be good because the line is out the door. I was surprised that when I asked to be seated on the patio that they say us immediately! They were very accommodating and let us move closer to our car since our friends came with their dog. There were 4 of us and we ordered the Big Kahuna. TONS OF FOOD! I’m from KC, so we know BBQ-​this is good BBQ. The Ribs were excellent. What really impressed me was the sides! Lots of BBQ restaurant focus on the meat and just throw together sides. We had the greens (Amazing), sweet potato fries, Baked Beans, and the spiced apples (basically dessert)!
The only disappointed was that our server was so busy. She never refilled our drinks and we ran out about half way through. But the food more than made up for it.

I’m going to start with saying Smokin’ Dave’s will be some of the better food you’ll find in Estes Park. In my experiences, everything else was pretty damn average. So average that our last night in town we went to Smokin’ Dave’s again because we knew what to expect.
Over the course of 2 visits I was able to have the triple platter with brisket, pulled pork and ribs. And also the pitmaster. The triple platter was up to my standards and the baked beans really stood out to me. The next time I ordered the pitmaster. It too was good but I think I would have rather had something more simple. It looked better on the menu than it tasted. The jalapeño cheddar sausage didn’t do it for me at the bottom of my sandwich like I thought it would.
If you are in town I would hit Dave’s for the experience. Also try a Smokin’ Dave’s Lager… 22oz for five bucks. Can’t beat that. It was packed both nights we were there and a lot of people ordered takeout. Maybe try that if you don’t want to wait.
Brat

Ok bbq joint in Estes Park.
Mid size restaurant with indoor seating and a bar with ackward seating. I sat at the bar cause that was the only place with immediate seating. I started off with the stuffed potato skins with pulled pork. The skins was good but the pork lacked flavor and was bland. Then I had the ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. The ribs we’re tasty and so was the pulled pork. It’s different than the pork used on the potato skins. The brisket was flavorful but tough to chew. I also had the bbq beans and red beans and rice. The beans were ok and the restaurant beans and rice were cold and bland. The service was ok and not that attentive.

How have I not yet written a review for Smokin’ Dave’s? This is my favorite spot to eat in Estes. Always reliable. Always delicious. So many yummy things to choose from. To start you can’t go wrong with the nachos — large portion and you get your pick of meat. We went with pulled chicken and oh yeah it was good. I also like the beer cheese soup. Heavy and I’m sure packed with a gazillion calories, but so damn tasty. But the real star is the meat, right? The jalapeño cheddar sausage is my favorite, followed by the pulled pork. But, i bet it’s all good here. For sides, try the corn bake. Trust me. It’s corn, cornbread, and green chili deliciousness. Smashed potatoes are also good. Potato salad was meh — too mayonnaisy for me and bland.
Oh, and you may be tempted to try something different. Salmon reuben anyone? Resist. It does not live up to all their other great meats and is just too weird.
They have a nice patio and some tables inside also get you a lovely view of the mountains. And, bonus, they finally put real stall doors in the bathroom instead of the floor length curtains — that was always an adventure because there was no way to tell whether a stall was occupied.
Yep, I’m definitely a fan.

We have been here several times and as Texans enjoy the bbq, but this time it was just disappointing. My niece ordered cheese fries and they looked like they had spent all day under the broiler. The cheese was like superglue.
We had cheese fries too with pulled pork added and had no problems. It was delicious with the pork added. Ask for it!
Ok ok this was my fault I know. Never order a crawfish poboy from a BBQ joint in Estes Park no less, but I am a sucker for crawfish. BIG mistake. They should take this off the menu. They were the size of my pinky nail and had no taste. I sent it back. It was inedible.
As always the meat itself was great. Ribs and pulled pork are always on point here. Great corn casserole and cornbread.

Not bad but not great.
First, my husband called ahead to make a reservation and the girl on the phone just said that they weren’t taking reservations. Ok.
We arrived 35 min after the phone call and people just before us said that they called 20 minutes earlier: so they had their table right away!!! So, they don’t take reservations BUT they can add your name on a list which of course the girl on the phone didn’t tell us…
Once inside, we had to wait for 20 min (because we were at the bottom of the list)…
Our table was nearby a metal door: nice and freezing by -13 °F (January 1^st).
So the meal: my advice, skip the southern green beans: cold and not yummy at all. I asked for the smashed potatoes which was really good! And the baked beans were good but I had a hard time finding them (lots of fat in that little ramekin).
I took the ribs and chicken: pretty good (ouf!). The corn bread was cold and probably baked this morning :(
My advice: call to be on the list, take the meat and mashed potatoes and stay away from the doors!!!