With my 39th birthday coming up on Tuesday, my family wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate. My wife asked me. Where would I like to eat, and I’ll be honest; I didn’t have a clue. About an hour later, she asked if I had decided, and I really couldn’t think of anything special I wanted. She reminded me that Smokey Bones just opened a new store in the Mall of Georgia, how did I forget that? I’ve been craving Smokey Bones for years because I’ve eaten there quite a few times before they closed the doors in our hometown. I remember my son being so young and loving their food because we went there for his birthday before. We decided we would head out around 9:40 to get there by 10 o’clock.
Customer Appreciation
I’ll admit the previous one didn’t have the best in customer appreciation, but this one was totally different. When we got there, the first thing, we noticed is the environment wasn’t what we expected, but that’s a good thing. The people who greeted you at the door to show you to your table were very respectful, and it just had a great atmosphere. While we were at our table, we had a couple of waitresses to check on us because they were pretty busy. The waitresses were so cool, helpful and stuck around to joke with us throughout our visit. The first waitress she interacted sincerely well with all of us, which we really enjoyed and our main waitress helped in any way possible. When my wife asked her for recommendations for drinks, she was helpful and answered any question we had also. At the end of the night, we didn’t mind leaving a huge tip, the biggest we’ve ever left.
Environment and Drinks
This all took place on a Saturday night, so they had all the TVs playing different football games. If it ended there, I would’ve been cool, but they were playing different types of music for everyone. It felt like a club environment, but very family-friendly and the kids had so much fun. They played rock-n-roll, country and of course, hip hop and everyone was having fun. My wife loves to drink margaritas, so she ordered the Patron Perfection, and she absolutely loved it. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I’m a Long Island Iced Tea guy no matter what restaurant I go to. At Smokey Bones is called the Long Island Lighter Fluid. The drink was so good that I had to order another one just to make sure the first one wasn’t a fluke. My second drink was equally pleasant, which I told the waitress about it.
Food
Now when we go to a restaurant, we got there for the food, of course. We started with the Crowd Pleaser, which is the first picture above this paragraph. It consisted of Loaded Cheese Fries, Chicken Fingers, Onion Rings, Mini Loaded Nachos and dipping sauces. Let’s say that the name Crowd Pleaser was an appropriate name because it definitely pleased this crowd. Now for the main course, I chose to create my own combo from some of their favorite dishes. While trying to decide what I wanted, I ordered the Favorite 3, which were the Hand-Pulled Pork, Chicken Fingers and the Smoked Wings. All the food tasted great!!
My Final Thoughts:
Before we left Smokey Bones, we decided that it will be our new family spot. Normally, we go out as a family about once a month to eat inside somewhere. From the customer appreciation, environment, food and drinks, Smokey Bones is amazing. If you’re ever at or near the Mall of Georgia in Buford, please head to Smokey Bones because you will love it.
