Well my review of Smokin’ Joe’s BBQ will not have the happiest of endings. But none the less if you read their reviews on line you’ll find many people love them as well as the ones that do not. Sorry, but I do not. This was a one-time visit and here’s how I viewed it.

We had seen the restaurant while driving out Rt. 17 heading to Gloucester one weekend. We decided to make a special trip to Yorktown on a different weekend just to try them out for lunch.

The restaurant was small but clean and nicely decorated. We were greeted and seated as soon as we entered. Our waitress was very nice and did a very good job. These are the good points.

We had a pulled pork & pulled brisket with fried okra, baked beans and mac & cheese for our sides. All of the sides were just average. The baked beans were at the low end of average. They just didn’t have much going for them with flavor.

The brisket was not very good. It would rate as just OK with me. It just didn’t have the smoke flavor that I wanted to taste. I think the sauce over powered the meat. The other problem was the brisket was rather tough and chewy. I’m more accustomed to moist and tender brisket. Sorry guys.

The pulled pork was better than the brisket but still did not excite me. It did have more smoke flavor but it just didn’t make it to great bbq for me. I did try both the Eastern NC and the NC sauces on the pork. I liked both of them, probably the NC a little better.

We were pretty disappointed with the food here. I guess we were looking for greatness but found a just average, by our standards, restaurant. There is better bbq close by. Next time we’re out that way we will most likely cross the Coleman Bridge. Oh well, that’s just my opinion.

Maybe some will disagree. I welcome all comments as long as we can disagree respectfully.