Long before Jack Fiorella created his empire of snazzy Jack Stack restaurants, his parents Russell and Flora Fiorella were barbecue entrepreneurs on Kansas City’s south side. Their original Smokestack on 71 Highway closed in 2006, but their daughter Mary Fiorella McPheron had also opened her own modest Smokestack, serving the family recipes, in 1957. This location is now run by Mary’s children. Unlike uncle Jack’s upscale venues, the Wornall Road Smokestack is small and dowdy and a couple of the servers are tough old birds. But the iconoclastic joint is lovable for its superb pork ribs, rib tips, sliced meats, burnt ends, reasonably-priced meals and hefty sandwiches. And for still offering root beer floats as a dessert. — Charles Ferruzza
Price: $-$$
Payment Type: All Major Credit Cards, cash
Parking: Free, No Parking
Reservations: Not Accepted
Attire: casual
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Amazingly unimpressive, at best. And I think that's on a good day. I tried the burnt ends -- chewy mumbles of salty meat that could have come from a bag marked "Kibbles and Bits." The sauce was perfect Dollar Store value brand, thick and gooey with too much molasses, brown sugar, fake smoke flavor, and ketchup. It was a perfect match for the pathetic burnt ends. Any better of a sauce would have been wasted on such a proletarian meal.
Rating Detail:
Food: 1
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Value: 2
Overall: 2
I took an associate with me to this place, and had a buy one get one fre up to $7.00. We ordered the poor russ burnt end sandwiches. They were nothing but chewey greassy bits of fat no flavor. I submitted the coupon which was printed in the newspaper (no experation date) And they refused to honor it or compensate for the lousy food. I WILL NEVER RETURN.
Rating Detail:
Food: 1
Service: 2
Atmosphere: 1
Value: 1
Overall: 1
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