Water Pig BBQ (https://www.waterpigbbq.com) is an open air BBQ establishment on the bay side of Pensacola Beach. I dined there on Saturday 10/2/2021, for lunch.
Rating: B+
Service was excellent, and the young girls serving us were cheerful, friendly, and did a good job of bring us refills on our beverage of choice, whether that was the local IPA on tap, sweet tea or water. Being a BBQ aficionado (or BBQ nut my wife would say), I was interested in specials, and in sampling pretty much their entire menu.
The special that day for lunch was a Korean Sticky Rib appetizer, with 4 ribs for $8, and I ordered it of course. It consisted of 4 spare ribs, smoked, and tossed/glazed in a sticky BBQ sauce, garnished with scallions. It was very good, and the spare ribs were cooked to perfection, biting cleanly off the bone. I did feel that the "Korean" flavor was lacking, and it could have used gochujang or toasted sesame oil to bring more of an Asian flare to the sauce. I gave this feedback to the server when she asked how I liked them. I am sure it that feedback never made it to the kitchen of course, but I wanted to be honest.
For my lunch I went with their BBQ sampler platter ($28), the most expensive item on the menu. It consisted of two smoked wings, two baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork and turkey, and 2 sides.
Wings: Smoky, had a nice spicy coating, and were crispy - likely they were finished in the deep fryer briefly after smoking, then seasoned.
Turkey: It was sliced from a smoked turkey breast, and seasoned with a dry spice mix that had a good flavor. Good, moist, but it was turkey, haha.
Brisket: The brisket was sliced from the flat, had a really good flavor, but had that same dry seasoning sprinkled on it as on the turkey. It was slightly dry, but that is the problem with flat as we all know. I enjoyed this and the wings most on the platter.
Pork: The pulled pork had a good flavorful bark on some of the peices. There were several largish chunks that were not shredded, and did not shred well with my fork. This to me means maybe it needed a little longer on the smoker to reach pulling temperatures. It all had a good flavor, and I put a little of it in my wife's doggie bag/box for lunch the next day.
Baby back ribs: This was the least well executed part of the meal. The baby backs were literally overcooked and dried out. Unlike the spare ribs from the appetizer, while these had a nice bark and coating, they just were literally dry. Not dry like when underdone, but dry. I say this because they pulled cleanly off the bone, but I needed to use their KC style BBQ sauce to save them.
KC Style BBQ Sauce: Their house bbq sauce was super good. It was on the mild side, but they had plenty of hot sauce choices on the table if you wanted to spice things up. It was really good on the pork, ribs and turkey.
Sides: Mac and cheese - this was very good. Made with a white cheese of some sort and maybe a hint of sour cream going on. Baked beans - good. I wouldn't go there just for the beans though.
Dessert: Banana pudding. It was good, and hit the sweet spot for me, but I like it at other BBQ restaurants better. B-.
All in all, my verdict is that I would rate them a solid B+. Good, but not quite great. If you go there, don't spend $100 on lunch for two like I did. I plan to go back and try some amazing looking sandwiches that were on their menu, that I saw at neighboring tables. You are paying for the atmosphere and location, and the food is very good, but could be better.
Rating: B+
Service was excellent, and the young girls serving us were cheerful, friendly, and did a good job of bring us refills on our beverage of choice, whether that was the local IPA on tap, sweet tea or water. Being a BBQ aficionado (or BBQ nut my wife would say), I was interested in specials, and in sampling pretty much their entire menu.
The special that day for lunch was a Korean Sticky Rib appetizer, with 4 ribs for $8, and I ordered it of course. It consisted of 4 spare ribs, smoked, and tossed/glazed in a sticky BBQ sauce, garnished with scallions. It was very good, and the spare ribs were cooked to perfection, biting cleanly off the bone. I did feel that the "Korean" flavor was lacking, and it could have used gochujang or toasted sesame oil to bring more of an Asian flare to the sauce. I gave this feedback to the server when she asked how I liked them. I am sure it that feedback never made it to the kitchen of course, but I wanted to be honest.
For my lunch I went with their BBQ sampler platter ($28), the most expensive item on the menu. It consisted of two smoked wings, two baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork and turkey, and 2 sides.
Wings: Smoky, had a nice spicy coating, and were crispy - likely they were finished in the deep fryer briefly after smoking, then seasoned.
Turkey: It was sliced from a smoked turkey breast, and seasoned with a dry spice mix that had a good flavor. Good, moist, but it was turkey, haha.
Brisket: The brisket was sliced from the flat, had a really good flavor, but had that same dry seasoning sprinkled on it as on the turkey. It was slightly dry, but that is the problem with flat as we all know. I enjoyed this and the wings most on the platter.
Pork: The pulled pork had a good flavorful bark on some of the peices. There were several largish chunks that were not shredded, and did not shred well with my fork. This to me means maybe it needed a little longer on the smoker to reach pulling temperatures. It all had a good flavor, and I put a little of it in my wife's doggie bag/box for lunch the next day.
Baby back ribs: This was the least well executed part of the meal. The baby backs were literally overcooked and dried out. Unlike the spare ribs from the appetizer, while these had a nice bark and coating, they just were literally dry. Not dry like when underdone, but dry. I say this because they pulled cleanly off the bone, but I needed to use their KC style BBQ sauce to save them.
KC Style BBQ Sauce: Their house bbq sauce was super good. It was on the mild side, but they had plenty of hot sauce choices on the table if you wanted to spice things up. It was really good on the pork, ribs and turkey.
Sides: Mac and cheese - this was very good. Made with a white cheese of some sort and maybe a hint of sour cream going on. Baked beans - good. I wouldn't go there just for the beans though.
Dessert: Banana pudding. It was good, and hit the sweet spot for me, but I like it at other BBQ restaurants better. B-.
All in all, my verdict is that I would rate them a solid B+. Good, but not quite great. If you go there, don't spend $100 on lunch for two like I did. I plan to go back and try some amazing looking sandwiches that were on their menu, that I saw at neighboring tables. You are paying for the atmosphere and location, and the food is very good, but could be better.
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