Hog Shack Cook House — Restaurant in Richmond

Amazing food but disappointing service. I was very excited to try Hog Shack after passing by it many times and reading the great reviews. It was early evening and the restaurant was not busy, maybe only about 6 tables inside and on the patio (probably about 30% capacity). There were 3 servers working and one person manning the bar. After I entered it took the server a few minutes before she acknowledged my party of 3 and sat us. The menu looked great and I figured out what I wanted to order pretty quickly. Unfortunately the servers didn’t make eye contact with us for about 8 minutes. They seemed busy with new arrivals and taking care of the other customers already sat before us. Eventually our server came by and asked us what we wanted to order. I found this a bit strange because generally the server would take a drink order or something before giving you a few minutes to browse. Not a big deal though. The food took about 15-20 minutes to arrive. The wait was worth it because the food was amazing. All 3 of the servers came by to check in on us multiple times which was a little distracting as we were all digging into the food when they came by. We all thought “where was this service before the food arrived?” Again, just a small detail. After we were finished with the food the server came by to check in again (5th time since the food arrived) and we let them know the food was amazing and that we would have the bull. Between asking for the bill and the bill arriving, the server took orders from 2 tables and bussed one table. They even brought the bill for another table who had finished later than us. We tried to make contact with one of the servers (not our server) since it looked like ours forgot. It was pretty obvious we were waiting for the bill since they had already bussed our table. It took another 15 minutes before our bill arrived and we promptly paid and left. Our whole dinner took about an hour and 40 mins which was longer than we expected due to the delays in service which probably totalled 40-50 minutes. It’s a shame the service was so lacklustre when we visited because the food was truly amazing. I would love to come back but not sure if I want to be kept waiting for so long in the future on a night when the restaurant wasn’t...

My wife and I spent the long weekend in Vancouver, BC area and wanted to come and try this well decorated pitmaster's restaurant. Service was attentive and food was timely. The owner gave us some great recommends and we ate very well. While some folks think sides are a "throw away" at a BBQ joint, I actually believe they show an important point of view with what goes well with their food and if they don't care, they probably don't care about their mains. Not the case here. Cole slaw is a creamy style that was nicely dressed and flavored and still had crunch and texture. The cheesy corn was also very good and was nicely balanced. The Brussel Sprouts were also spot on - nicely flavored as well as balanced. It wasn't oversweeted to hide the natural bitterness of the sprouts, so you got a nice texture and bite. The corn bread was very tasty and had great texture. The pitmaster makes his own sausages and while they had a flight offering, we opted to try just one style and was very good flavors and texture. The crab hush puppies were very tasty, served with a nice dipping sauce. The Apricot Glazed pork belly.... was really really good. The pitmaster was doing some testing for a featured event they do in May and this should be a hit. My wife is not a sweet and savory mixed together type of person, yet was quite surprised at how well balanced they were. You tasted the pork belly first, then got a nice subtle fruit flavor and sweetness. They have several beers on tap and the pitmaster served me a very refreshing whit beer that was very clean and balanced with the meal. If I had to give a complaint.... the customer writing this review needed a bigger appetite to try even more items. I guess that means we have to come back again, which we will. It's a nice area for a little tourism hang with lots of shops. Do yourself a foodie favor and come by and enjoy the food. And if you do a little BBQing in the back yard, the pitmaster sells his sauce...

Decent BBQ establishment on my visit, it missed the spot. Staff here were friendly and the atmosphere was very clean.

I came here in a group of four and ordered the Big Johnson Plate ($31.95) and Johnny's Jurassic Platter ($58.95). The Big Johnson Plate included side ribs, dino bone and pulled pork. The Jurassic Platter included side ribs, dino ribs, two chicken quarters and pulled pork. In total, it came with four sides.

My favorite were probably the side ribs, they were tender and juicy and fell off the bone super easily. The ribs itself were packed with meat. The dino rib was MASSIVE but also very hard to eat and in my opinion, had little meat than the ribs. The chicken was good but parts of my chicken was a bit dry and not as tender as it could have been. The pull pork was very flavorful and tender with lots of flavor.

The sides were okay. Yam fries were good and crispy. The hand cut fries were disappointing as it felt as if I was eating left over crumbs; they were too hard. The sauteed vegetables were good with large cuts of carrot, zucchinis, and mushrooms! The corn bread was light, soft and had some good corn aroma and was not too dry. The coleslaw was good as well and was not drenched with sauce and the vegetables had a good crunch to them. The side of the day was this creamy corn sauce which was pretty good as well.

Overall, it is a pretty good BBQ joint with good service and the meat was not slathered in too much sauce. had to wait a bit for our food but it wasn't too long anyways. Staff came by a few times to check in with how...