Wayward Smokehouse Federal Hill

Eating was very good and cheap. the service was excellent.

Awesome food, big portions, and fairly priced. Waitstaff seemed a bit ticked off, which I get, but I suppose I always appreciate when people lead with kindness. Again, though: cool place with good food and a decent tap list.

Really wanted to like this place. Mr granddaughter and I are studying American Sign Language, and we went to observe the Deaf happy hour, so we went early 6:30) and the place was not crowded, but service was still slow. I wanted to take advantage of the happy hour $5 wine, so ordered white wine, expecting some sort of house white that wasn't especially good but cheap. The server asked what kind of white and offered pino grigio, so I thought there were choices, but no; he charged me the regular price $8) for a glass of wine that was really not especially good or cheap. I had a burger way overcooked, and my granddaughter had pulled pork mac and cheese: a little bit of mac and cheese with a mountain of pulled pork on it. Not exactly what she was hoping for. When we finished, we waited a long time for our server to bring the check finally had to ask someone else to bring it. It's always fun to go to Federal Hill, but I won't be going to that place again.

We came for the first time the week before and were so impressed that we decided to go back. I guess the first trip was beginners luck. Our waitress couldn’t have been ruder and we had to get up 3 separate times to ask for different things (BBQ because the pulled pork was so dry, silverware and napkins and the Check). The wings were either super well done or slimey like they were rushed off the smoker early. To say disappointing would be an understatement.

We love the ambiance of this place and have come back many times. The moonshine mules are a treat. However, I come for the brisket... and mine was like, as my daughter called it, slices of beef jerky. Dry, tough, and not hot. I don't see how someone in the kitchen could have put that on my plate. I should have sent it back but we didn't want to delay the other diners with us. I asked for some bbq sauce which made it palatable. I was very disappointed though. My daughter had brisket on her sandwich and it was fine.. .but my biscuit only, which needed to be excellent since it had not bread and other things, was unacceptable. Maybe it was a fluke.