Holy Smoke BBQ

Had lunch delivered by Skip The Dishes, brisket sandwich, beans, and cornbread. The sandwich was good, had coleslaw on it as requested and I chose the original sauce as I’ve never eaten there and wasn’t sure what to pick. It was pretty good, smoky but thin and was super messy. The cornbread was delish and baked into the cutest little baby loaf! The beans? Not my favorite. Could be preference but the cinnamon reminded me of apple pie and once I thought it? I couldn’t stop thinking it. I’d probably stick to Big T’s for my bbq fix in the future.

Disappointing. Pulled pork sandwich was dry and flavorless. Won’t be back anytime soon.

On my way to visit a friend housebound with a newborn, I asked if she wanted me to pick anything up on the way over and she’d been craving BBQ and wanted some brisket from Holy Smoke. I was skeptical how well brisket sandwiches would hold up for take out (soggy, messy buns!) but they transported really well!
I’m not one for smoked meat but the brisket was really good! Not an overwhelming smokiness, and the meat was really tender and juicy.
I’m glad I gave Holy Smoke a chance, now I’m open to the idea of trying more smoked meats.

Brisket was not smoked complete bs lol I have had smoked brisket this no taste had to add salt sauces to me tasted cheap only good is the tea it appears to be tasty but no smoke flavour bland boring try montanas brisket its smoked and u can taste it super disappointed

Think I just had holy smoke for the last time .
One sandwich and the tray was a puddle of grease by the time I was done, also the bun was soaked with grease as well. It’s too bad I love smoked meat but at 12 bucks for just a sandwich is pretty pricy but the grease just kills the deal.
They would be so much better off if they would drain some of juice.

I walked in for a quick bite to eat before picking up my son from school (2pm). The server was young, inexperienced, and nonchalant. After I asked her what the special of the day was, she suggested one of the combo meals (ranging from $ 6.49 to $ 12.99) but completely forgot to mention that it was «Buck a Bone» Tuesday ($ 1.25 a bone). It was also my fault for forgetting what day it was. I ordered the Rib Meal for $ 7.99(this is a late review, so this meal is only available at the Deerfoot mall location. The combo meals also aren’t available anymore and now there is an extra charge for sides) which included five ribs, choice of coleslaw, baked beans or macaroni salad. Drinks were not included. The homemade lemonade was wonderfully refreshing but pricey.
This is a small place, so the eating area is a south facing narrow table with elevated chairs. When the sun is shining, this area becomes unbearably warm (I felt like I was eating my lunch in front of a furnace!). Even though you could close the blinds by the windows, they didn’t seem to help much.
I found the ribs juicy, tender, and falling off the bone — finger lickin’ good! I wished I had more than a heaping tablespoon of coleslaw, though. Best of all, there were sixteen different barbecue sauces for sampling on the side table. My favourites are the Jack Daniels and the Carolina sauce. I find the south location a lot roomier and the staff are friendlier.

Quite an unassuming place with yummy food. I just love the ribs. There is something truly awesome about inexpensive perfectly smoked ribs!

There aren’t any standout BBQ options in Calgary, but this was good, honest food. Had the chicken and ribs, and the chicken was actually better than the ribs. Dab a bunch of different sauces on your tray and try them all.
Yes, most of the sauces are vinegar-​based. You won’t get that Memphis-​style sweet taste if that’s what you’re looking for.
The rootbeer shake was really good, but a little overpriced for what you get.

I have visited here several times and I love BBQ, but there’s something that disappoints me every time. Overall, the meat, ribs or pulled pork is pretty good, but what gets me is the sauce. Now they have like 15 sauces, and I have tried combining several (2 – 4) of them, but never get that sweet yet savoury sauce that I crave for my ribs. The sauces seem to all be really vinegar based, which is good for some but not all.

Not impressed. Read great reviews so I tried it out. When we got there my wife said she has been to the South location and it was really good.
We ordered 2 pulled pork and one brisket. All 3 of us said it eas very dry. They even asked us if we wanted BBQ sauce on the pulled pork. I said yes. Ate it in the car and it was so dry that I had to drink lots of liquid. I also found a big piece of fat hanging out of the sandwich. Not good.
I gave it 2 stars because the corn bread is amazing. Not dry like most. Very moist. Had some in the car and turned around and went back to buy a dozen more.
Maybe I will give them one more chance at the South location.

Smells delicious when you walk in! Located in a nondescript strip mall, no frills window bar seating.
Liked both sandwiches that I tried — pulled beef brisket & the pulled pork. I thought the pulled pork was slightly tastier. I do wish they’d toast the buns or warm it up somehow.
The ribs are good! And $ 1 per rib, nice.
They have a bunch of sauces available too — we were recommended the Jack Daniels BBQ for the beef and an apple bbq sauce for the pork.

Gluten Free Friendly… kinda.
I saw kinda b/​c yes you can skip the buns, the cornbread the desserts. BUT you HAVE to sick 99.9% of the BBQ sauces b/​c they are all made with regular old wheat filled soya sauce. There is on that is a scary yellow one that is safe but it is hot enough to remove layers of flesh from inside you mouth and possibly other orifices.
If the could provide some not all sauces GF then it would be a 5. I was a weekly customer until I was diagnosed a Celiac.

Holy Smoke where have you been all my life?
As a huge fan of BBQ, I don’t know why no one had recommended me Holy Smoke. Holy Smoke is a very delicious quick and cheap BBQ place with all of the sauces you could dream of. I had the manwich when I was there last and it was a lot of food. I also had the delicious pumpkin cornbread which was so good, I ate it more as a dessert. The people working the counter are nice but there isn’t much room to sit down. I would suggest this location for one or two people for a quick lunch or maybe take-​away.
Some of the best BBQ in Calgary at a great price.

— The ribs are great, super tender. If that’s all that you want, then you’re golden.
— The pumpkin cornbread is really just a dessert (which would have been nice to know).
— The coleslaw is good — crunchy, vinegary.
— The potato salad was a bit heavy on the mayo, I’d suggest you avoid it
— The sauces are generally good, so have a taste and grab the ones you like since the ribs are unsauced (rib sauce, sweet apple and jack daniels were all pretty rich and tangy)
— The Barnyard is a sandwich, in case you were wondering — we expected it to be servings of the three main meats (smoked chicken, beef brisket and pulled pork), but it was a big mash-​up of the three. It was good, but it would have been nice to taste them separately — I couldn’t tell you which component was best. I’d recommend just getting one of the other sandwiches.

Man, oh «MANWICH» — It’s the pulled pork and brisket sandwich equivalent to growing a mean Duck Dynasty style beard, and tearing up Route 66 on a choppered Fat Boy hog. It’s one ‘bad’ sandwich in the best kind of way.
When you’re hungry and you need meat and lots of it — Holy Smoke BBQ is the perfect quick cafeteria style lunch stop. They serve up all the southern BBQ smokehouse classics like pulled pork, brisket, cornbread and sweet tea. Check out the «Buck-​a-​Ribs» they can’t be beat!
The Staff are friendly and the vibe is fun, and by-​no-​means-​fancy with vintage hubcaps on the walls, and classic country on the radio.
Good luck trying to sample every kind of BBQ sauce. You won’t be able to get through them all, but it sure is fun to try!

Pulled pork, ribs, smoked chicken, corn bread, slaw & a milk shake. We tried it all and most of it was absolutely fabulous.
All of the meat was smoky, moist, tender and full of flavour. And if it isn’t flavorful enough you can add any one of their THIRTEEN (!) sauces to amp up the flavour volume. The corn bread was oh so buttery delicious. The pieces of corn bread don’t look all that large but the one little piece between the two of us was just perfect.
We weren’t planning on getting a milkshake but we spotted Dr. Pepper on the list and couldn’t resist. In hindsight we should have resisted because the shake was fairly thin and we really didn’t get much of the Dr. Pepper flavour. On the other hand, I was delighted to see unsweetened ice tea in the dispenser. It is pretty uncommon to see in Canada and I can’t get enough of the stuff.
Holy smoke is a near religious BBQ experience! Thanks to Marc D for sending me the smoke signal.

* Good BBQ *
After an incredibly disappointing BBQ plate at Palomino Smokehouse (
) I needed to try and have the Calgary BBQ scene redeem itself. Enter Holy Smoke.
I ordered the brisket sandwich with a side of ribs for a total price of $ 8.99. Hooray for normally priced BBQ. But I would have been willing to pay more as the quality was very good.
Here is the tray:
The brisket was properly smoked, and very tender. I personally prefer sliced brisket over pulled, but that is a regional difference. The taste was spot on. Photo:
The ribs were excellent. Fall off the bone without being mushy or stewed. Good natural smoke flavour with properly rendered fat. Excellent job on these. They charge $ 1 a bone, but threw in an extra one for free. Photo:
This little spot has better BBQ than the places I’ve tried in Vancouver. Too bad it is in Alberta instead of here. Perhaps they could expand??? (Hint hint, nudge, nudge)

A pigsicle for a buck.
This is real BBQ. Briskets, beans, ribs, slaw, and cornbread are all on the menu. There are also a wide variety of sauces.
This is a hole in the wall with great food. If you don’t have time to get to Memphis, or Kansas City or the Carolina’s then go to Holy Smoke.

Review #14 of Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge 2012
Holy Smoke Good. After reading Unilocal reviews I knew I had to try this place soon. Located off of 16^th and Edmonton Trail you could almost miss it if you are not watching (at least I never noticed it there before)…now I drool every time I drive by.
Hubs and I had an unexpected afternoon off with no kids so we decided we would have lunch and this would be the place we try. We got there a little early (11:40ish) and it was just starting to get busy. The place is too small for tables/​chairs but they do offer about 6 – 8 stools at the window counter which suited us just fine as we were able to grab a couple stools.
We were hungry and both ordered the small pulled pork sammy, 6 ribs to share (you can order them individually) and a side each (coleslaw/​potato salad). The price was amazing for the amount of food we received. I am glad I got the small sammy since it was overloaded with pork and I could not finish it all. The ribs were absolutely amazing… the side salads delicious. everything outstanding. We further loved they serve the seasoned meat un-​sauced allowing you to choose your sauce (s) from a dozen or so. I love this concept cause this says my kids might actually eat the food and not complain about the sauce lol. We couldn’t help ourselves and tried at least 4 of them (hot mama, house, jack daniels and a mesquite I think). They were all so good I could have drunk them.
We ended up in a pork coma after eating lunch here and had to go for a long walk to work it off. It was so darn good that we couldn’t leave a morsel on our plate.
Incredible & flavourful food, very friendly staff, fantastic prices… yup we will be back again, and again and again.

Just amazing BBQ food. Pulled pork sammiches, beef brisket sammiches, chicken sammiches, all wonderfully smoked. It tastes great on its own, pre-​sauced. But Holy Smoke offers over a dozen sauces all made in house, that you can take away in little containers. Try the jerk and Jack Daniels sauces. Great value too, its about 6 bucks for a small sandwich, and the portions are quite fair.
The beans and stew have amazing flavor. I just wish that it was served in a larger container, something larger than a shot glass.
The corn bread also makes a great side to your sandwich. Probably some of the best corn bread I’ve had in a while. Fluffy, melt-​in-​your-​mouth, goodness. Its so soft I could sleep on it, and subconsciously snack at night.
The inside isn’t a great space for sitting down and eating. There is probably only enough room for 4 – 5 people to sit in front of the window. You’re best to order for take out.