Holy Smoke BBQ

I am not sure why such a wide range of reviews, maybe since they’re new? different chefs and servers? If so then they’ll need to work on consistency. But I still tried it because I don’t like to rule places out when the reviews vary so much.
I had the NY strip steak. It was reasonably priced and came medium, as I ordered, (which is more than I can say for other places). It had a nice char-​grilled flavor. Yes, from a real fire and not liquid smoke as one review stated. It was a bit more chewy and salty than I would have preferred, but not bad. My hubby’s ribs were quite good, tender and actually had a more smoky flavor than 4 Rivers to me (others were saying the opposite), and I love 4R’s food, though they seem to be more Santa Maria style grilled anyway than smoky southern BBQ. The sauces were also quite nice. The sides on the other hand, seriously lacked seasoning or salt, The fried green tomatoes were crispy but tasted very bland.
The service: a young man. who was attentive & friendly, even though he didn’t know how to answer all our questions but explained he was new. He kept us in his peripheral sight while serving others, so as soon as we needed refills or the bill he was right there. We didn’t have to call to him at any time. The place was roomy a little too much so. The décor: nondescript, the usual country/​western type decorations, nothing great, but was clean. Booths and tables not picnic tables. The owner came by to ask us how we were doing. Overall it was reasonably good, definitely not as bad as some reviews said, but not amazing either. I will definitely call for takeout, since the ribs were good, prices reasonable and its nearby I.e. when I don’t feel like driving clear across town to you know where.
Will give it time and try again.

The food is good here, and the drinks are good and not too expensive. My only criticism is that I got the «smoked» turkey, which definitely was not smoked. It was more like that pre-​made butterball turkey that you can buy next door at Winn-​Dixie. I have had smoked turkey multiple times and this was not it. Also, the green beans were super salty! I hope this place stays open because the food is good, but I can definitely see where there needs to be improvement.

It was awful. I hope they try harder and can work out the quality of food– nothing tasted good at all;
«southern style» does not mean half– a_​_​ed as many seem to think. Southerners’ don’t use liquid smoke to season our veggies– we use ham hock, we don’t use wilted, we don’t serve hot food OR cold food at room temperature, we don’t use last week’s left overs «so we can use ‘um up» and we don’t use stale.
USE FRESH AND NOTHING BUT THE FRESH. With that rule– you will stay in business and have so much business you’ll have to hire more and extend your hours.

Probably the worst BBQ restaurant I have been to in Orlando. I tried many different things. Not one thing I ate made me want to go back. Staff is friendly, and I can tell there are many regulars that come here. The blues bar that is next door looks interesting enough. I tried to look at their website for the schedule of future shows, but the website hasn’t been working for the last 2 weeks. Oh well, guess I will pass on that idea as well.

I went to Holy Smokes to check out the new Blues Shows there. The new venue was still under construction which is the reason behind my 3 stars. It has great potential a nice sized room with a big stage at one end and a good sized bar at the other. They had a variety of different chairs and tables set up which I kind of liked very eclectic. The big no no was there were no bathrooms. They were still very much under construction so if you needed to go you had to leave that venue and go next door through their existing restaurant. All the staff seemed very pleasant the food was basic bar snacks nothing special. I’m sure once the room is completed it will be a great place to listen to some great music.

This place is a great find! Really well done from the Eckards Drugstore that it used to be. Décor is very western but tastefully done. Great place for a quick lunch or a filling dinner. The fact that they have a full bar gives them points too! I believe they are looking to expand next door to include an event hall and hope that does happen. Definitely check this place out for some good local BBQ!

Holy Smoke! Much better than I had anticipated.
Neither of us had barbecue. I had pan-​seared flounder with hush puppies and excellent cheese grits. My partner had a giant-​sized chef salad with pulled pork and turkey, which he couldn’t come close to finishing.
The place is down-​home and very friendly and there’s a full bar. Breakfast is served until noon, and on weekends they offer a breakfast buffet. For some reason, the charge for men is $ 9.99 and the charge for women is $ 6.99! They must figure men eat more.
Vegetarians can do a vegetable plate combo and choose from a list of about twenty veggies.
This is a nice casual dining option in Conway/​Curry Ford.

We were nicely surpized by this restaurant. It doesn’t look like much, sitting in a Winn Dixie shopping center.
The food was quite good. The pulled pork and ribs were all tasty. They have good BBQ sauces (very important). A lot of variety on the sides and all that I tried were nicely done (collard greens, fried okra, baked beens).
There servers were very freindly and attentive. Casual atmosphere, but a step above the standard picnic tables in a lot of BBQ places. Give it a try.

The ribs and brisket were absolutely the best. Friendly service and full bar. Must for BBQ lovers. Also try the blackened grouper.

Finally starting to see progress with this place! I am reading reviews from the past years and none of them do Holy Smoke justice! I really think we need to get some new thoughts on the food and service! Update the pictures and give Holy Smoke a chance to redeem themselves! After so much trouble getting the doors open I think they finally have it! New chef too. I live right down the street and love the catfish sandwich so much I get it once a week. Super friendly staff and comfortable atmosphere. and you cant beat daily beer specials! =)
Overall. I love the fish and the pulled pork! I’ve had the Basa and the Tilapia. both awesome! Ribs are sweet and smokey! Brisket moist and tender like always! I just had that for lunch! So give them a try you wont be disappointed! I spoke with the owner and he has lived in Conway his entire life! If this place isn’t southern I don’t know what is.

Husband and I checked it out last week– very disappointed.
Dry chicken, disappointing hamburger-​overcooked. Bland beans. Out of desserts– how does this happen?
I think the idea of a BBQ place in this area is great, but they need to perfect the quality of the food being served.
Wish them luck, but we won’t be back.

The high marks from people that claim to enjoy and/​or be «picky» about their BBQ were enough to lure me in to my first visit here for lunch. I’ve been led astray.
The first thing I noticed was the lack of BBQ smell emanating from the building. You know the smell — usually that mix of hickory and whatever the expert prefers to cut it with (I mix with a percentage of cherry in my smoker at home) grabbing you by the nostrils and reeling you in, much like a cooling pie on the windowsill always gets [Insert Looney Tunes Character Here] in trouble. Point is, that smell STICKS TO EVERYTHING. You can smell it in my house for two days after I cook with the smoker, and that’s just what came in during the 7-​second periods when I opened the door to come in for something. One time I had to go to Publix for something I forgot after I had already started the smoker, and as I was checking out, a bagger on a DIFFERENT register said, «What smells like BBQ all of a sudden?!» because the smell was on me. You get the idea. If meat was being smoked here, I feel like you would know.
The fryer was not working when I arrived, although I don’t hold that against them. These things happen. Would have been good to know before I had ordered my drink (giving me the option to leave if I desired), but no big deal. Just going to have to pick a side other than fries, fried okra, onion rings, etc.
I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, with came with one side — I selected baked beans since my first choices were unavailable. A couple of minutes later my meal arrived, a small pulled pork sandwich that was light enough on the pork that the two halves of the bun practically still touched all the way around, and a small, shallow bowl of baked beans. Had I been on a diet, I may have appreciated the very small portions. But had I been on a diet, I wouldn’t be going to a BBQ restaurant, now would I?
The pork in the sandwich was bland and completely lacking even the slightest hint of wood smoke. It had to be doused in sauce — partly because of the lack of flavor, partly because some of it had dried out in what I can only guess was the microwave reheating process.
The baked beans. Sigh. I guess it’s good to know that the company that makes the grocery-​store cans of baked beans that my parents used to feed me as a kid (and that I often had during my college years when the funds were particularly low), is still using the same recipe that they’ve been using for over twenty years. Alive and well, slopped into my small bowl [Photo:
].
That and a drink, $ 10.
I LOVE local restaurants and I’m always excited to try a new one. It makes the disappointment that much worse when it happens.

Yep. Theyre open.
I can’t smell any smoke, but they’re open!
Hooray!
Best wishes to the owners and employees.

Truly awesome BBQ. I am picky about BBQ, and this place is the tops. Not sure why some other reviewers trashed the place. The server mentioned they recently got new kitchen management, so perhaps there was improvement in quality recently. Their brisket is to die for. My family split the sampler tray, and everything was great. My wife does not even like BBQ much and she is dying to go back. If you like BBQ, this place is worth your time.

Eureka! I love finding a great new place. We were on the hunt for a new restaurant in the Curry Ford/​Bumby area when we spotted Holy Smoke BBQ. It’s in an old Eckerd building on the south side of Curry Ford, just west of Crystal Lake.
Like most places on Curry Ford, if you don’t know where it is, you might miss it. It sits a bit back off the road in a large, salmon-​colored building. Red letters on the front of the building simply say BBQ. It’s an unassuming building with an unassuming sign, built by unassuming owners, but what it lacks it pizzazz, it more than makes up for in food and charm.
I was surprised I’d never seen the place and then I became confused when we walked in. It’s a very traditionally-​themed BBQ restaurant, with pics of cattle, horses and cowboys all around. It looks 10 years old inside. The hardwood floors are a bit worn, the tables and chairs show some wear, and it just has the feel of a place that’s been there. Turns out it’s only been open about five months.
The menu is extensive, with all the BBQ favorites — chicken, turkey, beef, pork, ribs… it’s all there in a variety of forms. It didn’t take me long to spot «cupcake chicken.» Nichole (who was very friendly and attentive) informed us that breast meat is pulled and then stuffed into cupcake pans, where it cooks in its own juices. When it comes out it looks like, you guessed it, a cupcake. SOLD!!! The chicken was fantastic. It was a little crisp on top and extra moist on the inside. My wife had pulled pork and loved it. They have two sauces on the table — one sweet, one mustard-​based/​tangy. Both were great and compliment each other well. With your entrée you get a choice of two sides and cornbread. A great portion of food. We found another treat in the side items — the baked beans. They use a bit of cinnamon in the beans. I wasn’t quite sure after the first bite but by the time they were gone I wished the bowl had been bigger. The coleslaw was great, as was the cornbread.
As we walked out, we were met by the owner, a long-​time Orlando resident. He’s a home builder turned restaurateur and a great guy. He and his wife worked on the space for three years. They made nearly 60 trips to and from the east coast after purchasing the contents of another restaurant. They then recycled and refurbished those materials and built the inside of Holy Smoke. The care and craftsmanship shows.
This is my new fave BBQ joint in town. Hopefully it will be around long enough to truly become an old restaurant.

I am a huge 4 Rivers fan, but thought I’d check out this new BBQ place so I have a couple of good BBQ options.
I had the pulled pork and my husband had the turkey. He said he ordered the turkey because BBQ usually can’t get it right so it if it tasty then everything else will be good. Don’t quite get that logic, but it works for him.
I thought both the food and service were really good. However, what really impressed me was that the owner notice I did not eat everything on my plate so he asked if there was something wrong with the food. I’m trying to control my portions so not eating everything was not an indication I didn’t like it.
He said that he had never owned a restaurant before and they were still working out the kinks so he wanted to make sure everything was good.
It was nice to see that he is so involved in this restaurant and I really hope it makes it.
We will definitely be going back.

Ok, well here’s my story. Came here on a Friday night, place wasn’t packed but there were a couple of large tables. This particular night they were out of everything. All they had left was dark meat chicken and pulled pork. That’s was OK, but I wished we were told this before we sat down and ordered drinks. Drinks were a little pricey, so I’m hoping they have some good happy hour specials.
I ended up having the pulled pork (go figure), baked beans, cole slaw and a side of corn bread. The pork was great, the BBQ sauce complimented it. The baked beans had a different flavor than your typical pork and beans. I think it had bell peppers or something. I actually thought they were very flavorful. The cole slaw was very basic. The corn bread was sweet. Everything seemed homemade, which is a plus in my book. My portion sizes were perfect. The group I was with didn’t leave hungry.
I will go back again, hopefully they will have more items from the menu to choose from. I know they just recently opened, they are still trying to figure it out.
I’m only going to give them 3 stars for now. We’ll see what happens next time around.

Portion for ribs were good BUT I had to order the ‘choose two’ to get a slab. The sides– AWFUL portions, it’s like there is a ration or mama is back there eatin up the food. Not open on Sunday? Booo! At least open at 4:00 – 10:00pm.
The Chef has a restaurant on the other side of town!!! Yummy and his portions are better! OWNER up your portions, give a flat rate UNDER $ 17 for a slab. Greens are good baked beans, I can cook me and sell them to u. They r so can tastin.

The food was tasty but the server working at the front seriously lacked customer-​service skills. When someone walks in to your establishment, please smile, greet them, and thank them for coming. Don’t stand there confused, and ask, «what can I do for you?». Hello? We didn’t come to your new restaurant to buy potting soil or take a survey!
The other thing that astounds me is who puts a smoking area at the entrance of their establishment AND leaves the front doors wide open? I was so enjoying the food but started smelling tobacco smoke. We mentioned this to the same person working the front door and her answer was, «well, I’ll remember your faces for the next time you come in and will close the doors». When customers take the time to provide feedback to a business in a nice way, they should pay attention. How many other customers were turned off by cigar and cigarette smoke there but didn’t bother to mention this AND JUST WON’T COME BACK?

This place is currently in a soft opening, and looks like it will be a lot of fun. The babq
chicken was dekicous, as were all the side items we tried. There is full bar inside, The theme is western, and live music and dancing are coming soon. Overall I really like it. It is tucked away in this shopping plaza, next to the Winn Dixie on the East side.