Food review: Old Smokey BBQ, Shrewsbury

Burgers and dogs. Do we need another restaurant specialising in ground pig and cow?

Probably not. But that doesn’t stop restaurateurs coming up with ever-new and (almost) original concepts to sell us a humble beef patty or an enclosed finger-length of sausage.

In fairness, Old Smokey BBQ, in Shrewsbury, does a little more than that. It also sells cuts of beef and pork that haven’t seen the inside of a meat mincer. Lucky them. But you get the gist: another month, another restaurant crowding into the already-overcrowded space designated for burger and BBQ bars. When will restaurateurs do something new – like those clever people at Dough & Oil, who’ve done something different in opening a sourdough pizza place? But I digress.

Burgers and BBQ emporia in Shropshire are a little like washing powders in supermarkets. They all scream and shout that they’re different from their competitors when, in fact, there’s but a hair’s breadth between them.

In the case of Old Smokey BBQ, the concept isn’t dissimilar to other, successful ventures elsewhere in the county – Smoke Stop BBQ and Old Smokey BBQ have but four letter’s difference between them: a Y, an S, a T and a P – and fans of smokey, dirty, finger-linging ribs, burnt ends, dogs and burgers no doubt eat at both before selecting a favourite.

The big difference between them is styling – and, in truth, though they are wildly different in look, both do a pretty good job.

In the case of Old Smokey BBQ, it’s all about the good ol’ US of A. So there are references to America’s greatest blues musicians on the walls in addition to a Hard Rock Café-esque electric guitar. On the night that I dined there, there were also a couple of local fellas on guitar and keyboards, singing songs about how their woman had left them and how down on their luck they were. I cried into my ginger beer.

The other difference is that Old Smokey BBQ doubles as a pretty good bar. Its selection of craft ales is impressive and there are plenty of people who head their for a decent ale, with a side of food, rather than the other way around.

It’s a cavernous venue that seems to stretch from one side of Shrewsbury to the other though, in reality, it’s just a really, really, really, really long retail unit in Mardol. The team behind it have experience of running successful restaurants: their first venture was the popular Chequers Smoke House in Witney. That started with a strong following and ever-growing number of meat lovers so they thought it only fair to share the delights of the smoker with the people of Shrewsbury. Bless.

Meat, beer, sugary milkshakes piled high with Oreo cookies and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and fried sides are the order of the day. And in addition to smoked meat, there are also plenty of American classics like southern fried chicken, mac’n’cheese and handmade burgers. Vegetarians, look away.

The burgers were towering. Big, Big Ben-sized stacks of meat were squeezed into pillowey buns that were stuffed with cheese, pulled pork, bacon and other don’t-tell-the-cardiologist stuff – one includes a, ahem, potato waffle. Cripes. Dogs are a similar big deal and in a nod to modernity and catering to living-animal-avoiding diners, there’s even a cunningly named Vegan Not Dog. Lord knows what’s inside that.

Portions are on the large side of large. Think Bill Werbeniuk, add in a little prime-weight John Goodman (the 2008 version, not the slimmed down 2016 guy), dash with a bit of jolly fat man sauce and you get the idea. Go there for fun times, go there to chow down with friends, go there to listen to BB King – not BBQ – on the stereo, but don’t go there to diet.

Right. Food.

Eschewing the 42oz tomahawk steak, a snip at £45 and loaded with approximately 10,080 calories – enough for a man to live on for four full days – and baulking at the Big Smoke Platter, recommended for two, that comprises a half baby back ricks, Jacob’s ladder, brisket, pulled pork, hot link sausages, burnt ends, honey roasted chicken, fries, slaw and corn on the cob, I opted for something that still left me drenched with a dose of The Meat Sweats.

BBQ Smokey’s Combo platters feature three types of smoked or marinated meat alongside fries and slaw. In my case, it was beef brisket, pulled pork and burnt ends. The burnt ends were brilliant. Flavourful pieces of meat cut from the point half of a smoked brisket were tender and unctuous.

The fat and collagen had been rendered out by long, slow cooking and they were wonderfully meaty. Pieces of protein were fork tender, falling away in swishes of sweet and slightly hot BBQ sauce. Win-win.

A portion of pulled pork was less rewarding. I’m not sure if it had been left on the pass for too long, but it was served luke warm. And that’s never a good start. The flavours were decent, the texture as moist and tender as dewy grassy beside the River Severn on the day when there’s a pea-soup mist. They weren’t half bad.

The brisket was a flop. It was over-cooked. Advertised as a 16-hour cooked Shropshire Angus beef with an espresso cowboy rub, the flavours were great. But it was just a bit dry – a fault that a TripAdvisor critic had picked up on in another independent review.

The sweet potato fries were decent, though nothing special, while the onion straws – long slices of unravelled onion in a light-as-a-feather batter – were a treat and, beside the burnt ends, the best part of the dish.

Service was unmemorable. Three young waitresses were rushed off their feet and made no visits to the table to ask whether things were fine. It’s a left-to-your-own devices kinda place; the waitresses took an order, delivered food and disappeared into the world of being busy.

The experience was, in truth, a little underwhelming. The burnt ends were the only highpoint, the rest was so-so and a little mediocre.

That’s not to say Old Smokey won’t do well: I’m pretty sure it will. There’s a huge appetite, quite literally, for BBQs, smokehouses and burger joints and it ticks all of those boxes and then some. It’s been neatly styled – the cheese grater light shades were a smart idea – the menu is fulsome and the beers are exceptional. But there’s a sense that it could do more: offer more accurately cooked food, a knock out range of whiskies and bourbons, that sort of thing.