Smoked On Rose

The service is impeccable! The pork is tasty, tender, cooked or smoked to perfection. Don’t take forever to try this place out.
You’ll be sad you hadn’t gone sooner!!!

What another review of a closed restaurant Jacob? Yes, sadly.
I would guess what did them in was their poor choice of location. No offense to Franklin Park. But I believe that if they were situated near the entertainment district of Rosemont or had a nice spot somewhere in the city, they’d still be operating today. Greek barbecue is unheard of and they filled a tiny niche where few others ventured.
What I loved was their ability to smoke meats well. The smoking they did would render the fat into butter. I remember having this buttery fat once at a smokehouse in Dallas. Obviously not good for you in large amounts, but to taste it that way was a pleasantry for something so bad.
SOR’s meat was so tender it came easily off the bone and had a sauce that complimented it nicely. Their sides with «Greek» in their name were all delicious. And other typical barbecue sides were alright.
I see the other low starred reviews and wonder. If they operated in the city and were used to a high frequency turn out on a daily basis, they might have been able to churn out similar experiences for all? But that’s a big maybe. At least for me and my humble visit, the Greek gal I was trying to impress was indeed impressed. As others had mentioned the place was dead and it was the night we dined. It was located on a sleepy side street in a quiet neighborhood.
The night ended with a cup of Greek coffee. Now. Greek coffee to me is much like Turkish coffee. But from what I read, the difference is how many times each is brewed. Turkish 3 to Greek 1. Super thick and served super sweet if you want it that way. At the end of your cup, it’s flipped and then an all knowing «fortune teller» might tell you …

I too wanted to visit via Open Table but found out the reason why the restaurant was not honoring was because it no longer is open. Nothing to do with lack of Hospitality. It was a fantastic restaurant.

DON’T BOTHER WITH THIS PLACE! I made a reservation through Open Table and the manager called me and said they couldn’t honor the reservation. I asked why it appeared to be available then. The response was «it’s not our fault it’s THEIR fault.» I suggested they should talk to Open Table about that and the response was «maybe YOU should talk to Open Table about it.» If that’s not a hospitality ‘red flag,’ I don’t know what is.

Either I missed out on a chance for international espionage, or I just had a really weird meal at a BBQ place in Franklin Park.
Allow me to explain (and bear with me on this one): Smoked on Rose classifies themselves as Greek-​American BBQ, which is just as unusual as it sounds, but is by no means a bad fusion of cuisines. I had a
coupon for 50% off your bill of $ 50 or more and came here on a Friday night in mid-​December to use it.
My date and I walked through the automatic sliding glass double doors – very atypical for a restaurant – and were given our choice of places to sit. As we perused the menus the comments of another reviewer echoed in my head: where are all the customers???
At 7:30pm on a Friday night, literally prime time dining hours, there were only 3 other people in the entire restaurant, which was bizarre and unexpected. The joint was eerily empty save for one couple and an older gentleman sitting in the corner telling us to get the lamb chops. He was pretty insistent about it, and after the 3^rd such utterance of ‘I strongly recommend the lamb chops’, I thought perhaps I was being prompted with a secret code phrase to respond to, like a scene from one of the Mission Impossibles:
Strange man at restaurant: «the rain in Spain is rather plain, wouldn’t you say?»
Eric S/​sleeper agent: «yes, but the snow in Chicago falls far too slow»
Strange man: «good evening, Mr S. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate Sweet Baby Rays HQ and obtain a list of master sauce recipes. **This beef brisket will self-​destruct in 5 minutes.**»
I mean come on you guys, that spy sh*t always goes down at a sleepy diner or quiet restaurant at night with no one else around.
Eventually beers arrived and we put in our food orders. It was at this point that I got WAY too excited to see saganaki on their menu. In my hunger-​driven craze I forgot to ask what kind of cheese they use (I am a saganaki connoseur), but I know it wasn’t kefalograviera, kasseri, or kefalotyri, so who knows. According to our server, they don’t flambee it tableside because burning the cheese degrades the quality in some way… I honestly can’t remember because I was too pissed about not getting my obligatory fireball and the ensuing ‘OPA’. I was also dismayed that the saganaki had gone cold mere seconds after it arrived. A traditional flambeed saganaki is served hot and stays so, but not this one.
The starter bread was a sad attempt at garlic toast, and getting someone to take our drink order took longer than I’d like, but once the food started rolling in it was mostly all smiles. The rib tips were enjoyable, if a bit fatty. The pulled pork was a stronger entrée selection in both quantity and quality and gave me plenty of leftovers for the next day. Their house sauce came in small petri-​like dishes and had a brilliant tangy+smoky flavor to it. I would’ve liked to see more variety in their sauce offerings than just the one. I guess big jugs of BBQ on each table doesn’t exactly shout ‘classy’, but personally I’d prefer to see big jugs. [giggity]
Speaking of big jugs (hah!), Jackie S proclaimed her pulled chicken pita to be ‘very good’, in her words a ⁷⁄₁₀. The cornbread was mediocre, the baked beans delicious, and the mac’n’cheese outstanding. I didn’t like the idea of having to order sides a-​la-​carte, but their reconfigured menu left me no choice for a meat & side combo. They only had 3 options for dessert and one of them was ice cream, so we opted to pass on sweets.
Their website mentions their ‘delicious handcrafted recipies [sic]’, which tells me that they didn’t run a quick spellcheck on their e-​menu. A little bush-​league, yeah, but not the end of the world. I also found it interesting (and by interesting I mean ‘sorta sucks’) that the menu posted on their website did not at all match the menus we were handed.
Bread = 3.5
Circuses = 3
Service was passable and the food was good for the most part. Saganaki was a let-​down and choices of sides was limited. The discontinuity between the online menu and printed menu bothered me too. Cool art in the dining room, though, and a nicely polished interior. It was an unusual dining experience that caught me a bit off-​guard. Not unpleasant, just different. Would I recommend? Sure. Smoked on Rose has some good things going for it, I just wish tha–
**BRISKET EXPLODES**

So wonderful!!! Waiter is delightful and the food is divine. Brisket is the best, Greek potatoes & saganaki are my favorite. Sounds like a weird mix, Greek barbecue but it is gourmet and delicious! Definitely worth it. Don’t miss this!

If you want great BBQ sauce! And fantastic smoked brisket! Pulled pork! Ribs, tips, and Chicken! This is the spot! Nearby convenient, great Taste! Best sandwiches in town! Also delicious broiled lamb chops!!! Salads are exquisitely fresh! Soups are the best in town. And also great wine! Fantastic Menu, Full of deliciousness.

Not what we had hoped for. The reviews made us believe that we were going to a better BBQ place than it turned out to be. The first clue should have been it was a Wednesday night at 6:15pm and we were the only ones in the restaurant.
The restaurant itself was very nicely decorated, the waiter very courteous and attentive but then again with us being the only one there it was kind of hard not to be. The dinner was served on separate plates for each item and it made the portions seem to be very small in comparison to other similar style restaurants. The brisket and pulled pork was okay but nothing to write home about. We all agreed that we were disappointed as far as the barbecue and wished we had chosen a different restaurant.
For the prices that they charge and the food that is provided I won’t be going back nor will the other people that accompanied me that evening. To be totally honest it just wasn’t worth what we paid.

Love love love good BBQ and this place didn’t disappoint. The ribs were fall off the bone delicious.

This place was perfect! The service is top notch, and amazing flavor in their food. We started out with Ouzo on the rocks, and had the broiled octopus = best decision. I had the baby back ribs and pulled pork, and had to take half home since it was so much food. I can’t wait until our next date night.

We ran across this place and decided to stop for a little lunch before heading to the airport. I’m so glad we stopped. I suggested it and took full credit for finding a gem. This is a classy BBQ restaurant with a hint of gourmet flavor. Our meal started off with a super fresh tomato, cucumber, onion and pepper salad served with a hunk of cheese and homemade oil and vinaigrette dressing. It was so yummy, I knew we were in for a treat with the actual meal. The smoked baby back ribs were impeccable, as was the delicious sauce served alongside.

The server was a perfect gentleman, who made us feel as though we were his guest and he was aiming to give us a seriously pleasurable dining experience, which he did. I immensely enjoyed the meal and the service! I will go out of my way to visit Smoked on Rose on each visit to Chicago in the future! Yum!!!

I’ve seen the good reviews and in that neck of the woods, BBQ places are few and far between. So I’m driving by around 6:30PM on a Wednesday night and thought it was time to kill the cat with curiosity.
Walked in and a few thoughts passed through my mind…
Boy, it smells good in here.
Where’s the bar?
Where are the customers???
The last observation surprised me the most. This place has great ratings, yet it’s prime dinner time and other than the employees, the only ones in the restaurant are me and a pesky fly. So the hostess/​server seats me and I take a peek at the menu. There are alcoholic beverages on the menu, so the absence of a bar is from a physical perspective only.
As I peruse the food offerings, I’m thinking, «is this a Greek restaurant that wants to be a BBQ place or a BBQ place that wants to be a Greek restaurant?» I see sandwich offerings, dinner combos and a section with meat by the ½ or full pound. I asked if the «meat» offerings were more for to go options, but the server said they were available at the tables as well, so since I wasn’t up for a dinner with two sides, I opted for a ½ pound of brisket along with an order of Greek potatoes. Probably the only time in my life that I’ve ordered that combination of food together.
So the food comes out — three thick ½ pieces of brisket constituted the ½ pound — about right. The Greek potatoes aren’t of the «wedge» variety that are normally found at typical Greek spots — these are cut chunks, served in a cup. They really should figure out a different way to serve/​present them — the actual portion turned out to be much more generous than the way it looked in the cup. And they were pretty good too — as was the brisket. Nice smoky flavor, fairly moist as brisket usually is, but not all that much fat, so the size of my order was legit. The size of the BBQ sauce on the side was a little stingy, but I’m guessing I could have asked for more with no extra charge. I really wanted to try the pulled pork too, so I brought a ½ pound home and that proved to be pretty good as well.
My server did quite well too; while it wasn’t real busy and serving me was pretty easy, she kept busy doing other tasks the whole time I was there, and was pretty pleasant as well. The owner has a pretty good employee there! Smoked on Rose is definitely a place I’ll go back to — overall it was a good experience.

As I’m typing this my belly is about to explode. The food was delicious. The smoked meats were excellent. Smoked to perfection. We also had a tomato greek salad… OMGggggg sooooo tasty.
I didnt have the suckling pig but my husband did and he loved it. It basically sounds like it was slow cooked like they do in hawaii.
The baby back ribs and rib tips were great.
Green beans sauteed with garlic… excellent
Mac and cheese… yummy. White cheese sauce.
The service was excellent. The man serving… i believe is the owner … and he had some of the best hospitality skills ive been around in a long time.

Soo once again, location picked for the ribs… But they have Greek salad.
ok, i must confuss, I am late getting this review done. So here is the bottom line, I have been back two times and will go again. Why you ask?
Both tied at number 1, the food and the service. A group of 8 the first time and 6 the second time went back.
The ribs are outstanding. The staff spoils you rotten. The last time the owner had a plate of everything delivered. A little bit of everything, and everything was so good, I took the left overs home to share with my wife.
I mentioned the Greek Salad above. Hard to get a good (real greek salad) in the states. Here you do. Don’t be looking for lettuce, there isn’t any. Perfect.
They do have a bar and can serve pretty much anything you would like. But, I am not going to go into that here ;-)
If you are in the Chicago land area, this place is worth a trip.

The service was great, the waiter did a sweet job of checking up on us. The BBQ was a bit funny since this was also a Greek place. We all got BBQ and it looked awesome but we all agreed it was a bit dry.
I got the suckling pig, which was something I’ve never had before. It was very soft and juicy, but was a bit saltier than I would have liked.
The atmosphere was great though, and they give you free garlic bread too!

This is a small, family-​owned restaurant that focuses on authentic Greek food with some BBQ on the menu. The college-​bound lad that waited on me was incredible. Attentive, conversational, but not intrusive. The owner chatted with me and explained some of the dishes. I got a lot of attention because I was the only one there, but I can tell that they would offer this quality of service to anyone who walks through the door.
I stuck to Greek and ordered the lamb chops (medium rare) with lemon potatoes and collard greens. Everything was divine. Loved the traditional espresso set and garlic bread!
I did something I simply never do — I ordered dessert. The orange cake. OMG! So moist and rich, but not too sweet, it was amazing. It was a generous enough serving that I took half of it on the road with me.
If I’m ever in the area again, I will definitely return.

Really good and fast lunch joint. We ordered the baby pig and brisket sandwiches. The guys loved the brisket. I was happy with the piggy. It was tender as it should be… perhaps it was a bit much for lunch.
We also had a few appetizers, zucchini, calamari and saganaki. They were all pretty good albeit a little unconventional.
I would go here again as a good spot for lunch when I’m looking for something different. Basically, good Greek fare if not your typical foods. Will be trying some of their other menu items the next time we visit.

Fantastic lamb and great service. Smaller place, street parking. My friend had the pulled pork and rib tips, which tasted delicious but I’d stick with the lamb. Coleslaw and bean sides were plenty. I didn’t care much for the BBQ sauce which came on the side, but thats a personal preference. Can’t wait to bring others here. Best part, only 15 mins from Ohare, so can recommend for longer layovers or immediate food needs once you land.

Reviews appeared to make this place a good BBQ place. But I have eaten a lot of BBQ, and at least the Pulled Pork is not real BBQ.
I walked into the place around 11:30, and it was empty. The smell was great, and had my mouth salivating. Cloth napkins, nice dishes. I was really looking forward to some good BBQ. I ordered the Pulled Pork after a recommendation from the server (owner?). He seemed to be more interested in his mobile device than anything else.
My sandwich came out after what seemed like a long time to get a pulled pork sandwich. It looked fabulous. It came out dry, just like I like it, with some kind of chunky sauce on the side. It was on a beautiful Brioche bun, and again I though «I can’t wait!»
I sampled the meat out of the sandwich and therein came my disappointment. No smoke flavor. Nothing. Nada. I tried a few more pieces and there really was no smoke flavor. I was hungry, so I took some of the sauce (I still don’t know what it was), and at the sandwich. So disappointed. The bun was the best part.
I am giving this two starts because the fries that came with the sandwich were fantastic. They were covered with some kind of herbs and spices, and were fresh. So I had to give this more than one star. But I will not be back.

Let me preface this by saying we were the only ppl in the place an hr before closing on a Saturday night.
Bros had pulled rib sammies and I took a pulled pork home. Food came out quick, they scarfed it down and both agreed it was the best sandwich they had tried there. Mine was awesome as well, nice and smoky though I wish it had come with more sauce. Fries and garlic bread have a delish Greek flavor to them. Service was friendly but the elevator music was god awful.