Noble Smoke
I don’t say this often… but… what an utterly sad and disappointing meal.
COUNTLESS people in Charlotte have recommended Noble Smoke to me. People say it’s the best BBQ in the city. Naturally, with the hype, I was so excited to try it — and… womp-womp (sad trombone).
Outright embarrassing
Please let me save you the disappointment of Noble Smoke and the embarrassment I experienced — after hyping it up — when I talked a friend into joining me to experience the restaurant. I'm not trying to be dramatic here. Sure, I have high standards when it comes to food; however, I'm also very easygoing. Food doesn’t need to be gourmet. Food doesn’t need to be expensive. The atmosphere doesn't even need to be anything special....the food just has to be good. Noble Smoke = epic fail.
The rundown on food
Per usual, when I visit a new spot, we ordered a TON of food. Here's the review:
Brisket. The flavor was good. It had an excellent rub on it, but it was SO SO dry. Brisket should be moist and flakey. This was the opposite.
Pork ribs. Average flavor. And again — SO dry.
Pan-fried corn. It was great, but is it really that hard to roast some corn? This was no better than what I cook for myself at home. Thank god for this dish, because if not for it, I would've left hungry.
Pickled beets. These are good; tender with a nice vinegar quality. This was the second edible dish of the night.
Potato salad. HOLY SALT. I do not use a lot of salt, so I am sensitive to it, but I think this was salty by even average standards.
Mac n cheese. Average. Not good, not bad. At least it was filling... we needed something filling — BAD.
Western slaw. Vinegary in a great way. Best thing we ate at Noble Smoke. It would have been the perfect complement to ribs — if the ribs had been edible.
Hushpuppies. Good flavor, but again very dry, sucking up any moisture you had in your mouth...almost like taking the saltine cracker challenge. They also needed a sauce, like a whipped butter or an aioli, but didn’t come with one.
Broccoli salad. It was just “fine.” You can get a better one in the prepared section at Whole Foods, though.
Fried okra. Great flavor & good batter and “fry” to it. While I had no issues, my friend got a couple of pieces that she couldn’t bite through.
Primrose hill cocktail. I love gin; I collect it. I also love herbal flavors & I cook with lavender all the time. This cocktail was the worst thing I had all night. It essentially tastes like a cleaning spray you’d buy at Target.
Hand pie. It looked phenomenal but tasted stale. It was not flakey, it was served cold, and the flavor was average.
Banana pudding. It was thick and tasted like a cheap boxed pudding mix. Sounds harsh, but the grocery store makes better pudding.
The experience
The manager came over to ask how our food was when he saw it just sitting on the table. We said, OK. He questioned, "just OK? Everyone else is raving about the food." We explained that the meat was incredibly dry, and the potato salad was very salty. He tried the meat and potato salad, walked back, and made excuses for the food. He said the smoker must have been overcrowded, and the meat was too close to the heat. Let me give you a lesson: Smoking 101: If you are a BBQ restaurant, don't overcrowd the smoker. And if that were the case, it would only explain one of the meats being dry. The one thing a BBQ restaurant needs to execute is not overcooking the meat, and Noble Smoke failed.
Free food…but still not worth it
The manager offered to replace the food with something else from the menu, but we had ordered everything that looked appetizing, so it was moot. Instead, he took the ribs, potato salad, and desserts off the bill. Then when the bill came, the waiter explained that the manager took a few items off the bill. He then commented that when he went to bring our food over from the kitchen, it didn't look like their normal quality. I kept my mouth shut because I wanted to go home after such a terrible meal and experience, but if you recognize the food looks bad and not up to par, why would you still serve it!? That's just poor management.
Avoid it — for reasons beyond just the food
Please save yourself from a bad experience and just avoid Noble Smoke. To make matters worse, after eating at Noble Smoke, I learned more about their values. I try never to get political, but the restaurant owner is actively fighting against the LGBTQ community, and it struck a chord with me. It’s disgraceful. He has stated on the record that homosexuality is a sin. To further the matter, he was one of the signers against the fully inclusive non-discrimination ordinance proposed in Charlotte in 2017. The letter laid out four points against the city’s then-proposed non-discrimination ordinance, including the right of transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Jim’s opposition “was the bathroom issue. That’s why [he] didn’t like it. The same as [he is] responsible that everybody who works for [his] company is protected, [he has] to protect little kids of customers.” So… he essentially said that all Transgender people would abuse children. I am not OK with that statement.
Don’t support them
Noble also runs The King’s Kitchen, which operates as a nonprofit and provides financial support and some employment for people struggling with problems such as homelessness and addiction. He said, “If you come to work for me, your background is your background. I don’t discriminate — I can’t, it’s against the law.” So, if it wasn’t against the law — I’m pretty sure he would actively discriminate. Until then, he will capitalize on “sinners” in need, to build his empire (sinners defined by Jim Noble as drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, pimps, all sick people, gangbangers, gamblers, strippers, AIDS victims, homosexuals, blind, confused, shoplifters, depressed, suicidal people).
I hope you will do your part in not supporting this business.
