Edmonton’s Transit Smokehouse & BBQ

[NKP]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

We’re prices reasonable?

At the time I thought they were a bit up there... but compared to the photo above they were cheap!

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by NKP

At the time I thought they were a bit up there... but compared to the photo above they were cheap!

Seems cheaper than Moxies.

https://moxies.com/restaurant-locati...touchless-menu

I missed the Burger Baron Swiss mushroom burger. Used to be one just a couple blocks east down fort road.

[YoteStopper]

Craving BBQ, going to be in Calgary on Saturday....recommendations from the YYC Q' crew? Thinking a slab of brisket and a couple good sides.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by YoteStopper

Craving BBQ, going to be in Calgary on Saturday....recommendations from the YYC Q' crew? Thinking a slab of brisket and a couple good sides.

Buddy likes this place. I have been yet.

https://www.haydenblockyyc.com/

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Dean2

So, took my wife and we went and tried the transit. First off, the much vaunted renovations don't show. Most of it looks like it barely got a coat of paint. However, for your typical Texas style BBQ, that is an appropriate look. I have been in a bunch of Texas bbq shacks and don't remember a single one that looked new or modern.

It is Texas Q. The rub is strictly salt and pepper, same on all meats. What is different is they smoke with oak, no Mesquite. There is no sauce added during the cook or when served but they have a good selection on the side. The beans are top notch. Home made, smokey and great texture. Next best was the dill pickle. Their coleslaw is not edible. Chopped real fine, soggy with vinegar as the only flavour. At 6 bucks per side for 3 ounce servings the prices are WAY out of line.

Now the meat, cooked properly, as in not over cooked or dry, but if you closed your eyes you would not be able to tell brisket, from pulled pork or the ribs. There is very little flavour from the rub and no smoke flavour to speak of. The meat is plenty edible but it is really mediocre bbq. Even the stuff served at Montana's has far better bbq flavour.

I hope these guys refine their technique quickly. I did give them some polite but pretty detailed feedback because if they keep serving this kind of mediocre food at these prices, a relatively light lunch for 2 of 1/3 pound of each of ribs, pulled pork and brisket split between 2 was 70 bucks with only two sides for one and no sides for the other, they aren't going to last long. I was really hoping this place would be spectacular.

Good update.

I just bought steaks at superstore and meats are up 100% from a year ago.

A ribeye that was $27/kilo was $55/kilo.

I have to imagine these restaurants are being slaughtered by rising prices and overall inflation.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Dean2

So, took my wife and we went and tried the transit. First off, the much vaunted renovations don't show. Most of it looks like it barely got a coat of paint. However, for your typical Texas style BBQ, that is an appropriate look. I have been in a bunch of Texas bbq shacks and don't remember a single one that looked new or modern.

It is Texas Q. The rub is strictly salt and pepper, same on all meats. What is different is they smoke with oak, no Mesquite. There is no sauce added during the cook or when served but they have a good selection on the side. The beans are top notch. Home made, smokey and great texture. Next best was the dill pickle. Their coleslaw is not edible. Chopped real fine, soggy with vinegar as the only flavour. At 6 bucks per side for 3 ounce servings the prices are WAY out of line.

Now the meat, cooked properly, as in not over cooked or dry, but if you closed your eyes you would not be able to tell brisket, from pulled pork or the ribs. There is very little flavour from the rub and no smoke flavour to speak of. The meat is plenty edible but it is really mediocre bbq. Even the stuff served at Montana's has far better bbq flavour.

I hope these guys refine their technique quickly. I did give them some polite but pretty detailed feedback because if they keep serving this kind of mediocre food at these prices, a relatively light lunch for 2 of 1/3 pound of each of ribs, pulled pork and brisket split between 2 was 70 bucks with only two sides for one and no sides for the other, they aren't going to last long. I was really hoping this place would be spectacular.

Looks like they cared enough to respond back. Seems like some places sauce their meats on the smoker… these guys are smoking then giving you sauces to dip or spread at the table. It’s been a while since I ate at a Smokehouse. Curious what I would prefer.

Hi Dean,

Thank you very much for the thorough review as we use these as an opportunity to improve the guest experience as a new restaurant. We did use the time that we had to wait for permitting to get approved to refine our menu some more, and begin items on our 'nice to have list' in our second renovation phase that wasn't in our budget for the first phase.

Rest assured, we are not done our renovations by a long shot, we have broken down our renovations into three-phases of redevelopment, beginning with the first phase, to get the restaurant operational again (which was still quite the undertaking), coupled with the costs associated with 10-months of permitting delays that we had not budgeted for, made our financial situation quite constrained for a little while. This was the only way to make the financials work to renovate and safe this historic building in Edmonton's northeast which in the end may end up costing into the mid-seven figures. Otherwise, sadly like so much of Edmonton's other historic buildings, the owner may have soon decided to simply tear it down. Rest assured, we have invested significantly into the building to brighten it up, replace its old flooring/furniture, and completely redevelop the old café on the side into a professional kitchen. We also weren't going for the look of a modern restaurant, and wanted to give off a look of a traditional southern smokehouse akin to the old west.

In our research, we've found many restaurants have a higher proportion of negative reviews at first while they refine their techniques, which we have done as well and we have invited back many of those that didn't have the best experience in the first couple weeks (which we will be happy to do with you as well), in practically all cases it had significantly improved and they had removed/revised their initial reviews.

As far as what we use to smoke, mesquite produces a very strong flavour that many whom are beginning to smoke with find very overpowering, so we went with oak to produce a lighter flavour, that many seem to enjoy. We don't add sauces when we cook the meat intentionally to give the guest the option of choosing between (or sampling all) of our 5 unique, house-made sauces that we provide.

As far as prices go, we very thoroughly compared what we offer to other smokehouses in the city and came up with these prices. Unfortunately, this year has been very difficult for restaurants that sell meat due to inflation, beef in particular. There were points where the wholesale price of brisket almost doubled for us from the beginning of the year. To do this, we have been forced to adjust our menu accordingly. However, we did make the choice after our first week to increase the portion sizes from 1/4lb & 1/2lb to 1/3lb & 2/3lb while still keeping the prices the same.

As far as our coleslaw goes, that was another addition we made to add a sampler of one of our many sides that have all had great reviews to all of our platters and allow guests to purchase extras in individual/double/family portions if they like, starting at $5.95.

I hope we have addressed many of your concerns, but will be passing your review onto the rest of our management/ownership team to see how we can make it better.

In the meantime, please consider reaching out to us at david@transitsmokehousebbq.com/ray@t...kehousebbq.com and we will try our best to make it right.

-Team Transit Smokehouse & BBQ
780-475-5714

Great of you to make a thorough review. I think it helps.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by YoteStopper

Craving BBQ, going to be in Calgary on Saturday....recommendations from the YYC Q' crew? Thinking a slab of brisket and a couple good sides.

https://www.haydenblockyyc.com/

I was shocked to see that Booker's has closed their doors. They had awesome platters.

https://bigtsbbq.com/menus/ is another option

[Dean2]

I hope they take it the right way and make improvements. I didn't post the review after the first visit, only did it on here, because I wanted to see if the feedback I gave them the first time made any difference. I waited till after I went back to re-test the food a couple of days ago. Exact same issue with not being able to tell Brisket from Ribs, coleslaw is still not edible, and still tiny portions of sides for 6 bucks, 4.50 for soda. The no sauce while cooking is traditional Texas style Q. Wet smoking is more Kansas. Carolinas style. Done right, Texas Q is great as the full flavour of the meat comes out.

I get that the cost of meat is up, and I wouldn't complain about what they charge for that, but drinks, soda and sides are just ridiculous. Other thing I just don't get is they happily pay Skip 40% of the tab but there is no discount of say 20% if you order direct and pick up your own, nor is there any discount to eat in. Paying these huge commissions to Skip and jacking up the prices to dine in eaters to cover it is going to eventually tube a lot of restaurants. There just isn't that kind of margin. I really do hope they make it, but it is a really tough business.

[Red Bullets]

Haven't Been to the Transit Smokehouse. There is a good smoked food restaurant off of Whyte Ave (82 ave) in Edmonton called, "Meat". Have only been there once and was quite pleased. Had a great menu and was on par for price of a good meal dining out. Their brisket was excellent.

[CDNOutdoorsman]

Originally Posted by YoteStopper

Craving BBQ, going to be in Calgary on Saturday....recommendations from the YYC Q' crew? Thinking a slab of brisket and a couple good sides.

Hayden Block in Kensington is pretty good, the shortrib is dynamite. Their salt and pepper smoked wings are great too.

Big Sky BBQ on the north side of Okotoks is great as well.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Dean2

I hope they take it the right way and make improvements. I didn't post the review after the first visit, only did it on here, because I wanted to see if the feedback I gave them the first time made any difference. I waited till after I went back to re-test the food a couple of days ago. Exact same issue with not being able to tell Brisket from Ribs, coleslaw is still not edible, and still tiny portions of sides for 6 bucks, 4.50 for soda. The no sauce while cooking is traditional Texas style Q. Wet smoking is more Kansas. Carolinas style. Done right, Texas Q is great as the full flavour of the meat comes out.

I get that the cost of meat is up, and I wouldn't complain about what they charge for that, but drinks, soda and sides are just ridiculous. Other thing I just don't get is they happily pay Skip 40% of the tab but there is no discount of say 20% if you order direct and pick up your own, nor is there any discount to eat in. Paying these huge commissions to Skip and jacking up the prices to dine in eaters to cover it is going to eventually tube a lot of restaurants. There just isn't that kind of margin. I really do hope they make it, but it is a really tough business.

I don’t see transit in the Skip list.

Restaurants charge extra when ordering now through skip. In turn they often Jack their main menu also these days. I don’t use skip because they are essentially jacking prices for us all. It’s a very expensive service to use.

Holy crap.

I just looked at the menu for the Keg.

$46 for Prime rib classic. 10 ounce. $50 for the 14. $36 & $40 for just a prime rib and one side.

$36 for chicken and ribs

I thought Moxies was way more expensive now.


How does the price of Meat restaurant compare to Transit?

Looks like most restaurants these days are taking prices off their internet listings.

[Dean2]

Haven't been to Meat lately but had Q at Memphis Blues on 127 two days ago.. 2 pounds of Brisket, 4 Buns, Sauce, two large orders of Nachos one with Brisket one with pulled pork, enough for 4 people with left overs, total bill was $75. I paid 70 at Transit for a pound of assorted meat, so well more than double the price of Memphis Blue, and I like the Brisket and pulled pork at Memphis way better.

[flydude]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Holy crap.

I just looked at the menu for the Keg.

$46 for Prime rib classic. 10 ounce. $50 for the 14. $36 & $40 for just a prime rib and one side.

Wow, I remember going for happy hour Cajun Prime rib at the Sawmill on 104 ave in Edmonton for less than $10 with a draft beer around 1992.
How times have changed!