Ordered food from a nice girl behind the counter, then watched the owner yell and curse at her, making her cry. He continued his rant back into the kitchen, dropping f-bombs like they were going out of style. Finally, maybe 45 mins later, I finally got my food which was pre-drenched in bbq sauce and somewhat cold. I paid $15 for this??? I felt sorry for the girl behind the counter and tipped her personally because I have heard from people that worked here the owner includes himself in the tips and he was clearly a total dick. DO NOT SUPPORT HIS BUSINESS!!!! Labor laws much???? read more

Good bbq for a little mountain town restaurant. Has definitely been better than usual recently, so brava. The mac and cheese does get addicting. Could work on the cornbread taste/texture. Otherwise it's pretty damn tasty. read more

Have eaten here several times and it gets old fast. Service is slow but pleasant. Very noisy if not outside. Got a very negative response when they asked if we had liked it and I said it was the strangest spinach salad ever, included stawberries, blueberries and glazed nuts. My opinion, do not ask if you do not want to know. Probably will not go again read more

Being a local I try to support the local businesses. There is no other place I'd rather eat than Smokey's. If you want one of the best breakfasts in town, not only for the food and the price, its Smokey's. If you want to stop in for lunch or dinner after skiing, its Smokey's. Mike has a large menu to choose from and downtown, where you have to pay for parking, can't beat his prices. Smokey's is close to freeway access both Easy and West and serves up wonderful food! Do yourself a favor and stop in! read more

Terrible service, bad seating arrangement, food sucks. A few weeks ago I walked in on a saturday afternoon to get some brisket and mac and cheese. The man taking my order was too busy yelling and cursing at an employee to get my order right. So, an hour and fifteen minutes later I get some pulled pork and a salad. I took my order to the counter and Mike, who apparently is the owner of this joke of a BBQ joint, told me that he did not make a mistake and that I had the correct order. What happened to the customer is always right? He would not refund me and said if I wanted to change the order I would have to wait another hour. So I ate the pork and the salad, then got to spend the rest of the evening on the toilet. Worst food poisoning I have ever had. I think Im going to report this place to OSHA. read more

We frequently eat at Smokey's and always enjoy the bbq. They provide great service too and that was put to the test a week ago when I left my cell phone in the restaurant after a quick meal before we hit the road to the Bay Area. Not only did they have the phone but they took care to wrap it in bubble wrap & overnight it to me the next morning. If you are looking for great bbq and great service in Truckee, look no further than Smokey's! read more

Don't waste your time here. It's basic barbecue, with a terrible atmosphere. The service is slow, it smells like gasoline, and for some reason it's expensive!! Do not recommend. read more

Service was bad. I went there with my sister and dad. We had to wait more than 35 minutes. After that, my dad was told that his order could not be placed. I would not recommend this place. But the food was ok. read more

This was our second visit to the restaurant, having had an acceptable experience during our first visit a month or so ago. This time, we were thoroughly disappointed with the experience and food, and won't return to the restaurant again despite its convenience to our Tahoe-Donner home. Although when we arrived in the mid-morning, the restaurant wasn't particularly crowded, it took more than 45 minutes to get our food -- a BBQ combo plate and Cobb salad. While we waited, we asked multiple times for updates, but the staff weren't particularly helpful or understanding of our frustration, and they didn't provide clear answers as to when we could expect our food. After waiting 45 minutes, we were further disappointed as the food itself was not good - the BBQ plate came with just a small portion of meat and the Cobb salad was over-loaded with dressing. For the price, we expected more. We won't return. read more

I moved to Truckee with my husband and elderly mother several months ago and we've been keen on trying all of our dining options in the immediate area. Wish I had been warned about the food at this place. My mother's brisket sandwich had a measly 4 thin slices of dried out meat on a bun that was over toasted and overly dry. She gamely tried to pull apart the dry bun and eat around it but how can you eat around a bun when it's ALL DRIED OUT! I didn't fare much better with a combo platter. I'm a sucker for ribs. The St Louis ribs were half way decent but the Beef Ribs were a couple of slabs of shoe leather. Plus the sauce that drenched the ribs was cold and not all that tasty. The garlic fries bordered on putrid and the cole slaw (which I had given to my mother to eat because her $6 plus sandwich didn't come with a side order) wasn't good either. What a waste of $25--I felt like I had taken a match and lit fire to my money. I can't believe that there was a crowd at this place mid week at 11:30am. I guess when dining choices are limited, restaurants think they have a captive audience and can do whatever they like. Do yourself an favor--when you have a hankering for BBQ, drive up to BJ's in Sparks and you'll be in Hog Heaven. Don't forget to send me a message thanking me for sparing you the awful experience that I endured at this place. ( I can't in good conscience refer to it as a restaurant) read more

I have eaten here a handful of times with my family and with friends. I have tried - really tried - to like this place. I've had breakfast, lunch and dinner there. I have also attended three separate events where Smokey's was catering. All I can say is - "are you kidding me?!" For starters, the food is very mediocre to just plain bad. Add to that the fact the service is about as slow as it gets. If we were waiting for a stellar meal - I could understand. But it seems you are waiting until the owner or an employee gets around to actually deciding he'll serve his customers. Every single event I have attended that has been catered by this restaurant has been bad to the point at which all the locals there swore they'd stop going to eat at Smokey's. Slow service (food an hour late), no willingness to amend a dish to accommodate a friend's allergy, and the owner apparently thinks the world revolves around him. So, at last, I have decided to post a review and say my peace. I will not return. If you must eat here - order a salad and mac and cheese. That way, your expectations will be low enough that perhaps you won't be too disappointed. read more

I went to Smokey's to sit outside, eat and enjoy beautiful North Lake Tahoe fall weather. I did not anticipate spending over $50.00 for two glasses of house wine and two BBQ plates. Basking in the sun was quite expensive. The place was empty, however, it still took 30 minutes to get two BBQ plates. My husband ordered the rib plate before checking the price. It was $24.00 for a Take out BBQ Place!!! It's not like someone came and took your order. You go to the counter and place your order. The ribs were old and there was VERY little meat on them. Just two bones. We fed them to our dog. The BBQ salmon was actually steamed and brushed with a ketchupy-tasting BBQ sauce for approximately $16.00 which is the same price at most sit down restaurants. The cole slaw was old. Don't dare eat inside, there is no air conditioning. Park benches, no air , substandard quality food and ordering your food at the counter with sit down restaurant prices. I made better BBQ out at my deck for 10% of the price read more

I generally do not spend the time writing online reviews, by my experience at this restaurant prompted me to take the time to do so. First of all, I should note that during my college years, I worked 3 years as a restaurant reviewer and since then, travel the country quite a bit for work. So, eat out a lot and have a general sense of expectations related to food and service. First of all, we were impressed with the building and location. It's hard to beat the view off the front patio. Unfortunately, this was probably one of the most disappointing restautants I've ever visited. We were a group of 8 and ordered a wide range of lunch items: shredded pork sandwhich, chicken salad, hamburgers. The cashier (perhaps the owner) was extremely unfriendly and seemed rushed even tough there weren't that many people there. Admittedly, Truckee has become something of a destination, but, come on, $7.50 for a shredded pork sandwhich and $5.50 for a side of fruit. The shredded pork sandwhich was horrendous. It was as John L stated in his review, "extremely small serving of dry and unflavorful pork on a bun. There was so little pork, I pushed what was there to one side of the sandwhich, cut off half the bread and then ate my dry, 1/2 size, $7.75 pork sandwich. When we asked him initially what was on the sandwhich, he honestly seemed defensive with his response--now we understood why. The chicken salad was nearly $14.00 or so (our friend ordered this). The hamburgers looked OK. What surprised me even more was when the cashier (who appeared to the be the owner) came out to ask us if we were done and started selectively removing items from the table. So, not only was it expensive, small portions, we felt like we were rushed on the front end and back. In short, very disappointed! read more