We started off with the bucket of bruschetta. It was pretty good, but I expected more with it being called a bucket. It did come with 4 pieces of grilled garlic bread. My husband got the St Louis ribs and brisket with beans and Mac and cheese. Our son got the baby back ribs with the dry rub with coleslaw and macaroni salad. I got a burger with the tossed salad. The St. Louis ribs were overdone, the BBQ sauce was overloaded with what tasted like cinnamon. The brisket was cut too large and was dry. The beans were just beans, and the macaroni was overdone and had too much cheese. The baby back ribs didn't have any smoke flavor, and they tasted like they were boiled first. The sinew you find on ribs wasn't even crisp like you find on ribs that have been slow cooked over a smoke fire. There was nothing special about the Mac salad and coleslaw, it lacked flavor. I do have to say my burger was perfectly seasoned and cooked. Somehow I forgot to snap a picture. We would definitely go back for burgers, but not the smoked meat read more

The Ole Smokehouse - Bucket of bruschetta - Barbeque Near Me - Madrid, New York

See all

Great food and service! Brisket sandwich and the catfish were very good and you can't go wrong with the fried cheese curd. Wish we could have spent a little more time. read more

Ordered the spicy hollenbeck and was not disappointed by any of the other food or the excellent and accommodating service. The ambiance is a fantastic touch of western warmth and hospitality. read more

Great food and great bartenders Lovely place for smoked meats and chicken. Bar seating is great and it has a normal friendly and welcoming ambiance read more

The appetizers were good. My friends ordered the brisket and it was dry same as the chicken. The catfish was good. They serve complimentary cornbread and biscuits. The cornbread was cold but good and the biscuits were hard. We won't be returning. read more

The Old Smokehouse is a restaurant in an area without many restaurants. This place is opened for more hours than many of the other restaurants closest to it. I have come here during dinner and thought the food was pretty good, but during lunch it just seem okay. During lunch many sides and other options aren't available and the food seems like left overs from the previous night. The pulled pork just seemed like slow cooked pork with a generic BBQ sauce on it. I really liked my macaroni salad and my portobello sandwich. That being said, the staff was kind and attentive and we were seated immediately. The walls have interesting paintings on them and the decor is all very western themed. The prices are very reasonable as well. It's good to try out this place at least once and I would stick to going during dinner, although it is nice to be able to get a meal in the area during lunch, and there aren't many other options, especially on weekends. read more

See all

I've always heard great reviews about this resturant when it first opened and as the years went on the compliments went down. I've been there 3 times, the first 2 times I ate all my food but didnt care for it and wouldn't recommend it to people. The third time was tonight with my family from out of town. They ate here 6+ years ago and they all enjoyed their meals so I decided to give it another shot for them. It was very busy given that it is Saturday and we only waited 10 minutes to be seated (which is a huge plus). I'm a huge ribs fan and have never ate them from there before so I figured i would give them a shot. I have NEVER sent anything back before in my life until tonight. The ribs were tender on the inside but the outside was hard and burnt and was most definitely not smoked. I know the difference between a smoked taste and a burnt taste and all they did was put bbq sauce on top of the black burnt ribs. I'm assuming it was the owner who came out of the kitchen to talk to me after the waitress took my food back. She basically told me I was wrong and nothing was wrong with the ribs and all the ribs will taste like that so did I want something else. I didnt want to be completely rude and refuse to eat something so i ordered jalapeno peppers and even those were cooked to long(I only ate 2 of those). I thought I may have been a little to picky until my family agreed that their food wasn't the best and they remembered it being better. My grandfather didnt even eat his brisket he only ate the toast it came on, although my uncle said the brisket was alright. My aunt got the chicken quesadilla and only ate one piece of it and said it was awful. The mac salad tasted to much like mustard, the garlic potatoes were not seasoned well, and the smoked rice was very misleading. We decided to try their dessert and see if it would make up for our meal, however some of us were disappointed. My boyfriend and uncle got apple crisp that had NO crisp on it and it was cold. My aunt got chocolate cake and loved it. My grandfather got the strawberry short cake and though he said it was good he said the briskets taste like they were made from bisquick. I ordered the deep fried cheeses cake, they brought me strawberry shortcake (coincidence? I think not) I waited another 5 minutes for the dessert I ordered to come out and when I got it I was not impressed with it but my boyfriend and aunt enjoyed it. The resturant was clean and the staff all seemed to be working but I was the least pleased with the owner and how unprofessional she was. I felt like after I sent my food back everytime she came out she gave me a stare and would say something to one of the waitresses. This is the last time I'll ever eat there and I will not be recommending it to anybody. read more

Dined in this evening. Food was great, Maggie, our server - awesome. Just traveling through, but if local, this restaurant would become a regular. Thank you! read more

I went to the Ole Smokehouse with a group of friends tHe other day, and two of us were not that hungry so we decided to just oRder some poutines and cheesy ranch fRies ass our main course. While our friends enjoyed their meals our poutine came out soggy and cold in the middle, neither one of us took more than a bite and we were still charged for the poutines that we left there because they were horrendous. Neither one of us wanted to tell the waitress how horrible they were because we knew it wasn't her fault and that she didn't make the food, but nonetheless I don't recommend thE poutine or cheesy ranch fries at this location :( gross read more

The food here was Excellent!!!! The service here wonderful everything was on time. I had a cheese burger and had a perfect medium rare. If we were locals we would have this as a regular.The fries are hand made same with the chicken. The brisket was nice and soft. I definitely do recommend!!!! Perfect!!!!!!! If you come here during a vacation you will have a nice time. Does not disappoint. read more

A neat little place tucked away in Madrid, NY, which is near Potsdam. You'll need your GPS to find it, but well worth the trip! My family took my parents here for their anniversary (at their request!), and they were very accommodating for the 11 of us. We even had our own little room! The waitress was very attentive and helpful, and made the experience wonderful! This new restaurant specializes in BBQ style fare with all the fixings. Chicken, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, even catfish. The beer battered onion rings are heaven, as is the sweet corn bread they put in a basket on the table. Prices are extremely reasonable - a person can eat for under $10. Service was excellent and the ambiance very laid back. Highly recommended. I will definitely be back! read more

The Smokehouse is a crap shoot. I have had one outstanding meal there, and two that were mediocre. The problem I see is that they cut corners and serve food that was cooked the day or days before. The good and fresh tasting meal I had was on a busy night. Brisket - great. I've been there twice for lunch and was served meats that were clearly from the day before and reheated. The pulled pork had an odd taste, smell, and texture to it, and the brisket was dry, and was clearly reheated. Come to think of it, I'm wondering if the pulled pork was smoked at all. The odd and greasy texture makes me wonder if it was cooked in a crock pot, as another reviewer mentioned, or if it was older meat that had been reheated by that method. A note to the owners: If you're going to open for lunch, the food served should have been made that day. Reheated leftovers from the previous night is a lazy and poor way to serve BBQ, or anything for that matter. read more

We visited The Olde Smokehouse after commiserating to North Country friend about the lack of good barbecue in Canada generally and Ottawa specifically and he invited us down for some relief. This place is a little under 90 minutes from Ottawa, including the border crossing, and totally worth the drive if you've been waiting and hoping for good barbecue. You'll want instructions, since it's in the middle of nowhere, but there's no chance you'll accidentally pass it since it has a big yellow sign out front and a huge, billowing cloud of smoke rising from it all of the time. Come inside, take a seat and help yourself to some very tasty cornbread and garlickky cheese biscuits*. The decor is exactly what you'd expect from a smokehouse out in the middle of nowhere. Don't dress up, but other than that pretty much anything goes. Despite our worst fears for beer (Bud Light with BBQ? Sacriledge!) they had the Sam Adams Oktoberfest on tap, which was good drinkin'. We trusted our guest and started off with the wings, which are smoked and baked, then tossed in the Smokehouse's delightful medium sauce, which does have a bit of a kick to it. These wings were dangerously tasty - it's a good thing they're 90 minutes away. For dinner I had a combo with the baby back ribs, fried catfish and beans. The beans were a bit sweet for my taste but still very good. They would have benefitted from a little heat. The ribs were falling-off-the-bone delicious and the catfish was crispy and tender (though it would have been nice to have a cajun remoulade or something similar to dip it in rather than not-so-Southern tartar.) The boyfriend also had the baby back ribs, but with pulled pork, which was quite good. The Smokehouse has a few house-made sauces on the table, and of them the vinegar one is the best. The hot sauce is not very hot at all. However, after visiting it occurred to us that you could probably order the medium wing sauce on the side with your meal, and our friend went back and did just that with great success. We'll do the same on our next visit. (And there will be a next visit.) (And, in case you're curious, leftover ribs make excellent morning-after-smokehouse hash. *If you do this, don't eat the cheese biscuits while you wait, but wrap them up with your leftovers and fry them until they're crispy in a pan to accompany your hash along with a fried egg.) read more

If you haven't been there yet, go!! It is pretty great and the stars reflect my experience all together not all at once. It nice local gem. Generally I love this place and every time have full intension of giving it 5 stars (i go there a few times a year, every year) however there is always something that just not living up to 5 stars and i kept giving this place chance after chance for 5 stars and i finally gave up. This time was no exception, when my husband and I made an unplanned stop there for late lunch. Very good, not great food, but mostly very good, service also very nice, polite and courteous. Few complaints, however: a) whenever i order my favorite beer and ask for a glass, each time glass isn't clean, maybe it's a coincidence, but happened every time. So I learned to drink from a bottle there, not ideal but nothing i haven't done before. b) it gets a little too chilly for comfort, if the restaurant isn't full of customers, in winter time, so i often have to put on a coat half way through my meal. b) when staff is attentive, it is awesome, but being interrupted literally every 5 minutes became annoying really quickly. My husband and I don't get too many lunches or dinners alone, in fact only about 4 times a year, so when we do - we carry long and meaningful conversations about life, science, big plans etc. So this time was no exception, however, our waitress interrupted our conversation about 20 times plus or minus a few. Try to enjoy conversation about quantum entanglement, exotic particles, life or upcoming vacation plans - when you constantly being interrupted every 5 min ugh. I ended up politely asking her if she wanted us to just leave, since she kept at us nonstop. We ended up leaving promptly and not ordering desert because it was simply unbearable. If we wanted to be interrupted every 5 minutes, we would eat lunch at home with the baby and toddler. Who we love dearly but who we occasionally need to get away from for an hour or so. That said, i will keep going to that place and will keep giving it a chance, it just too good of a local place to go. Stay tuned for updated review. read more

Great food option in a sparsely populated area for quality food. They don't serve the standard BBQ for lunch but the burgers are solid and they have really solid pulled pork. Sides are hit or miss (in availability and quality) but overall you'll have a good experience. The Spicy Hollenbeck is a remarkably tasty burger. Grilled on Jalapeno Cornbread with shredded chicken (that's tossed in buffalo sauce and bleu cheese dressing... what!?!?) this thing is just has myriad flavors colliding and somehow they turn into a really awesome burger. For dinner, ribs ain't bad... not bad at all. Just enough chew but not so tough that it's too much work to get off the bone. If the sides were more consistent and they had some spicier sauce, I might take this up. Skip the brisket. Cheers! read more

The bucket of bruschetta is amazing! They bake the bread instead of frying it. It's a change for the better on an old classic. Very good food and awesome service. They never disappoint!! Must stop in if you are in the area. Reasonably priced and they take reservations. read more

Good ribs and tasty pulled pork. The big combo meal that feeds 4-5 people is great to share with friends, plus you get to try a little of everything. Everyone I know likes their garlic biscuits, but they're too garlic-y for me; same with their mashed potatoes. Good cornbread though. read more

Was a great place to go, close to home (colton). Its compatible to taxes road house. Price is fair about 10$ a plate. Service was great. Everything was well cooked and hot. We had a party of 6 and we made reservations. Place was packed and very busy. We got in and were seated very quickly. Service was fast. We will be eating here again for sure! read more

See all

Baby back ribs were excellent. Corn bread was sweet and moist. Place was clean. I will go back. read more

1/2 chicken dinner was dry. So dry we had a hard time finding meat on it. It looked like the chicken was baked a few times. There was no BBQ sauce,on it---- as described. The ribs were good but plain. Best part of the meal....baked potato and bread. Not worth the 50 dollars. Won't make a trip here anytime soon. read more

Ate the pulled Pork Sand, very good, had the Mac Salad, good, hay cookie try using salt and pepper, Smoked Kernal Corn, very good. A couple of negitive comments, Ice Tea, very weak, Cook forgot my Cole Slaw on my Sand. I will be back read more

Best burger I ever had ... seriously!! Cooked to perfection!!! The place is super casual so don't expect much in the way of atmosphere. Fries were a big soggy ... not sure about the other dishes. However, if you are a burger fan, this IS the place to go!!! read more

Great experience, I got a large Takeout order and dropped the top section (Completely my fault). Without question they picked up the entire bag and replaced it all. There is no better customer service than this place. The food was absolutely amazing as well! read more

We had dinner here twice while working in Massena. The food is very good -- catfish, haddock, ribs, and Delmonico steaks -- each were very good. You will not be disappointed. read more

My first visit to the Ol Smokehouse. Rustic western style appearance outside and in. Simple menu you don't have to spend time looking over trying to decide what to order. I decided on the Delmonico steak medium rare with 2 side options and an appetizer of deep fried pickle spears. To drink just a Diet Pepsi. The pickle Spears were hot when they came out. Coated in bread crumbs and side of ranch. They were ok but prob would not order again. I would prefer pickle chips instead. For the 2 sides I chose tossed salad and homemade fries. The salad came first. Was mix of greens and iceberg lettuce with couple small tomatoes. I prefer a salad made with iceberg lettuce rather than mixed greens or Roman. With Italian dressing was good. The steak and fries came with out much waiting. Which was good. The fries were golden brown and crispy. And very good. Not greasy at all. Steak was cooked to my liking and had good flavor. Was cooked over wood fire. I recommend this restaurant to anyone. We had reservations and recommend to have them. As the restaurant is busy. read more

I don't think these other reviewers ate at the same place. I can't think of a worse place to eat in St. Lawrence County. And that's pretty bad, considering that there is really no restaurant scene up here to begin with. I have been here 4 times in the 3 years I have lived in the area. I decided to give it one last shot, and kept track of everything I experienced, in anticipation of writing this review. Every-time has been the same in terms of service and food quality; disappointing. Very disappointing. (With the acceptation of their smoked wings, which are very good) Being a BBQ fan, I was excited to check this place out when I moved to the area. After going in the first 3 times, I should have learned my lesson. But alas, I did not. My party consisted of 6 people. We came in on a week day around 7. It was as busy, both at the bar and the adjacent dining room. On that note, I must say that the Ole Smokehouse is set up well and is aesthetically pleasing. It's got a tongue-in-cheek western theme that works in a weird way, and is unique to the area. It's fairly clean and spacious inside. After standing at the hostess podium for about 3 minutes, someone finally came over to us and inquired as to how many people she would need to seat. When we told her 6, she replied it would be a few minutes. As I stated before, the place was busy. Not insane busy, but what a place like that should be operating at. Most tables were filled and there was one party waiting in front of us and one behind us. Somehow, the people behind us were seated first. 15 minutes later, we were lead to our table. A table that had been empty for at least 20 minutes, as it was unoccupied when we first came in. We hadn't waited 15 minutes for a table to become available. We had waited 15 minutes for a table to be cleared- as in remaining silverware and dishes removed and the top wiped down. Unacceptable. Waited for our server. Conservatively, 6-8 minutes went by and she showed up. She was polite but inattentive. We all ordered mulitple drinks and our meals at the same time, as we'd had plenty of time with the menu and didn't want to have to wait for her to show up again at some random point during the night. About five minutes after placing our order, our drinks show up. 10 minutes after that, our waitress walked out of the kitchen with a large tray of food, that from a distance I could tell, consisted mostly of salads. She set the tray down and slowly served this large table of 7-8 people their food. It took a bit. She picked the tray back up, which had two items left on it, and walked towards our table. Oh goody, it's the "hot" appetizers my buddy and I had ordered. Besides the time it had taken her to get them to the table after she had entered the dining room, who knows how long they had been sitting in the kitchen, waiting to be picked up. Needless to say, both were lukewarm at best. Had they been hot, they would have been the best food we got all night. Our main courses came out pretty quick after we were done with the appetizers, and it all arrived hot. But it was terrible. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich. I find it hard to believe the pork was smoked. To me, it seemed as if they had taken a pork roast, slow cooked it in a crock pot, and then dumped some cheap brand of BBQ sauce on top of it as they pulled it apart. There was a lot of fat in the meat, which is inconsistent with real bbq. Absolutely zero natural smoke flavor. The green beans I had were not all cooked- that seemed impossible. The coleslaw however, was awesome. Some of the best Iv'e ever had. Thankfully, it was served the way they do it in Memphis- coleslaw on the sandwich. This masked the flavor of the smothered in generic sauce pork and soggy/flimsy bun. My girlfriend had a prime rib sandwich. It was worse than my pork. Grizzle is a part of prime rib. You expect some. But what one doesn't expect, is their entire sandwich to be grizzle. It was. We made the mistake of ordering dessert. 10 minutes of waiting for stuff that tasted like it was pulled from a box in the freezer. Then, I had to deal with some drunk moron that tried to harass my table- why was that guy still being served when he was in such a belligerent state? We asked for the check after dessert. By this point in time, there was almost no one in the place. But we waited a solid 10 minutes for our checks to come. I really want to like the Ole Smokehouse. It's a neat setup and unique to the area. But unique isn't a substitute for quality. There is another BBQ place close by to this one. While it doesn't have the same atmosphere, everything else about it is vastly superior. It's real BBQ. Really good real BBQ. And great service. Go there until the Ole Smokehouse ups it's standards. read more

Went with a party of ten. They accommodated us easily and everyone was pleased with their meal. We had an assortment of appetizers, entrees and sides and no one was disappointed. My pulled pork rivaled what I had in Nashville. And, I dare say, it was better than Dinosaur Barbecue. This place is a find! read more

Great BBQ is hard to find around Kemptville, so I took the family on a short road trip across the border - drive only took about 40 minutes to get to Madrid. Well worth it too. We ordered the large sampler that comes in a "feed bucket" full of chicken, pulled pork brisket and a number of sides. We were really hungry and this was more food than we could eat for an amazing price. We can't wait to go back for more of the same. If you're from Ottawa or the area, it's worth the drive through a scenic part of upstate NY. (Cross at Prescott/Ogdensburg and don't forget your Passports). read more

To say the least, I was skeptical. I am from Texas, and therefore I am hard to please or impress with BBQ. When visiting our plant in Potsdam some of the guys took me to eat here. It is more along the lines of "Carolina" BBQ, but that didn't get in the way of it being some real good food. I had the Duo sandwich (pulled pork and brisket, with jalapenos and coleslaw) it was great. I never expected to get good BBQ in the back-woods of upstate NY, but they pulled it off nicely. read more

One of the best bbq restaurants I have been to. The combination dinner is the best choice. You get two big portions of your choice with two sides. The garlic mashed potatoes are amazing. read more

If it was possible to reward zero stars, I would for The Ole Terrible Smokehouse. This was possibly the worst dining experience of my life. First of all, with a party of six we waited over 15min to be seated while there were two empty tables that simply needed to be bussed. Understaffed and laziness are the same thing when it comes to hungry people. When one of the tables were clear, a group of six who arrived AFTER us was seated BEFORE us because the owner "didn't see" us. So we waited another ten minutes for another table to be cleared (why we didn't just leave, I'm not sure, because it only gets worse). When we were seated it took another ten minutes for our waitress, Amanda, to come over and ask us our drink orders. By the way, they served us bread before water, a definite restaurant no-no. When our meals came out of the kitchen, we literally watched our HOT food sit on the back counter while our waitress served another table COLD salads -another restaurant no-no and a lack a common sense. Our food was cold, our green beans were brown, the prime rib was Subway quality and the bread on my sandwich was badly burned (but hidden on the underside of the sandwich, nice try). As we were waiting for our check some drunk wandered over from the bar on his cell phone and proceeded to pull up a chair to our table. I'm sorry, but you are not supposed to be serving people who are visibly intoxicated and your employees should have the courage, and again- common sense, to ask some one like that to leave. Instead we had to deal with it ourselves. We ended up waiting another 15min for Amanda to run the checks, which we literally handed back to her with credit cards while she was still at the table. it was 9pm on a Thursday- there was one other party of six in the restaurant and four people in the bar- why did it take so long? Were you writing down our card number, exp date and CVC? There was no explanation. Also, the restaurant is closed while the owners go on vacation? Two true signs of poor leadership 1) not preparing the people around you to take on ownership of the business and 2)not surrounding yourself with employees who are smarter than you. I would never wish that a business fails, but this one definitely needs to get their act (food and service) together. In the meantime, I'll be at the superior Seaway Diner. read more

Excellent smoke flavor, great sweet but not too sweet BBQ sauce. I'm from down south and miss BBQ. Dinosaur BBQ has nothing on these guys.

Always ordered same thing . Pulled pork nachos . It my all time favorite nacho plate . Didn't expect to crave it like I do

Great food, great prices, and great service. Highly recommend the ole mess or hollenbeck burger. Only negative I can think of are the fountain drinks are pretty flavorless. Still a 5 star for the north country. read more

The Smokehouse did the catering for our wedding and did a fantastic job. The guests loved the pulled pork and pulled chicken and the corn bread was a huge hit as well. They were able to ensure we had the wine and beer we wanted and all their prices were really affordable. The staff were really attentive and stayed late into the night. They helped to make our wedding a huge success - thank you so much! We highly recommend them for catering and check out the restaurant too, it's a really good time. read more

It is tough finding a good place to eat in the Potsdam area but we came across this place and it was really good. Portions were very generous and the atmosphere really gets you in the mood for some good BBQ. If you're looking for some good food I would definitely recommend this place. read more

We have been here a few times. We went here on August 10 for our anniversary. The food was excellent, both of us enjoyed our meals. The only downfall that I didn't give 5 stars was our waitress, she never even told us her name, and she dropped off our chicken wings and bolted from our table and that was basically her service to us the entire time never coming back to check on us and just basically disappearing, when the other 2 waitress were coming back to there tables numerous times. When we were done our meals she came over to ask us if we wanted boxes my husband said yes, and she wasn't even going to attempt to upsale dessert he had to ask her before she bolted again, it almost felt like she was annoyed and wanted to go on break. That was the only bad thing, we have had great service here before. So hopefully this won't happen again. read more

The Ole Smokehouse - Yummy! Enjoyed! - Barbeque Near Me - Madrid, New York

My family and I have been to The Ole Smokehouse three times. The first time we walked away telling others what a great place with great food. The second time was our daughter's 21st birthday and was OK but the food seemed less than what we had remembered. Today was the last straw! We had 2 pm reservations for seven for dinner following our daughter's graduation from SUNY Potsdam. We waited at the door for several minutes without anyone acknowledging us. The restaurant was not busy and at least two of the wait staff passed by us without ever saying someone will be right with you. When we were seated we were told that we could not order anything off the dinner section of the menu until later in the day. We were only allowed to order sandwiches and salads.( Really? From where I come from, families eat Sunday dinner in the afternoon). Anyway, the waitress was nothing special. The food was pretty good. The plates were cleared and the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. As I said, the food was good and everyone was full. We received the check, paid it and in less than 5 minutes the waitress leaned over to my daughter (not the person paying the bill) and asked if she (we) wouldn't mind leaving because they had lots of reservations coming and they wanted to clear the table. I know what you are thinking (this was probably a rowdy bunch) and I don't blame you but our group was very quiet and well behaved so imagine our shock when we were asked to leave! There were several empty tables and no one waiting to be seated. We paid $98 for sandwiches and sodas and left a $20 tip. I felt like taking my tip off the table on my way out. My daughter's coming back to Potsdam for Graduate School but we will not be bringing our special occasions back to The Ole Smokehouse. read more

Great food and good prices, bar has a good selection. I normally pop in when I'm on a bike rally.

After returning to the Adirondacks I have been searching for good barbecue. What I found was much better than I thought possible. The ribs were perfect, the brisket melts in your mouth, and after taking a tour of their smokehouse with one of the cooks I sampled a piece of pulled pork. It was heaven. Highly recommend this place and even though I was just there a couple days ago I'm going back this week. read more