Holy Smoke Barbecue & Smokepit
• 4, 4640 Manhattan Rd SE | Calgary, AB | T2G 4B5
Average User Rating:
6.76/10
6.76/10
Recommended by:
33%
33%
Sort Reviews by:
"Not impressed "
Jordan
December 2011 — "We had heard good things about Holy Smoke as it’s being called one of Calgary’s best place to get cheap food. My girlfriend grabbed takeout and brought it home. I was very disappointed with the food. The ribs were what I was really looking forward to trying, and at a “buck-a-bone” they hardly had any meat on them and were the toughest ribs I have ever eaten. I felt like a dog trying to rip the meat off. The sides weren’t great either. The pasta salad was dry and the beans were bitter. The only good thing about the food was the little containers of bbq sauce my girlfriend picked out. The Jack Daniel’s sauce was my favorite of the ones we tried. I can’t say that I will recommend this place to anyone. We might have caught them on a bad day, but all in all, I won’t be back. "
User Rating
6.40/10
6.40/10
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"Nothing to rave about"
Lindsay
December 2011 — "Holy Smoke BBQ just opened up in the strip mall by my place. It is located right on 16th Ave and just off of Edmonton Trail NE. There used to be a Vietnamese place there. We needed a quick bite to eat so I drove over to get takeout. It is supposed to be slow food served fast. They offer your usual Southern barbeque type food like beef brisket and pulled pork, beans, coleslaw, corn break and ribs. They also have a rack with about fifteen different types of homemade bbq sauce in squeeze bottles with little plastic take away containers. You can try as many as you want. I ordered the small sized pulled pork on a bun which is served with a scoop of coleslaw on top. It was very dry, even with a bunch of their bbq sauce poured on top. The cornbread was not fully cooked and the beans were hard and not fully cooked either. There was nothing about my meal I really liked. The service was super unfriendly on top of the poor meal. Although the prices are good and it’s close by, I won’t eat there again. "
User Rating
N/A
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"New location on 16th ave NE"
Mary
September 2011 — "After waiting for what felt like forever, we drove past this place to see an Open sign!! We had been to the place in the South a long time ago but now with it being in the North, we could finally have this on a more regular basis. That is, if you like it that much. My husband and I split the pulled pork sandwich and a few ribs to ourselves. The ribs are $1 a bone so I guess it’s pretty worthwhile. The sandwich itself, was not that great unfortunately. They give you lots of sauce to try out but I wasn’t that big of a fan of them. Maybe that’s why the sandwich felt dry, because I didn’t really like the sauces and didn’t put as much into them. As for the rib bones, I only had one. I found it to be a bit too spicy for me. As such, I didn’t eat any after my first one and left it for my husband to eat. For the price, it’s worthwhile, but I don’t think I’m as big of a fan of “Southern” food as I thought. I might give it another try but not a huge fan unfortunately. "
User Rating
7/10
7/10
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"Fantastic Ribs!"
Keith
February 2011 — "It's always exciting when I have to seek out a restaurant that would appear to be in the middle of nowhere, because there's always the chance you might find another hidden gem. While it may be hard to find, based on how busy the place was when I came here for lunch, it is definitely not the hidden gem I thought it may have been.
Holy Smoke can be found in the industrial area between Blackfoot Trail and Macleod Trail. It has a faux-smokehouse decor, in essence it feels like the owners based their design decisions on the smokehouses' Anthony Bourdain visits' on No Reservations. As such you'll find a ton of communal picnic benches and license plates used as decoration. Its not necessarily a bad thing, but it does feel a bit forced and inauthentic.
Of course none of this matters because when it comes to the food, you're in for a treat! This smokehouse is the real deal. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, four ribs and a slice of homemade cornbread. While the pork sandwich was sufficiently smoke-flavoured it was somewhat dry. The real finds here were the ribs and cornbread. Seriously, if you ever come here and want ribs whatever your initial order is, you might as well double it, because I guarantee you'll want more! The same goes for the cornbread.
Make sure you come here early for lunch if you want the ribs, a buddy of mine showed up late and they ran out. You've been warned."
User Rating
6.83/10
6.83/10
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DescriptionOpen for lunch Monday through Saturday and for dinner on weekdays, this traditional barbecue smoke house offers choices of ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chili and sausage-on-a-bun. Eat-in, take-out and catering solutions are offered.
Location Information4, 4640 Manhattan Rd SE
Calgary
AB
T2G 4B5
