Holy Smokes BBQ Shack

1. Really enjoyed my experience with family, a real lunchtime treat,ordered a smashed burger 🍔 without bap as I can’t eat bread, etc. Was a large portion size, but it was lovely. I member of staff came down to were we were seated and refunded me £2 as I didn’t get the bap was well impressed with this as normally when I ordered burgers in other places I don’t get a reduction in price. Staff were
   very helpful and friendly, and we weren’t rushed when ordering food or while seated eating our food, although it was very busy. We will definitely return and I would really recommend that you pay a visit

2. I’ve been BBQing for over 20 years and to the negative reviews on here I challenge you to get anywhere close to the high quality bbq this place turns out.
   The absolute behemoth of ribs I was served had everything from char to juiciness. Fell off the bone.
   The bark was exceptional, peppery, smokey and not too sweet.
   The bbq sauce is of similar taste. Perfect.
   Chips are chips but here you get all of them lol.

   Drove from Belfast simply to try this place. Was it worth the tenner diesel…..absolutely. Two of my lads had for dinner what I couldn’t finish.
   How can you complain about that when it only costs 19.99

   Be back next week for the chicken fries.

3. Huge Let-down. Overhyped, overpriced.

   So obviously off the back of Food Review Club awarding this place an outstanding 10/10, it’s attracted a massive following. It’s been on our radar for months and today we finally made the 70 mile journey to try it out.

   We arrived early, around 4pm, as did several other cars and were within the first 10 or so customers to order. First alarm bells was that the huge outdoor smokers/BBQ’s weren’t staffed and looked like they hadn’t been on at all. Maybe some prep is done on these, but I’d be doubtful.

   We ordered the Short Rib (at £25 the most expensive dish on the menu) and the Loaded Fries, which were £15.
   £7 for two warm Ginger Beer raised a brow.

   Food came out quite promptly, within 10mins. We chose to sit-in. Hugely disappointed with the Short Rib. Quite evidently not BBQ’d/Smoked – but seemed cooked off in a commercial oven. No smokeyness or charred flavour. Absolutely full of rubbery fat, very little meat at all. A ridiculously small piece of stale corn-bread and a tonn of the cheapest skinny fries to bulk out the portion. The beans were extremely tasty, yet the ‘burnt ends’ nowhere to be seen.

   Loaded Fries, again an absolutely huge portion of the cheapest of Fries topped with Iceland style coated chicken, smothered in sauce.

   I’d of been happier with half the quantity of fries, with a better quality. Maybe a nice skin-on type fries that most Street Food Vendors use, not McDonald’s grade, especially for the prices being charged. But this is only my personal preference.

   My photos should do the talking here, but overall a seriously disappointing experience, especially considering it was a 140 mile trip specifically to try this place out. I completely understand the demand for Holy Smokes is probably sky rocketed since it’s boom onto Social Media and they’re now flatout on a daily occurrence but its such a shame we didn’t have a great first experience.

   And I also appreciate the scale of the operation, in terms of staffing etc. This isn’t some small one-man trailer knocking out 20-30 portions, its a monster of a “street food” setup, and seems consistently busy.

   However, was it worth a long journey – no. Would I go back, unfortunately not.

4. Having heard horror stories of people queuing for 90 minutes to order, my friend and I made our way to Holy Smokes over an hour before service began at 5pm. Thankfully, we were first through the door and took our place at the order hatch. It wasn’t too long before the queue had started behind us.

   Service began promptly at 5pm, but a very nice fella came and turned on the menu boards about 25 minutes before this, which gave us a good long time to decide what to order. Holy Smokes is definitely on the pricier side of roadside dining and having eaten there tonight, I’m still not 100% certain it’s worth it. Was the food good? Yes, absolutely. It was fresh and well cooked too, but I believe that the pricing is more a reflection of the Holy Smokes Hype than the food itself.

   I paid £24 for 4 slices of brisket, an oversized portion of very tasty fries, some slightly lukewarm burnt end beans, a thick slice of cornbread and a side dip. The bread dipped in the bean juice was a taste revelation, but the beans themselves were a bit of a weird texture for me. My friend paid £27 for short rib and the same sides that came with my brisket. The short rib fell off the bone and was beautifully flavoursome. From the menu, the ribs would set you back £20 and the Loaded Chicken Fries were £15.

   I definitely would go back to Holy Smokes again, but not regularly. Mostly because I couldn’t afford to, but the food was good and the atmosphere was nice, chatting to others in the queue!

5. Ordered the big 4 mains it was awesome. Best burger we had in a while. Brisket and ribs good juicy and tender. Atmosphere I gave two stars, dust blown everywhere from the ground and cars passing by the road.

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