The Strand Smokehouse

Bar, Eatery

25-27 Broadway
Astoria
Queens, New York, 11106-3413
United States

(718) 545-2120 | map
thestrandsmokehouse.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.78
Reviews:
4
Ratings:
5
pDev:
3.17%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of jmdrpi
Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

3.71/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.75
only had beers, no food. vibe is "indoor beer garden" if that makes sense - big communal tables.

beer selection was solid - drafts and a few cans. some local brews.
Jun 09, 2015
 
Rated: 3.56 by Nmelione from New Jersey

May 21, 2015
Photo of CitySwigger
Reviewed by CitySwigger from New York

3.85/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.25 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.5
Whoa! For a southern boy in the city, this is home!
Good beer, good bourbon, good barbecue!
And to top it all off, a banjo with serenade you from the stage while you sip and savor your delicate burnt ends, corn muffin, and latest sampling of Larceny bourbon.
Another high note about this place,t he pitchers are actually big ol' glass jugs!

Go! You'll enjoy it!

It's new, but soon to be one of New York's better beer halls!
Mar 15, 2013
Photo of slander
Reviewed by slander from New York

3.88/5  rDev +2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4
Bar.
Buh.
Cue.
20

Astoria again. Last time out, no meat during brunch hours Saturday (Hey, how about spelling that out on your facebook page website, genius?) Disclaimer, they did have pork belly & pork ribs as brunch hours sides long gone by the time we arrived mid afternoon. We could always wait around for another 2 hours for dinner meats come 5, or not as was the case. Maybe another day. Finished my Prima and out…

It’s a single very large room. Up front, a wall of green trimmed paneled windows with a block letter piece running the length above, and more paneled windows to the rear on big brick. The barback wall of white subway tiling, and the opposite wall a mix of mirrored panels & subway tiling over wood plank lowers. Drop rafter ceiling below raised planks, with rows of spinnys and wide pan lamps over the floor and tracing the bar. The floor’s a gray black concrete; patched & cracked. A few I-beam pillar supports off the bar and that’s pretty much the room. 18 long shareable tables in 3 rows horizontally, save a few offset vertically to fuck with you, and a single square oddity in the center alongside a slight perch for band play. Tables and benches are phat cut beam, yo, and as such are not entirely level. Careful where you lay your beer down.

Off to the left, a loooong ‘L’ shaped concrete topped bar with a wood panel base; seating for a mere 5 up front on shorty chairs. Just off there, a ‘T’ tower with non descript handles on the bar and a shorty alongside for soda & wine. No seating here, it’s just a ‘get your beer, then stand clear’ deal. Barback counter holds booze (read: whiskey). A large hanging rack piece with 10 logo whiskey barrels with spigots for the pour hangs above, and a long shelf atop with empty whiskey bottles for show. It’s partially fronted by a 4 x 6 board (listing tap selections & cocktails), on a pulley for the easy roll down to update.

Beyond the drink up front, there’s a coffee bar further along, and the food area down on the end, easily identified by the ‘mouth filling station’ wall mural piece of an angry pig pouring gasoline on the ground (an OSHA recordable based on the volume). Daily meats & sides listed on a big board; you order, they tray, you pay, go away. There’s no Fette assembly line of necessary; just one guy doing too much. The flow, it doesn’t.

Slight seating out front on 5 shared tables; 4 long ones and one shorter than the rest. And something of a 2 tiered rear backyard running the length of their space (and their neighbor’s too) with 7 double sided planters with seating all around (rectangular) and bench bordering. Room for a great many; oh, the neighbors will love this (apparently they are already not).

16 taps (craft beer, plus a few Kombucha, & a cider). ¾ of them are New York State offerings from the very local boroughs (Singlecut Jan Olympic White Lagrrr & Dean Pacific Northwest Mahogany Ale, Beyond Kombucha Love Potion & Mava Roka, Bronx Black Pale Ale, Kelso Industrial Pale Ale), to the island and up and outstate (Blue Point Golden Ale, Greenport Harbor Other Side IPA, Southampton Imperial Porter, Docs Hard Apple Cider, Ommegang Rare Vos, Southern Tier 2X Stout). The other ¼ are selections from Pennsylvania (Weyerbacher Merry Monks, Sly Fox Rauchbier, Stoudts Scarlet Lady ESB, Victory Prima Pils). I drank the Victory Prima Pils (all 3 times here) and the Bronx Black Pale Ale. Beers are served in mason jars seemingly pintlike.

Over my 2 visits for food, I’ve seen a bunch of meats; Rib Eye, Baby Back Ribs, Pork Belly, Beef Tip, Chicken Wings, Lamb Leg, Pulled Pork, Pulled Chicken, Short Ribs, Smoked Salmon (but still no goddamn Pastrami), and 9 sides; biscuit, collared greens, cole slaw, glazed carrots, mashed with gravy, broccoli, pot salad, corn bread, beans. First time out, I did a ½ rack of ribs (a mountain of meat, fell of the bone nicely) and a ¼ pound of Beef Tip (just melted & fell apart, real good), and sided with a biscuit (wish it were hot or even warm) and glazed carrots (kickin’). This last time, I did a single Short Rib bone (No Fette fall off the bone there, and in fact a little gamey), and the smoked salmon (served cold, odd, but maybe not), and sided with the mashed with gravy (whipped goodness). Meats are done with a nice but overbearing rub, and you can sauce your own and then some tableside (2 BBQ, something vinegar looking, mustard, s & p, and more of the dry rub).

Decent crowd of beer & BBQ folks. Music, well I heard some Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings doing “The Dukes of Hazard’, and the Deliverance “Dueling Banjos” song (Oh, Ronnie Cox, you have no idea how bad shit is about to get for you. Don’t know what you’re laughing at, Ned Beatty). Food is good, some things better than others, and it seems they don’t actually cook anything here, but rather next door at a bakery and then run it across the backyard and in through the rear door. The drink, it’s good, nothing crazy, but a nice local/regional showing. When in Astoria…
Feb 15, 2013
Photo of Billolick
Reviewed by Billolick from New York

3.88/5  rDev +2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4
A new large Bar-B-Que place in Astoria. This neighborhood just keeps improving on the food and beer fronts.

Large room. Multiple really large picnic type tables and benches, out front, inside and a roomy outside area to boot. Service is cafeteria style. Ordering is Texas style, ie: you order your meats by the pound. No plates. They also feature a decent selection of 16 craft drafts. Look on beermenus.com for the details and upto date draft selections. Curently they are pouring brew from places like Blue Point, Bronx, Greenpoint, Kelso, Ommegang, Ramstein, Single cut, Sly Fox, Southampton, Southern Tier and Stoudts. So, you will get a decent beer to wash down some tasty Q. I've only been once, had the baby back ribs, done with a dry rub...very tasty, moist and worth going back for. The Q is all done that way, dry rubs, minimal sauce in the cooking. Add sauce from the selections on all the tables.

Well worth checking out. Just a short drive from Laguardia airport and Citi Field.
Jan 01, 2013
The Strand Smokehouse in Queens, NY
Place rating: 3.78 out of 5 with 5 ratings