Tom and I continue to search for good barbecue when we are in the south. Barbecue is so regionally oriented that our favorite barbecue spots are still in Ohio. But we continue to be hopeful. We asked around here on St. Simons, and people said the best barbecue in the area is at the Copper Pig in Brunswick. So we headed to the Copper Pig with another volunteer couple on Saturday night.
The Copper Pig is located on the main shopping drag in Brunswick. There are chain restaurants all around that area. But the Copper Pig is not a chain. It is definitely one of a kind! For one thing, it has an alligator in a concrete pond outside. You can buy hot dogs, put them on a fishing pole, and feed them to the alligator.
Another thing that makes the Copper Pig unique is the store attached to it. To get to the restaurant you have to walk through a farmer’s market type store. They sell meat and produce and it smells a little like a butcher shop. We didn’t recognize half the produce on the tables!
The restaurant itself felt less unique than the farmer’s market and alligator pond. Tom ordered the classic barbecue and slaw sandwich. It was tasty and the pulled pork was moist. There was also a selection of sauces so Tom could add the one he wanted. I got the classic crushed tater: a baked potato crushed and then topped with pulled pork and cheese. My cheese turned out to be a pretty spicy queso so I had to drink lots of iced tea while I ate. The food was good but definitely not the best barbecue ever.
The Copper Pig is a good place for barbecue. It has a lot of atmosphere and is definitely different. But with so many restaurants around us to try, I’m not sure we will go there again.
2 weeks ago my husband, daughter and son-in-law ate our last dinner together as they were moving 3 States over. Unfortunately it was my choice to eat there!
I had been there for lunch with my best friend almost a year ago and we enjoyed the food at that time. I had the smashed potato with pulled pork and she had a BBQ sandwich.
Unfortunately this place has changed drastically! Again I had the smashed potato, but could not eat it as there was so much BBQ sauce on it I could taste only that. The fried green tomatoes were so thick we had to use a knife to cut them. We each had 1 bite, as they had so much grease it was piddling on the plate.
My husband had smothered ground steak that was so tough he gave up on eating it. The rice with gravy was crunchy. Anyone from the south knows rice is not crunchy! He also had the dumpling soup. Soup has a lot of juice/gravy. This soup had none and not only looked like a bowl of thick glue, but tasted like glue also.
Our daughter had the pork chop dinner with the dumpling “soup”, rice & gravy, Mac & cheese, fried okra. The pork chops were tough and very greasy, rice crunchy, dumpling soup like a bowl of glue, Mac & cheese was not cooked well so the noodles were hard and the okra was sitting in a pool of grease.
Her husband had ribs and sausage, the ribs drenched in BBQ sauce and the sausage links were overcooked and tough. He also had the dumpling soup, mac & cheese, fried okra, squash and cornbread. The same problems with all his food as my husband and daughter.
I love love Brunswick Stew and definately know how it should taste, as does my husband and daughter. Her husband had never had it before.
The waitress gave us samples of it. I am 66 yrs old and have NEVER tasted Brunswick Stew as bad as at the Copper Pig. It had so much vinegar in it you definitely knew it was there. Not only that it was full of sugar. Have you ever eaten super sweet vinegar? Trust me you do not even want to. In all my years of being born and raised in Brunswick, eating probably gallons of Bwk. Stew in my lifetime, never have I had such Bwk. Stew as they serve at the Copper Pig. It was totally horrible!!!
On top of all of this all of the food was cold. We did complain to our waitress about all of the food every time she came by our table. She wanted to know what was wrong with each item if food and none of us hesitated to tell her. As she said to us, I want to know all the problems with the food so I can inform the cook, as most eating here this evening are not eating much off their plates. She informed us our complaints matched everyone else she had waited on that night and apologize for everything. We made sure she knew it was not her fault but it was the cooks and management. Management for not making sure the food being served in their restaurant was eatable and for not making sure his cook not knowing how to prepair good food.
The ONLY good thing that happened at the Copper Pig, was the waitress. She was very pleasant, apologetic for the food, and came to our table many times making sure our glasses were kept full of ice and tea. I wish I had gotten her name, she was a young black woman that definitely knew how to be a dedicated pleasant waitress.
I felt horrible about being the one to choose the Copper Pig to eat our last dinner with for many months with our daughter and son-in-law, since they did leave the next day, moving to another State and we aren’t sure when we will see them again.
Unless you want to try and pay for un-edible food, we would suggest not to spend your hard earned money at the Copper Pig. I know we won’t be gracing their restaurant again!!