Holy Smokes Bbq - Eagle Bay

To give you some context, my family and I had checked into our cabin and were on our way back after mistakenly passing the Screaming Eagle and going all the way to Eagle Bay. We were exhausted and starving. Honestly, I think even a bowl of Oliver’s hot gruel would have been a welcome meal! As someone who takes pride in BBQ and has worked hard to master it, I found this food utterly offensive to the very definition of barbecue. Let me break it down: **Ribs**: They were tough—not the fall-off-the-bone tender kind. I actually broke one of their plastic knives trying to cut through the meat! I have sharp teeth and still struggled with them. Here’s a tip: smoke them low and slow at 225°F for at least six hours. The seasoning seemed to consist of just salt and pepper—really? No glaze, no crust, no smoke flavor at all. Adirondack pine is not suitable for smoking ribs; consider using hickory, pecan, or mesquite, or better yet, take a class to learn proper barbecue techniques. They were juicy... but I suspect that’s because they were held in a moist oven rather than being properly smoked. At least they used St. Louis style ribs. **Pulled Pork**: It should never be flat, chewy, and flavorless. This meat had no bark, no smoky flavor, and was closer to chopped pork than true pulled pork. They served it on Texas toast... if only Wonderbread made Texas toast! **Salt Potatoes**: How do you mess up salt potatoes? They drowned them in so much butter that the salt disappeared! The butter had this bizarre, unhealthy, movie-theater popcorn consistency. The potatoes were overcooked, mushy, and lacked any real potato flavor. Essentially, they were just vehicles for the butter. The one saving grace was the sauce, but it tasted like ketchup mixed with tomato sauce, a bit of brown sugar, and some spices. It was thin both in texture and flavor, lacking any knockout taste or depth. I shouldn't be too harsh; this place is really more of an ice cream stand that serves BBQ. But honestly, if you're calling yourself a BBQ joint, you should have more than six flavors of ice cream—especially when two of them are freezer-burned! Oh, and dinner for four with ice cream cost me $85! That's eighty-five dollars! I simply cannot recommend this place!

Perfect for casual roadside dining! The BBQ options are delicious, with a variety of sauces and plenty of side dishes to choose from. The prices are very reasonable, and the service is quick. Just a heads up: you'll need to place your BBQ order before 7:30 PM, but there are fun ice cream selections available until closing. BBQ and ice cream—what’s not to love?

I absolutely loved it! It’s a simple yet cozy spot. The BBQ is fantastic, and the ice cream is delicious! The owners are really friendly too.

I stopped by here after a hike up Bald Mountain and loved that they're literally just right off the side of the road selling bbq! I ended up ordering the pulled pork which came on a New England style bun, two to be exact. I liked the pork, not exactly how I like it but I'm biased being from North Carolina. I thought the NE bun was unique and brought some butteriness to the pork which pairs nicely. They make their own sauces too, and even had a vinegar-based sauce (Eastern NC style), but I actually preferred their spicy bbq sauce. But they had several to choose from to make folks happy. They are literally a bbq joint on the side of the road, but offer up some quality food. If you're in the area, give them a try for their bbq! They don't offer much of a variety drink-wise but had a good list of different foods to try. Next time, I definitely plan to stop by to try out their other dishes.

As longtime residents in the area, we tend to feel kind of bad when places like this one open up along route 28; they have a tendency to struggle and none have really had any sort of longevity. This particular location used to be the home of Snappy 's burgers and dogs which, like Lucky Dogs, is no longer around. I would imagine it to be difficult to bring a brand new eatery to the area when even some of the already established ones are struggling a bit, but I digress. We stopped here on our way back to our camp from a golf outing, mostly because we wanted to try it before the opportunity eluded us a bit cynical, but realistic nonetheless. Good Smoke is run by a couple from around the area, and we struck up a little conversation with them while we were waiting. They both seemed pretty friendly, and left a good impression on the rest of the group as well We ended up getting brisket sandwiches; our rationale being that good brisket is the hardest to make, so if the brisket was any good, most other things couldn 't be too shabby. We had our sandwiches on buttery Texas toast with bbq sauce that they make themselves, and everybody that tried it ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It was pretty basic overall just brisket and bbq on Texas toast after all but I prefer the brisket to be the star of the show, so it was a good thing for me. They only offered a few things to drink, and they were all carbonated, but as people who are just starting out, they actually asked us about drink preferences so they could get a better set of choices for potential customers. We recommended tea and gatorade for people who might not want carbonation; I guess we would have to go back to see if they acted on it or no. Overall, stopping here was a good experience. I would come back if I had some cash handy (we paid with cash, don 't recall whether they took cards or no) and a bit of time.