Rochester Smokehouse and BBQ

I had high hopes for this restaurant! The service was wonderful and the man who got our order was friendly and helpful. My fiance and I both got the Honky Tonk platter which comes with pulled pork, chicken, and 2 sides. We got the mac and cheese, mashed redskin potatoes, and cole slaw. The chicken was okay, and so were the sides, but the pulled pork was not my favorite. We also got a lemon cake and pineapple cake for dessert, and they didn't have much flavor and were rather dry. The experience was good, but I probably won't be coming back here any time soon.

Great place, food was amazing, service was quick and the couple who own it are great!! Very friendly! Best place in the Valley! Highly recommend! Had the pulled pork sandwich and the pulled chicken Mac & Cheese, all the meat was so tender! Would give them 10 stars if I could!!

Rochester Smokehouse, better than ever. Beautiful seating area outdoors, takeout only. Food is fresh and delicious, served hot and always tasty. The service is excellent and the people are very friendly and helpful. A cut above the rest!

Let's start with the negative reviews. Most seem to be from a couple of years ago when we were still dealing with the pandemic, restaraunts were struggling to stay in business while meeting mandates, and people were generally pissed off about everything. If you were offended by plastic cutlery, you may just have had other issues. That's done, and this is now. My wife and I decided to try Rochester Smokehouse tonight for a change of pace. We checked the menu and noticed the prices first...a little pricey, we thought, but stick with me here...there's a reason. I ordered the Honky Tonk Platter...1/2 lb. pulled pork and two pieces of chicken with mashed potatoes and baked beans as sides. My wife got 3 (gargantuan) wings with cole slaw and mac & cheese for sides. As well as everything being perfectly cooked and delicious, the portions were huge. The pricing started to make perfect sense since each meal was enough for two people. The meats were tender and tasty and the sides were comfort food standards, some with fresh embellishments like the slightly spicy, sweet and sour cole slaw and baked beans with a kick of onion and mild spices. As another reviewer mentioned, it is all subjective...but the level of spice here is light to moderate. If this bothers you, you may wish to rethink why you're eating barbecue in the first place. Five stars, and looking forward to having the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I called to place a take out order, but was told it's dine in or take out only, but they don't take orders over the phone. Umm ok. That irritated me right away, but I was hungry and I wanted to try this place out. So I drove there to place my take out order. The inside is very big (located in the old Rochester Hotel) and appeared to be clean. The cashier took my order, payment, & my name and I sat down. I waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes, so not too bad I guess. He was very friendly. Once my food was done they boxed it up and called my name, you have to bag your own take out which kind of annoyed me also. They have a decent amount of options on their menu. I didn't really check out the prices too much, but I ordered the chicken dinner (only $12 with 2 sides) and my son wanted the pork nachos and Mac & cheese. My son devoured the nachos so I could not get a picture of those, the presentation was good though even in a take out container. The food looked and smelled delicious. Sadly I thought everything was very dry. The chicken, Mac & cheese, and the greens & beans, all a little bland. I recently attended an event and made greens and beans and those were delicious and not dry. My son loved the nachos though! I hate to give a local business less than a 5 star review but this is just my opinion. I think they should definitely change their take out policy and being able to place the order over the phone. Maybe if I ever decide to try them out again, the food will be more tasty also.

Hubby & I were in the mood for BBQ for Valentines Day. Unfortunately the Rochester Smokehouse was not open. Only open Thursday-Sunday. So we went on Friday for our belated Valentines Day dinner. We dressed casual but not messy casual. We were under the impression that this was an eat in restaurant- Nope. Take out only. My fault for not digging further. We got the Big Daddy dinner- can't remember what it was called - most meats & 2 sides. Ribs, 3 pieces of chicken, pulled pork, brisket & ham. All good, good sauce. We drove 20 miles to go for our late Valentines Dinner. We won't go out of our way again for their BBQ, but if we were in the area, and in the mood for BBQ, yeh, we'd stop. Hubby said the ribs were very good. The grilled ham was good, the chicken was good & pulled pork was good. Brisket was imho, overdone. Our 2 sides were potato salad & cole slaw. 1 serving each. Both good. Just not enough for the amount of meat. IF we go again we'll get ribs & pulled pork. I'd get a larger serving of pulled pork though. That 1 serving was not enough for me. And maybe the chicken. Sorry Rochester, we were really hoping for better because of the hype. We Will drive the 20 miles out of our way to Mission BBQ. Anyway it's all a matter of taste & perspective. I just wasn't impressed.

My daughter and son in law had take out from this place and they both got terribly sick. They didn't even eat that much of it because it was horrible. How their food is winning awards is beyond us. We're going to stick with Bowsers.

I've tried it several times when visiting because it's one of the few options and I like to support small, local business owners. But it has never lived up to the hype for me. It's very expensive. I've had way better BBQ in other towns and cities and it was not as expensive.. Everything tastes the same. The sides were mushie with no distinct flavor. My last visit was my last... was irritated because I ordered online (pulled pork) and when I picked up my order they said "we gave you an upgrade because we forgot to update the site that we don't have pulled pork today." The "upgrade" was brisket, which I don't like and therefore, I don't consider an upgrade. They had already packed it up and put in bags so I didn't want to say, no thanks, I would prefer something else or my money back, because he was already hurrying me out of there as fast as he could. Suggestion to owner, don't assume something is an upgrade...your customer may not think so.

There were no smokers and site meat had no smoke flavor. I believe Bowser is better. The price was about average supposed to sit inside although outside was very nice.

The food is premium barbecue at a premium price. I've learned years ago that there is no "good" barbecue at a good or low price. You get what you pay for at those places, dry, tough, questionably tasty. Same goes for here, except very good barbecue for more money. That's why dinners here are a special occasion for us. We're retired and very budget conscious. We still love it, just not so often.Love their Bourbon Craze sauce, a good heat level for us, but others may want to add some additional heat.The website can be misleading around special holidays and a bit clumsy, but small businesses can't invest in better-- oh well. All and all we keep coming back because we're always happy especially with their variety of sides and good portions.