Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill of Newport News, Virginia: Review

I'm a country girl, born and bred in the wheat fields of Oklahoma. Consequently, I love barbeque; all kinds of barbeque - - sandwiches, beans, burgers, ribs, and more. However, when I say that I love barbecue, I certainly mean good barbecue and that's not always what you get at a restaurant.

Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill specializes in barbeque. Notice that I didn't say "good" barbeque because I can't honestly call what I was served there good.

Smokey Bones is located in one of Newport News, Virginia's newest and most innovative strip centers off Jefferson Avenue, near Interstate 64. The building itself is really cool to look at and certainly lives up to the "feel" one would expect from a barbeque grill. It's stone and wood exterior is extremely attractive and looks inviting.

The inside of the restaurant is equally charming. It is large, open, and utterly charming with huge, comfortable booths or tables and chairs than can be arranged in any number of ways. The inside mirrors the outside with lots of warm wood accents. There is no denying that this is a very welcoming restaurant.

The staff, unfortunately, is kind of hit and miss. The hostess that seated us didn't crack a smile and never uttered a word after asking "how many" (people in our party). She handed us our menus and made a mad dash away from the table.

Our waiter wasn't much better, although he did speak with us, introducing himself and taking our drink and food orders, etc. He, like the hostess, didn't crack a single smile. However, someone else that we assumed was either the restaurant's owner or manager did take a moment to drop by our table and speak with us. She was very sweet and helpful and almost made up for the rest of her rude staff.

I considered Smokey Bones a little expensive for the type of food it serves but my husband proclaimed that I was being too hard on them. I do tend to get picky when I'm unsatisfied with service or food.

We choose to split a BBQ platter that allowed us to try three different types of meat. We chose the smoked sausage, beef brisket, and smoked turkey. It came with the choice of two sides. We chose a baked potato and the baked beans.