Stopped for lunch. Server was great, food was excellent! We had the Local Yokal burger and pulled pork sandwich - very very good. I normally eat only a few fries but these were too good. We'll be back read more

Real wood-smoked barbecue as evidenced by the smoker and woodpile out back, and of course by the flavor. The pulled pork in my Sweet Carolina BBQ sandwich had the look and taste of long, slow cooking. Lots of color on the "bark", with a balanced mix of coarse chopped pieces and thinner shreds. I thought it slightly dry and maybe not as much smoke flavor as I'd like, but that could be the pitmaster's preference. Any dryness was fixed by adding some of the 4 available house-made sauces. I tried all and decided on the spicy barbecue. My meal arrived quickly, no more than 5 minutes at most. The sandwich comes with 1 side. I chose the potato salad, which was very good: mustardy and tangy with the potatoes "al dente." Two sizes were available, regular and large. I thought the regular was sufficient and a good deal at $11.50 with the side. The coleslaw was very small as usual, but, as it was intended to be put into the sandwich for the Sweet Carolina, was sufficient, and good. The menu also has burgers, ribs, wings, and some interesting sounding combination sandwiches. Like Fried Bologna BLT. And brisket. Wish I could have tried that. My only complaint is the menu is very sandwich-oriented. No way to order a plate: a meat and 2 sides, and maybe a slice of cornbread (actually hoe cakes here instead). Larger combo are available, like the Smoky B Sampler with ribs, 2 additional meats, garlic toast, and a side (just 1). Way too much for one person, and with just 1 side, not ideal for sharing either. Many interesting appetizers and small bites, including corn nuggets, fried pickles and green tomatoes, cheese curds with marinara. The inside was clean, a generic modern building. Outside tables were not set up - was it just too hot to sit outdoors? The floor could use some fixing up: it looked like they had scraped off carpeting and left the glue. Strange. Lots of TVs tuned to various sports, the sound turned off. Music playing at a medium level which I enjoyed. Very hard rock. How hard? 9.5 on the Mohs scale. And then all of a sudden it changed to Taylor Swift. That was jarring but ok. I like her too. Clientele at this midday hour seemed to be mostly working men on lunch break. I think I was the only one without blue jeans and a baseball cap. When I got up to pay at the counter my waitress reminded me that my drink (Coke) comes with a free refill in a go cup. I didn't really want more but she encouraged me so I was going to get ice water. I pressed the wrong button on the machine and got lemonade instead. Oh well, that's fine too. read more

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Really great barbecue. They have gluten free options if needed. Super friendly dude working the counter. We got our food to go. The small pulled pork sandwich was huge. I'd definitely recommend eating here. read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Portions are too big! Everyone took something home. I ordered the sampler, afraid the tater would be not enough. My wife got the tater. Both of us took 1/2 home. The tater would have been perfect. Tater: loaded baked potatoes with meat. Balanced. Excellent. Sampler: Ribs fell off the bone. Extra meaty. Pulled pork: perfect. Brisket: meaty. Not enough fat for my taste, but that's better than too much. Baked beans: fine, not outstanding. Fries: good, not amazing. Sauce: only tried the one on the table. Balanced, uncomplicated, sweet enough. Very nice. A great sauce. Clean, but beat up looking place. A hole in the wall, but you're not here for the art. Busy, but served quickly. Attentive service. Short delay at seating for ordering drinks, but then spot on. read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Pulled pork tater - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

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Located a short distance from the interstate, it is easy to find. There is a large sign out front and ample parking. We were able to find a handicapped space near the front door. The parking lot is paved but a bit uneven, especially near the entrance door, so just be careful as you travel. We waited a minute to be greeted and seated. Seating is mostly booths with a few tables for larger groups. We were seated in the front of the building and there is another seating area towards the middle and near the kitchen separated by a wall. Our waitress took our drink order and returned after a few minutes. We placed our order and then waited about 15 minutes for the food to be brought. We ordered the appetizer hoe cakes but they came out with the main meal. I do not know if this was a kitchen or wait staff issue. The Jailbreaker sandwich is huge and really good. The bbq pork is tender and flavorful. I tried the spicy sauce which was a great addition. Even the fries were very good. While we really enjoyed the food, the service needs improvement. Our younger waitress never came to our table except to bring food. We had to walk into the main seating area to get her attention to bring the check. Our drinks were never refilled, and I had to get the spicy sauce from the waitress station. Our entire section had this issue as our waitress was much more interested in serving a booth in the main area with a couple male patrons. The food may rate five stars but the experience is only a three. read more

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Update to business manager's comments. Underwhelming and 3 stars means average. Bbq was cold and nothing special. I have done reviews all over the world for 16 years. They included many bbq places in Nashille, Charlotte, Dallas, Memphis, Cincinnati, Fort Myers, Atlanta, Louisville and many more cities. You should not serve cold bbq. I should not have to ask your server to microwave it. read more

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Food tasted amazing. I did get it to go and watched the service staff struggle with completing orders while not managing time so I was told 10-15 mins which ended up being 30ish mins wait. The ambiance is nice just slick floors had my shoes sliding around which was a tad concerning. read more

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Fantastic food and the server we had was the best we enjoyed on the entire trip! Remember to ask about the story of the place - really good to know your supporting this establishment. It's a 5 Star Barbecue place but be prepared for the full ambience. :-) read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Stopped here today and got 3 different meats, 1lb a piece (pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket) The chicken and brisket were nowhere near the weight of the pulled pork. Maybe they gave me over a pound of pulled pork who knows. What I'm really having an issue with was the quality of the brisket. Tough, gray, not juicy and you couldn't see a visible smoke ring. Looked like the viral brisket Coach Lincoln Riley made. That and four sides with tip was $110. I wouldn't have paid $30 for the quality. read more

The brisket here Very good. The service here is quick and efficient. There are multiply tvs playing sports so you won't miss the game!!

Really good barbecue and very friendly staff. Have a lot of gluten free option. If the server was not sure she check on other allergies I had with no problem. read more

We had the Jailbreaker sandwich as recommended by our waitress. It was outstanding. Great flavor, tender meat. Highly recommend it! read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - The Jailbreaker. - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Great food and service! We found this place randomly when we were passing through Kentucky. It was so good that we intentionally stopped there on our way home a week later. The portions were huge. I loved the giant salad! We had ribs, pulled pork, fried corn, a few different hamburgers, catfish and other sides. Everything we had was good. 2 parents, 4 kids. All satisfied customers. The waitress on both our visits were very friendly. If I lived nearby I'd be a regular customer. read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Ribs, house salad with homemade ranch - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

I ordered to go while in town for an event. We got the 1/2 rack sampler with smoked chicken, brisket, pulled pork, and green beans and hoe cakes, a triple offender burger, and cheese curds. First the good points: the service was incredible, as I was waiting for my prefer multiple people made sure I had been taken care of and they were just as welcoming to everyone else that walked in. The ribs were great, moist, fatty, smoky, and falling off the bone, the cheese curds were awesome, and the spicy bbq was really good. Unfortunately the pork, brisket, and smoked chicken were so dry we couldn't eat them. The brisket seemed like it had been sliced and left under a heat lamp all day, the pulled pork was the same, so dry that some of it was more jerky than pulled pork. The burger was over seasoned, and the corn hoe cakes were much more pancake with a bit of corn meal than hoe cake. Honestly, based purely on the positives I'd order from here again but I'll only order ribs, and cheese curds with spicy bbq sauce. read more

We stopped in on our way from Tennessee to Ohio. We like to try non-chain restaurants and this one had great reviews so we decided to give it a try. There was a Seat Yourself sign as you walk in. We found a spot and the hostess/server came right over and took our drink order. We both ordered unsweetened tea. It's brewed tea. Yay! The menu has a nice variety of bbq items. We started with the corn nuggets, as some others reco'd. They were piping hot and came with a homemade ranch dressing dipping sauce. Delicious! We decided to split the Jailbreaker sandwich. It sounded really good and the server highly recommended it. We chose the homemade potato salad as our side. As a side mention, The names of the menu items are very clever. The owner used to be a "Smokey". As we were waiting the place really filled up. It's obviously a local favorite. Our food came out relatively quickly. The potato salad was heavier on mustard vs mayo and we like it that way. It was very good and fresh. The sandwich was plenty for us to split. We really enjoyed the combination of the ranch dressing and the sweet barbecue sauce as well as the crunchy onion rings. We would definitely recommend this sandwich! The restaurant itself is a cute little place with 12-15 tables inside but they also have some picnic tables outside. It was a nice day and there were a lot of people eating outside. Since we ate inside I have no idea if they bring the food to you outside. I have to give a shout out to our server, Emma, who was awesome! The place was hopping, but she was right on top of it and pleasant to boot! read more

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Passing through Kentucky on our way home to northern Indiana, we were a little skeptical because it was a small mom and pop shop. We were pleasantly surprised with the food and variety of homemade bbq sauces. Absolutely the best bbq we had had! Were ordered smoked pork to bring home and bought 4 bottles of their delicious sauce. This place is 5 hours from home but we will be back!! read more

I used to love coming here and getting their spicy bbq wings but I found a dead fly on my plate underneath my food... they ended up taking my meal off of the check but I haven't gone back read more

Driving from Indiana to Florida and this spot was perfect for dinner. Had good reviews and we were looking for something other than a chain. We were impressed!! We had a moving truck... huge lot with room to move around. We had a small pup... picnic tables outside that were CLEAN and freshly painted. The salad was HUGE and made with good greens and tons of toppings. Onion, banana peppers, tomatoes, cheese, etc. Yum! Luckily we had cooler and able to take left overs. I had the brisket on side with my salad and it was melt in your mouth yum. Didn't really need sauce, but I tried two and they were great. My husband and daughter both got the brisket sandwich with fries! Loved them! read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Smoker! - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Had birthday dinner at Smokey's and was very well taken care of by Mara! Super nice and kept checking on us all throughout the meal. She even made up for the loud, old geriatric couples behind us, that were clearly not from around here and very rude Mara you are rad read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

The food is delicious. I got the spicy pig taters, my fiancé got the The jawbreaker sandwich baked beans. The spicy sauce on the pig tater is perfect, just the perfect amount of heat and tang. The baked beans were great. The service was great. Added bonus, they have coke and Pepsi products ! read more

My oh my! Local? Passing by? A spot that your must try! Located 1 mile from 75, a perfect break from a drive north back from Florida. Plenty of space inside or or out ti eat. Awesome barbeque options... seems the pulled pork is what they are famous for. Group had a few options to try... pulled pork, chicken, burger, wings... all good. Great sauce. We went with the corn nuggets and pickle chips to start- and will do so again when we are passing through on the way to Florida next year. Quite the crowd for a Sunday afternoon, and some of the tables around had the salad... looked great. Came in with a party of 7. Plenty of space to sit down, waitress was friendly and helpful. read more

Really good place. Me and my wife both enjoyed our meals and the service was great. Would recommend this place to anyone interested in visiting a local business and not a chain restaurant. read more

Great menu - many Gluten Free options including snickerdoodle cookies! Smoked meats were delicious as well as the baked beans and potato salad- everything was made in house! Shana was our server and has worked there for 10 years- excellent stop read more

I was really looking forward to having good local BBQ while visiting KY. After an exhaustive search and menu hunting, we landed in Smokey Bears. After a great afternoon on the lake, we were ready to tear up some BBQ (and catfish). The reviews had use sold. Spicy sauce option, great fish, good prices and friendly people. Easy to find just off the main drag into town. It's a single story shop with plenty of air conditioned seating inside or shaded tables outside. We were told to grab a seat when we walked in. One waitress for the whole place. She was so sweet and definitely busy. We quickly figured out the way of things. She'd get you a refill when she offered but if you didn't want to wait, you can get it yourself. We ordered 2 pc catfish, side of brisket, corn nuggets, prison yard salad with pulled pork and two pieces of garlic toast. The catfish was dismal. Two tiny pieces of fish but the kicker was that they were tough! The breading was rubbery. Even hard to cut with a fork and knife. The brisket was good. I wasn't impressed with any of the sauces but they did the trick. The salad was huge and enough to share if so inclined. My husband said the coleslaw was pretty food. I wouldn't feed the hush puppy to my dog. The corn nuggets were fine. Nothing special. Great dining room with good air conditioning and TV showing sports and local news. One of the guys running food was wearing a CrossFit tshirt. We left and I looked up the local Box to check it out. That's for another post. Cheers! read more

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Wonderful food. Just a good mom and pop. Dont miss it........ .................................................................

Food was delicious and service was top notch. Our server was fun, properly attentive, and hilarious. We were looking for a local spot to stop for dinner on our way back to Lexington from South Carolina. I read the reviews (which don't do it justice) and headed in. I had the Jailbreaker. It was huge and wonderfully flavored. I got some ranch for my fries. I don't know what they put in it, but it was amazingly good. Like the best ranch dressing ever. He had the combo with ribs and smoked wings. It was a ton of food and also all very good. The hoe cakes were hot, moist, and delicious. The fries are crinkle, with the right crispy to soft texture ratio. Honestly, there was no downside to this meal! We will definitely be stopping here the next time we're down south on 75! read more

These sandwiches are so good. The best pork sandwich I've ever had in the jailbreaker SHANNON our waitress was very sweet and kind and very very helpful with the menu. I would highly recommend this and we were going to Gatlinburg and we will go back This sandwich was so good. My wife ate half of it. read more

My apologies. It should've said bun with mayo. I tried calling twice and nobody answered. Generally overall, this is a great place to eat. I'm not sure why it was wrong the last two times. I'm sure the rest of the food is good but this is all I ever order. My wife ordered the same sandwich in it too was wrong. Nevertheless, we will be back. read more

I saw the high reviews and went to see what this place was all about. Ordered the sliced brisket and half slab of ribs with beans and potato salad. Brisket was tender. I specifically ordered brisket Untrimmed with fat on it. I got trimmed lean brisket. Very little back and zero smoke ring. Not much smokey flavor. Couldn't taste much seasoning. The ribs were tender, came wet with sauce already on them. They rely on the sauces for the BBQ to be good here. On that note the Carolina vinegar sauce, the spicy BBQ sauce and original sauce were very every good and when I poured the vinegar sauce on the brisket it was awesome. I'm use to Texas brisket that has heavy smoke and bark on the meat so that's what I compare others brisket to. It's still better than their competition down the road. The beans need help. Just pork and beans with some onion and sugar added. Would be better if they put the beans in the smoker with the brisket and pork and let's the juices drip in the beans and give them smoke flavor. Potato salad was just like every other one you have had probably. Nothing special. Stop and try this place out this is just my taste and opinion. read more

Food amazing in store made sauce is amazing never been disappointed when the family goes

I came through here a year ago and said I'd be back. The people are just as amazing as the food is. As a truck driver I always try to find new places to eat and this place as been awesome both times I've been here. The food wasn't the only reason I came back this time, last year when I was driving through I had just made it in right as they were closing and they still took the time to serve me and it is service like that is why I will always eat here every time in the area. I even walked the mile and half from the truck stop just to eat here. Thank you Smokey Bears !!!! read more

We love Smokey Bears BBQ! The first time I had it was years ago when I first started playing bingo and I was hooked from there on thanks to the pig fries! My husband had never tried it until we got together and the jailbreaker is his go-to! We always recommend Smokey Bears BBQ to anyone that has a hankering for some delicious bbq. read more

Smokey bears kills it every time! The food is consistently so good The staff is always beyond friendly. A must go to when your in Corbin! read more

I ordered the Kentucky cheesesteak and homemade potato salad. Friendly staff, prices the same as anywhere else. The food was delicious. Tried my sister's pig tators and they were good as well. Would definitely try again. read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Kentucky Cheesesteak and potato salad - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Great food and service, had signature sandwich, was very tasty and fries were crispy. Also if y have a beverage they will give u a full takeout glass for your trip. The spicy bbq sauce was so good I purchased a 1/2 gallon take home...pick one up don't be cheap ! Also prices were good not expensive at all ...full of locals read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Signature BBQ Bacon BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with spicy bbq sauce and home made ranch add taste even better!!!! - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

While heading to the Carolinas for vacation, Smokey Bears has become a fave stop. This is some seriously good food and the server was on it. Dont miss this one! read more

Really good BBQ! Great service! If you want no frills BBQ? This is your place! Brisket above average!! Good sauce selections! read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Beef Brisket on Garlic Toast! Great! - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Outstanding barbecue. Very affordable. Only One server on duty for the whole place! She was killing it! Super Friendly, and we got our food quickly. I wasn't there for ambiance. Great Job. read more

Our $44 take out order consisted of Chicken Philly cheesesteak and the Sampler. My husband enjoyed the Sampler; a nice selection of meats; however my Chicken Philly Cheesesteak was not very tasty. It looked like the cook was in a hurry and threw some chicken on a hoagie roll and melted some cheese on it. There were no sautéed onions, peppers or Mayo. I called to let them know so hopefully it doesn't happen again. read more

Smokey Bears BBQ - Chicken Philly Cheesesteak but they forgot the sautéed peppers and onions and mayonnaise. - Barbeque Near Me - Corbin, Kentucky

Second time eating here in 3 days....food is absolutely delicious! First time I had the Pig Tater baked potato...OMG! Portion size was big but it was so flavorful I ate almost the entire meal! Today I had the Prison Yard Salad...soooo good and everything was so fresh! I had enough to take home for dinner! The service is fantastic!!!! Shanna was an absolute delight...she was very helpful when I had questions and even though she and the restaurant were very busy (both days) she made me feel like I was the only customer she had and I can not say enough nice things about her. Trust me do not pass this little place up...worth the stop! read more