Smoqued California Barbecue

Revisited on Saturday 28th Jan 2017: still worth popping in and seeing the draft list: food lovely too. No score change, read on for original review. Late lunch on Saurday 30th April 2016. Bare brick walls, a few stools at the bar and plenty of tables and chairs, bar to the rear left before the hidden kitchen. Highly recommend the ’Burnt Ends’ for a started if eating, in fact all our food was top notch, if a little high price wise, but this is Old Town Orange and I doubt Business Rates are low. Beer Board easy to see high on a wall, interesting selection of breweries and styles, from Gose to Stout via a Sasion and Lager, twelve taps if I remember correctly. Service was attentive but not overly so and the beer quality excellent. A relaxed, pleasant place to eat and drink at, one of my Son in Laws favourite restaurants in Orange County and I can see why.

Never knew there’d even be craft beer here, but hit it with some girlfriends to get our bbq on and found a gem. Great night.

Visited October 13, 2013.

The BBQ smells really good, but then I guess all BBQ smells really good. I was there to check out the beer selection and not the food since I had just stuffed myself with Chinese food earlier. When you enter there is a divider of sorts separeating the restaurant from the entrance. Behind that on the left is the bar and on the right are some tables. They had a couple of Golden Road beers that I hadn’t tried before. They seem to focus on local beers which is nice. I’ll be checking back in here every time I’m near the circle, which isn’t that often these days. The service was friendly (didn’t check for beer knowledge but it’s unnecessary since they tell you exactly what’s on tap), the prices on beer are reasonable, and the place is quiet and cozy. As always driving and parking around that area can be a pain.

My wife & I went to the traffic circle in Orange on a Sunday to walk around and have some breakfast. We stopped at Smoqued for a late breakfast, and some brews. Their breakfast burrito and their scramble were both very good w/ smoked brisket in them. The pints of Stone Espress RIS & Alesmith Brown were very good too. If you’re in the area of the circle, it’s a good place to hit up.

Pretty decent BBQ place in Old Town Orange. Had some pulled pork which was okay and their mac and cheese, which was a bit spicy (kind of liked that). Prices are a bit on the high side, unfortunately. Decent selection of beers, everything from California. A few Alesmith offerings, some local stuff like Noble, Eagle Rock, and Smog City, and few other nice beers to round out the list. A lot of IPAs. Service was quick and pretty friendly. Okay if you really want some BBQ, but not the best out there.