Smokehouse 52
| Address: | 113 Park St, Chelsea, MI 48118, USA |
| Phone: | +1 734-562-2565 |
| Site: | sh52bbq.com |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–9PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
MA
Matt Callis
My wife and I were on a drive and ended up in Manchester. When I mentioned heading to Ann Arbor for some real BBQ, she reminded me of this place, and Im glad she did. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was a bourbon barrel from Buffalo Trace distillery, As a bourbon lover, this was a very good sign! We were greeted quickly and seated. After being seated we were quickly greeted by our server Alison, a very polite, attentive and professional server. She answered questions about the drink menu and even went to check on one of their bourbons (they had a typo on their menu that was, well, strange, so she checked it out) We ordered drinks, I got a 52 mule which is their version of a Kentucky mule--very tasty, my wife wasnt sure so sampled a beer or two and then got a tasty local craft brew. We ordered some hush puppies with pulled pork on top (it is their featured appetizer with some cool name I cant remember) and it was delicious. It was served with some zesty cole slaw and some type of ranchy/horshradishy kind of sauce. When we got our meals (almost too quick, we hadnt quite finished our apps) the plates were laden down with large amounts of food. I got the beef brisket and there had to be 12 or more ounces of meat on my plate. A very generous portion of hot crispy fries and some cole slaw. My wifes slider plate was just about as full as mine. The meat was close to perfect--if I had to nitpick, I would prefer my meat be seasoned just a bit more as it was kind of plain without the sauce, but very good. The sauce was all very tasty with my favorite being the gold style with mustard. The only thing I wasnt impressed with was my coleslaw--it was a bit dry for my taste, but a spoon of the left over horseradishy dressing from our appetizer made it perfect. Alison continued her excellent service checking on us throughout our meal and even telling us about the activities going on in Chelsea. I will be back for sure. Their prices are on the high side (my beef brisket dinner was $19, my drink was about $10-the beer was a little cheaper ) but here the food and service quality are really top notch so it is worth the money.
TA
Taylor Oberst
We had a great time here. Up in Michigan visiting for the week with some friends and we came here for some BBQ. The place is very nice inside, clean and modern. We came here for a late afternoon lunch during the week. Not busy at all and wonderful friendly service. Theres plenty to choose from here on the menu for a variety of BBQ items. I went with the burnt ends to start off with. Im a fan of this dish and not many places can do it well. Its usually a fattier dish, and some places just dont get the fat rendered well. Here it was very good and a very "meaty" portion! My entree was the pile of pulled pork, corn bread, and a side of the mac & cheese. The mac was delicious, its up there on my list of favorites, probably one of the best Ive had that I liked. Its a little heavy, but thats what makes it good, nice cheeses, some creamy-ness and a lot of goodness! The pulled pork was very tasty and I had plenty to take home with me. I do want to mention they have quite the variety of BBQ sauces. There was a root beer one that is actually surprisingly good. Reminds me of the old skool, Dr pepper and apple sauce on pork chops kind of deal. A hot, not too hot at all, but a good smoky jalapeno flavor one. A traditional one that was good too. My favorite was the mustard sauce. And I was a little disappointed in the vinegar one. Vinegar sauces are my favorite for pulled pork, this one, to me, was lacking any additional flavor besides vinegar.
MA
Marius Jooste
It was not our first time there and granted, it was a busy Saturday night. But. 1. Dont promise me a 30 minute wait and then make me wait for 75. While we waited throws of other walk-ins left as the stream of those with reservations walked in and were served immediately. I dont know how their reservation system works but it did not work well for walk-ins. There was no communication between us and the front desk about any reasons for the delay. Unacceptable. 2. One member of our party were served a sandwich with a piece of aluminum foil in it. That basically killed the evening for us. Some guy showed up without introducing himself. He may have been the owner, or the manager, regardless, he did very little to address our concerns. We left as soon as we could. I will not recommend Smokehouse 52 to friends.
SE
Sean Lundberg
Smokehouse 52 is an OK barbecue restaurant. The pulled pork and brisket are not the best around but they are good. Some tweaking with the rub and maybe the smoke would benefit these two options. Barbecue sauce choices are so so. They are good for dipping but nothing really stands out to me as excellent. They do have unique sauce flavors which dont appeal to me personally but might be just right for someone looking for a unique sauce. Cornbread comes out cold, it should be warm. It would taste better and melting the butter would help. Lots of sandwich and meal choices. Service is good and the wait staff are friendly. My rating is based on about 4 visits.
BR
Brian Grisez
Service was a bit slow on a Mon. evening. I waited nearly 10 minutes before I saw a waitress. Pulled pork was watery (a puddle of water on the plate) and tasteless. One thing that I can commend is, when I said it was watery, the waitress was quick to replace it with the brisket. The brisket was better, though still a bit bland. I didnt find any sign of smoke in any of the meat I was served. Maybe the line cook was smoking while he boiled the meat? Those who say this is great BBQ, either have never had good BBQ, or they got different food than I did. The best part of my meal was the mac-n-cheese. It was creamy, cheesy and full of flavor.
AN
Anna G
My husband and I have eaten here on several occasions for lunch and dinner. He loves the Pig Mac and my favorite is the burnt ends with mac n cheese. Last night we split "The whole hog" and it was fantastic. We enjoyed their new bourbon bbq sauce and our waitress (Amy) was friendly and attentive. The staff is warm and inviting and I often see the owner serving and chatting with customers (which is refreshing). The only suggestions I have are a bigger local beer selection, later hours, and to find someway to cut down on the volume. Its quite loud but the food and excellent service makes this place our favorite restaurant.
JE
Jessica Buza
Awesome food and awesome service! I had the "piggy colada salad" and it was honestly one of the best salads Ive ever had. Going into it I was thinking it could either be a terrible choice or a great choice because there were so many different things combined, but it definitely was a great combo. The owner came around and asked how our meal was and then told me that his 14 year old daughter concocted that salad. Hats off to her! Went with three others and everyone really enjoyed their meals (Pulled pork sandwich, Fried Chicken Po Boy). I will definitely be returning when I am in the area again.
