Black Dog Smoke Ale House - Champaign

First time visiting Black Dog Smoke and Ale House on an out of town trip from the Chicago area down to Champaign. The restaurant has a nice ambiance, and the service was excellent:: prompt seating, quick service, and very friendly. Forappetizers, I ordered a garden salad with a tasty creole vinaigrette dressing, and also the daily special of smoked chicken andandouille sausage gumbo, which was served hot and had a nice heat kick. The andouille sausage was little bland, but it wasstill a decent gumbo. For the main course, I ordered a two meat platter consisting of sliced brisket from the flat (lean), andalso burnt ends from the (fattier) point meat. My two sides choices were the pit beans and the twice baked potato casserole. My two sauce choices were the Texas Red and the Georgia Peach. The sides were decent, but not outstanding. The pit beans weretasty and smoky with nice chunks of meat, but were barely lukewarm when served. The twice baked potato casserole was served hotand was also tasty, but it was a very small portion size, served in an aluminum muffin tin. A single review will not accuratelygive any establishment an accurate account of their full menu, as I did not try many of their other meat selections or sides, sotake my comments with a grain of salt I am a self proclaimed BBQ aficionado, an avid smoker of meat, and I like to visit toprated local BBQ establishments throughout my travels locally in Illinois, as well as to other states As BBQ styles andtastes vary so much regionally, personal preferences can impact one's opinion of the quality of the food they are eating. Thatbeing said, my gold standard for every BBQ establishment I visit is always centered around the main course, and I always go forthe most challenging meat any pit master knows there is to smoke, which is typically beef brisket I asked my server whattype of wood Black Dog uses to smoke their meats, and also what type of smoker they use. She promptly repli

My husband has never left chips salsa on a restaurant table uneaten. I have never left macaroni cheese uneaten. The restaurant and bar itself is beautiful. The staff was friendly, but made absolutely no suggestions or even asked if we neededanything else when she deemed it was the end of our meal. They use tablets for ordering payment, so while you?re payingthey?re hovering over you for you to hand their tablet back, hate that. The food was mediocre and the portions are insanelysmall for a BBQ place, but fast to get to the table. The staff is also fast to push you out the door. $50 with a more thangenerous tip and we left hungry. We won?t be back, but we?re not locals so no big deal. 2 stars because it was edible, but thewhole experience was underwhelming.

After a long day at an event, we went in search of a local barbecue place and we hit the JACKPOT here!!! This may even be my new favorite barbecue restaurant! The building is an historical building and looks warm and inviting both inside and outside. Thefirst thing we saw upon walking up was a lot of people seemingly waiting for seating. That's nothing unusual for a great BBQrestaurant and usually indicates the food will be worth the wait. To our surprise, we were seated right away. The weather wasgreat and there was an outdoor seating area, so perhaps those waiting had requested outdoor dining. Every single employee fromthe host to the servers were great! Despite how busy they were, the service was fast and friendly and anytime we MIGHT needsomething, the servers were checking on us. The food was excellent, it was fork-tender and full of smoky goodness. Turkey wasthe daily special, and a good smoked turkey is my weakness. Unfortunately, the turkey was sold out so we will have to come backanother day for turkey. I did buy a people size shirt on this trip, but on the way out I saw a stuffed black dog wearing ashirt. I will have to look into a dog-sized shirt along with turkey next time I'm in town.

They did a great job . We had a huge party. Got us all seated pretty close to each other in a reasonable time frame. The brisket queso was disappointing to me . Not much cheese in there . More like brisket and gravy the way it tasted. The Texascaviar wasn't that great either . Really bland . I ordered the two meat special . I thought the brisket was really good . Thehot polish was ok . Lots of bbq sauces to choose from . You get two choices with each order. Thank you for getting the wholeparty seated in a timely manner

We had a fantastic dinner. The selection of sauces was excellent. The brisket queso dip was very good as the rib tips. Our server has often checked us and offered an excellent service. We're definitely coming back.