Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill

The wait staff is friendly and the food is delicious. They have a diverse menu so it shouldn’t be hard to find something you like. It’s more than a sports bar, it carters both to family’s and the guys on game night. The store also takes advantage of technology which is nice. They have credit card readers at every table so your card will never leave your sight. Smokey bones is my go to for some good bbq or wings.

Oh where do we begin??? The pulled pork bbq, & brisket cannot make up for the lack of service and attention at this location. Waterford and it’s manager «Dan» always disappoints on service! No matter when we come, service is slow or non existent. It’s 1pm on a Thursday, dead as a door nail inside. Waited 15 mins before being acknowledged to place a take our order.
NO toilet paper in the restrooms! Was there a mad rush just before we came???
We were eventually greeted by Jennifer, (a petite bubbly gal with a beautiful smile) and placed the order which arrived quickly and to satisfaction. If it wasn’t for her bubbly smile we may have walked out and given up!
We order 2 bulk pounds of pulled pork and 4 baked potatoes to go, because we can make corn and baked beans at home. Order is ready quickly, however once home and open we are very disappointed to see that the meat order (while being in a very large container) was actually less than 12 oz! YES, it was so blatantly obvious that it could not be 2 lbs that I had to pull out a food scale and weigh it!
We proceed to call the store from the # on the receipt and have the displeasure of dealing with DAN the manager. Who immediately questions if I am even calling the correct store because after all I’m am idiot and can’t read the number on my receipt. I give him the receipt #, and he states that there is no such order # there in his files. Hmmm. I WISH there was NO CHARGE on my card! He apologizes and says someone must not have weighed it properly. WHO CARES? We just want the food we ordered Dan!
I think he senses my frustration, and offers to credit me back for the 2 lbs of pork. (I wonder how he can do that if there is no record of my transaction receipt?) Yes. I am very upset right now. I share that I would rather make the trip BACK to your store in the RAIN and return the entire sadly portioned meal for a full refund. Dan then proceeds to offer to immediately credit my card. Hmmm. Thanks. Hang up. trying to find a number for corporate!!!

Cool place on a Sunday night. Food was good, but «well-​done» doesn’t mean pink. Or hair. The service was ETERNAL; it seemed like they only had 2 waiters to take care of orders, and we ended up staying a couple of hours waiting. One of the waiters would bring our stuff and the other one would take it away, but they were uncoordinated. They gave us only one menu, and took away our silverware before we even got to order assuming we were done. It was impossible to clarify due to the volume.
Overall, it’s a cool place, but the service can definitely improve.

Gimme those wings with the buffalo garlic sauce, wet with sauce on the side and sweet potato fries. They are always meaty and the sauce is the perfect balance between Buffalo and garlic. I also like how they are smoked. Prefer to sit at the bar where service is attentive and quick. Solid happy hour with 2 for 1’s. Chill spot in Waterford that is good for families, friends, anyone.

Their wings are pretty good but sometimes way too dry for me. They have pretty good apps and their desserts are pretty good. There was one dish we didn’t really like much and didn’t really eat out of it. Our server noticed that and said he wouldn’t charge it but my sister, my boyfriend and I didn’t like it. Their service and atmosphere are nice. I got the chance to bring the free chocolate cake slice with scoop of vanilla ice cream from their email me and update’s birthday offer to home.

We used to go to the location on Colonial, but we switched to this location in Waterford Lakes. For whatever reason, the kitchen just does a better job here. But, the staff has been awesome at every location.
Positive: Everyone is extremely friendly and helpful. The service is great, much better than most places in the area. The food is good and the late night special pricing makes it taste even better. Get the smoked wings, they’re the best in town. The prime rib, beer can chicken and beef brisket are all awesome. They’re not always available though. Try the various sauces on the table, I like the red top most.
Negatives: The temperature has consistently come back overdone. I order everything rare and it consistently came back medium at best. Also, the toppings on the burgers are great, but the patties just don’t taste good. Therefore, I can’t recommend the burgers here. They do better with the prime rib temperature though. The portions of the cheese fries and nachos could be better. I wish the cheese fries were as big as Alehouse. Or the nachos as big as Flanigan’s. And they seem to have gotten even smaller the last time we visited. Other than that, there’s nothing I can complain about.
If they get better burger patties and get the temperatures right I’d add a star. But the most important thing I can say is that I love the smoked wings here and I love the staff.

Have not gotten my food yet but the infused aroma in this place is killing my sinuses and giving me a headache. I expect a restaurant to smell like food not air freshener. Smells like NYC cab. Overwhelming.

This place was alright, no big complaints. The food was pretty good, and portions very nice, especially for the price.

Every other month I head to this location to meet my Dad for lunch. He is a simple
Man who truly enjoys some ribs & fries! I’m not a huge BBQ person but Smokey Bones has a good variety of entrees outside of this realm. I usually opt for the Grilled Salmon salad which is cooked to perfection on a bed of tender spinach with a bacon vinaigrette with Gorgonzola cheese crumbles & pecans. Another good alternative is their Turkey Avocado burger paired with one of their delicious sides such as the spicy corn or brown sugar baked beans.
Good service and bottomless iced tea with football broadcasting on the screens on Sunday’s, a perfect day to catch up with dear old Dad.

We have not been here in a while. By the time we were half way through our appetizer we remembered why. We order pretzel bones and the little container of cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was half empty and watered down. When we ran out we ask our server for more, she said it would be an up charge. REALLY? You charge $ 8 for it and not give us enough sauce and you want charge us $ 2 more. PATHETIC!
I ordered a burger and broccoli and Sue ordered the smoked turkey. When our order came we had no silverware. After the food started getting cold, we had to get up and get our own silverware. Then when the waitress finally showed up, we said something about it. SHE BLEW IT OFF LIKE IT WASN’T her job and turns away while she is talking and starts to walk away.
Now for the food. I ordered a medium rare burger it was as dry as a piece of leather. It was burnt black on the outside. Sues turkey didn’t taste smoked at all and was dry.
Then to end it all with that stupid little kiosk machine at the table. I told it to print a receipt and I waited and waited and nothing came out of it.
GREAT, what a way to finish the absolute worst dining experience I had since the last time I went to Smokey Bones!

Our bartender cory was very attentive and friendly! food was great! We arent from florida and this is our first time in this restaurant and we enjoyed it very much! If you come here make sure to visit cory at the bar!

Came in for a late dinner. Never been here before and Jakob was our server he was awesome. Made great recommendations for us. He was very patient with us and checked on us in perfect timing. The southwest Mac and cheese was amazing and the ribeye steak was amazing as well. We will come back! I recommend this place and thank you Jakob for giving us a great experience. We been to other places since moving here a few weeks ago and I appreciate the service here.

I suppose you could call this restaurant the Chili’s of barbecue. You are presented with your basic options including pulled pork and brisket. The food is often very inconsistent in quality but usually flavorful. One of their bright spots is their service. They are usually very friendly and are quick with your order. The drink deals and selection are also another good aspect of the restaurant. Pitchers and mixed drinks are especially reasonably priced.

Friendly environment, good food and fair prices. Service was polite and attentive. However, the food took little over an hour. Not cool… Especially considering the place wasn’t packed. Only a few occupied tables.

I’ve been to Smokey Bones before, so we headed in for a quick meal between errands. Arriving last afternoon before the dinner crowd, we were quickly seated and our drink orders taken.
I went for the pulled pork platter and the daughter went for the grilled chicken sandwich. Our food took awhile to get to us considering the lack of a crowd and the time it sat under the light waiting for the waiter to pick up. The waiter who was loitering around near the pick up area talking to his buddies. When he finally did pick it up, he walked in the total opposite direction of our table, making me think I was wrong and it wasn’t our food. but he came up from behind me and dropped it off.
The pork was fine, nothing spectacular and the coleslaw was ho hum as were the onion rings, which had an awfully bumpy texture in the coating. My platter was served sandwich style on garlic toast, making my one meal for the day look a bit disappointing, but it was filling and I actually ate the bread since I was hungry. An ice tea refill took quite awhile and I finally moved my empty glass to the edge of the table to capture the waiter’s attention. FINALLY he caught on. *SIGH*
The daughter’s grilled chicken sandwich was rather tough and chewy but she chowed down and we paid the bill. Thank heavens they were quick enough about making sure we knew we could pay at the table. That was the fastest anything in there went that day.
Maybe it was just this location, or that one waiter, or even the time of day. But customers are customers and none of that should matter. I won’t be back to this location, that much is certain.

I usually like this place and I still do, but yesterday’s lunch was a big miss. I had to try their new Mac n Cheese Burger. If the burger would have been cooked as I had requested it, it would have been fantastic. Instead, the burger was way too overcooked. Also, as much as our server was nice, we sat with empty drinks for quite awhile. I know there will be misses from time to time, but it was unfortunate because I really like this place. I’ll be back I’m sure.

Perfect lunch today. BBQ chicken cooked to order (special request). Smoked wings perfect. Baked potato and cole slaw well it’s hard to mess those up.
Natalie did a great job. Very attentive without being bothersome. The 10% off from the scratch off helps too.

An unprofessional establishment with poor customer service skills.
The service I received from the waiter and the manager was upsetting.
My friend and I had a coupon sent to each of us by email. My phone died and I forced to login to my email from my friends phone to pull up the email even though she had it on her phone. I had to change my password and the cell phone service was a bit slow so the manager continued to stand over me while it took a while to pull up. What’s upsetting is when I asked him to give me a few minutes to pull it up because I felt uncomfortable with him over my shoulder he got flustered. All they did was glance at the coupon for two seconds when I logged in and said that’s al they needed. They looked at the exact same coupon my friend showed them in her email. The exact same one.
The waitress was giving us a bit of attitude about the situation and when she brought us the check she changed her name on the check to «Pita Chip». Absolutely unprofessional.
Will not go back to this establishment again.

We were recently invited to preview a new menu that Smokey Bones is now offering after 10pm– the Late Night menu. Very often we find ourselves at a 24-​hour pancake house just to find something to eat after normal dinner hours. Well, no more. Roll into your nearest Smokey Bones and feast yourself on this delectable cuisine.
First, the hands down favorite of the four of us at my table– the BBQ Rings of Fire. A large crispy golden onion ring topped with tender pulled pork, queso cheese, jalapenos, green onions and chipotle mayo. Though the menu states these are perfect for sharing, I would hate to fight with my tablemates over the last ring so just order your own.
Next up we sampled the Black and Bleu Bones– toasted pretzel «bones» filled with blackened chicken, spicy buffalo sauce and crumbled bleu cheese. Though they were definitely on the spicy side, they were tamed by the creamy cheese. These were excellent.
Similarly, the BBQ Bones were the same pretzel «bones» filled with pulled pork, chipotle BBQ sauce and pepper jack cheese. The pulled pork is just so tender these «bones» just melted in my mouth.
Also tender, we sampled the beef brisket with a variety of the Smokey Bones BBQ sauces. The sauces range from mustard-​based, vinegar-​based, sweet or spicy although the brisket doesn’t need sauce. The brisket was juicy and full of smoky flavor.
The pretzel chips with beer cheese dip was similar to eating giant pretzel croutons. They were crispy and buttery and the cheese was sinful and slightly spicy. This is the Smokey Bones version of garlic bread, only better.
We tried a variety of beverages including the new Smoked Maple Blueberry Manhattan and the Apple-​achian Pie.
I, however, am a big fan of the Bubbleade– lemonade mixed with flavored Boba Bubbles– I am partial to the strawberry and mango flavors.
As a special bonus, we were treated to their famous donuts. Cinnamon-​sugar donuts drizzled with both chocolate and raspberry sauces.

All good things must come to an end… but did it really have to end THIS way?
After almost two years of being a very loyal and recognized customer here, I am done.
On my last visit, my take out order of onion rings featured an enormous hairball. It was utterly repulsive and I only discovered it once it was actually in my mouth.
A couple weeks later, I learned that their longtime, superior bartender named Desi had been fired for what I would basically call alcohol meets photo ID meets entrapment. Total and complete bullshit.
While I will still visit Smokey Bones locations elsewhere for their great Happy Hour specials, this Waterford location just lost my business to the Buffalo Wild Wings across the street, Graffiti Junktion near UCF and wherever Desi is issued her next paycheck.
And considering how many other locals in the area loved Desi, my empty seat at this bar will not be the only one.