The restaurant reviewer for the Bowling Green Daily News recently visited Smokey Bones.

People have recommended it to me for years, and it had been suggested to me as a place for barbecue on more than one occasion.

One item that truly impressed me was the Wings of Wonder. Smokey Bones cooks these twice, and the key to the great flavor seems to be the initial dry rub and smoking, which gives the wings a more intense flavor than others around town. The subsequent deep-frying crisps them up. They are also huge – monstrous compared to most places. The order of eight could serve as a meal for some people. I had mine with both the Jamaican jerk and Memphis-style barbecue sauces.
The Memphis sauce had a nice sweetness to it that was supported by both a tangy background and a little bit of bite. It was complex in its flavoring, with no single part of the sauce dominating any other.

The Jamaican jerk barbecue rub is equally good, with a balance of dry peppers, allspice and thyme that combine to provide a robust, spicy rub. As done on Smokey Bones’ wings, the flavors are excellent and in no way did they dry out the chicken.

Smokey Bones offers a wide variety of entrees, but I concentrated on the barbecue. The hand-pulled pork shoulder is a decent-sized portion of meat. The extensive smoking had certainly tenderized it, but while I found the meat to be flavorful, it was overly salty and somewhat dry. Some kind of a side sauce might have gone a long way toward rescuing this dish.

Beef brisket can be a tough cut of meat. Smokey Bones gets around this with an extended marinade followed by some time in the smoker. The brisket is then cut thin on an angle and bathed in a light sauce. The result is certainly a tender piece of meat, but one that was also without a lot of flavor.

I must say that overall I wasn’t all that impressed. While the food was OK, nothing leapt out as really good, especially for the price. I might be back to try some of the other main course meals, and while I might return to pass some time during happy hour eating wings, as far as a stop on the Tour d’BBQ goes, mark this down as a “not recommended.”