November 2, 2009
I have been here several times, but have never taken the chance to give it a rating. Easily the best part of this bar is the tremendous selection of beer. They have around 60 beers on tap, nearly all of which are craft items. Additionally, there are at least 150+ other beers in bottles in a series of large glass coolers that face patrons sitting at the bar. In the end, it is not difficult to find something totally new to try, or to revisit an old classic. More recently, they have begun carrying beers from breweries previously unavailable in western PA; specifically, Avery, Pizza Port/Lost Abbey, and Hair of the Dog. The only downside to the selection is the at times prohibitively high pricing. I once paid $30 for a Lost Abbey 750ml. While this isn’t the norm, it is to pay between $5 and $8 for a beer. I haven’t had the food, but have been with others that have ordered things. It is your standard pub fare, with most of the items being deep fried...not necessarily a bad thing. The atmosphere is more old-school barlike, dark, loud, and often crowded. The barmen are generally nice, quick to wait on you, and happy to make a suggestion. Overall, definitely worth visiting, if you’re in the area.

October 9, 2008
Wow, I’ve never been to a place that actually had 60 taps of micro and imports, impressive. Had no trouble finding something I never had before. Wenesday at lunchtime, no crowd at all. Only three people at the bar. Very freindly and kind employees. Barmaid knows about these beers and they are much more affordable than Fatheads down the block. This is a very nice place to visit. Old style steel city bar ambience. If you hit this place you should also go visit Piper’s Pub and Fatheads as well, they are all on the same block. Didn’t have any food this time.

April 27, 2008
Just got back from Pitt for my buddy’s bachelor party weekend. Luckily, one of the places where we all met up was Smokin’ Joes. Great, comfy dive bar. Awesome tap selection - among the beers on where Tid Fidy, Hop Rod Rye, Stone IPA, 90 Minute and a great bottle selection including all the good PA stuff plus Southern Tier and Great Lakes. Service was prompt - I got the BBQ burger and HUGE mozzarella cheese sticks which were awesome. Great sports atmosphere too. Watched the Pens/Rangers game here and it was exciting. The only negatives were the smoke and that in the upstairs taproom, the Bells Two Hearted keg was off - kinda flat, warm and just not good. Aside from that, a place you should definitely check out.

April 26, 2008
Went here on a Saturday early evening (about 5pm) after we saw the wait at Fat Heads was 1 hour (plus the bar area was swamped). Decent little bar with 60 taps and over 100 bottles of decent selections. Enjoyed (with my wife) a Burton Baton, Odd Notion, Stoudt’s Abbey Tripel, and an Obovoid Empirical Stout. Good service, fairly quiet for a Saturday evening.

February 29, 2008
The name says it all. After Fat Heads we decided to stop here and had to swim through the smoke. Very good tap and bottle selection but I could get past the smoke. Seems like a dirty pub style place but was hopping and packed. Seemed fun again but I didn’t like all the smoke. We had one each and left. I would definitely go here if smoking is banned.

December 28, 2007 [ Updated December 29, 2007 ]
Stopped in two nights in a row during the week. The ambiance is your typical local corner bar with pub food. Nothing really unique once you step inside. Crowd appears to be young students and blue collar sports fans, with occasional mix of middle aged farts like myself. Draft and bottle selection on my visit was decent,with many local and seasonal beers. Here is what I like about this place- easy to read draft list on the wall, good selection, bottle cooler behind the wall allows for easy browsing, TV’s at the bar, and prompt and friendly service. What I did not like was the parking (very bad in this area), very smoky, bar is near the door and gets lots of cold drafts in the winter, and it can get crowded and loud. Fat Heads is down the street which can make for a nice mini-pub crawl. There was some overlap on the draft selection, but each one is worth a visit if you are looking for new beers to try. Smoking Joe’s kills Fat Head for bottle selection. A few other things to note- there is a distillery room upstairs that is open on the weekend along with Pool table and arcade games near the back of the bar.

August 5, 2007
Nice place. I think if it was anywhere else it would have rated a lot lower, but in the cesspool that is the Southside this was a godsend for beer. Nothing I haven’t tried but very nice selection for the area. I was there on a Saturday night so it was very crowded and annoying with an equal part of troubemakers and ganstas. That aside, you coud find many good beers here.

August 3, 2007
Excellent place for any beer geek or hop head. Best to go early so your not caught up in the frat and Laguna Beach shuffle. The bartenders here are awesome, with a very great intelligence towards good beer. Huge selection of bottles, and an even bigger selection of drafts. Way cheaper than Fat Heads, which seems in my opinion to be overpriced.

July 6, 2007
Visited last November on a busy Saturday night full of youngsters, this small pool hall wings bar has a huge wall fridge full of really interesting bottles and dozens of delicious choices on tap (draft Sly Fox Stout was muchly enjoyed, as was sharing a bottle of Lindemans). Friendly staff thought I was writing them up for something but were otherwise helpful as there was an annoying absence of lists. I wanted to stay longer but who knew that a tall girl sitting alone at the bar and minding her own business could attract so many drunken rambunctious boys?? Anyway, midnight seemed like a good time to get going as the place was slowly filling up with more and more hooligans... Certainly an interesting experience.

July 15, 2006
Definitely the largest selection I’ve seen in a Pittsburgh bar, but you pay for it a bit in ambiance and service. The bar area is pretty small and very crowded on a Friday night although it’s probably much better on a weeknight. The back area seems nice with the tables and a solitary pool table but (being a weekend) was still pretty cramped. I think I prefer the atmosphere of Fathead’s a bit more and the staff there seems more knowledgable about beer but the selection at Smokin Joe’s could be better AND CHEAPER.