Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill

I stopped into Smokey Bones for a quick bite one night after the movies. I love the smoked wings and they are discounted during the late night happy hour. When I arrived I discovered it was AYCE wings night so for just a little more than a regular order of wings cost I could get as many as I wanted and fries. This was a perfect chance for me to try other flavors as well if I desired. I started the night with my usual favorite the smoked wings which come in a sweet sugar glaze. The first order is served with 8 wings. For my next refill I tried the garlic parmesan and good thing the refills only come with 4 wings because they were yuck. Garlic parmesan is one of my favorite seasonings for wings but these had no flavor they were just greasy. So needless to say for my next refill I returned right back to my good ol’ faithful the smoked wings.
I sat at the bar and it was pretty empty on the evening I visited so my service was prompt and food came up quickly. The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable. The bar wasn’t as lively as it can be on a busy night but since I was there for the food not the party that was ok with me.
Next time I go for AYCE wings, I’ll be sure to have my appetite ready so I can capitalize on the deal. Losing weight is on my goals list for the year so I chose not to be a glutton. But next time I will have my cheat day all lined up and ready.

I was pretty disappointed by my latest visit to Smokey Bones. It had been 4 – 5 years since my last visit and I was really looking forward to it. I had heard of changes made due to new ownership several years ago but I am not sure things changed for the better.
I will start with prices. They are high, too high for barbecue. We came on a Sunday afternoon and after we received the menus, I asked if they had a lunch menu. Apparently, you can only order lunch specials during the week. A little disappointing since I would really only be visiting on the weekend anyway as I am sure most people would. So you effectively need to order from the (more expensive) dinner menu. So what does this mean? Pulled pork barbecue plate and two sides — 13.99, cheapest thing on the menu — small pulled pork sandwich with a small side — 9.99.
So moving past prices, when the pulled pork sandwich arrived, I found it incredibly bland even a little soggy. The fries were okay but it is hard to screw that up.
Service was okay but not super friendly. My questions about the lunch menu took a lot of probing to find out why there was no lunch menu and maybe the realization that we were only ordering two pulled pork sandwiches and thus no larger order (tip) was disappointing to her.
I won’t be back. There is so much better quality barbecue in Tampa for better prices. I highly recommend Holy Hog or Leeroy Selmons instead.

This was a very sad and disappointing experience! It took over 45 minutes for us to receive our meal, but the restaurant didn’t appear to be very busy on a slow Monday afternoon. The waitress did not give us plates, silverware, or napkins with our appetizers; Once she delivered the items, she was on to the next table without pausing to see if we needed anything. We had to wave down the manager to get the items. Many of the items on the menu were not available for lunch and only served after 4:00pm. Why have them on the menu? Perhaps separate the items and put them on a «dinner only» menu to distinguish from the «lunch menu.» Finally, I had a long black hair in my fries. We couldn’t get out of here fast enough and won’t ever go back!

Nothing spectacular. I got the baby back ribs/​pulled pork combo with loaded mash and broccoli. My ribs were sold to me as «falling off the bone,» which they weren’t… They were a bit tough, and i wasn’t impressed. Service was great as usual, but the food was just ok.

This place is super delicious,. Never had any problems with service., and also food was always on time. So many bad reviews I don’t understand why but this place is really great.

So delicious. Great job on the ribs and the smoked wings were delicious.
Our waitress was totally awesome too. Treated our family of 4 like royalty.
Still one of our favorite BBQ joints!

Ok went here again for dinner, takeout this time, and it was not good.
I ordered a full rack of baby back ribs and they were greasy and tasted old. I also ordered chicken tenders and fries and they both tasted old.
I am not sure how they prepare their food but today’s meal tasted as if it was prepared earlier today and simply warmed up in a microwave when I ordered it.
I guess it’s time to find a new barbecue place.
I give them 2 stars today because the hostess was nice and she ensured all of our food was in the bag and made sure we had extra barbecue sauce. But the food tonight was not as good as it had previously been.

Jenna is an awesome bartender! She made my experience with her guidance and personality.

I’ve been here, once before, about 5 years ago. Since then I have become a Unilocaler. I looked at the reviews and saw that the bad reviews are because of the service. So dad and I went to try it out. We were seated immediately. Them not coming quickly was one of the biggest complaints I saw on Unilocal.Our server was Holly. She came to our table within a minute later. During our meal she kept up with us very well to see if everything was good or to offer refills etc. The manager also came to check on us and was very pleasant. I had absolutely had no problems with the service. Not one of the things in previous Unilocal reviews happened to me. Near the end of our dinner I mentioned the bad Unilocal reviews regarding poor service. Holly said she has been working there for 7 years but recently they got rid of a bunch of people who were making the poor service happen. So that was most likely the problem.
Anyway, I had onion rings and a burger with pulled pork and onion tangles. Dad had chicken strips. It was all very delicious and we were very happy with our server. Don’t let all the previous reviews convince you to skip this place.

Wonderful restaurant near mall.
Waitress great. Drinks from bar superb.
Chicken real juicy. Whole meal 45 for 2.

Call ahead to make sure they have ribs, we stopped in for a Sunday dinner & was told after we ordered our food. How does this happen & why isn’t there a better system in place for back ups? Terrible ! They also took tater tot Tini off the menu… Best part is that the manager never came out to apologize or offer something else. They also took all the portions down to make an open concept but it’s worse with the noise now !

Pros: best ribs. Not fatty and so much flavor. Bathrooms are always clean. Atmosphere is welcoming. Décor is unique and fits the theme of BBQ.
Cons: The servers (at least each one Iv had) are forgetful, and take forever to bring you things. Mind you I was a server, I am very understanding but shit.
The fried pickles SUCK. Don’t waste your money .
They asked my 80 year old grandma for her ID. She didn’t have it and they refused to serve her. Which I found so ridiculous. SHE IS A GRANDMA!

A cook was pissing in the back bushes. Nuff said. Im sure he went back to work and didnt wash his hands. Yum. I like smokey bones and had planned to eat here but did not eat at this particular location. Try Clearwater smokey bones…

You probably think barbeque restaurant and immediately think «no vegetarians allowed». While I’m not a full blown vegetarian, I’m definitely not a full on meat eater. Smokey Bones has so many options for meat free meals even including veggie burgers! The create your own burger gives you the opportunity to get your protein without eating meat. On top of that, so many of their appetizers are delish too! I personally love the potato and salad meal. I get the meat on the side for my carnivore husband.
I’ve done both takeout and sit down here. I’m always pleased with the service I received. I will say that the to go is generally a few minutes behind their estimated time, but always fresh. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need either! Crazy about BBQ sauce? Ask them for extra and they’ll happily grab you some!
I love the casual atmosphere that this place has. With all the TVs, it’s a great place to sit down with a nice cold drink and catch up on all the sporting events!

HORRIBLE SERVICE… too bad for me, the wings are fantastic. Having worked in the restaurant industry for many years, tending bar is tough during rush. That being said, when the place empties out by 9:15pm, and it takes 20 minutes to notice my cocktail is empty and my menu is closed and ready for ordering… Houston– we’ve got a problem! For a brief moment we thought a bartender was coming to take our order, when she smiled and with a quick wave said «it’s been great serving you!», grabbed her purse and clocked out. Yep… that was definitely service with a smile, or as close as we got to it. Thankfully, their wings will bring me back, but that’s about it.

Well things have all but gone down hill at this establishment. Make sure you have the laser pointer handy so you can get the attention of the staff. I placed an order for a shredded chicken chopped salad. The chicken atop the salad was in three pieces along with the lettuce torn into 3 – 4 inch pieces. I had to explain that chopped meant the use of a utensil to achieve the finished product. Don’t get me started on the un-​shredded chicken.

If your looking for real smoked wings and amazing pulled chicken DONT come here! I ordered smoked wings and they looked fried; I asked the server of these are «smoked» and she said yes and walked away. I tried one and was certain it was fried, I asked the server if they were fried she said «we smoke the wings, let them sit to room temperature and when they’re ordered we flash fry them for a min» that’s pathetic to say the least! I also ordered a pulled chicken salad, it took more than 30 min to come out, the wait wasn’t the bad part, the fact that the chicken was ice cold was the part that pissed me off. I asked our charming server, why is the chicken cold? She said, it because «we grill it, then pull it, then chill it in the fridge».
Bottom line is the name is quite misleading, chicken tastes left over and they just best it up for you. They have ribs, burgers, steaks and pasta here too: you can try it, I’m gonna pass.
For BBQ in this area I recommend Jazzy’s and Alex’s BBQ.

After reading all of the negative reviews about this location we almost didn’t come but we had a good experience. Great service, friendly waitress and the food came right away. Guess there are always some bad severs but we enjoyed our dining. Normally go to the location on gulf to bay in Clearwater but this one was just as good. If you like a good burger or barbecue it’s hard to go wrong with Smokey Bones.

While I’m more of a regular at the location in Waterford Lakes when I’m in Orlando, this one in Tampa also gets the job done.
Late night Happy Hours are excellent, all day drink specials are a tremendous value and the latest tweaks to the menu look pretty good. (Although I’m still upset they dumped the Pretzel Bun option from the Build Your Own Burger section)
I like many items on the menu (Turkey Burger, Pretzel Bones, Pulled Chicken Salad, Brunswick Stew) and find this restaurant chain overall to be very comfortable in providing their comfort food.
This specific location is always very clean, has plenty of easy parking and the main girls who regularly work the bar do a solid job and rarely fail to notice that I have an empty glass.

Well, that was terrible. There was almost no one in the place yet we had to wait for over five minutes just for someone to acknowledge that we were waiting. While waiting, I noticed the manager in the kitchen look over at us multiple times. Needless to say, she did not come over to offer any assistance. Finally, someone came over. Woo-​hoo! The waitresses said she had to «clear» a table? Really? The place is empty. So we waited… again. Five minutes pass and we were still not seated. So, we walked out. Mind you, all of this happened around 4:45pm on a Wednesday. It was not busy. Unless management changes or starts to care about their customers, I will not be returning.