Smokey Bones - Sanford, FL

Sorry for the delay, I have been terribly remiss this week in reporting on my meals. It has been an up and down week with a couple of good lunches, but nothing truly spectacular. Unfortunately, I have to report that I hit another chain on Monday as we headed to Smokey Bones for some barbeque. Oddly enough, I didn't get any barbeque on this particular trip.

I don't know if you have noticed it, but the economy is surely having an effect on your favorite restaurant locations. Smokey Bones is usually packed whenever you go during the week, but this is about the second time we have gone there and the parking lot was practically empty. I am also noticing that I cannot get out of a restaurant nowadays without my lunch tab being around $12-$15. This is starting to sting, particularly given that I am not having the gastronical experience one would expect for that kind of spend. I haven't paid close attention, but I think they are starting to jack up the prices by a few pennies on the entrees and also hitting you hard on your drink. My suggestion is to start going water with lemon. As lunch is the only time I drink a soda, this is causing me quite a dilemma. I like to have at least one Coke or Pepsi per day. However, I have a favorite drink at Smokey Bones that wasn't available on our visit this day.

I always order the peach tea with a slice of orange. If you have never tried it before, get after it one time. It is tea with some peach syrup and the orange gives it a great citrus flavor to offset the sweetness from the peach syrup. I order my tea this day only to be told, they are out of peach syrup. What the hell happened over the weekend that there was a run on peach syrup? This totally jams me up when a restaurant runs out of something as mundane as this. If you had a great rib special at a great price, I can understand how they might run out of the ribs, but who the hell is doing the inventory that the peach tea is down for the day? Totally unacceptable in my book. This little set back totally rocked my world and now I don't even know what entree I am going to order. My taste buds were set for a certain offering and now I have to call an audible. No wonder their crowds are thinning.

Anyway, I order a Swiss bacon cheeseburger along with their soup of the day, which was a "Kickin' Corn and Crab Chowder." Their words, not mine. I don't know where they get the "Kickin'" from. The soup is good, but it ain't "Kickin'". If you are in the restaurant business, you have to be careful about the casual throwing around of adjectives to describe your menu items. It's all about managing expectations. You put "Kickin'" on your menu, I expect to be kicked in the nuts with flavor. By now you surely get that the soup was just all right and nothing to write home abuot.

The rest of my crew got a variety of dishes. Let me lay this out for you so you can see how we roll. Sebastian, aka "Seabass" always gets the chicken tenders and didn't deviate from his plan on this day. Nick, aka "Begs" usually gets the chicken tenders, but audibalizes this day and goes pulled pork with the crab and corn chowder. Rounding our group was John, aka "Fourth Meal". John goes for the grilled chicken sandwich most of the times and doesn't disappoint on this day. In case you are wondering, given my last name, I am also known as "Stiffy", but not so much from this group as others that know me.

Lunch was pretty good. My burger actually showed up medium rare as ordered, which is amazing during these times of salmonella poisining and e coli, that many restaurants will not serve you a burger cooked less than medium. I say make sure your employees wash their hands after going to the bathroom and you should be fine. Our service was good this day and overall it was a fine experience. Nothing to get too excited about, but nothing bad to report either once I got over the fact that I wasn't getting my peach tea.

I give this visit to Smokey Bones three Stiffy's and would have to suggest a visit to the restaurant if this is on your list to visit.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry