Flying Pig Barbeque

Reviews 3

CA

Caroline Belli

My husband and I were very excited to try this restaurant. I am not a big barbecue fan (which means we usually dont go to BBQ restaurants), but he loves it, and I wanted to do something nice for him... and it looked like there were some other good options for me to try out as well. When we walked into the restaurant (with our 5 month old son in tow), we were greeted and asked if we would be more comfortable in a booth or a table, because we had our little one in a carseat. We asked for a booth, and were walked over to one. The woman helping us realized the table needed to be cleaned off and walked us back over to the waiting area to have a seat while it was cleared. While we were waiting, another hostess appeared and seated two other couples, one of which she put in the booth that had been cleared off for us. We waited for about 10 more minutes. When the woman who had been helping us reappeared, she walked right by us without making eye contact, noticed our table had been given to the other party, whispered something in the other hostess ear and walked away again. Several minutes went by when finally the other hostess came up to my husband and I and asked, "Is there something you need? What are you doing here?" and we told her that the other hostess had been helping us and we were waiting for a table. She turned around and grabbed two menus and seated us at a regular table in the middle of the restaurant. When the original hostess who had been helping us finally came back out, she walked right by us again and pretended as if she had never been helping us in the first place. To walk into a restaurant and then be brushed aside so easily was very disturbing, especially when we had a young baby with us. I worked in the service industry for several years, and this mistake could have easily been remedied had the original hostess had some personal accountability and approached us with what had happened and apologized. But to be treated as if we did not exist and had never been helped was completely mind blowing. It appeared as if the original hostess HAD informed the other hostess of what happened, and yet she still continued to approach us as if she were confused as to why were waiting, ignoring the fact that she probably new we asked for a booth, and just sat us at a regular table without even bothering to ask if we minded, or would want to wait until another booth became available. We were so blown away by this complete lack of accountability and respect that we could not stand to sit in that place for one more minute. We informed the manager of what happened and although we were offered a free meal, we decided wed rather not endure any more awful service. Since our son was born it is VERY RARE that we get the chance to eat out as a family, and we usually get to the restaurant pretty early when its still relatively empty and the service isnt slammed, which is what we did in this case. Instead, we wasted all this time getting treated like dirt, and had to shlep out to another restaurant and get food to go so that we could get our son to bed on time. If I were the chef of Smoke, I would urge management to make some changes in the front of house staff. If the option to give 0 stars were available, I would have not even given this place a single star rating.

JE

Jeff Turpin

Ive been a bit excited though cautious about trying Smoke as I remember the Granary and their largely failed take at modernist American BBQ during the dinner service. Also, Smoke claims to have the best BBQ in San Antonio, and while good, and indeed better than most in San Antonio, fails to meet that claim, modernist takes on the cuisine aside. (Harmons, anyone?) We started with the tater tot & brisket poutine with chipotle aioli and fried egg. While nothing by itself was extraordinary, all of this together was fairly good, probably the best thing we ate while there. However, their pride and joy in this dish, the brisket wasnt the best in San Antonio. I had some pieces separate from the dish itself, and some were much more tough than the rest - much tougher than brisket should be. The smoke flavor was a bit lacking but thankfully not oversmoked. And the flavor of the beef itself was fairly good. Overall, the brisket was better than most in San Antonio. The richness of the egg and smokiness of the chipotle really brought the dish together. We also got the house made bread basket, and I would say its the weakest dish. The Hawaiian rolls were completely burned on the top, and the rest of the bread was lacking moisture. The jalapeno cornbread had a decent flavor and the lard biscuit was very flavorful and the lard was apparent. The mac n cheese side was fairly good; however, the noodles were too large and the consistency of the cheese sauce too thin. I prefer smaller noodles with a thicker sauce that sticks to the noodles. Finally, we tried the Dr. Pepper pork ribs. I didnt taste the Dr. Pepper itself although there was some sweetness to the ribs. Overall, the ribs were quite delicious. In short, we did enjoy our meal although I was lightly disappointed after so much hype and expectation. The BBQ is not the best in San Antonio - try Harmons BBQ in Cibolo (which is close enough) as well as Smoke Shack BBQ. However, their takes on modernist BBQ are far better originated and executed than The Granary. I would love to try over 75% of the menu at Smoke, and will be returning to do so. After trying a few more things, and retrying the brisket and ribs, I may move the rating up 1 or 2 stars.

CE

cesar matute

I wanted to tell you all about my experience this weekend about your location smoke. I dont usually write comments even if the the service or food is horrible but I think this should be said.....we wanted to sit outside. the hostess was really nice, so she got us a table outside close to the band, but here is where everything started to spiral downward. We waited for our server for about 25 minutes until i had to get up to inform the hostess that no one had greeted us. Then about ten minutes later our server, Rachel came by with waters and asked us for a beverage order which we preceded to give here and were informed that dos xx was not available she did not attempt to upsell or even try give us any recommendation.. she felt that she needed to check with the bar what beers were available and that took ten minutes so mind you its been 30 minutes and nothing has been ordered yet, no appetizer was offered nor ordered. We ordered a bbq burger and a full rack of ribs which arrived to our table in an appropriate time. But the food arrived with no condiments for either dish and the server took ten minute to do a two minute check back on our meal which had not been touched because everything was extremely dry, and still no sauces were offered. Management was alerted and when she saw management, she returned with a sauce caddy was already to late because my ribs were ice cold by that time. Manager removed all food and returned with fresh hot food. Needless to say i still left 18 %, obviously waitstaff needs a bit more polishing and training to the standards that the owner expects his business to portray