Smoke's Poutinerie St. Catharines in St. Catharines

I came on Halloween weekend and why was the girl in a costume behind the counter flirting with my man? That s so unprofessional. The moment I went to get a seat she decided to flirt and say he deserves 17 packs of ketchup when he asked for ketchup. Is she okay????

They accept the order at night even when the store is closed even though shown open on uber eats and then don t cancel the order for hours.

I m guessing the franchise was sold to an Indian same with the one in Niagara Falls after overhearing conversation and he laid off all the white people that I was used to seeing there. Thanks for ruining a Canadian chain and taking jobs away from people who lived here their entire life. Never coming back.

So many different flavors of poutine its actually hard to decide what to get. Never been dissatisfied with my choice, though.

Had a craving for poutine but was all disappointing. The fries were not crispy, the gravy was extremely watered down and the cheese curds were rubbery and not melted. For $15 you d expect a great signature poutine for a POUTINE shop. I could ve gotten a better poutine at McDonald s so what does that tell you? Maybe it s just this location but I ll never return to this one.

Parking: $2.50 per every half hour Food

So disappointed First time ordering here. I might as well have made fries out of a bag at home. What a small portion.. For the price I was very, very disappointed. We will never order here again. Nor will I spread good news about the place!

I was told there are no gluten free gravy options. I was under the impression that the vegetarian poutines were gluten free gravy. My family of 4 left without any food and went to a grocery store to make our own gf poutine. Very disappointed.

Im very disappointed to write this review. I ordered on uber eats for my mom, sister and I and was expecting flavorful fries with cheese, gravy and either butter chicken or Buffalo chicken but what we got was very bland gravy and fries which mine were undercooked and my moms was over cooked. The cheese and chicken (even thought my mom ordered extra chicken) was non existent. We reached out to Uber and got a full refund which they did do. And to make matters worse, my mom had to take pepto bismol and gravel because of what she did eat it affected her and she fought to keep it down. As for me, I was on the toilet through the night and as of now Im STILL on the toilet. I had very high hopes for a great poutine that I missed after moving out of Mississauga, but I guess Ill have to go back there for a great poutine. Thanks for reading, and good luck with your poutine endeavors.

Great atmosphere with fun Pacman tables and 80s rock playing! Unfortunately after that the service was disappointing, had to ask for my drink (at a pick up counter after having paid) and was told to wait as my food was being fixed. Then I got the pleasure of getting up from the table to get my food as I was the only customer in the place. Way to earn your tip! When I did get to try the $18 meal sized poutine, (it was hot and hot enough to melt the cheese curds, which saved them a little) it fell flat with the fries themselves being either somehow slightly undercooked ( blanching issues?) or slightly stale. Either way, to fail with fries is not good for a poutine place. Also the gravy seemed thin and lacking in any real flavour. I wont be back.

Ordered their traditional on UberEats, was exited to try poutine from a proper poutine restaurant. Turned out to be the WORST poutine ever. They charge you a hefty $16+tax, yet fail to make an edible worthy poutine. The fries are burnt, very few cheese curds and Non-existent gravy !!!!! Words can never describe how frustrated I am, like these people run a poutine restaurant, charge you a premium compared to other places, yet have no skill to combine 3 simple and inexpensive ingredients .. If only they wanted me to pay extra for the gravy. Gimme a break!! I never usually write reviews, but this time I had to. Save your time and money folks. Theres quality places like Harveys who charge a fraction of this and taste a million times better.

Even the washroom was fun!!

Great place and service

Some great choices and good managers. Be careful when ordering via skip the dishes, they messed up for me. Manager came out to make it right.

Normally this is my go to place but this evening I ordered a poutine through uber eats and the packaging was all mangled and my fries were beyond burnt. Definitely disappointed..

Emma was the cashier and they were so sweet, went above and beyond to make my experience amazing, i would 100% come back here! food was so amazing as well!!

The guy with a beanie and beard could be the best worker they have ever had. Great service.

We ate at smokes last night for the first time and boy was it a great meal! Emma behind the counter was super friendly! Well definitely be returning!

Always delicious and always great service imo. Been going there for over 9 years and they never disappoint.

40 Creek BBQ sauce Xtra large Poutine, great late night snack, delicious

Hmmmm!

Coloured hair woman is always so rude when she serves me. She seems aggressive, Has multiple Colors in her hair. Was hoping I didn t see her last time I was there. Seems to pick favorites as to who she s respectful towards. Will I was ordering , she was responding very rude and had a look of hatred when I was answering her. She was giving major unnecessary attitude while appearing to get mad. Looking very angry at me. Scary to witness hatred from someone in a business nonetheless that does not know you. When entering I observed she was courteous to a older gentleman but not to me. Even the older gentleman knew it was not called for but clearly had a good relationship with this person so he didn t say anything but I could tell he almost wanted to tell her to calm the heck down. Aren t you guys supposed to treat all customers the same? And if not, Isnt that suspect of prejudice behaviour? I got the impression she doesn t like men or doesn t like coloured men. (My opinion) Something is definitely off with some of the staff there. I d rather drive somewhere else than to experience my money wasted on supporting a business that hates the people paying their salaries. Hard to believe the reviews on here, but if you look closely you ll notice almost all of the negative reviews were from minorities so excuse me for thinking like that after this experience

Was there this afternoon, good food and even better service

Wasnt the worst... but definitely not worth the price. A $20 poutine... gimme a break. Definitely Wasnt worth the price! Wont be buying again. What a shame!

The poutine was good.

I go to smokes every weekend and it s the best. Last night it was super busy but food was fast and good. Robert, Six and Diana were so amazing and nice during my whole time there and we re super good employees!

Food is to die for! Excellent customer service Food

My daughters and I stopped her today before heading over the the hockey game. I didnt catch the ladys name working alone (she had blue in her hair) I just wanted to give her a shout out that she was absolutely phenomenal! Between walk-ins and deliveries she was absolutely killing it. The poutines we amazing as usual! Keep up the great work guys

Foods still good

If you love poutines as much as I do this is the place to be, service and food is amazing

Very stingy, payed almost $5 for extra sauce and they barely put anything. Had a totally of 4 cheese curds. For what it costs, definitely not worth it.

We love this place.

Decent food decent staff and decent place I love the bag and so does our cats. I would not recommend the taters as the base, but my fiance would recommend the opposite so it depends on whether you like the mushy tater tot style or if you prefer a nice multi-dimensional bite of a French fry poutine, akin to the traditional Canadian dish. I will be back.

Consistently great tasting poutine! Highly recommend.

Utterly disgusting every time. They should be ashamed of themselves serving this over priced slop. You have literally one job. Cook fries. COOK THEM! The 3 times I ordered from there the fries were completely raw and nothing but mush. Inedible and wont be giving a 4th chance. Absolutely ridiculous!

Hole in the wall but great food with good portion sizes.

This rating is not just predicated on what the food tasted like but what I would compare it to for the price. Super expensive poutine and not as good as a fast food restaurant. And I would say fast food poutine is only meh. Took 20 minutes to make 2 poutines. Juice not worth the squeeze. Lady inside was nice. That is the only plus.

Soggy perogies it was disgusting And the fried cheese curds were just normal cheese curds put in a container and drowned in the lemon sauce and seasoning Food

At first, it was difficult to find the restaurant because its like in the back alley. Other than that, the food and service were really good. First time trying poutine and it was good. Though its best for a late night snack, I dont think it would be a substitute for a good dinner meal.

Good

Great service!

My favorite poutine place. I always get the snack size traditional poutine. I like how they use real cheese curds. Their gravy sauce is really nice too. It s always very satisfying. It might not as cheap but it s really tasty

Veggie poutine was burnt

Solid variety of poutines, very filling, good bbq sauce

Great hot delicious poutine! Always hot and fresh. It is sometimes too salty.

Noticed a recent staff overhaul, not sure if thats the issue here but; Ordered a DOUBLE pulled pork poutine tonight and got less than 1 serving of pork. Ive been going here for years and have NEVER been so let down. Its literally no more than a tablespoon of pulled pork and Im in utter shock??? Yall might think Im joking and I wish I could post a picture because its truly ridiculous. This isnt me being fat and wanting more of something, this is me spending $17 plus tax and getting nothing but fries and a few curds of cheese. Are you guys okay? WHAT happened to your portion sizes? So sad and disappointed. Wont be returning again. Being cheap isnt going to help you make money, do better.

Too much gravy fries were swimming and a little on the pricier side. About $5-$8more than you would pay at chip trucks.

Best poutine around

Went after a bar night, the boneless wings were not fully cooked, the fires were cold!

Bleh. Got 1 pulled pork poutine, 1 butter chicken. In both, the cheese curds DID NOT melt despite the fries and toppings being so hot. Cheese curds were so rubbery. Toppings were pre-packaged. Fries tasted like they were not cooked enough or reheated. Pretty disappointed I spent $30 on two poutines that would have been better at Harvey s, McDonald s.. etc. Wouldn t go back unfortunately and cannot see why this place is rated highly.

Bad customer service. Never come back!

Nice, clean environment

Its no longer there

If youre looking for the classic Canadian poutine but mixed with different styles like buffalo chicken, philly cheese steak, etc etc gotta get it here. Its not the mom and pop poutine but its damn good for a restaurant.

Kid that works here is a tool

Its a small location hidden behind/next to a parking lot off the main downtown street. Almost didnt find it! The menu seems expansive, its a lot to take in and be able to decide. Everything on paper looks amazing! We ordered the Avalanche Poutine. It was good, but it didnt have the wow factor I was looking for. It was tasty, but the cheese curds were kind of disappointing. Its been a while since Ive had Smokes, but the cheese curds this time were little cubes and not like natural curds, which threw me off. Yes, very squeaky when chewed, but they didnt melt at all and kept its cube shapes. It didnt give me that cheesy satisfaction I was looking for in the poutine. I will go back, but definitely trying something different. I wouldnt order the Avalanche again.

discusting poutine doesnt even melt

With Poutine being the national dish of Canada, and this establishment being named after it - I am very surprised with the low quality of poutine. They have some wild poutines and the selection is second to none. The food quality unfortunately falls short. Ive been here a number of times over the years to keep giving it a chance, but they fail to delivery consistently. The most recent experience the poutine had barely any gravy and the cheese curds were not melted at all. The best way I could describe ordering a poutine from Smokes is; if you told someone who has never had a poutine the ingredients involved, and then they made you one, with no idea how to assemble one appropriately.

My first poutine in Canada. Not really what I was expecting. The fries were soggy and under cooked, the gravy if you can call it that was like water and the cheese curds we hard and grainy, plus they don t melt. Guess I should have taken head to the previous reviews. But I figured how bad could it be? Yeah, that bad.

Good place if you like carbs

Absolutely delicious. Freshly made, had to get my passport stamped because I was on my way to flavor country with the Inferno chicken poutine. On point all the way.

Food is bomb, but pretty pricey!

The amount of options you have to choose from are great, but I usually go for just the regular good ol fashioned cheese curds and gravy poutine, and I find it very bland and heavy. The fries have a burnt flavour (old oil?).

Best poutine downtown, and lots of options to choose from.

Good food sure, but order on Uber and you pay 45$ for one poutine to get delivered because they forgot the second. Very frustrating.

AMAZING SERVICE! Brought my kids in as a treat. Server was amazingly upbeat and friendly, even paid for my kids to play a couple retro games on their retro gaming tables. Unreal. 10 out of 10. Wish more places put that much passion in their services. Gold star!!!

4 years ago, this place was fantastic! Now, its downright terrible. Tried the butter chicken poutine, there werent any chicken, just the butter chicken sauce. Im very disappointed and hoped that it was as good as last time, a shame really.

Wow first time in experience here and Ill definitely be back love to the last lick

Great food and service!

Always fast, friendly and delicious. +5* to all the staff there.

Just had a great experience with this place. The woman working today was fantastic in every way. Very accommodating and helpful with a great attitude. Thank you again.

I ordered a poutine with steak, mushrooms, onions and bbq sauce. It was amazing!!

While the taste of the gravy was delicious, after spending $30+ I was left disappointed. The fries were very dry. The cheese curds were cold. Because there was not enough gravy, the cheese curds didnt get melty so I was left with dry fries, and cold cheese curds. Definitely not worth it. The fries literally tasted like they were cooker yesterday and reheated today. Just awful, couldnt even eat it.

Very bad experience. Their was a hair in poutine.

Great poutine options of poutine! Ive heard they were really good and i figured id put it to the test and im satisfied

10/10

Pretty sure the one I went to was in Toronto but I dont remember. However, I assume all these stores are roughly the same. As an uninitiated Australian eating poutine for the first time, I realised that this was heaven. Get ones with tonnes of topping and stuff. I personally did not like the taste of the cheese on the plainer ones, it has a slightly odd flavour that is hard to explain. However, get one with plenty of toppings and you canr taste that. I cant wait to come again once covid is managed!

Delicious huge amounts of spuds covered in more deliciousness!

This was ok. There was not enough cheese and my fries were not cooked enough. Service was fast and friendly

Ordered their Philly cheesesteak poutine once, and their bacon cheeseburger another time. Both were great!

Always great poutine.

Very clean environment.

Found real Quebec style poutine, with real Quebec curds!

Went here this evening for dinner. We got two poutines... One nacho and one avalanche. They were swamped with a crazy amount of orders so I was told itll be a bit longer wait than usual. They ended up making them a lot quicker than expected which was surprising considering how busy they were. When we got home and opened them up they were the BEST we have ever had!! Whoever was working on the night of April 23rd 2021 did an amazing job. They work very well under pressure and make some bomb a** poutines! Please let them know :)

First time here, we ordered the perogi and the steak poutine. WAY WAY WAY to many fries compared to the toppings, the fries in the middle and bottom were so disgustingly soggy, the steak had no flavour and the cheese curds were just wrong. Such a waste of money, we were able to fill one of the containers with all the soggy fries

Delicious poutine with lots of variety as well as decent options for vegetarian as well.

Love the spicy buffalo chicken wing poutine

Terrible. And im drunk. I am drunk and i took time to write a terrible review. That should say it all.

Really good selection of flavors and tastes really good.

Great location. Friendly staff. Tasty Poutine

Rude staff

Staff is nice and straightforward. Great environment and its Smokes Poutine! Good selection of different takes on a poutine

Delicious

So delicious poutine.. best in town

Excellent super-friendly staff. Everything you want in a poutine you can find here. Great for a quick snack or meal. Limited seating and clean washrooms. Recently added table-top arcade tables are nice retro-addition. Free WiFi. Metered Daytime street and parking lots available. There are charging stations for your E-Vehicle in Garden Park Garage. Leave your ego behind on Bar-Nights this place is prone to patron-on-patron confrontations. Staff still remain very professional and respectful.

I was not impressed with the traditional poutine, the gravy was to salty, cheese curds did not melt despite how hot the gravy and fries where and the fries where chewy I expected better quality from this franchise...

Located in an odd place in the downtown...

They were willing to turn on a frier that hadnt been used in over a year (because of covid they havent been busy enough to need it) Just so there would be no cross contamination or Gluten. My wife was able to enjoy fries there when normally she wouldnt. Very nice employees, awesome food as well.

Horrible customer service.

I ve been here a couple of times and the majority of the times they ve either made the wrong poutine or have made an underwhelming poutine that lacks flavour. The staff seem nice but the place seems to be dirty at times; usually later at night

Just dont try to save the fries in the fridge. Cold fries are never good.

No vegan options. Very disappointing that you can only get fries here because the gravy is beef and theres no non-dairy option for cheese. Went to Need A Pita instead.

Always mmmmmmmm!!!

Fries were over salted and the oil needed to be changed. Tasted Terrible. I wont go back. U need a pita was delish and a 2 mins walk

The worst putin I have ever eaten. The potatoes and in general the ingredients were refried. Old. Its not fair that you pay for something and are given something of such poor quality.

Smokes poutine is very delicious, probably one of the best around. They have so many different options. The pulled pork poutine is my favorite. I definitely suggest checking it out if you are in the area, I dont think youll be disappointed!

This place is awesome hole in the wall!!!!

Love the pork poutine

The best poutine place in Niagara Region

If you like poutine, this is the place to get it! So many selections, its hard to choose! Good luck trying to finish the generous portions! You want poutine, nothing else compares!

Always a good choice after drinks or when you crave a larger treat

Very friendly staff, very clean, excellent meal

Oh yessss

Incredible food, made and served by incredible people

Good food

Amazing food everytime. Workers are always kind and caring.

Dry french fries, no gravy. THEY CANT EVEN MELT THE CHEESE. ITS A POUTINE! CHEESE AND GRAVY. how can you screw that up?

Sed it be open at 11am online and didnt open till 1 went somewhere else for lunch.

Staff is always helpful a d greet you right away they have a adventurous variety which is good for our family. We order here regularly always satisfying. Gets a bit pricey though

Delicious simply delicious. Love it

No complaints... Poutine was good and the service was standard.

Really nice staff

I found for the price I paid there was no cheese curds barely for 13 something for a medium box of fries I was very dissatisfied with my visit there today. I had the Philly steak there was barely any steak quite a few mushrooms. And maybe five cheese curds if I was lucky. Dont think Ill be returning

Amazing poutines and prices are pretty good for what you get.

Nailed it. As usual.

Best franchise to get poutine (not in Quebec) always good food. Always good service

Good food. Sad that they got rid of the sausage for deep fried pepperoni though.

I ve been to Smokes a ton of times but never this location before. Apparently things have changed because my partner and I spent $30 on two of the smallest sized poutines. Also, my partner asked for one poutine and one order of popcorn chicken, they mixed it up and put popcorn chicken on the poutine. It was about 6 tiny pieces of chicken. I ordered the buffalo chicken and got three pieces of chicken.... such a waste of money. The sauce was only on top and the cheese was hard. Super disappointed and won t return.

I enjoy having poutines from here. My all time favourite is Triple Pork. Staff is helpful, friendly and kind. Craving for a poutine already. Lol

We will get the Pulled pork poutine at its best over here.

Great Friendly affordable

The food is really good l. They have vegan and vegetarian options. They are privy but totally worth it!

Pretty nice place

I love Smokes and this is a funky little location down an one-lane alley in downtown St. Catharines. Tried a new flavour called Canadian Pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni, and sundried tomatoes. Nailed it. I ordered a total of 6 different personal sized poutines and only waited about 10 minutes.

Good poutine and quick service

One word for this place... YUM!!! I LOVED their chili poutine, so delish! I havent been able to get out for months, I hope to get out there again soon!

Dude gave a little dance when giving the food 10/10

The girl at the counter was very rude. She made remarks at me and then she and the cook were laughing at me. Would not go there ever.

Had it last night. It was pretty good. Id order extra gravy next time.

Worst customer service I have ever experienced in any place in niagara region. The staff is rude every time, couple time I would understand, but every time I think about giving them a chance, I m disappointed all over again.

Went for take out, very bad staff and worst experience. I felt so bad, I didn t even touch my food.

Never felt this bad after visiting a place where you go with hopes. I like poutine and no doubt the poutine is good, but service made me loat my appetite completely. Please treat people as human.

Smoking hot poutine

Great food. Always new types of flavours.

Quite possibly the worst poutine Ive had, Im a chef myself and if I may insert a piece of advice, it would be that you shouldnt serve overdone fries..by overdone I mean burnt and saturated with oil. I regretfully purchased the country poutine and that is exactly what I got. The toppings are sub par cheap ingredients and there were maybe a total of 10 edible fries in the box. Dissapointed boys, really Dissapointed. FYI, this was ordered through skip.

Enjoyed this local delight, really not sure why more of the world doesnt adopt this.

Best Poutine Franchise! Never have had a negative experience here

Great poutine. Been a fan of the brand since I bought from their food trucks in Hamilton.

It s a small location and can get busy during the after bar hours. There s tables with gaming machines however they are placed far from the benches which make it difficult to eat from the table.

Cool

This can only be good when drunk. Had this for dinner. Not still satisfying. Fries aren t even good

Great poutine. Worth the wait!!

Still the best. My man Thomas knows his way around the kitchen.