Rescue Show Guide
restaurant

Restaurant Stakeout · Season 3, Episode 9 · Aired May 29, 2013

Smokehouse Barbecue

Somerville, New Jersey

CLOSED

No longer open. It has closed.

What happened after

Foursquare marks the listing "(Now Closed)"; MenuPix states "This restaurant has closed. If this restaurant is open or has reopened, just let us know."

What happened on the show

The Somerville stakeout found the trouble not in the smoker but in the staff, with Degel's hidden cameras catching a pranking crew whose antics were driving the Smokehouse Barbecue under. As aired, the surveillance documented a floor where the joking had crossed from harmless into a genuine drag on service and consistency. Degel's confrontation used that footage to press the owner on the tone being tolerated, while his fixes leaned on discipline and the systems the room lacked. The episode fit the format's recurring shape, using the cameras to show an owner that behavior they had written off as high spirits was exactly what customers were absorbing, and that a barbecue joint runs only as seriously as the people behind the counter are made to take it.

After the cameras left

Smokehouse Barbecue has closed. Foursquare marks the listing as now closed, and a menu directory states plainly that the restaurant has shut, inviting anyone with better information to update it. The West Main Street address in Somerville no longer carries the business. We hold the verdict at moderate confidence because the strongest citable evidence is a directory quote rather than a news article, with the Foursquare tag corroborating it through a search snippet.

Sources

Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.

What is there now

Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.

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