Northern Soul Smokehouse

Full review later but although the food is generally decent there are still significant kinks to work out before this really deserves a 3 star review. I have hopes that it will get better.

We had Brisket burnt ends, Catfish and Ribs and everything was great - tasty, a little spicy and very well prepared. Sauces were fantastic. I disagree that anything was tasteless - ribs were melt in your mouth tender, good by themselves but wonderful dipped the the barbecue sauce. Service was excellent but I have to comment it was the last couple of days of the season and not busy. Gorgeous view. The whole place will be remodeled this winter - can't wait to see it!

For us. I do not give 5 stars out easily but for the three of us tonight I can say this was a great experience for us. Note it was the end of the season and we were the only people eating we ate early and more may have come later. So we had great service from Andrew. Very special attention and we had a great time talking about food experiences and restaurants. The food we ate was very good. We started with the burnt ends. Lots of flavor but a tiny bit dry for me. I had the full rack of ribs. Very flavorful rub and the side of BBQ sauce was wonderful. Even on the fries. Big slice of potato and wonderfully cooked fries. They were the size of a quarter of a dill pickle. My wife had the catfish. Good breading and a nice hit of hot spice. She had a very good remoulade sauce with it. Both dishes had good corn on the cob. The banana pudding was a nice finish. I could have used a nice stiff whipped cream dollop but that was not included. I might ask for that next time. They will be closed the winter of 23/24 for remodeling and I look forward to trying it again.

Ribs were flavorless. I'm pretty sure they aren't even smoked, but they use liquid smoke.Portions were very small. Not a good value. Service was just ok but it took the server 3 tries To get us the right bill when we were leaving. Also out of pork chops at 530 for dinner. I've been to Justin's places in the cities and this is in no way how his other restaurants are run. HopefullyIf they get enough poor reviews Justin will make it right. Brainerd area still doesn't have any decent bbq places.

Food was fantastic! Ambiance and service acceptable. I would definitely go back and already booked.

I was worried about our dining experience as I had made reservations for my sister's birthday and had read a previous review. Our experience could not have been more different. Our cocktails were excellent. We ordered the classic chicken sandwich, spicy chicken sandwich, pimento burger, chicken salad sandwich, and brisket sandwich. In addition, I had the creamed corn which was delicious. Everyone in our party really enjoyed their food. The view of the golf course is beautiful. Our waitress was very attentive, although had to be queued to bring plates for the fried oyster which my sister said she would not get again. We all agreed we would love to return, and will tell our friends that we had excellent food and service.

Avoid this restaurant! We visited on 7/2/23 with reservations for a party of 6. Although we waited for 90 minutes at our table, we never received our appetizers and entrees and due to our server being unavailable. We resorted to ordering our beverages at the bar (although the bartender didn't know how to make mixed drinks in spite of extensive bourbon selection). No formal manager was on site to deal with the lack of servers, poorly trained staff, low food inventory ( no ribs or corn) and lack of customer follow-through. Turns out that after our extended wait and several assurances by our server, our order was never submitted to the kitchen. No apologies for poor service and an e-mail to the company office complaining about the incident remains unanswered. For the relatively high price point you can do much better by skipping this place and patronizing one of the other great restaurants in the area.