Annapolis Smokehouse & Tavern

Hands-​down, the best barbecue I have tasted and I am from North Carolina. I know barbecue! The owner Jenn is a sweetheart and totally devoted to her customers. Great atmosphere, great food!

We visited this spot on a Sunday night and sat at the bar. The wings were wonderful and their onion rings just as delicious. Bartenders and crowd were friendly. We were on the fence about going because of the mixed reviews but we’re so glad we took the chance.

One of my go-​to spots. The bar is extremely accommodating with a nice beer selection and plenty of tvs to watch sports on. The menu is creative and everything packs a delicious homemade flavor. They have a great weekend brunch menu and daily specials all week long. It’s one of those places where it’s hard to recommend a specific dish because everything is that good. Get in there, enjoy the open atmosphere with entertaining art, and stuff your face with deliciousness!

Did takeout here a few months ago. Excellent BBQ.

We have been here a few times since they opened several years ago and were never quite blown away. been hearing positive buzz so we thought we’d give it another try.
Overall very disappointing and will not repeat. I’m being kind with the two stars because my girlfriend said she will NEVER come again and she rules!
We were seated after a short wait on a busy Friday night. GF ordered the Wings with Old Bay because we have heard that their wings are great and she loves the Old Bay Wings at Boatyard. However these were way too salty and not only could she not eat them but she refused to take them home.
I ordered Shrimp P’Boy sandwich because I once had an outstanding shrimp salad sandwich (which no longer appears to be offered). there were two shrimp in each half of the sandwich and after taking two bites, the shrimp were consumed and three quarters of the remaining half sandwich was just mayo, lettuce and tomato. and the shrimp were nothing to rave about. very ordinary.
on top of this the noise factor in this restaurant are terrible and one literally cannot have a conversation. this may be the main reason why we have not returned often. Also it took almost 25 minutes for our food once ordered to be delivered to our table. the total experience consumed just shy of 90 minutes after a 10 minute wait at the bar, which is way too long and seemed interminably longer because we couldn’t have a normal conversation during the wait.
I wish I could say we’d give it another try but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

The food was good and the server was great but the acoustics are terrible! It’s really hard to hear even when you are at the same booth. I had the salmon salad which was quite good. My husband had the ribs but claimed they were just fair. He prefers Adam’s for ribs. The beer was cold!

Went to the Annapolis smoke house tonight for Prime Rib night first time there Jen and Steve were amazing and Russ & Jen gave great food recommendations, a great evening and a fantastic meal. Go check this place out friends it’s a Fantastic place!

Nice place, easy to find, great brisket, love the chips. Only small issue was live music to loud. So just avoid the live music nights, it’s a great place then.

Came here to grab some of the best wings that I have ever had in life. Sat at the bar and Jen was the absolute best. She was so welcoming!!! Jen told us about a Prince tribute party that they were hosting and we started talking about drinks named after his songs. We showed her a recipe for the diamonds and pearls cocktail and she made it for us so we could have a test run. AMAZING!!! Come in for the wings and drinks & stay for Jen’s great personality!

This place is legit. I’ve been here twice now, and both meals have been excellent. Upon first walking into the restaurant, the aroma will make your mouth water.
The beer menu actually includes some decent craft selections (e.g. Southern Tier, Left Hand). I was surprised by how well a milk stout paired with smoked meat.
On my trips here, I have tried both the mac & cheese and quesadilla off of the appetizer menu. The mac & cheese is awesome, but it is heavy. Tough to enjoy a dark beer, mac & cheese, and meat entrée without feeling way too full. On the other hand, the quesadilla is perfect to split with another and still have an entrée.
They have a wide variety of sauces that you can slather on your meal, but their wings are good naked too. I have also tried the pork belly BLT, and it is undoubtably the best BLT I have ever had.
Go next door to the liquor store after dinner. It’s huge and has a good selection of just about everything.

Awesome brisket. Got a free dessert on my birthday. When our server realized she forgot my mom’s coffee, she brought it right away and didn’t charge us for it. Wonderful butter rum cake.

It is just so empty inside. The ambience is hollow and anonymous. The food is pretty good, but the building feels so cold. The smoke house is convenient like the easy girl in college. There is no soul there, it just feels like a drunken corporate enterprise. This, the plight of most Annapolis restaurants. Why can Annapolis have the soul of Baltimore or DC? Where are more of the cute places like vin 909 or red red wine or fox den? Where and when indeed?

Went around 6:30pm on NYE. My meal was pretty good — their version of the Cuban sandwich. My husband stated that the crab cake on his sandwich was mushy.
They prepared my daughter’s food early… so early that it came out with our appetizers. That was good so she wouldn’t have to wait to eat since she was hungry, but also bad because she had to wait for us to finish the main meal, so we had an antsy 5 year old by the end.
It was sometimes hard to get the waitress’ attention when we needed something, and on more than one occasion she forgot to bring something we’d asked for. Ok overall, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again.

Love this place. I go there a lot so I try the specials which are usually pretty interesting and always well done, imo. Trying a crawfish, alligator and shrimp jambalaya over rice tonight for a change of pace…(but the beef brisket tamales are always on hit — the smoked tomato salsa they are topped with is to die for). Drinks are poured for grown-​ups and the crowd is usually pretty cool…
I am a fan and being from the SF Bay Area (home of 3800 restaurants), think I know a little bit about good food spots. This one has made the East Coast transition a little easier to bear.

This place isn’t going to completely knock your socks off but it is solid. We were there on trivia night and had a good time attempting to answer the random questions.
My friends ordered the nachos and I found it really weird to have nachos on potato chips. They were kinda soggy. We also tried the armadillo eggs for appetizers. I can’t for the life of me remember what kind of entrée I had so I guess it was unremarkable. I remember enjoying everything I ate except the nachos, so I’d return!

The atmosphere was that of a sports club… the Redskins fans were representing.
I had high hopes when I ordered a full rack of ribs, as they advertised that they are cooked slow for over 4 hours, and when they arrived, they were plenty tender, but tasted like they were boiled for over 4 hours. Probably the most bland ribs I’ve tried. My wife was also disappointed in her steak.

First time in to the Smokehouse. We were a group of 8 enjoying a family outing. They had ribs, pulled pork, salad, soup and burgers. Everyone was well pleased with their meals. Service was excellent. Good presentation was good and the location was nicely decorated. The bar had 6 TVs and a small selection of liquor and a few craft craft beers. Would definitely return in the future.

This is my second time to this restaurant and both times had been a let down.
My final time I came here on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. It was off-​time more like 3pm and we sat outside. Our waitress greeted us and I asked if they sold Grapefruit crushes, we’d have two of them. Both of us received orange crushes, no big deal but she never came back (she wasn’t the one to drop t hem off) so we had to go in to tell them.
Then I ordered a salad, no croutons, and no cucumber, with O&V on the side. My salad was brought out, again by someone else. She didn’t check on us, until I had already picked off all of the croutons and cucumbers, asked someone else for my oil and vin. It was just one of those days.
The food is not that great, salad while it looked great on paper was nothing special to compare it to the description. Was supposed to have goat cheese and oranges, it was pretty much a can of mandarin oranges and a glob of cheese on iceburg, My fiancé got a cobb salad that looked good bc he added brisket. All in all, I’ve tried a wide range of t hings here (the last time we sampled a lot) and I was not blown away with the quality of the food and definitely not the service.

Went here on a Sunday afternoon with my boy and my pup. It’s in a strip mall and the outdoor seating is a little strange (just tables on a sidewalk area), but we had a nice time.
The coolest thing about this place is they have something called Bark-​B-​Que for dogs. You get a bowl of organic kibble with the choice of pork, brisket, or chicken. I got my pup pork and it was gone in about 30 seconds. My only issue with the Bark-​B-​Que is that I wish it came in different portion sizes based on what size dog you have. I have a Boston Terrier and his portion was for a Great Dane. It was a great amount for the price but I ended up having to take some of it away from him so he wouldn’t get a belly ache.
Now on to the people food… I got the Pork Belly BLT with homemade chips. Loooooooved the pork belly bacon. My boyfriend got the pulled pork with collards and fried corn. I tried the fried corn and if you haven’t had it, you should try it because everything is better fried.

We have a couple of go to places that work for the whole family, and this is one. It’s located just off the intersection of Bayridge and Forrest Dr., nearish to the entrance to Quiet Waters Park, next door to Bayridge Wine and Spirits.
It has a nice large dining area, with a very open floor plan. A number of booth and a lot of tables. They also have a great bar area, separated from the dining room by a low wall… but they feel very much connected. The bar as bar seating and a good number of high top tables and chairs.
It’s usually pretty loud (just the atmosphere) which is great because I never worry that my kids will disrupt anyone if they get a little loud.
The food, while maybe a bit pricey, is always great. That’s everything from the appetizers to the food. I’d caution people to go light on apps, as the portions are pretty big and you may find yourself with a lot to take home.
— The wings are great, smokey and not saucy.
— Natty Boh Rings — tasty onion rings, but pretty heavy and definitely a lot of breading. These will ruin your dinner.
–Armadillo Eggs are a personal favorite of mine, usually pretty spicy, but well balanced with the meat in the middle.
–Nachos — meh, they use their house chips (not tortilla) and it doesn’t work for me
For dinner I tend to go for a platter with pulled pork and something else, or just pulled pork and I ask for a roll on the side (there’s plenty of meat to make a sandwich and have plenty of meat left to eat). The ribs are really good, but also pretty expensive, so I do those very rarely. Sausage was great, but I feel like sausage is kind of easy. The salads are really big, but it’s a smokehouse… so I don’t go that route.
For sides:
–Brussel sprouts — these are chopped up in a pile, and usually go well with the meat.
–Sweet potatoes — a nice mashed sweet potato, definitely sweet, but really good. I usually mixed it with the brussels… I’m weird
— Fried corn: I don’t get it. It’s just breaded and fried… nothing really added to the corn this way. Got it once, won’t do it again. If they fried it in creamed corn mix or something it might be good. But it was just dry, tasteless breading.
–Collard greens: These are really good… not much to say. They’re straight forward, nice hint of vinegar if i recall correctly.
The sauces are all really good, but I think the spicy and honey-​applewood are my go-​to choices. I do tend to put a sauce on each bite, because they’re good and I like variety.
They also have great drink options and usually decent specials. The service here is always great, and the owner is often working (I think she’s the owner) and is super friendly.
Definitely check this place out. For BBQ in Annapolis, it’s the place I choose for dinner out. Mission BBQ (new chain on West Street) will let you down. The prices are similar, the portions are smaller, and the atmosphere isn’t as good.
The prices are higher than many places, but I think it justifies it with great food, fantastic service, and awesome atmosphere.