sherry h.
Yelp
I wanted to like Smitty's because I love American comfort food and Yelp showed it had 4 stars so how bad could it be? Not to mention, they always seem to have availability when my absolute favorite spot, Houston's, is booked up. (Well, now I know why). You can't even compare those two places as Houston's is far superior in quality/service/food and the two restaurants simply don't even fall into the same class. Houston's is so buttoned up and consistently high quality and delicious - compared to Smitty's which seems like a hot mess service-wise and serves food that tastes like a step up from Chili's.
The past few times I've been there has been such a disappointment but last night was the worst and we vowed to never go back.
1. Each time I've gone, for some reason the servers never know which servers are serving which tables. It's the most bizarre thing and, because of the confusion, we're left just sitting there for a while. (Not to mention that last night we went at 515pm and there were only a couple occupied tables so what's there to get confused about?!).
2. As a result of said "confusion", we are never brought MENUS. The first time I was ever went to Smitty's, we sat there for 25 minutes without anyone speaking to us or even bringing us a menu - that time, since it was my first visit, I didn't know if they had a diff way of doing things so I was patient at first, but literally had to flag someone down....and this has happened the two subsequent times including last night. I don't get it, don't you normally get handed a menu when you get seated at a restaurant? 15 minutes in, we had to flag down a random gentleman (who ultimately didn't end up being our actual server), and he asked if we'd had our drink orders taken and we said that we never even got a menu to look at. And he was all flustered and confused. So he finally brought us one. Meanwhile, the couple seated directly in front of us (who had actually arrived later than us) were already eating their appetizer.
3. Server never told us they had any specials when she took our order. Only after we put in our orders, we overheard a different server telling our neighboring table about the specials for the evening - and we were so disappointed as all the specials were items that we normally love and would've wanted to order (last night they were salmon and flat iron steak - which happen to be our two fave items).
4. The same specials-withholding server told us all side dishes were swappable for any sides listed on the menu. My partners dish came with two sides so he swapped them for two different items, and we ended up getting charged $12 for his second side. I asked the server why and she said his "two sides were actually equivalent to one side". And she couldn't have maybe told us that? Plus his "farmers market vegetables" that he got charged $12 for ended up being broccoli (we were expecting a medley based on the name) that was seriously overcooked and mushy.
4. The food is mediocre at best. Like I said, "stepped up" Chilis (and I say stepped up only because they claim to use ingredients like Mary's Chicken etc). But otherwise it's salty, overdressed. I had their famous "meatloaf" which was super salty and crumbly. And my partner had the ribs which were dry (some parts were as dry and chewy as jerky) - which prob explains why 50% of it was made up of bbq sauce.
5. Majority of the items are à la carte so even if the prices initially "appear" reasonable, they're not, b/c you have to order separate sides unlike Houston's where all entrees come with sides.
Bottom line, SKIP SMITTYS AND GO TO HOUSTONS. Just make sure you book a ressie at Houston's at least a few days in advance as they fill up quickly (for good reason).