Questions and Answers
Can two groupons be used for the same meal? for a party of two? cuz if I go, I want to go all out, lol. Probably not, but I just want to make sure.
it atates right now there…:
Limit 1 per table. No cash back or credit. Tax and gratuity not included. Dine-in only. Not valid with other offers.
There ARE lunch specials daily. This place is great! Much bang for your buck. The food is SPECTACULAR!
Thanks Renee, I was in a hurry I guess, and missed it.
Why not take out for this coupon to let more people taste the product? Just dine in is very limiting.
Love this place. Ive been there like 3 or 4 times, and the mac and cheese keeps getting better. Dont wear a white shirt!
Does anyone know if any of the BBQ items/sides are gluten-free?
The BBQ sauce is home-made and gluten free as well as all the other sides except the mac and cheese!!! Of course, the bread, breaded items and corn muffins have flour!!!
As a new gluten free eater, I would opt for the Roasted Corn on the Cob with Chile-Lime Butter and the Grilled Veggies!!!
OMG – someone out there’s reading my mind – I was JUST wondering about gluten content of most menu items! THANK YOU so much for this information – VERY helpful to those of us who can’t tolerate gluten!
We just ate there tonight with the Groupon special from yesterday 6/22. The food and service were amazing. Be careful when you get the bill though. When you get the bill (prior to discount) you’ll see one price ($51 for us) and then hand them the $30 voucher with credit card. When they return, it shows the bill at $60- they automatically added an 18% tip and then removed the $30 voucher and there is a line to add an additional tip. If you didn’t pay attention to the original bill, you would not know that the 18% is already added- a little deceptive and I never saw it posted that an automatic gratuity would be added which I HATE!. If the service weren’t so good, I might have said something.
You WILL enjoy the food!
Well, seems like we didn’t get lucky with this place, and I’ll be asking for a refund. Me and my friend went to have dinner at around 6pm today. 1: This BBQ place had NO BEEF RIBS available, they only had baby back ribs, but we were told the wait time would be at least an hour for those. 2: We ordered the tri tip steak slices and the beef brisket, both of them arrived very quickly, but they were both tasteless, dry, and COLD! They had obviously been sitting out for a while… when we asked for fresh ones, they graciously offered to heat it up in the microwave. Though we insisted on fresh ones, he eventually only heated them up, but the meat was still at only room temperature… after our second complaint and an argument with the waiter we decided we were not comfortable with them serving us food anymore, so we paid for our lemonades (which was good BTW) and left. Other than this, the decor was nice, but for being such a small places it was very loud and noisy.
Well Norbert,
In reference to your post:
We simply SOLD OUT of beef ribs. When things are popular and made fresh; it can happen. Come earlier next time. I am 100% positive that The Smokin Joint NEVER uses a microwave for the meats EVER. It is AGAINST POLICY. Your food, as everyone elses is sliced fresh to order. PERIOD! How many times can you ask an establishment to take back a half eaten plate that was perfectly good when you got it and give you a new one? In the instance of yesturday and you; I say “twice”. You and your “friend” were unreasonable as I brought you your food twice, AND IT WAS HOT AND FRESH both times. After you left, customers that were seated near you and overheard our conversation felt bad for US having to deal with YOU. After the second return of your juicy, hot food….a customer seated directly behind you laughed and commended me for not asking you to leave. I explained to them that a good experience is paramount for our customers…….low and behold, they were right. I should have. I can only hope that you have to deal with people JUST LIKE YOURSELF so you can experience what you brought to The Smokin Joint last night.
Michael,
I do not intend to turn this discussion board into a flame war, so I’ll only answer very shortly to a few things.
1: Our definition of hot and fresh probably differs a lot.
2: The second time you brought out our food it was still not hot, regardless of the method you (tried) to used. Answering your question, one can send back food as many times as it’s not right.
3: The meat was dry, period. No juice to talk about. Though, if it was hot not cold, I wouldn’t have felt to have grounds to send it back.
4: “Half eaten”? Please, we tasted it, sent it back, then got it somewhat heated, tasted it one more time, then sent it back again, and then we left.
5: I understand that you’re trying to protect your business, but I think it’s VERY unprofessional of you to make personal comments. We communicated the problem in a completely normal manner, when decided to leave we over paid for our drinks, so I don’t really see how it turns us into those nightmare customers you’re describing above.
And finally, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I encourage everyone to go over to Yelp and look through the reviews there, it’s clear that I’m not the only claiming the food can be dry, as a matter of fact I’m not the only one who has issues with their business practices, while others had good experiences. And Michael, please, do yourself a favor and don’t haunt all your (ex)customers down that don’t praise your establishment.
Everyone-
Let’s just take a step back…
There is no need to go back and forth like this. You have every right to have your own opinion, but we do not want this to turn into a name calling/insult exercise.
Rohit-
I recommend going in there and asking for Michael. I assure you he cares about the quality of the food and his customers. I’m sure he would like to meet you and show you their quality.
Thanks,
Taylor from Groupon
Just a brief notice, there was a post deleted from this board. It was at the request of the poster.
Taylor or Michael,
I purchased this Groupon and plan to use very soon. The food looks delicious, but what causes me concern is the comments from the customer above regarding the “18% gratuity”. I have been over to the Yelp reviews and this seems to be a complaint there as well.
Can you advise when you add the “18% gratuity” to a bill, as in is it based on party size or is it just done for those using a Groupon?
I’m usually a generous tipper, but I get a bad taste in my mouth from the thought of a restaurant adding a gratuity for a non-large party automatically. Please respond.
Hello Justin,
We only include gratuity to partys of 6 or more OR Groupon customers. We do this to insure our wait staff will earn a tip on the entire check as opposed to the few dollars that remain to be paid after the Groupon is deducted. If ANY of our customers object to this with there Groupon we will remove the gratuity upon request. We didnt do this at first, but felt it was something we needed to do after the first dozen Groupon customers tiped on the minimal balance of the check after the Groupon amount was deducted. We are simply looking out for our servers that count on gratuity to make a living. Thank you for understanding.
We look forward to serving you,
Michael
The Smokin Joint BBQ
People should always tip on the pre-Groupon amount…especially if the services is excellent like it is at the Smokin Joint!!!
Unfortunately I had a horrible experience here too.
Had dinner with delicious food – and horrible service . Was told that I had to print the groupon out – wasn’t a big deal – annoying but thought I would give the place another chance – thus not a big deal. Plus – it was right after the groupon came out. I figured they were swamped. Michael offered to comp a portion. I declined. but accepted after the extremely rude treatment.
Again tonight I went with my family. We waited a half an hour for our drinks. My daughter waited even longer for her lemonaide. Received out food – except for my daughter’s. – received the stuffed baked potato without utensils. I tracked down utensils for us all – only to find that the server had accidentally dropped the toppings of the potato before serving it.
Asked. Third time for corn bread – after waiting 45 minutes – I mentioned it to the owner. His response was, “what do you want me to do about it. We make it fresh.”. He offered once again to pay for it again – after being really. Rude. I declined – because I wanted the server to still get a tip
The service and owner get an “f” on this one- the food gets an A-. It is tasty. Unfortunately, it takes so much to get
it. – I hope they get it together. Really – who doesn’t want to love good BBQ and beer. – I think that everyone should try it. I hope your experience differs – but I do understand and feel for the customer who previously posted and was then attacked. — I am a huge groupon fan. I over-tip and over buy when it comes to Groupon. With MANY purchases – this is the first really negative experience I have had.
I went in to redeem the groupon this weekend. The food is excellent… I enjoyed the cornbread and beef brisket sandwich. The service was excellent as well. The decor is comfy for any type of guys night out or just a casual dinner where you are looking for some excellent food.
The only thing I saw was an issue was the automatic gratuity. They put 18% automatically on your bill. I usually pay between 20-30% of the original bill, however, when they automatically place an amount they sorta tie my hands. The other issue was that when we got the final bill back from the credit charge it had moved some of the gratuity into the actual bill. Maybe next time they could mention that there will be an automatic gratuity charge or instead have a suggested amount placed at the bottom of the ticket.
I have eaten at the Smokin’ Joint from their first week in business. I keep going back because the food is excellent and the service very attentive. The owner is on premises almost always and makes it a point to make sure that everything is excellent. I too have arrived to find out that the beef ribs, my usual favories at BBQ places, were out that day (too many orders for it) and ‘settled’ for the baby backs. They were amazing! I recommend that if anyone has a less than perfect experience there, to return and try it again.
I must say that I was one of those complaining above about the “18% gratuity” craze that has been implemented with some of the Groupon restaurants lately. The owner Michael assured me that I can dispute the “18% gratuity” if I didn’t feel like the service was up to par when I came in to redeem.
I visited the Smokin Joint with my best friend on Saturday and had a really great meal. The service we received from “Jessica” was really great. At the end of the meal when the “18% gratuity” was put on the bill I had no cause for complaint and was fine with it being included in the bill, because the service was great.
I’m glad that if the Smokin Joint is going to include gratuity that they do their best to ensure that the waitstaff is more than competent and good workers. Keep up the good work. Thanks Michael.
Did anyone try to redeem their Groupon here w/ the iPhone app? I did last night (never had a problem anywhere else) and was told flat out that only a paper groupon would be honored and that was “the first rule” on the groupon. I had to pay the full check.
I just looked back and i don’t see that anywhere on this Groupon. Am I just missing it?
The food was good.
Had the worst experience I have every had!!!!! Will never go back & will encourage my co-workers to do the same. Owner rude & the waitress not so friendly.
1st. We were told that we could not use or groupon because we had to present it before ordering (our fault).
2nd. We were told that the discount could not be given to us since the owner was out on deliveries (we saw him come out of his office),
3rd. They added an 18% gratuity for a party of two ( Tax and gratuity not included. Dine-in only. Not valid with other offers.) We know how to and what to tip!
If they didn’t want to honor our groupon why did they sign up to participate?
Michael, Taylor:
I have to say I’m really disappointed in the business ethics of this restaurant. When I presented my groupon on my iphone App, Michael said that it was in the fine print that it had to be an actual printed groupon. Not wanting to cause a stir, I took his word for it as he told me some sob story about how everyone was taking advantage of him by using their groupon 9 times. Well I just got home so that I could check out the fine print for myself, and the rule that it has to be printed can’t be found anywhere. Then I am reading everything above, and everything on yelp, and it really sounds like this place is regretting the groupon and taking it out on customers. This is not fair. Not only that, but the food wasn’t really that great and I probably wasn’t going to come back. So effectively, this guy lies to me and milks another trip out of me by saying “sorry guy, hope to see you next time with your printed groupon”. That is complete bull, you should honor the terms of the groupon. I want a refund. If you don’t give me a refund, then Taylor, I expect groupon to take action against these guys as this is also giving me second thoughts about ever using groupon again. Can someone please respond to this post within the next day or so, let’s resolve this please. Michael, as nice as you are, I really wanted to believe you. You’ve only proved that you can’t be trusted.
I don’t understand what the problem in using the iphone app. Michael must not know that once the business taps your groupon, on your iphone, then the deal is marked as “used” and cannot be used again.
I have visited many businesses with groupons, particularly restaurants, and have never had a problem. They have all had a list of the purchased groupons ready by a register. I present my groupon, then look at their list, highlight my purchase number..done. In the event that I were to come in with the same groupon, that number would already be highlighted, indicating that I’ve used it.
I’ve also noticed that within 24 hours of submitting a groupon, I am no longer given the option to print it. that leads me to conclude that a business has access to some online system through groupon that allows them to do that
Our server was pleasant and professional. Food quality and portions were average.
I wasn’t asked what serving size I wanted for collard greens side order. The iced tea was pricey but I didn’t have a problem getting refills. Before the event, I read Yelp! and Groupon feedback and tried to keep an open mind after owner/manager assured me that we wouldn’t have any of the issues that were raised on Yelp! and Groupon message boards.
This is the only venue where I wasn’t able to use a pre-purchased Groupon from my iPhone and instead was offered a 20% discount for my inconvenience. I’m going to contact Groupon to request refunds for deals I pre-purchased for this venue. I asked the server if the master listing of the Groupons purchased could be reviewed, he indicated that since 1,700+ were purchased that they didn’t have time to review the list when customer present Groupons and instead ask for a hard copy of Groupon to be matched with the master list at a later time. I said what’s the difference between using that approach vs. presenting Groupon from iPhone. There’s probably issues with Groupon iPhone redemption because they aren’t confirming whether Groupon is “Marked As Used” after redemption.
Owner/management have major customer service and business relations issues to overcome related to feedback on Yelp! and Groupon. Since “Groupon” redemption is a major issue, maybe the owner should consider creating a link to it on their main website and link to it on Groupon to minimize bait and switch. I did tell server when I first arrived that I had a Groupon that I wanted to use and he didn’t raise any concerns on its’ usage until I received the food check.
Thanks Groupon for refunding the monies I paid for The Smokin’ Joint deal.
I think it’s a really bum deal that the smokin joint is giving everyone. They fully know the problem, and for them to not honor the groupon, it’s not fair that they’re getting the business. Do yourselves all a favor, just get your refund and don’t even try going to the smokin joint, they just don’t deserve honest people’s money.
I agree with Alan P. I requested money back and will wait for Groupon to offer alternative locations for BBQ deals. Groupon didn’t agree with my conclusion that Smokin’ Joint was a bait n’ switch deal. They’re of the opinion that “it was just a misunderstanding” – based on Tweets with @GrouponLA.
VERY disappointed in this deal because they wouldn’t take the offer via the android app. Total bait & switch and they regretted partnering with Groupon, now taking it out on customers. BOO
We are writing to inform you that the Smokin’ Joint has closed. While most of you have already redeemed your Smokin’ Joint Groupon, we know that some have not, and we want to get you your money back as soon as possible.
If you haven’t used your Groupon, please email us at support@groupon.com and we’ll be happy to issue a refund to the original credit card used for the purchase or to your Groupon account to be used for future purchases.
We know how disappointing it is when a great business closes, so we appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may cause.
Thank you for your continued support.
Regards,
Brendan H.
Groupon Customer Support
I have been wanting to try this place since it opened, but it is sooooo expensive. At least this Groupon will make a small dent in the check!
Dear Smokin’ Joint: Please make lunch specials!