Smoke on the Water BBQ & Seafood

"Great location (about 4 miles from the highway exit) and great view of the marina and water. Lots of choices in outdoor seating (sun, shade, chairs, picnic tables, etc). Food was tasty and I was delightfully surprised by the subtle Asian influence (Thai sweet chili flavors in the BBQ sauce and lime in the cole slaw). I had pulled pork and it was moist and tender. My parents got the brisket and it was very tender and flavorful. Service was very fast and friendly. We enjoyed our chat with the owner as well. We wish you the best!"

"We've tried Smoke on the Water a couple times this summer, but it has been a disappointment each time. We went the first time about 3 weeks after they opened, and the food was not good, but they were still working out bumps. I contacted them through private message on social media. Someone said they would get back to me to discuss our meal, but they never did. The pros: it's a beautiful location, the servers were friendly and attentive, and lots of money has been spent on decor & parking surfacing. The fried bologna sandwich was tasty, the szechuan beans are good, mac & cheese was creamy (although the crispy topping was missing the first time & skimpy the second time) and the clams were clean. Waitstaff were friendly. The cons: the food is really mediocre overall. The clams were supposed to be served in a smoky garlic broth, but they arrived in a tepid butter water - no hint of smoke, garlic, lemon, etc. The half chicken had rubbery skin and was pre-sauced which probably didn't help anything. The smoke flavor was very mild. The vinegar & oil slaw is vastly underseasoned; it is very oily, but lacks acid, salt or pepper. We thought they just forgot to stir the slaw before serving, but it was the same each time we were there. When we asked for salt & pepper a couple of disposable Food Club shakers appeared. They had no unsweetened iced tea, and the only no-sugar beverages available were water or Diet Pepsi. Everything is a la cart, so putting together a full meal is quite expensive, but then everything is served in disposable plastic tubs, along with disposable plastic flatware. Diners behind us asked for the dessert of the day, but it wasn't ready yet an hour after opening, and we overheard one of the servers asking the kitchen what the beans tasted like. The final salt in the wound is their insistence on playing truly awful top-40 music from the mid-80s. Not the good 80s stuff, but the songs that remind you how awful teased hair and stirrup pants are. The menu is small, which would be fine if they were turning out delicious, consistent food, but they're not. I'm puzzled by the high rating they have so far, and I don't know if that's people wowed by the location or just enthusiasm for a new place. They seem to have spent a good deal of money to bring a bland modern-farmhouse style to the space, but it doesn't feel welcoming, and the fast food style ordering counter feels cold and opportunistic when you're paying $25-30 a person for a meal. I truly hope they pull it together and succeed. We have many great restaurants in town, and this could be one of them but right now there is no reason to go back and pay chef prices for a chain-restaurant quality experience."

"My update since owners response: 1. Premium side was what was ordered and pictured in the meal, and it was just enough for one person. 2. Telling anyone would not have made a difference that day. The poor service started with the front counter with asking gluten-free questions. I left that out because I couldn't tell if it was because she was new and the other girl tried to put effort in and recover. And in reference to your reply about Andy's Equipment: a private meaage would probably make more sense, but yes, i sell new and used equipment for them and other people also. Andys business is awesome. I have also owned a restaurant and bar. Original: New ownership and I'm sooooo disappointed. 1st of all, why kill your servers tip opportunity right from the start! With order yourself, but don't pay, then take your number to a table which then gets you a server that doesn't pay attention to you anyways. Next... a pulled pork sandwich 12.00 with NO sides, not very good pork, soggy cheap rolls due to the wet coleslaw on it, and when I asked for a side of sweet bbq sauce that I waited 20 min for. It was spicy. Sides start at 6.00 most are 8.00 . And they weren't good anyways. But it is beautiful on the water. So my glass of water was refreshing. Highly recommend going to have a drink with a wonderful view. Hope they pull it together because at least before we had good food. Also, in the pics is exactly how it came out, those trays are small. I guess the sandwich did come with chips, but they were awful and not enough to matter."

"My wife and I went there for dinner on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I had a feeling we’d have a long wait from previous experience at the former business but was pleasantly surprised and found it was not busy at all. Probably because they had no band. The place has kind of a McDonald’s vibe to it. You order at a counter off LCD screens behind the order takers. Everything is a’la cart. We ordered a half rack of ribs, coleslaw, chips and queso, a can of beer and a diet Pepsi. I also ordered a piece of cornbread but they said they were out of cornbread. With tip the bill came to just over $50. The hostess sat us at a table outside and our waitress brought out our food very quickly about 3-4 minutes later, which added to the whole fast food vibe. Our waitress was a very nice younger girl and that was the pretty much the last time we saw her. It was a minuscule amount of food for $50. Our food was served on metal cafeteria trays with plasticware. Although it’s called Smoke on the Water, I didn’t see any smokers. The ribs were decent, not great but not bad either. I think they might have been baked. I don’t know for sure but they certainly didn’t have a smoky flavor. The coleslaw was a complete joke! It was a tiny amount of crunchy cabbage and carrots, with what tasted like a little French salad dressing on it. It didn’t taste like it was marinated or anything. We each took a bite and threw the rest out. The $10 chips and queso was a small amount of plain generic corn chips and some mediocre queso. It was just okay and we did eat all of it. Their wet naps are definitely on point! These things were awesome, nearly the size of beach towels I tell you and it made clean up a breeze! One of the owners came by our table and asked how everything was? I asked him how do we get another drink? Do I have to go back up to the counter and order one? He said we could order more drinks from our waitress (but she was MIA). He explained that it’s a new business and he wants the customers input. I was very nice to him and tried to tactfully explain that the coleslaw wasn’t exactly to my liking. He said that customers complain that creamy coleslaw is too creamy and then they complain that vinegar coleslaw has too much vinegar, so his chef came up with this recipe that is somewhere in the middle that everyone should like. I told him that I realize it’s a new business but something that I liked about the old business is that they offered sides with the entree and he may want to consider offering sides with an entree. He got a little defensive and said “the old business was doing a lot of things wrong and that’s why they are not in business anymore”. I felt like this was kind of a low blow because I heard the previous owner was forced to shut down the business because of health reasons. He went on to tell me about how he’s a snowbird down in Naples in the winter and how this year was rough because he had to come back to Ohio early to open this place, and how he has 63 employees. I eventually kind of cut him off and asked him how we pay for our meal. He said the waitress will bring you your check. He then asked another waitress to tell our waitress to bring the check. I may give them another shot towards the end of summer to see if they improved. It’s a real shame because it used to be one of our favorite places to go in the summer."