I went to Smokey Joe's on a Wednesday with a group of 8. I would like to note that they do not have a website, so if you're curious prior to going - word of mouth or calling the restaurant may be a good idea. When we booked in advance, we enquired about vegetarian options, and they said they would ensure that there was vegetarian menu items available. I have been to Smokey Joe's before and I found it to be reasonably average, however, I have heard great reviews since so I was looking forward to my visit. When we arrived, the decor was as I remember - very fitting to the 'creole' theme. It is built into a little cottage and there was a lot of themed number plates, flags and memorabilia over the walls... and somehow in the table tops. It looked as though they'd set some kindergarten children to go crazy on maps and written information with their crayons and then they were placed under the table top.
We arrived and were offered drinks and food. We ordered fairly soon after we arrived. I was really disappointed when I arrived that there were no visible vegetarian options, unless I wanted to eat fries and salad. Which is what I ended up ordering. I'm sure that if I enquired that the waitress would have been able to supply me with some options, however, she was very unapproachable, and where she positioned herself was at the opposite end of the table to me, which meant yelling in order to say anything. The menu seemed to be okay, every item was ribs or meat of some description - but this was expected.
We waited an hour for our food, and when it was presented I wasn't sure what everyone had ordered - things along the lines of fajitas, chimichangas and chilli con carne. They all looked the same, some mushy meat, some flat bread, some coleslaw or salad. I'm not entirely sure.
Shanyne ordered this dish, it had prawns in it, and we weren't sure how it was supposed to work. We assumed that he was meant to put the condiments on his plate in the bread - but the prawns still had tails?
Callums dish looked the best out of everyones, he ordered the pulled pork roll - which sounded really great and he said it tasted delicious. Again though, the presenation made it look like something that you'd eat in a high school cafeteria.
I ordered the chips and salad. Re and I also asked for some cajuan dijon sauce for our chips which the waitress forgot to bring out. When i enquired about it she snapped saying that it was on it's way - despite the fact that it was more than 5 minutes after she'd bought out the mains and and a second round of drinks for everyone, I struggled to believe her.
It was a long time until our plates were cleared and we weren't asked if we'd like dessert. When we went to pay - the waitress told us that she couldn't split the bill for us, but we could split it. It didn't make sense, but we just had to work out how much we owed and tell her how much we were paying each... if I didn't know any better, i'd call that splitting the bill. Overall i was really disppointed with the service. Re and Cas used an entertainment book voucher which meant that we were able to leave some feedback, which we're sure the waitress read while sorting out our bill as she was giving us awful atitude. Smokey Joe's is reasonably priced for the meal portions, looking at around $25 for a main sized meal. I don't think i'll go there again.
Smokey Joe's Creole Cafe - 20 Lawrence Street, Launceston 7250
6331 0530