For balconies, flats and anywhere live fire is not allowed.
Electric heat plus a small pellet burner for real wood smoke. The answer for balconies and anywhere charcoal is not permitted.
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Electric outdoor grills exist mostly to solve a permissions problem. If your building bans charcoal and gas on balconies, as most do, electric is the only legal option and a good one is far better than nothing.
The newer wood-pellet-assisted electric units are a genuine step up on the old hotplates, because they burn a small amount of real wood to add smoke on top of electric heat. It is not charcoal, but it is real smoke.