Q Smokehouse on the Joy. Honest thoughts pls

[acct1975]

Hi,

I've been seeing some pretty harsh reviews for this restaurant and am not sure if it's a case of BBQ lovers not loving it or if it's truly an underwhelming specialty dining experience. My family will be on the Joy in July and want to know if it's worth using a specialty dining credit on.

 

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[curlstravel]

We went to it on the Bliss and used 1 dining credit for 3 of us to share. We enjoyed listening to the music as we ate and had a drink.  There was a bar in the restaurant so you could order whatever you wanted.  There was a desert which was like a banana cream pie in a large cup. It turned out to be our favorite dessert on the cruise.  I would say if you’ve never been before you might want to try it.  I go just for the cornbread lol

[Nclgetawaymenhoney]

The food was average we thought but the music was very fun and I’m not a country fan but the live band was very good.

[swmichigan cruiser]

We haven't ate  there yet on the Joy but did on the Bliss. Not sure we will use a dining credit there but we will at least try the Pitmaster Platter ( think that is what it is called) on our three April cruises on the Joy..

[jcscv]

I've eaten a Q a few times and like it.  Is it the best BBQ around? No, but it's good (especially the desserts). I don't use one of my specialty dining credits on it though. The prices are reasonable enough that I just pay out of pocket for that one, and save my specialty dinner credits for some of the more expensive  places.

[udivegirl]

We liked it a lot.  The ribs fell off the bone.  The chicken was also super tender.  We had the platter.  There was so much food, we could only eat a fraction of it.  I was disappointed in the cornbread.  I don't like jalapeno in my cornbread.  Also did not like the beans.  But we couldn't eat much of the sides because we were too full.  The desserts were delish!!

 

[CaptainBazz]

We did this on the Encore last year just after cruising was picking up...ship was less than half full and all the specialty restaurants were very quiet. There were only 3 tables occupied all evening and I think the food had been sitting under heat lamps for a while as it was all very dry...may have been better if the restaurant was full and the food was being cooked fresh...I also felt sorry for the band who played all night to less that a dozen people.

[Longstockingpippi1]

I loved it, most people don’t 🥺, so I’m afraid it won’t be around much longer. The banana dessert yum, the cornbread , deviled eggs, the spicy crab cakes, shrimp skewers and beans are all good. I went twice on my cruise. 

[EllieinNJ]

We dined there in the Joy in September.  My DH ordered the ribs.  There were only 3 of them and they were undercooked.  I ordered the skewered shrimp and it was delicious.  One and done.

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, acct1975 said:

I've been seeing some pretty harsh reviews for this restaurant and am not sure if it's a case of BBQ lovers not loving it or if it's truly an underwhelming specialty dining experience. My family will be on the Joy in July and want to know if it's worth using a specialty dining credit on.

We honestly don't care for the food there. And would not pay for it again.

 

You're on a ship where there is no open flame. So, you really aren't going to get smoked meats or grilled food. Just stuff warmed in the oven. 

 

We don't mind going in after dinner service to have a drink and listen to music. 

 

And, on NCL's newest ships, Q is now complimentary restaurant since the ribs and BBQ the serve is the same as on the buffet. 

[The Traveling Man]

It's a matter of personal taste.  Some like it.  Some don't.  The music often is quite entertaining, but the food typically misses the mark.  Full disclosure - I grew up in Texas, so barbeque is in my blood.  The meat at Q is cooked at too high a temperature for too short a time to really qualify to be called barbeque.  It's simply grilled meat.  The times that we have eaten there the outside was over cooked and the meat near the bone was almost raw.  As some others have posted here, I certainly would never again pay to eat there.

[cruiseny4life]

6 hours ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

The food was average we thought but the music was very fun and I’m not a country fan but the live band was very good.

I didn't realize there is a live band. Is a band always there when Q is open? This will definitely prevent me from trying out the BBQ. I hate live music when I'm in a restaurant. I'd prefer to hear whatever story my husband is telling me.

[Sailing12Away]

36 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I didn't realize there is a live band. Is a band always there when Q is open? This will definitely prevent me from trying out the BBQ. I hate live music when I'm in a restaurant. I'd prefer to hear whatever story my husband is telling me.

Go early when they first open around 5:30. I think the music starts later in the evening. We've always gone at first opening and have never heard music (I hate country music, makes my ears bleed).

 

As for the food - try it using just a single dining credit and get the sampler platter to share. You can get a bunch of sides and get to try a sampler of the meats, sausages, etc. If you don't like it or are still hungry you can always hit the buffet, MDR, The Local, or anything else to supplement. The first time we went we each ordered food separately with my hubby getting the platter - it was too much for the 3 of us with everything we ordered. 2nd time around there were 4 people using 2 credits and sharing 2 platters - plenty of food and no one went hungry.

 

On the Joy you can always use your left over dining credit for lunch at Food Republic, another good sharable restaurant. So that's what we plan on doing in February - 1 credit to share an early dinner at Q and another single credit to share lunch at FR.

[Sand and Seas]

4 hours ago, Longstockingpippi1 said:

I loved it, most people don’t 🥺, so I’m afraid it won’t be around much longer. The banana dessert yum, the cornbread , deviled eggs, the spicy crab cakes, shrimp skewers and beans are all good. I went twice on my cruise. 

The Deviled Eggs, Baked Beans, Cornbread and some of the other items made it to the Prima's Food Hall.     We enjoyed the Pulled Pork Sandwich at lunch.   Dinner had brisket, ribs & chicken.  Unfortunately, no desserts from Q🙁

 

If you haven't booked Prima yet, you might want to look at it.  The complimentary Indulge Food Hall was a favorite with us.    Besides ordering from Q, it had several other interesting types of food to order.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Sand and Seas

[Ixtoras]

We haven't been on the Joy yet (hoping to this year) but we've done Q on the Bliss and Encore.  Your question pretty much hits the nail on the head.   I'm a huge BBQ fan and the "bbq" that you get at Q is not likely to live up to most BBQ joints including the chains like Dickey's.  

 

That said, its a nice change from a lot of other places on the ship and the food is plentiful.  They also have a couple of the best specialty drinks and desserts on the ship.  Mason Jar Banana Pudding, Peach Cobbler, Bread Pudding.   I don't recall the drink's name but IIRC it was a smoked peach bourbon cocktail. 

 

That said, the venue is nice (taking the place of the supper club on Escape) has a stage and likely a country themed band at least some nights (assuming they haven't cut that entertainment).  Our service was great both times and we enjoyed it.  I think we too ended up not using our FAS dining credit there.

[itsnotjustme]

My wife and I ate there on the Joy in May.  We felt it was absolutely not worth having used one of our specialty meals there.

 

I'd say the food was below the standard dinner restaurants.  I had the brownie sundae for dessert, and the brownie was like a brick.  Literally.  I could hit my ceramic mug with it and move the mug across the table without anything falling off the brownie.

 

The music was at a volume you could not carry on a conversation.

 

On the funny side:  I had packed a black and white checkered shirt, just like the wait staff wore, but did not where it that night.

 

Anyhow, we tried it, it was not for us, and we will not go again. 

 

 

[LincolnLog]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We honestly don't care for the food there. And would not pay for it again.

 

You're on a ship where there is no open flame. So, you really aren't going to get smoked meats or grilled food. Just stuff warmed in the oven. 

 

We don't mind going in after dinner service to have a drink and listen to music. 

 

And, on NCL's newest ships, Q is now complimentary restaurant since the ribs and BBQ the serve is the same as on the buffet. 

I ate at Q on the Bliss and I’d say it’s pretty good as long as your expectations aren’t too high. Obviously you’re not getting real Texas bbq pitmaster style food on a cruise ship.  
 

That being said, you don’t necessarily need an open flame to make good barbecue. There are electric smokers nowadays that do a damn good job. 

[cruiseny4life]

14 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Go early when they first open around 5:30. I think the music starts later in the evening. We've always gone at first opening and have never heard music (I hate country music, makes my ears bleed).

 

As for the food - try it using just a single dining credit and get the sampler platter to share. You can get a bunch of sides and get to try a sampler of the meats, sausages, etc. If you don't like it or are still hungry you can always hit the buffet, MDR, The Local, or anything else to supplement. The first time we went we each ordered food separately with my hubby getting the platter - it was too much for the 3 of us with everything we ordered. 2nd time around there were 4 people using 2 credits and sharing 2 platters - plenty of food and no one went hungry.

 

On the Joy you can always use your left over dining credit for lunch at Food Republic, another good sharable restaurant. So that's what we plan on doing in February - 1 credit to share an early dinner at Q and another single credit to share lunch at FR.

Thank you! This is so helpful. If we go (still debating), we will definitely go early. We're early dinner people anyway. I do actually appreciate country music, depending on my mood. I grew up in Central NY and went to college in Central VA, then lived in Montana so I pretty much have had to always tolerate it.

 

The sampler platter sounds great! What a perfect idea. We'll definitely do that, again, if we go there. We were already planning on Food Republic and using one credit there once or twice.

 

We're less than 60 days out, you must be about 30 days out! Enjoy!

[Sailing12Away]

5 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Thank you! This is so helpful. If we go (still debating), we will definitely go early. We're early dinner people anyway. I do actually appreciate country music, depending on my mood. I grew up in Central NY and went to college in Central VA, then lived in Montana so I pretty much have had to always tolerate it.

 

The sampler platter sounds great! What a perfect idea. We'll definitely do that, again, if we go there. We were already planning on Food Republic and using one credit there once or twice.

 

We're less than 60 days out, you must be about 30 days out! Enjoy!

Still looking for a dog sitter, so until that is resolved I can't quite relax yet. The few we rotated between have stopped doing it and the next trip is a long one so want someone we know the pooch will be comfortable with.

 

Thanks for the reminder that we have that as our chore this weekend. We thought we could just put a dent into the beer reserves today...

[FLAHAM]

I usually like NCL specialty restaurants, but found Q to. be a major disappointment.  I would not go back.  

[Uff da]

Our experience on Bliss was less than stellar. The food, at least that night, just wasn't that good. I seriously doubt we would ever choose it again.

I notice on Prima, a bbq concept is no longer for pay and is now part of the food court concept thing they did that I can't remember the name of.

I will not be surprised to see Q go away on the few ships it's on. 

[FlGoodShips]

Was on Joy in Dec.

Loved, loved the "Q".

Food was great. Ribs and chicken great. Dessert even better. Banana dessert is the best.

Music is fun. Starts later in evening.

[wildcats40]

We ate at the Q for dinner one night but did not use a specialty dining deal for it.  We just paid the a la carte price since we weren't wanting a big meal. The food was ok but nothing like the more upscale meals at Ocean Blue, etc.  We did enjoy the experience because we enjoy country music and southern food as we live in North Carolina.  They did a good job creating a different atmosphere in Q but unfortunately it didn't seem very popular...never close to being full.  We found out you can go and sit in the small bar area and listen to the music without having dinner there.  The country band was good and they also played on the pool deck one day.  

[acct1975]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. It sounds like the majority of ppl think it's ok but not use a dining credit ok. That's extremely helpful. We're cruising in July and my 2 adult step kids have never been on a cruise. I really want to make it a great time and since we've (my DH, younger son and I) have been playing up the awesome food. We know Cagney's is going to be a must go to so now we have to just look through the rest of the menus/restaurants and see what will a) be a great experience and b) be worth the free dining credit. Fab desserts just might not be enough.

 

I truly appreciate everyone's thoughts!

[hallux]

The food was good, but you definitely don't get the value from a dining credit like you do in other venues.  If you have to pick one to pay out of pocket for, this would be the one as it's relatively inexpensive compared to Cagney's and Le Bistro on the ships...

 

I LOVED the theming in the venue, really gave it a BBQ joint feel...

Edited January 23, 2023 by hallux