Smokin’ T’s

Top notch bbq! We have been to many other well know bbq places in the area, including Chicago; but Smokin T’s beats all of them. We’ve had everything on their menu, and every item has been delicious. Their sauces are are amazing and I highly recommend their homemade chips and their mac n’ cheese. This place is a hidden gem!

I just had to leave a good review for this place. I literally just left from the restaurant, at 8:55pm on a Thursday night with two of my girlfriends. We felt bad because we were leaving so late, and that’s when we thought they closed at 9, like it says here on Unilocal.Then we walk out the door and the sign says they close at 8pm from Monday (I think) through Thursday. We felt HORRIBLE! lol Somebody please fix the time here so no one else will make that mistake again. They were so very nice about it, though. So much so that we had no idea until we actually saw the sign outside. Food is good, atmosphere is nice as well. Just feeling really bad about staying so long after closing time D:

My wife and I stopped in for lunch today and everything was amazing. I had the ribs and brisket. The salad and dressing was incredibly fresh. The corn pudding was great. She had the burnt ends. The sandwich was incredible and the slaw and Mac and cheese were great

This place is in the middle of nowhere, but I live down the street so it’s nice to have a close option. The bbq is really good, but what stands out to me is the amazing Memphis mustard sauce! Sadly, it rarely seems busy here, but I tend to go at off times, like first meal of the day at 3pm type thing. Prices are pretty steep, but I think it is worth it from time to time. I always leave full too (bustingly so). We did some carryout for a group of people that helped us move and it was great– they supplied all we needed and had it ready to go in convenient packaging. You also get some full size sauces with it so stashed some of the awesome mustard sauce!
I feel like most recent bbq places I’ve tried recently have been dissapointing, so despite the higher price tag, I’ll keep coming back.

Not bad, brisket can sometimes be dry but the pulled pork, ribs and chicken wings are excellent. All the sides are pretty good and large servings.

I work close to smokin ts and visit more frequently then other BBQ places because they have a very nice relaxing atmosphere and are not too crowded at convenient hours. There sauces are all very good, if you go for that sort of thing with bbq. The food is just average for bbq. I know that BBQ can be more expensive but just sometimes feel disappointed when I leave.
Food 3
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Sauces 4
Quality 3
Overall 3.5

I can’t believe I didn’t check this place out sooner. Really really good barbecue, truly homemade sides, and friendly service. I had a full slab of naked St. Louis ribs, my wife had a corned beef sandwich, and both were delicious. They have four sauces, but I only tried the Memphis Mustard and Original. Both were really good. Highly recommended!

Been here several times and I think it is a hit or miss, lately more of a miss. The last couple of times the meat has been so dry if they didn’t have the sauce on the tables so you can smother the meat in it we wouldn’t have been able to eat it. I knew as soon as the brisket sandwich was placed in front of me. When the slices of brisket have a white hue to them you know the meat is dry. The ribs we received last time were of the same quality. Again if not for the sauce they would have been inedible. For the amount of money you pay, the meat should be moist and hot (which it was not). Also, the fries were so crunchy on the outside and way to dark like they had been sitting and they had to throw them back in the fryer to get them hot and they got hard on the outside. I will not be returning again. Not wasting my money on dry cold food.

So I would have to agree with many of the other negative reviews on here. The food is mediocre at best. Dry and tasteless. Portions are halfway decent but doesn’t fill you up. Overpriced for what your getting. Be ready to spend around $ 16 – 20 per person, and deal with this «lady» or owner at the front that everyone keeps referring to. She is somewhat of a BBQ NAZI. She is Very rude and very disengaged. I also had a credit card issue with this lady over $ 18. Honestly go to real urban bbq 10 – 15 min away. It’s a much more pleasant experience, or as someone else had said grab Mariono’s bbq 5 min away.

Smoking’ T’s is located in a fancy little business plaza on Route 22 in Lake Zurich; not where one would normally think of as a genuine BBQ joint. The place is clean, bright and fast offering counter ordering and table service for maximum lunch efficiency. I had the slider trio. It was good, but the meat is served dry with sauces on the side. I understand and appreciate the idea, but I found the meat simply too dry. Also the buns were bland. Looking forward to trying this place out again. One thing is for certain, probably not a whole lot of BBQ competition in Lake Zurich, so I’m sure this place will be there for a another go around.

My husband and I decided to try the restaurant since it is close by. We will NEVER go back. My husband ordered the Brisket sandwich. It was full of fat. Awful…I ordered a chopped salad. When I sat down to eat it I discovered a thick string in my bowl! I brought it up to the girl at the register to show her. She said «.yes ?»
No explanation or apology… I asked for the manager. This miserable woman said «Yeah so… our deli meat and cheese is tied with it. Must have accidentally fallen in.» Not an apology or offer to exchange or a return of money. We left our food and walked out. AWFUL people. Awful Mngr!
Have told all of our neighbors. For real BBQ eat at Real Urban.

SIMPLE STAY AWAY!!! I went to pick up lunch here and try this place for the first time. The lady at the front counter was curt and rude. She was not helpful at all. I decided to order the brisket which Brisket is supposed to be lean. It was full of fat that I threw out the whole sandwhich after I got home. There was barely any barbeque sauce on it so it was a good idea that I asked for extra on the side which she did but she made it sound like she was doing me a favor. In any case, a couple bites in and I threw it all out. When ordering I asked if the beans were good and she abruptly said, «everything is good here». So she gave no insight as to what were the most favorite sides, etc. Nothing. I ordered the beans but there was a lot of meat in there so that makes me thing they gave me the chili and not the beans. The mac and cheese was only ok. On top of that, I gave her my credit card and for this $ 20 meal she asked for my drivers license which I lost on the plane (since I live in California). I showed her 10 different cards with my name on it but that meant nothing to her. I showed her my TSA Card which you have to get interviewed by the FBI to get and she had no idea what that was and refused to take my credit card for payment. She was not a smart or nice person so my first impression was horrible and the fat in the brisket only made things worse. I would not recommend anyone to go there by getting this kind of treatment and horrible food.

I wasn’t expecting much from Smokin’ T’s on my quick business lunch, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.
The line moves fast and they bring out the food quickly, which is a plus when you’re in a hurry.
The rib tip sandwich with pickled red onions and coleslaw was loaded with meat and had a nice flavor. I doused it with the vinegar bbq sauce for a little extra acidic zing, and it was really enjoyable. The superstar here is the baked corn pudding: wow! I love corn pudding and this ranks at the very top of the list.
The only downside here is the price. Rib tip sandwich, corn pudding, and a drink was $ 14.50, which makes for an expensive lunch.

We were here for lunch and tried the Beef Brisket sandwiches. They were awful. No smoke flavoring, in fact, no flavor at all. The bun was way too much bread in proportion to hardly any meat, so your mouth is full of cheap hamburger bun, and then they put cole slaw on it, probably to hide that the meat has no flavor.
The sad part was they cost $ 10 each, so with two fries and two drinks, the bill was over $ 30 for two tiny sandwiches (mostly bun) and we were still hungry! We felt so sick that we threw away so much money for something that wasn’t even tasty or good, yet didn’t want to go anywhere else to get more food, because we spent $ 30 already.
The fries were good, but not the Brisket. Fatty, no flavor, tiny portion of meat for a $ 10 sandwich!
With a name like «SMOKIN» T’s, we expected the brisket would be… SMOKED. But it wasn’t.
That’s why they have to cover it in sauce and cole slaw. GOOD smoked brisket doesn’t need ANYTHING on it.
Someone also brought in their toddlers to run around and scream, to make sure the atmosphere was ruined too. Who brings kids to a place like this, and why do they ALLOW kids in a place like this?
We’ve never been so sick about losing $ 30 for LUNCH, for 2 sandwiches! We can get a nice full DINNER, with soups for that price elsewhere!
Let’s see how long this place lasts.

I had a very specific issue with Smokin’ T’s which was that I did not get what I asked for. Wife and I had a hankering for some dry rubbed smoked chicken wings so I called Smokin’ T’s after neighbors had said it was exceptional BBQ. Person on the phone assured my that yes their Memphis dry rubbed wings were indeed smoked. I ordered two platters of wings and two sides with each. as others have mentioned the sides are generously portioned.
Now I did not SEE the wings go into a deep fat fryer but the fact that my wife and I each commented that there was no way the wings had not seen an ocean of oil kinda called it out. Now maybe. for some unknown reason… they smoked them then finished them in a damn deep fat fryer but!!!
So my experience was bad but very very narrowly focused.

The wife and I were very pleased with our dining experience. The staff are very friendly and the food is outstanding. We will definitely be back!

Smokin T’s catered our wedding and everything was absolutely perfect. The head chef, Tom, is an unbelievable chef. So many of our guests commented on how outstanding the food was.
We eat here all the time whenever we are in town. The chicken is phenomenal. The Southwestern chicken and tortilla salad is another one of our favorites. All of the sides are excellent (especially the corn muffin, corn pudding, and mac and cheese).

i was riding past about dinner time and had always wondered about the place but i couldn’t really tell if it was open so i circled it on my bike and saw some people inside… so they really should make the place more visibly open from the road for people zooming past in their cars…
i ordered the brisket sandwich and soup special and the chicken corn soup was pretty good and the brisket sandwich was pretty good too… if the brisket had more of the edge fat trimmed off and if the bun had been fresher i would have given the place 5 stars… the place is nice and neat and clean and the service pretty good… and the selection of sauces was excellent… so for a bbq place out here in suburban hell it was pretty good and should be checked out by anyone not wanting to travel very far for bbq

I brought a friend with me for lunch after telling him how great their beef brisket was but was shocked that I was DENIED purchasing an order by one of the managers or owners of the joint.
I wanted to buy 1 pound of the brisket along with a bunch of other items and eat it in their dining room. The «rib nazi» lady said we don’t sell it by the pound to eat in. I said I’ve ordered it before on numerous occaisions from one of the girls, what’s the problem? All she said we don’t do that. Whoever sold it to you that way before made a mistake and we put an end to that. She no longer works here.
I continued to plead my case… So what is the difference if I paid my $ 24.69 for a pound of brisket to-​go or if we ate it in your dining room? She stuck to her guns and simply said we don’t sell it that way to eat in. You have to buy a brisket platter to eat in.
So to not beat a dead horse and add more embarassment to an already stoopid situation, I just bought a platter so my friend could sample the brisket and dropped about $ 48 for lunch.
Since that episode, I’ve never been back to Smokin T’s. Partly because that lady was so mean to me, a regular customer, but mainly because I found a great new place for ribs in the area. Ready for this?
It’s the new Mariano’s Grocery that opened about 1 mile away on Rt. 22 and Quentin. It’s got ROCK STAR smoked beef brisket, pulled pork and slabs of ribs for about 45% less than Smokin T’s! Oh yeah, karma has a way of biting ya in the ass if you’re a jerk ha ha!

Well, well, well. Here is a long awaited review. I’ll try and keep this from being too wordy considering our «history».
Barbecue is one of those things where it’s nearly impossible to drop bias. It’s very hard to determine a distinctively «GOOD» barbecue, because of the sheer amount of differences that you’re dealing with. Different styles of ribs, different sauces, different sides, different BBQ experiences growing up, a preference or opposition to smoking, and the list can go on.
Now, one thing that isn’t hard to determine is a «BAD» barbecue. This is /​not/​a bad barbecue.
Barbecue joints have a bias. Places other than your usual go-​to are typically tried either only in passing, or based off of word of mouth (AKA hype). Smokin’ T’s had been spoken up to me in a way to where it had more hype than the birth of Jesus. By one person, I had heard 10 – 15 times before trying it how it was the best barbecue around. The person who told me all this holds themselves in a regard as something of an authority in their opinion of restaurants, and still Smokin’ T’s appears to be the restaurant that has set the bar for my hype dealer, and still continues to be what all other barbecue is compared to.
I don’t know why.
Their price is about $ 2 higher on everything versus the majority of the competitors. If their product was far superior than their competition’s this could be overlooked, but that’s not that case.
Their standard BBQ Sauce is average. They have a pretty damn good vinegary mustard based BBQ sauce. Their sweet heat is whatever, I’d throw it in there at average with their backbone. The White Alabama is OK.
I’ve yet to eat in, but I’ve picked up food from there 3 times and had it catered for meetings and for business lunches quite a few times. I also picked up food from them at apple fest once in Long Grove. This is all over the course of the past 3 – 4 years. I’ve tried most of what they have to offer, and I’ll go through the big tickets with a quick rating and a quick description.
Sauce Flavor Across the Board: ⁶⁄₁₀ (if all they had was the Memphis Mustard, I’d say ⁸⁄₁₀)
St Louis Ribs: 6.5÷10 based off meat alone, good bite, could be a bit more tender. supposedly only the largest racks are chosen, but the portions seem average.
Memphis Dry Rub Wings: 5.5÷10 every time I’ve had them they’ve been gristly as all hell, with a flavor that is great while chewing but has an aftertaste like bile
Pulled Pork Sandwich: ⁶⁄₁₀ average portion, decent flavor, inflated price.
if i could rate the «sweet and spicy» pickles that come with these sandwiches it’d be a 3/​10, but I’m not counting it. but seriously, the store bought Famous Dave’s devil’s spit pickles are better than these. and that’s saying a lot, considering.
Brisket: ⁸⁄₁₀ the one all-​star they have in terms of meat. their brisket is great
Smoked Turkey: ⁵⁄₁₀ dry as a bone but has a great smoke. needs to be drowned in a sauce to be edible, then lose the good smoky flavor. six to one half a dozen the other.
Baked Beans: 6.5÷10 run of the mill molasses and brisket beans
Mac & Cheese: 5.5÷10 I’ve had two very different mac and cheeses here that both earned the same score. one was way watery, think KFC. one turned into paste as it chilled, think velveeta.
Coleslaw: ⁷⁄₁₀ nothing special, nothing awful. hard to mess this category up.
Corn Pudding: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ by far the best damn thing to come out of this restaurant, and the best thing on their menu. I don’t know if it’s the brown sugar brulee-​esque top or the cocaine inside, but whatever they’re doing with their corn pudding is a home run. it’s awesome, and I’ve yet to find something comparable elsewhere. I thought it may be as simple as a bread pudding with corn in it, but my attempts at recreating it (while tasty) didn’t quite stand up.
Price ⁶⁄₁₀
Overall: ⁶⁄₁₀
They have a good variety of sauces. Some very good, some very forgettable.
Their lineup of sides are average at best, with one in-fuggin’-credible side.
Every time I’ve gone the staff seemed completely fine.
Where does it count? The barbecue.
Smokin’ T’s serves an average, albeit expensive, barbecue.