Arrogant staff - mediocre food - never again
Although the reservation for a group already took quite the effort, we were still hopeful the food would be worth all the trouble, but sadly must admit the food & service didn't ameliorate our experience... but only led to more dissapointment.
When you go with a large group, you can only choose 1 menu - between the cheapest menu & the consecutive one is already a price difference of €20 which makes it very difficult to come to an agreement. Nevertheless after a bunch of emails (as I was redirected to the mail each time I called them) we succeeded in booking 2 menus for our group + the exception of a menu for a person with food allergies.
Suprise nr 1
When we asked if the person with allergies could call for explanation & run trough the options, we didn't receive a reply but were merely informed this was not possible, and that they had to process over 200 mails per day & therefore would prefer to stay in touch with one single person ... so far for service
Suprise nr 2
Once your reservation is made you receive your order with all the details stating that if you cancel, you have to pay the full amount
Suprise nr 3
The Low & Slow menu states that you receive 1⁄2 smoked chicken, full rack of ribs, beer sausage, pulled pork & brisket on a platter to share - turns out you only get a worthy portion of the 'cheaper' meat such as sausage & chicken...
We had 2 platters to share with 3 persons and we're surprised to see we received a piece of brisket the size of a slice bacon and 2 tbl spoons of pulled pork - when I politely asked if this was correct & they didn't make a platter for 2 by accident, I was informed there was nothing wrong with the order
Suprise nr 4
We only received 6 single servings of potato wedges although we were with a group of 15.
I said that the persons who had the Oinky Toink menu also needed to receive potato wedges ( as this was informed on our reservation order) but the staff merely said this was not the case & only low & slow received wedges (so even when all is meticulously planned, they still don't know their own menu??)
However, our biggest frustrations aroused when suddenly another member of their staff showed up at our tables demanding who the person was who had a complaint about the portions. Taken back by her aggressive attitude we replied we hadn't complained but did have some doubts about their sizing. Before we knew what was going on, she was giving us a lecture that if they were to serve the full sizes that they offered in their reservation order, they would have to throw a lot of food away.
We replied that if they charged for a full serving, they should serve us the promised amount & whether or not we decide to eat it all, wasn't our concern as we did pay for a full serving.
Afters saying so - she threw in our face that it was normal for 3 persons to share a slice of brisket - which is of course ridiculous - and it was quite clear that they were not willing to gives us the more expensive meats & acted defensively once this was pointed out.
She then suggested to give more brisket & when 1person agreed to this, the staff member didn't find it better to arrogantly ask if he was going to eat it all....
When we were finished and half a rack of ribs was left, they put the ribs in a bag and threw them on our table saying 'you can take these home', laughing behind our backs, although we had informed them we didn't want the ribs anymore
Conclusion: the most arrogant, unfriendly staff we've ever met in any restaurant - food was ok but mediocre, certainly not enough to make up what they lack in customer service or friendliness - therefore I you are looking for a pleasant night out - don't go to blacksmoke
PS: we also had to wait over 45 min at the rooftop bar for 3 home made ice teas.. how long can it take? read more