Once inside I was even more pleased with the casual, friendly vibe of the place, and it smells great. It's place-your-order counter service, but there are plenty of tables and a couple of TVs in a seating area festooned with NASCAR banners. I liked the separate Hershey's ice cream counter, too.
People get very fussy about ribs, and I'd say Kloby's baby backs are very good -- maybe not lights-out great, but real good and better than the beef ribs. You can choose mild or spicy sauce; both are smoky, and while the spicy is still pretty tame, there are bottles of hot sauce at the ready to make adjustments. The real winner for me was the pulled pork sandwich and the sides. The Carolina-style pulled pork was fresh, moist, and handmade with a tasty dab of cole slaw. The BBQ beans, red-skin potato salad, and boardwalk-style fries were all above average. I haven't had the brisket yet, but it looked good and gets a lot of positive comments. The specialty burgers, loaded up with pulled pork, brisket or other BBQ toppings look positively dangerous. And there's also chicken, turkey, spicy sausage, wings and St. Louis style ribs that will have to wait for future visits.
Kloby's has a good backstory, too. The pitmaster and owner, Steve Klobosits, is a former paramedic/firefighter who shifted to culinary school and put in his time at high volume theme restaurants before opening his own place. Kloby's Smokehouse is well worth seeking out, and you'll probably find it very easy to keep coming back.
Reviews
- Howard County Times article on Kloby's Smokehouse from 4/16/09.
- HowChow has three posts about Kloby's Smokehouse with 5 comments as of 5/22/09.
- Urbanspoon readers give Kloby's Smokehouse a 100/100 rating based on 9 votes, with one review (HowChow's) as of 5/22/09.
- Yelp readers give Kloby's Smokehouse 3.5/5 stars based on 4 reviews as of 5/22/09.
- TripAdvisor readers give Kloby's Smokehouse 3.5/5 stars based on 2 reviews as of 5/22/09.
- Kloby's Smokehouse discussion on Chowhound with 5 replies as of 5/22/09.
Kloby's Smokehouse
7500 Montpelier Road
West Laurel, MD 20723
301-362-1510
www.klobysbbq.com
Specials and Other Details
- Kloby's is open for Memorial Day and offering $2 off a full rack of St. Louis ribs or a whole chicken.
Posts
6 comments:
Thanks for sticking up for Scaggsville! I use it as my address instead of the geographically meaningless Laurel whenever possible.
You're so right about the address! I tried to fight it because Laurel just gives the wrong information when you can throw a stone from Kloby's and hit Columbia, Skaggsville or Fulton.
I'm glad that you liked Kloby's. It's one of those "fat vs. lean" issues that I have with my wife, who really likes softer ribs.
I say don't fight over the ribs, start with the sandwiches. They're terrific.
I'm a big fan of that Hersey's counter too :)
Business must be good. They offer table service now in addition to the walk-up counter, and they've put in a bar. You really need to go back for the brisket. After the pulled pork that's my favorite.
Kloby's is minutes from our home and we like to support local businesses.
We even used they're catering service for an event. They did a great job. Since the restaurant has opened though they have a chronic problem with table service. Last evening after being seated we waited at least 20 minutes and no service. We walked out. It was not busy and staff standing around. Incredible!!
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