Kenny's Smoke House

This weekend, I took a short trip to Plano to visit The Shops at Legacy.  Joining me on this trip were my brother and oldest daughter.  I had been told that there was some good barbecue to be found here at a fairly new joint called Kenny’s Smoke House.

My little brother and my oldest daughter before the meal.

I was a little skeptical about the claim of good barbecue being found at The Shops at Legacy.  Being a barbecue purist, I expect to find good barbecue in a place that has a strong smell of wood smoke, a line where you order and see your meat being cut, and a guy named Earl or LeRoy cutting your meat on a greasy cutting board.  The meat cutter might or might not be missing a finger or two from occasionally not paying attention to his job.  You will not find these things at Kenny’s Smokehouse.  There is no Earl or LeRoy that one can see, but they could have been out of sight in the kitchen area.  In my mind, I was thinking that this place is far too "swanky" to serve up any decent barbecue.

Not the look of a traditional barbecue joint.

Even though this did not look like a traditional barbecue joint, I decided to hold my judgment until I had tasted the grub.  I ordered a combo meal with brisket, ribs, and jalapeno cheddar sausage.  For my sides, I had fried onions and the smoke house bbq fries.  The brisket was average at best and very tough.  The jalapeno cheddar sausage was not impressive at all and a little undercooked for my liking.  The ribs were absolutely terrible.  They might have been pretty good, had they not been basted in a horribly flavored barbecue sauce.  The waffle fries were overcooked and had a somewhat flavorful barbecue seasoning on them.   Lastly, the fried onions had a really flavorful and crispy batter on them, but the onions were not cut in a uniform size and about half the batch were still partially raw.

Combo plate with brisket, ribs, and sausage.

Fried onions.

My brother had a brisket sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich.  He said the brisket sandwich was decent, but said the pulled pork sandwich was the worst he had ever had.  Just looking at the sandwich, it appeared to have a lot more fat than pulled pork.  Sadly, my daughter’s chicken tenders were the best item we sampled at this barbecue joint.

Pulled pork sandwich and smokehouse bbq fries.

Kids chicken tenders and fries.

There are many good restaurants at The Shops at Legacy.  Kenny’s Smoke House is not one of them.  The wait staff was friendly, but the food was very disappointing.  I give this place a 2 on my 5-point scale.  I was even less impressed with this restaurant than I was when I visited Kenny’s Burger Joint.  There are many people that swear by Chef Kenny Bowers and his restaurants, but I cannot understand what all the buzz is about.

Kenny’s Smoke House

http://kennyssmoke.com/home/

Livin the Good Life Rating=2