I want to like this place but the food is consistently bad. Low quality ingredients prepared at a lower quality. The service is friendly and quick though. I've tried Parky's quite a few times and it never delivers. I will drop in and get a bottle of their mustard BBQ sauce. It's great on the pork or chicken that I fix at home.
Review Source:Parky's Smokehouse... My experience
--THE BAD--
-My girlfriend and I went at a fairly busy time, we were told there will be a 10-15min wait. LIES we waited for 45mins and what really upset me is that I could see empty tables, multiple of them, I don't care if I'm not waited on for 10mins a place to sit is better than standing in the cold (the door behind us opening and closing).
-SLOW and SAD service my waiter had 4 tables in total and it took 5 mins to get a water, our lemonade a came after he remember we ordered lemonades.
-My Caesar salad had so much dressing I had to ask for more lettuce (which came out and was NOT romaine lettuce).
-I sat close to a wall decor that simply made me sad, it's parky pig and the moos, a singing pig with cows as backup singers. It it suppose to be their focal point I assume but it's very displeasing to the eye.
-The music choice in the restaurant was so random my girlfriend and I could t help but laugh. 1 minute I'm getting in a rap battle, the next I'm gettin ready for the hoe down! Definitely someone iPhone music.
-- THE GOOD --
-My Caesar salad had ALOT of chicken, probably a whole breast or more, definitely worth the $2 up charge. (This might have been a mistake though)
-My girlfriend and I split chili, I regret that, I should have ate the whole thing, phenomenal.
-- MY BOTTOM LINE --
Will only go back for the chili when it's not busy or if my girlfriend wants to go there.
-- UPDATE --
I missed a few things on my initial review due to the fact that it has been awhile since I have been there, I was very pleased with the owners punctuality and commented very quickly, in her comment she also recalled the dressing for the salad, I was so concerned with there being too much I forgot to mention how good it was! (My suggestion is order on the side, which was my fault). Also my last two comments under the bad are purely opinion based, but the fact of the matter is last time I was there, service was lacking HOWEVER the food was great and owners obvious caring of the restaurant makes me want to try again, last time I ate there was about 8months ago.
-- NEW BOTTOM LINE --
From my experience I remember the food being fantastic, they have a mark near their signature dishes (GET THESE) I'm sure the service has improved since my last visit so I believe ill give it another try. The owner's caring for her business is also just fantastic. For these reasons I'm bumping them up a star for now, and if satisfactory next visit I believe another is necessary.
Went for Mother's Day. Â
Friendly service but had to ask several times for things (napkins, refills, etc). Â Waitress forgot all of our salads until entrees were already brought to the table. Â Also didn't bring any "baguettes" until we asked. Â Number one pet peeve: Â Serve apps, salads and entrees in a reasonable succession such that none is served all at once. Â
Food was just OK. Â Ordered a T-bone medium rare. Â Poor quality meat (way too much gristle and fat) and a really thin cut. Â The steak was supposed to be medium rare, but it was way closer to well done than anything. Â No pink and definitely no "juice." Â I've had a better flavored and cooked steak at some buffets. Â The place is advertised as "Parky's Smokehouse and STEAKS," Â with the word "steaks" on the sign out front, so you think they would have good steaks. Â
None of the food jumped out at me and said "I'm awesome" and I've had better food and service elsewhere.
OK, my shortest review yet:
The place has a "tired" comtemporary feel to it. Nothing like any BBQ joint *I* would create. The waitress was nice, but dumb as rocks. Seems like all the help was dumb as rocks there. But they were nice, so I can overlook that that I suppose.
Food? I tried the triple meat combo. Chicken, pork and brisket. Meh. It was OK. When I go to a place that is suppose to be "the best" at anything, I expect that the food will be *at least* as good as stuff I would get at the State Fair. Not here. One good thing is they do have a decent assortment of good beers there.
If this is the best restaurant "overall" that Boone county has to offer, then I guess I'll stay away from Boone county.
Would I go back? What do you think?
Some of the other reviews seem to say the food was good so perhaps our experience was an off night (or more likely just the wrong thing to order). Â We ordered the brisket and a rack of ribs (wet). Â I've had a lot of BBQ - and this ranks as one of the worst I've ever had. Â The main complaint was complete lack of true smoked bbq flavor. Â Actually the complaint was complete lack of flavor period - in both dishes. Â The Brisket came shredded like pulled pork rather than sliced which is more typical of brisket. Â The ribs were just plain void of any flavor. Â They had 2 bbq sauce options - sweet and spicey. Â Neither would top my list of memorable sauces.
Anymore I go by the simple rule that you don't order bbq from a steakhouse (you order steak). Â Not sure this is a steakhouse, but its not a BBQ joint despite having "smokehouse" in the name.
-- Service however was very good, the place was clean and had new finishes. Â A lot more up-scale than a typical BBQ place but, its obviously a catch-all and not a BBQ restaurant.
We heard about this place in the October Indianapolis Monthly "Destination Diners" article. Â Looking for a new experience, we made the drive to Lebanon. Â The food was decent, but this was my worst service experience of 2010. Â We had to ask for water three times before getting it. Â Our server delivered our appetizers while speaking directly to a person at another table that he seemed to know, not even acknowledging us. Â The server did not come by our table voluntarily a single time after bringing our entrees out. Â We sat for 10 minutes after finishing before finally deciding to get up from the table to the flag down the server to ask for our check. Â
The other servers seemed attentive, so I suspect we were unlucky in the draw. Â As far as atmosphere, the inside and outside of the restaurant felt like a chain...nothing really unique. Â Ultimately, this place wasn't worth the drive.
This place has a expansive menu of traditional BBQ-restaurant food, such as pulled pork, beef brisket, turkey, etc....I got the burger they have that is topped w/ pulled pork & crispy fried onions, and it was GOOD! Their baked beans were very good too, and their fried pickles are the dill-chip style & very delicious. Only thing I could complain about is that their house BBQ sauce is not very thick. Service is great here too!
Review Source:In a sea of chain restaurants and highways, Parky's is like a shiny buoy with an arm chair on it.  It'll save you from drowning, it'll provide comfort but it's probably not where you'd hang out all the time.  My pulled pork was totally yummy.  Also, all pulled pork is inherently totally yummy.  I don't know if they are doing any thing at Parky's that's jaw dropping amazing, but they are maintaining the reputation of pork sandwiches...more than status quo but wouldn't necessarily inspire future food fantasies.  Our waitress was competent and friendly enough, our table area was clean and comfortable.  There was even some charming hand painted singing cows on the wall.  We left Parky's feeling totally great that  we detoured 10 minutes out of our way to go.
Review Source:We saw a sign on the highway coming back from Purdue that Parky's won awards as the best restaurant in the area ... or something like that ... we were skeptical of the advertisement but were hungry and felt a bit like BBQ.
The place was actually quaint and had a pretty varied menu ... and some of the dishes had some promise ... but nothing stunned us. Â The homemade salad dressing were actually kinda good.
As a side note, the very nice waitress spilled bbq sauce all over my wife ... and didn't think to offer a free meal or dry cleaning expenses.
Again, nice place ... worth trying ... might have some good dishes in here ... but we were just "so so."
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