I love food from the bayou and was excited to see Smitty’s in the new National City food hall.
I tried the 3 ribs with 2 sides. Dirty rice was supposed to have beef in it. I didn’t see any in the scoop I got. Well seasoned and a little on the salty side.
Crinkle cut fries were crispy and I loved the fried potato flavor.
Pork ribs were tender and meaty. I liked the sweet flavor of the sauce.
2nd visit I tried the seafood basket which had catfish, shrimp, and fries. Fries were crispy and tasted like the standard fast food fry. Wish they had the crinkle cut fries from my first visit.
Shrimp were battered and had a bit of heat to them due to some spice in the batter. I usually eat fried food on prem in order to avoid getting soggy fried food. While I ate in the food hall within 2 minutes of getting my order the batter was not crunchy. Texture of the fried batter was like it had been steaming for 20 minutes. Kind of puffy having absorbed all the nearby moisture. Fried catfish like the shrimp had puffy batter. Flavor was light with a bit of salt and pepper.
Smitty’s ribs are ok but I prefer rib joints like Coop’s where the meats are smoked. Smitty’s fried shrimp and catfish was disappointing as I like biting into crunchy batter like at Louziana Food. I need to go on another San Francisco road trip to visit my favorite soul food spot Hard Knox Cafe.
I visited on weekdays and service was friendly and speedy.
41 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
(619) 831-2318
Hmm hard to say if you’d go back again. Their crocodile logo is super cute.
I’m interested in trying other spots in the food hall.
That’s too bad that the food didn’t pass muster here! I went to look around this past weekend and found the prices for many things at the market to be quite high, but that’s to be expected considering rent isn’t cheap and ingredients are getting more expensive. I wanted poke but didn’t want to pay $14 for the smallest size at Pacific Poke so I went a few blocks down to Poke Etc. and got some actual Hawaiian-style poke for $4 cheaper.
You are wise. We love Poke Etc too. There are lots of great classic places nearby so it will be interesting to see how the food hall does after it’s newness fades. I’m a big fan of Golden Chopstick which isn’t far away.