The SmoQue Shack

I used to love the Shack, but it has fallen in quality and value over the years. This year’s Superbowl party was a lunchbox letdown.
I had chicken wings, ribs, and poutine. All were very, very average. Small portions, steep prices. Ribs were dry and a bit tough, yet smothered in sauce. There was some sort of pepper twang in the poutine that was very out of place. Wings were passable but not worth the $ 10/​lb «special» price. Pints were actually 16oz (or less).
All told, everything left me wanting. This isn’t the Smoque Shack I used to love and crave. I don’t plan on going back. There are far better options within stumbling distance.

This place has great BBQ with a Carribean taste. First time I went I got a pulled pork sandwich with cornbread and their seasoned fries. So damn good.

Great food; meanwhile the service was among the best I’ve seen in years. My wife and I took our one year old after a long day as we came in from the rain for dinner. The waiter made us feel very welcomed, served us great tasting beer and great food. If we lived in Ottawa we would have become regulars.

So Fucking good!!!
Eat here and you will be happy!
Prices a pretty good too.
Its fresh and they cook with a lot of local farmer products :)

Always a favourite! Best jerk chicken in town! This time I tried BBQ chicken for a change and it was sweet and delicious. Sweet potato fries are skinny, spicy and crispy. Good selection of beer. Not great wine, sadly. Chicken could be served at hotter temperature. But it is all really yummy. Atmosphere is sports bar with a dash of hipster.
Recommended especially if you’re into authentic hot jerk.

It all started off well…
I attended with 4 other guys on a Friday night and naturally we had to wait for a table (Our fault, not theirs).
We had drinks at the bar while we waited. It took about 40 minutes for us to be seated and when we were, 5 of us were cramped into a four person table. We asked several times for them to add a small table to ours to accommodate our extra person and despite there being extra tables open and available they wouldn’t.
As far as the food goes… We sampled the rib tips (excellent), onion rings (excellent) and the caesar salad (pretty good).
I had the ¼ rack of beef ribs and unfortunately it was ruined with too much sauce. Even after I tried to clean it off, it still had too much sauce on it.
For a smokehouse place, you’d think they would understand that it’s not about the sauce but about the smoked flavour. Too bad otherwise this would have been a four star review.

We came here as another stop on You Gotta Eat Here. Overall it was pretty good. I would have rated it a four star except for the ribs. The baby back ribs were ok but we kind of expected more. On the positive the brisket was really good especially the sauce. Also the onion rings were amazing and the seasonal vegetables!
Our waitress was cool and provided great service.

Okay, but could have been great. Ordered the St Louis ribs and brisket. The flavor was fantastic but very very dry; the culprit of improperly reheating. Get that straighten out and this place could easy rank 5+ stars.

I had an awesome meal with my girlfriend at the SmoQue Shack in Ottawa this past week. We were walking around in a heat wave, and spotted this nice little place in a house in the Byward Market area.
There weren’t that many people around, so we settled into a high-​top table near the bar area, and were very promptly and well-​served the whole meal.
After skimming the menu, I settled on Rib Tips for an app, and Burnt Ends for a main, while my girlfriend had a pulled pork sandwich, and we split an order of onion rings.
I have to say that, surprisingly, the onion rings were the best I’ve EVER had. It was like they had been breaded in a buttermilk batter with BBQ spices and Sour Cream & Onion chip flavour mixed in. Absolutely amazing.
Not to be outdone, the rib tips were glorious and smoky, and the burnt ends were FANTASTIC — the outermost part of a brisket sliced off and then done up with more BBQ sauce, they were my favorite part of the meal, although the portion was a little smaller than I would have liked.
I also had a great Caesar while I was there, very spicy and smoky as you would expect, garnished with two olives, a slice of smoked sausage, and a lime. It was pretty good although a bit too salty for my tastes.
That being said, the next time I’m back in Ottawa I’m definitely going back — if you’re looking for a laid-​back meal with great BBQ, definitely check this place out.

If you like meat, that’s the place you want to go too !
A great night, so food was simply delicious !
I could not eat anything else after the main course so I can’t tell you if the desserts are awesome or not, but the onion rings and beef ribs are just incredible !
I tried the fried pickles too, which was really nice !
Enjoy !

Four of us went here on a rainy Friday night. Given the quality of the food and the crappy weather, I’m surprised the restaurant was only at about ¹⁄₃ capacity. Then again, we went in July during BluesFest.
They have a nice selection of local brews on tap. I started with Beyond the Pale’s pink fuzz grapefruit wheat. Very tasty, but somewhat filling. I didn’t want to ruin my appetite for BBQ so I switched to the Mill St. organic lager, followed by the summer ale.
For my entrée, I went with the Friday special, which on this particular night was braised short ribs in a red wine reduction. For $ 16, I was unimpressed with the portion size, but at least the short ribs fell right off the bone and practically melted in my mouth.
Of course we had to all split some sides, so I made the executive decision to go with the small portions of fries, mac and cheese and the tangy cole slaw. Let’s start with the fries. Clearly hand-​cut, not frozen, and perfectly seasoned. Mac and cheese: obviously homemade, looks filling, but is surprisingly light and probably in my top 5 mac and cheeses of all time. Tangy slaw: super fresh, just the right amount of tang and a good balance to the other sides. For four people getting meals, three small sides should be more than enough.
I teetered on giving this place five stars, but after trying a rather dry beef rib from the small picnic (sampler platter), I changed my mind to four. In fairness, the sausage from the picnic was bangin’ and the others were happy with their baby back ribs and jerk chicken.
Here’s a special shout out to our server Alexis, who was very pleasant, knew the menu well and provided some solid recommendations.
Side note: Most of the BBQ joints I frequent leave me smelling like the kitchen. Here, the kitchen is nicely segregated from the dining room so you’re in the clear if you’re planning a hot date after dinner.

First time here and our server was very helpful with the menu. Great food. I would highly recommend to try

The pulled pork sandwich was awesome. I’m not quite into this kind of food but this was really good. If you go there, you HAVE TO try it.
On the other side, the chicken burger was a bit dull, so I guess I’ll just stick to the safe option next time.
They also have really good beer there.
Also, the price is a bit high, considering that the sandwiches or burgers come without fries or salad.

Ordered the sampler withe a choice of 3 meats. This is a great way to learn the menu.
I had a side of baked beans. These were by far the BEST baked beans of my life. Sweet & tasty, with small pieces of meat. Delish!
For a different drink try the Red Stripe and ginger beer.
I’ll be back for more.

Fun location on the edge of the market in a house, Smoque Shack has great food in a simple but fun décor.
We enjoyed the food and the service. We had a short wait on a Saturday evening around 7. Lots of noise from people talking, so if that bothers you, stay away.
Portions are pretty generous — we over-​ate. :-/​Suggest splitting dishes to keep things under control quantity wise.
Would I return: Yes
Would I recommend: Yes.

Had the sampler: mac and cheese, onion rings, baby back ribs, jerk chicken, and pulled pork. Food was mediocre.
Mac and cheese was good, service was fantastic, wine was peller estates.

I have a lot to say about the food here! Went with a group of four and ordered samplers so we tasted a bit of everything. The brisket wasn’t well liked, nor was the jerk pork, or pulled pork. The brisket lakes flavour, the jerk pork was very fatty, and the pulled pork lacked sauce and was quite dry. What we did like though was the sweet potato fries, BBQ chicken, jerk chicken, deep fried pickles and creamy cole slaw. The chicken was a bit on the dry side but flavourful. The slaw lacked flavour on it’s own but paired very well with the flavourful meat. I would go back but would avoid a few of the menu items.

I agreed with some other reviews here with average rating. We ordered the rib tips and beef ribs. The rib tips are on the dry side without much flavour itself without the sauce. For the beef ribs we are a bit disappointed as they are apparently not fresh as I can taste the meat tenderizer. They are seriously overcooked so they look blackened and the sauce is really salty too. If you like the southern style BBQ definitely you won’t enjoy the taste and quality here.
Though they said it was on the food network’s «you gotta eat here» show, it doesn’t mean anything as this is the second restaurant we tried today which were on the show and didn’t impress the foodies here.
We won’t be back until the quality improves.

The food here was amazing ! The server was really friendly and helpful and gave great advice and suggestions. I love eating at a restaurant where the servers clearly love the food! They even gave me a sample of the sauce to try before I ordered since I was unsure.
It was a really nice change and I would definitely go back!

So SmoQue Shack finally happened and I gotta say it wasn’t quite worth the hype but def worth the visit.
The order:

Pork ribs ²⁄₅
Beef brisket ⁴⁄₅
Corn bread ⁴⁄₅
Mac n cheese ²⁄₅
Shaque burger ³⁄₅
The corm bread and brisket were ok. But the Mac n cheese was dry, the ribs were super tough and the burger was decent.
So if you’re in the area, give it a try. But don’t expect real southern style comfort food, it is no where near that. My Mac n cheese would put theirs to shame and that’s not right.
However, i must add that I was pleasantly surprised by the reasonably priced menu.
I RECOMMEND– the corn bread (butter please!)
EXTRA TIP– lemonade is supppppper sweet. And I never find something too sweet