Bear's Smokehouse Barbecue 470 James Street, New Haven, CT 06513

"I love the feel of this place. Light, bright, clean. Fire pits and wonderful food an drink. There was lots of parking available too."

"We ordered the Thanksgiving dinner, and it was great! We will definitely order again. It made my life a lot easier. I gave 4 starts because the workers were rude. I get working on the holiday, might make you bitter, but you still have a job to do. We walked in and saw a few people standing around. I've never been there before, so I started to walk up to some workers, and she directed me to the host stand. No problem with that, but one worker I could hear her talking saying,'Don't you see the stand with the hostess sign' something along those lines. It took everything in me not to say something and the girl who helped us with our order went through our menu made sure we had everything which was great but you could tell she did not want to be at work. Other than that the food was really good and everyone enjoyed it. I don't think I would eat there to be served, but I would definitely do take out. Everything was still hot too! Which was really great."

"For takeout, we ordered half a pound of beef brisket and a full rack of ribs. With that, we had several meals adding a side of salad, see pix, and it was very good. Highly recommend."

"Great spot to go over the weekend. The service was incredible and everyone behind the counter was SO friendly and accommodating! Our favorites were the burnt ends (our #1 by far) and the poutine with pulled pork. Insanely good! For the slight cons: The food wasn’t super warm and the cornbread was too dense for our liking but overall everything was good and pretty reasonable in price! The bar and outdoor areas are really nice too. Amazing place to hang out with friends on a nice day. When we were there, they were setting up for live music. We will be back!"

"Great barbecue and even better atmosphere. Great bar and outdoor seating area allows pets and grassy area for games. I am not a barbecue connoisseur but everything we had was very good. Brisket was tender and ribs were crusty but fell off the bone. Good potato salad and macaroni and cheese. Corn bread with honey butter should be a must. All sauces were good but ghost pepper was my favorite, great heat but not at all overpowering. Really wanted to try the banana pudding but it won’t be at this location for a month or so. Need to come back. Great beer and cocktail selection as well. If you prefer alcohol free you can order at a counter and sit in an area prior to the bar area. Highly recommend."