Smoking Pig Bbq - San Jose

Smoking Pig has its other location on 4. St, but I like this location because it has a full bar. You have amazing brisket, delicious sides, and my consistent access for a quick, easy lunch are the chicken ollipops and wolf towers? (Sausage and cheese filled jalapeños wrapped in bacon). Both are smoked for perfection. I love these so much that it inspired me to make them at home occasionally, and I appreciate the time and effort that goes into them. You have large in-house Bbq sauces, solid selection of beers on ****, and I highly recommend it. Food is great, but I got her brisket to go and her food travels well. Look at it!

I really wanted to like the place but it was disappointing. We tried the brisket and the pulled pork. Pulled pork was okay, wasn?t moist or juicy as you?d expect but okay anyway, but man was the brisket BAD!! It was dry and you couldn?t even cut it with a steak knife!! The cornbread was really good though and we liked the chili too!

The experience was so-so. The food was decent but expensive for what it was and the portion sizes. I didn't care much for the garlic mashed potatoes and chicken gravy as the potatoes had quite a few pieces of potato but it wasn't intentional like you'd see with red mashed potatoes or potato salad so it felt lazy.

While I have had better BBQ before, this is really pretty good. I am dropping 1 star for having to prepay and tip before being served and 1 star because it is fairly expensive for the amount of food you get. I do recommend this restaurant though, it is very good. The mac'n'cheese is excellent but can get over powering if you eat too much. A cup is the perfect amount. The BBQ sauces are all good too but the classic is by far the best when you dip the burnt ends in it. The cornbread is really quite good too but it could be a tad sweeter and it would be perfect. If you're in the area, definitely try this place, but be prepared to be overwhelmed by the price or underwhelmed at the portions. Overall, 4/5 if the prepay requirement evaporated.

Had lunch today and didn't necessarily want to eat too heavy! Thank goodness The Smoking Pig BBS had just what I was craving! I had the Simmerin' Brunswick Stew with cornbread. My Co-worker had the Chicken Salad Stew! Yes, they have Salad and you can add whatever meat you like! We sat inside with a nice cool air conditioned area now that the heat is rising. Kyle was very attentive and remembered me from before. Definitely come back to try something different!