smoQ

The food is always good. Great menu and affordable prices. I would definitely go back.

first of all, smoQ is NOT a chain. it’s a locally owned, singular restaurant. all the meat is freshly smoked in the smoker behind the restaurant and most of the desserts are made daily, not pre-​made and brought in frozen.
the mac n’ cheese and sweet potato brulee are delicious, decadent sides, the corn muffins are sweet and moist and the pulled pork bbq nachos with pickled onions are flat out awesome (and a HUGE portion). My family loves the fried ribs and brisket. the peach tea is refreshing and yummy.
i do miss the Memphis cheese & sausage plate and I agree with others that the décor could use some updating but overall this is a place i love to eat and crave it often!

Brought my grandmother in law here for her bday. Cornbread muffins were so warm and sweet. Husband and I shared 2 meats (brisket an fried chicken) 2 sides (cheddar bacon grits and red beans and rice) brisket nachos for appetizer… delicious! Wasn’t very busy however, service wasn’t all that desirable… Definitely will go back for other items!

Oh My Gosh so stinkin wonderful. Not only is the food excellent but the whole experience and atmosphere. This place is a must go to

Smoq, that’s the name of the restaurant, but don’t expect that to be the smell when you walk in! At first the place looks very clean and the atmosphere was decent, but appeared as that of a «chain» restaurant. I first ordered the Cranberry Whiskey Sour, AMAZING!!! That’s where the amazing stopped! I ordered the half and half plate with 2 sides… I opted for the southern potato salad and baked beans. The brisket, paper thin and dry, no flavor except for the top slice which was sprinkled with a seasoned salt/​BBQ powder. Pulled pork, just as bland, salt really does help with flavor. Baked beans actually had the most «smoke» flavor than anything on my plate, but had a sour note to follow the semi sweet traditional brown sugar flavor. The homemade southern potato salad was above average! The service was average, and they never did bring my cornbread, which is part of the meal… The only reason this is 3 stars and not 2 is because of the attentiveness of the staff. City BBQ believe it or not feels more like a BBQ joint than Smoq!

Really enjoy their BBQ. One of the better places in the area for this type of food but the atmosphere is lacking and a little stale. However the ribs are great and help to compensate for the lacking backdrop.

3 stars is a stretch. I wanted to like this place, I really did but the rib tips were not at all the quality I was expecting based on the ratings. There was something odd about the outside sweetish texture that just turned me off. I was hoping for them to be dry. The mac n cheese was OK. The greens were leafy with a good taste.

SmoQ is an Underdog of Dining here in Cincinnati because although they serve a lot of great food at a very reasonable price, and have received a number of positive reviews, their parking lot is fairly empty at lunch and at most dinnertimes during the week. This place should quite honestly be packed to the rafters all of the time, not just at weekend dinnertimes.
Maybe it is because this place does not have the look of a typical great bbq joint. It’s not outdoor eating like at Elis, or in a tiny building dwarfed by smokers like Just Q’in in Newtown, or in a converted building like Pit to Plate in Mt Healthy. Quite frankly, it looks like a chain restaurant, no different in this sense than a Smokey Bones or a Famous Daves, But the food at Smoq is so very very much better than those two, and unlike Montgomery Inn, the bbq here is legit — smoked ‘low and slow’ — low cooking temps for an extended period of time as all truly great bbq is
4 key things to know about SmoQ:
1) No, they are not a chain.
2) Yes, they are a bbq joint, but they also specialize in southern dishes — collard greens, fried green tomatoes, shrimp-​n-​grits, jambalaya, burgoo, red beans and rice, sweet potato pie, etc etc
3) They have at least one item on the menu that I dont think you’ll find anywhere else in Cincinnati
4) The food here is fantastic
The ribs, brisket, and pulled pork are all wonderful, and well worth a meal here on their own paired with any of the (usually) dozen or so sides and the succulent, slightly sweet butterscotch-​dotted corn muffins that come with every meal. But my absolute favorite things here are the specials and the appetizers
I do not know how long this will last, but right now as I type this, three appetizers — buffalo wings, pulled pork potato skins, and fried green tomatoes, are half off M-​F between 4pm and 7pm. The potato skins are very good but the wings are out of this world good. Not only are they larger and meatier than at most wing joint I have been to, they are smoked and grilled rather than breaded and deep fried, and just outstanding, especially with their spicey bbq sauce. I have not tried the fried green tomatoes yet, but have seen orders brought to other tables and they looked great
Want something you cant typically get anywhere else? Head there on a Tuesday night for the smoked prime rib. Yes, I said it — smoked prime rib, every Tuesday night. It is every bit as good as it sounds. Come early, and get it while it lasts
My absolute favorite thing to eat here, and something I crave regularly, is their Memphis BBQ Nachos. If you’ve had the brisket nachos at Pontiac in OTR, these are similar but much tastier, with a much bigger portion and at a much lower price. This is just an absolute taste treat with a sensational juxtaposition of flavors (the salt from the chips, the smokey succulence of the large strips of pulled pork, the sweetness of the picked onions and chopped tomatoes, the tang of the bbq sauce, and the spiciness from the jalapenos) with the crunch of the chips, the creaminess of the mild queso sauce and the sour cream, and the light chew from the pulled pork. All the parts of this dish are individually quite good, and the dish is greater than the sum of the parts as it all comes together on one glorious platter. I’ve posted a pic of these, so take a look for yourself. Just outstanding.
Ambiance: Casual
Kids menu: yes
Vegetarian items: yes
Gluten free items: yes
Full bar: yes
Parking: free, and plenty of it

Great food and good atmosphere. We called ahead and had them out our order in, in advance so it would be ready because we were in a rush. Had our food with 15 min of sitting down… Great job!
I will recommend to all of my friends that are in the area. Only reason I’m not giving five stars is because I would appreciate a more southern design mirrored of of the great blues music (: thank you very much and I will see smoq in the near future.

Ive eaten here a few times and finally posting a review.
This isnt really what I would enjoy about bbq. They have taken off the one thing I loved on the menu, so I went for wings this time. They were good… spicy and moist.
The dish I went here for was a Memphis cheese plate appetizer… it was so good… it had deep fried pimiento cheese, smoked sausages, pickled veggies, deviled eggs, and toasted bread… but sadly, its gone.
The corn bread muffins are more like a dessert but very yummy. The gumbo is tricky. I got a bowl and my boyfriend had envy so he ordered one after I had mine. The server said that a fresh one was being made so it would be a few minutes and the two dishes of the same item, tasted way different.
Pop was flat. I had a diet mt dew (they, like everyone else on the planet, need Coke products).

The pros: they have a gluten free menu.
The cons: the server doesn’t listen and puts the order in his way.
I ordered from the gluten free menu; I also told the guy who took the order to make sure it was unseasoned and that there be no dairy, eggs, garlic or butter due to my food allergies. He brushed me off and said yea, yeah. When my meal arrived, it was obvious the server didn’t listen. I ended up having to pick off my plate what I thought could eat and still ended getting sick. If the server had listened when I placed my order instead of brushing me off, there would have been no issues.

Very good. I ordered a wheelchair to take me out to my car after dinner but changed my order to a gurney. We ordered the brisket dinner and my husband ordered dry rub ribs. Excellent. I got collards and Mac and cheese and he got baked beans and cheese grits. All were great. His favorite was the beans and I thought the cheese grits were my favorite. Cornbread was served while we waited for our meal and it was warm and very moist and yummy. I recommend this place. Our waitress was Amy and she was sweet and hard working. Thanks for a great experience.

Reviews looked good so I gave it a shot. Arrived at about 6pm on a Monday and it was dead, maybe 5 tables.
Standard décor, not sure if they are trying to be a chain but it was OK.
Food:
App: smoked chicken wings. Very good. Moist, Smokey, and just enough tang. I really enjoyed them.
Main: I went with the two meat combo. Baby back Memphis style ribs were moist and perfect bite through. I hate completely fall of the bone ribs and these were safe. Sauced to the perfect level and flavor was spot on.
Brisket: It was OK. Very moist and good smoke ring but the flavor was not there. Not bad but not spectacular.
Sides were good.
I would come back again.

Not sure if SmoQ is suppose to be a chain BBQ restaurant but if it is, I’d put it along the lines of a more upscale chain like P.F. Changs.
At first glance, something about the layout in this place just felt awkward. I’m so used to newer places having lots of division and privacy and this place is just sectioned off in these huge open spaces with very dim lighting and Dark red and green décor. This left me a little wondering what the rest was gonna be like but don’t worry, it got better.
We ordered the rib tips as a appetizer and if this was all I had, I would of left satisfied. They were meaty with a brown sugar bourbon rub taste. You got a pretty big portion, enough for two people. If sauce is your thing, at every table they have 3 signature sauces to choose from. I can’t say I liked one sauce more than the other and just kept mixing it up. The lighter colored one had the most kick, but not too much.
Our main course was Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese and Sweet Potato Casserole. If I had to rate the food on a 1 – 10 scale, I’d say it was a 7.5 /​10. At moments it touched on a 8 (ala Rib Tips) but the constant «Chain» feeling became more truth as each bite went on. We also ordered drinks, one being a root beer float alcoholic drink in a mason jar mug and I gotta say that was pretty good.
Overall I really wanted to like this place, but it was one of those places that we decided to visit cause it was close to where we were staying but I can’t say I would go too far out of my way to have it again. I would go again if friends wanted to or maybe to a different location to compare but it was just a solid meal, nothing more nothing less.
Service Note: Our food came out fresh and hot and didn’t take long but our server made the experience more work than it should of been. We had to ask for everything and pretty much serve ourselves and keep reminding him we needed stuff. A good server should be transparent and you should just have what you need without saying a thing. This guy just wanted to go home. I probably would of gave the place 4 stars had we had awesome service so that’s a huge reason for the 3. Our compliments to the chefs though in freshness and quickness.

I’ve had a couple of work lunches here recently and I can’t wait to go back ! Excellent sides, great muffins, and meats cooked to perfection. I had some smoked ice tea, or something like that, and loved it. They do a fantastic job !
After both meals, I went home and my farts smelled like smoQ.

Stopped by this place while traveling on the recommendation of Unilocalers. I was not disappointed. The place was very clean, the staff was very friendly and knowledgable, and the food was very good. On the recommendation of the waiter we ordered the ribs and the beef brisket sandwich. The ribs were fall off the bone tender and had a very good smoke on them. The brisket sandwich was the best brisket I’ve had to date, it was fork tender and had a great smoke flavor. Overall a great place to eat. I will be going back when I’m in the area again

Went on a recent weekend, super busy so as a single I sat at the bar. Friendly staff, but clearly working in a frenzy that evening. Ordered my beer and meal to eat there at the bar-​top.
I ordered a combo plate of St. Louis style ribs and beef brisket along with collard greens and mac-​n-​cheese as my two sides. Meal also came with fresh homemade corn muffins.
Let’s start with those muffins… delicious! Hot and fresh with a little butter? Can’t go wrong! Then my meal came. I love to have to «work» to get the meat off my ribs, and traditionally that is what you get with St. Louis style bones. This version was rather fatty and had a really tough bark to them making it hard to tear apart in my mouth. The beef brisket was very moist but lacked any real depth of flavor (needed sauce to get a true BBQ taste). Both of the side dishes were solid (especially the collard greens). But then again, I came here for BBQ’s meat, not the extras.
So, all-​in-​all a rather disappointing meal given the star (s) of the show really did not shine. Sorry guys…

If you like smoked food, then this is the place. The smoked wings were really good. We ordered catfish too, but not as good as wings. We also ordered crispy bbq pork which was real good. It was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Food overall deserves 3.5 stars, but service was excellent, so I’m going with 4 stars.

tl;dr steak good. All sides fabulous. caroline hot sauce is great.
For a chain resetaurant Smoq does pretty good! I loved every single item we had.
The steak was perfectly cooked and came with 2 sides.
The mac and cheese was perfectly cooke with a crunchy bread crumb topping! The mashed potatoes were fabulous too!
I opted for the appetizer of fried ribs and had two sides, the sweet potato brulee and grits!
The ribs were large and very meaty, I don’t know if I liked them fried though. I loved dipping them in the smokey and spicy carolina sauce! so much flavor!
These grits are AWESOME and full of flavor! I could taste the cheese and bacon, and the grits best of all were fully cooks and yet a bit toothsome! Think country al dente! The sweet potato brulee was crunchy on top! I really enjoyed the pecans and it made the best desert EVERY!

Different twist to a Barbecue restaurant. I always enjoy SmoQ when I visit it’s a great open and friendly restaurant. We were greeted very friendly with a party of 6 on a Saturday evening and seated immediately, with no reservations huge kudos to the staff. I enjoyed the Turkey salad that had feta cheese pecans cranberries & house salad dressing it was enjoyable. The other party goers enjoyed the traditional food that SmoQ offers ribs, rib tips and chicken dinners, they said the food was okay not great but ok. One small tip try the peach tea with a shot of vodka or tequila another nice twist to SmoQ.

Favorite bbq place in town. I have not had a bad item on the menu and I have tried most of it. The rib tips are my favorite. Service was lacking which was disappointing because they were not busy. But the food was spot on

Amazing, especially for a chain. I had an early lunch on a Saturday and it was nearly empty.
I ate at the bar and the server was very attentive even though she was working on many other things. She was relaxed and fun, just like the ambience of smoQ.
The menu was very interesting and I appreciate the history about smoQ. It’s clear from the menu that they put a lot of thought into their dishes.
The Baby Back Ribs were amazing. The different sauces were also amazing.
I would recommend smoQ to friends.

One of the best bbq in the city! It’s rare to find a place where you don’t need to sauce the meat because it’s so flavorful. Collard greens and brisket are the best there! Wing are hot so be careful! Best rib tips I’ve ever had! Pulled pork is delicious and may be better than Eli’s bbq. Pulled pork potatos were okay. Mac & cheese is good. Ribs were decent. Staff are helpful and friendly for newcomers.
My only complaints are the Booths, which can be cramped if sitting with more than two people and Cole slaw was not very good… actually it was the worst I’ve ever had but I’m not big on coleslaw so that’s a bias opinion.
Definitely going here again!

«If it’s legal, we’ll smoq it!» What an awesome slogan, right? Smoq is undoubtedly one of the most delicious BBQ restaurants in town. At smoq, if BBQ is what you want BBQ is what you’ll get. All of their appetizers, soups, salads and entrees have a BBQ element to them. The prices are just right and the portion sizes are huge! The last time I went, I had the smoQ’d TURKEY & BERRY SALAD and almost ended up in a food coma! Not only was this salad was delicious, it was huge!
Smoq is also known for their famous fried ribs! As a non pork eater, I watched people at my table devour those famous fried ribs! I must admit, I was a little jealous watching everyone rant and rave over them.
Tip: When you visit Smoq, be sure to check-​in on Unilocal!You may get a «free» or «discounted» appetizer.