River Pig Saloon — Restaurant in Dallas

I tried this place for brunch today. I'm writing this review not to criticize the place but rather to provide productive feedback (assuming the management reads reviews). I think the place has potential but, at the moment, it's a bit of a trainwreck and is destined to fail if they don't get it together.

I started off by ordering coffee at brunch which came out in a glass Irish coffee cup rather than a mug which was a little odd. I then asked the waitress for Splenda and got a blank stare. So I then asked if they had any other artificial sweeteners. After a trip to the kitchen, the waitress came back with some turbinado sugar packets and stated that's all they have. I also asked for cream...which they also do not have. They only had milk.

After adding the milk and sugar to my coffee, it became apparent I still had no silverware so there was no way to mix it up.

My chicken and waffles came out. Presentation was very nice (see pic)...but that's where the good stops. The chicken was dark meat which caught me off guard as I'm used to boneless fried chicken being made with white meat. The waffle and chicken were stacked which was fine--except the pad of butter was on the top layer which was chicken. The butter should have been on the waffle. There was no gravy or other dipping sauce for the chicken. The only option is the spicy syrup. The waffle itself was good.

Overall, the service was sub par as was the food taste. The coffee situation with no cream and no sweeteners available at a place serving brunch is a complete strike out.

I saw on the website that this place has other locations in Oregon. I'm not sure what flies in Oregon, but welcome to Texas where if you're going to have brunch and serve Chicken and Waffles, the bar is...

The pizza was the only saving grace for us... It was good. I gave a 4 star but it really deserved a 2. We want this place to do well and stay in business as we like to walk to go out to eat and be able to take the kid and dog !!! The pickles were good as well. They do not have Captain Morgan; flatbread did. Our server was nice but did not know the menu, did not know what balsamic vinegar was and was scarcely available. She delivered a yellow salad dressing when I ask for balsamic vinegar. A bright spot, was the manager out touching tables, so I was able to ask if they had any type of balsamic in the house; which he delivered. We let our server know the various condiments that we would like when we placed our order so as not to one-trip her. We had to reminder her multiple times after the food arrived and sat and got cold. We ordered the Red beard cocktail and could not tell if there was any alcohol or not??? We would have had more cocktails if the server had ever come around and ask. Instead we walked down the street to finish off...

I really wanted to love the food here since it’s so close in the neighborhood to me. But, unfortunately the food was not great.

Service: 10/10 The service was good and staff was kind! So at least they have that going for them.

Drinks: 1/10 I ordered the”Mezzacali” cocktail and it was one of the worse drinks I’ve ever had. Tasted like old syrup with a hint of mezcal. Like it was overly disgustingly sweet. I wasn’t going to finish it after the first sip, but mama didn’t raise a quitter. So I ended up chugging it at the end & regretted everything.

Food: 2/10 My friend and I split the jalapeño poppers, hells canyon drumsticks, birria tacos, and the spicy chicken sandwich.

The drumsticks were the best thing we had.

The birria tacos had no flavor and the meat was dry.

The spicy chicken sandwich had zero spice and was extremely mid. The bread was hard and it just was not great. However the curly fries were a 10/10 the superstar of the whole meal.

Unfortunately, I won’t be back for the food or a cocktail. Just vibes...