The Iberian Pig — Restaurant in Decatur

My girlfriends and I came here for our "fancy" night out during our annual Labor Day girl gathering. This place did not disappoint!

Tucked a little bit below a large gathering platform, The Iberian Pig is cozy and inviting. Despite the restaurant being pretty packed, we got a nice seat that felt more private and intimate. My only complaint for the night is our reservations were for 7:30 but we weren't seated till 7:50. Still, everything else was absolutely fabulous and we didn't mind waiting much so...not a huge deal.

Our waiter was fabulous! I believe he said his name was Matt, but I might be misremembering. He had the perfect sense for when he was needed vs when to let us enjoy our time together. He also provided excellent wine recommendations to three of my friends. They enjoyed their reds and I liked my glass of sangria!

We ordered sooooo much food - 8 dishes, and only one of them that we were just lukewarm on, which I'd say is a pretty great batting average! From least to most favorite:

Alcachofas: our least favorite dish, the only one where we didn't basically lick the plate clean, lol. The artichokes were cooked nicely but we weren't expecting them to be served cold. Also, they were super vinegary, which none of us were really digging.

Empanadas de carne: I think my friends liked these more than me. I liked them okay but I think I'd order something else if I visited again. The crust was delicious - super light and crispy. However, the short ribs just had what I felt was a slightly odd aftertaste.

Pulpo a la Plancha: this was my first time trying octopus and I liked it okay! Faintly smoky, nice and savory; the piece I tried was crispy and not gelatinous. I'm not sure if I'd order this again but that has more to do with me being on the fence about octopus than anything wrong with the dish. My seafood loving friends thought this dish was good!

Shishitos: crispy and not too spicy! I really enjoyed the sauce they were artfully plated with - cooling and creamy, which helped with the couple of slightly spicier bites.

From here on, everything was INSANELY delicious:

Croquetas de arroz: these were on special the evening we visited. Kinda remind me of arancini. Crispy, gooey inside, delicious dipping sauce.

Braised veal shank ravioli: surprised how much I loved this one, but it was STELLAR. One pal's plate of the night. So savory, smooth, rich...just delicious. Only two small raviolis though, which was a bit of a bummer.

Patatas bravas: I mean...how could you go wrong? Crispy potatoes with an aioli are basically my love language.

And my plate of the night: the Iberico macaroni and cheese: HOLY GOD. This one was so delicious we wound up ordering two rounds of it. Gooey, melty, cheesy, perfectly cooked pasta, wildly delicious. Don't miss this one!

The Iberian Pig is a great place to enjoy tapas. Perfect for girls' night out and fancy enough for a special occasion, at least imo. ...

Wife and I came here for a Saturday night dinner. Originally, I made outdoor reservations but when asked if we could sit inside, the hostess kindly obliged us after a short wait.

Our server, Charlotte, was very attentive and patient with us as we navigated the menu. We ordered the paella, croqeutas de jamon, beef empanadas, octopus, and a cheese and bread plate (forgot the name). For dessert, we ordered the tres leches cake and churros.

The food started arriving quickly and looked very appetizing. With the exception of the cheese plate, each tapa was packed full of flavor and left you wanting more. My favorite was the croquetas because of the aioli they served with it. The sauce was so, we ate it after eating all the croquetas.

The pastry of the empanadas was light, crunchy, and had the right amount of salt. The beef itself was good, but some pieces were a little dry. It came with a nice sour cream that we surprising light.

The octopus was charred to perfection and so tender. It came with a leek and fava bean mash that gave the plate another dimension.

The paella was really good. Each shrimp, mussel, and squid piece was cooked to perfection, still retaining it's original flavor. A hearty dish that was just enough for us both. My only criticism was that it could have been cooked for, maybe, a minute longer. I sat this because we thought it lacked a bit a salt in some places, but really the bottom wasn't burnt (in a good way) evenly. The burnt parts evaporated the moisture which lead to the flavor profile hitting the mark. However, I'd still order it again.

Finally, the tres leches was more of a muffin with a light creme atop and sat in a fresh blueberry compote. Despite the heavy nature (not a bad thing) of tres leches cakes I've eaten in the past, everything about this one was so light, which was a welcomed end to the night. No one element of the cake overpowered the other and even the blueberries had just the right amount of sugar.

Service was always cheerful and eager to help when called upon.

Parking was a little inconvenient as we had to park in a garage a couple of blocks down due to an ongoing event in the square, but it wasn't anything ridiculous.

I'm new to tapas and my only other experience with them was Barcelona in Inman Park, which was so-so, but I'd gladly return here and sample the...

The first time we went to The Iberian Pig, I was absolutely in love! It instantly became my favorite restaurant. That’s why we went back for New Year‘s Eve, which also happens to be our anniversary. Sadly, it was a disappointing night. We were late for our reservation by 15 minutes (I had driven 10 hours from Ohio and the weather made the travel take longer than expected). The host kindly still seated us though he definitely made us aware of the fact that we were late. I understand that timeliness is important and that restaurants must care about seating as many guests as possible. Not a huge deal.

The real disappointment was the food. I don’t know what happened. The first time we went, every single dish we ordered was spectacular and bursting with flavor. This time, the food looked beautiful but was extremely bland—it didn’t even taste like it had enough salt. It was pretty but completely lacking in flavor. I actually asked for salt. We ordered three tapas, all of which were disappointing, two with no flavor, the third very burnt. Then we ordered the pork cheek, and it was SO salty. Neither of us could eat it. We took it home for our dogs. Finally, we ordered the seafood paella. The seafood was perfectly cooked, but again, completely lacking in flavor. It all tasted vaguely of seawater. The rice was overcooked and very gummy and oily (See final pictures for some of the left over oil from the paella, even after sautée-ing it again—SO OILY). Usually, a good paella will have some nice crusting on the bottom—not this one. Just oily, gummy mush.

The icing on the cake: the table at which we were seated (#75?) must be located below a leaky spot in the roof because water dripped on both of us and our table throughout the meal.

I could easily overlook the judgment and the rogue rainwater, but the food was so incredibly disappointing, especially for a restaurant that clearly sees itself as fine dining. For the prices, we expected quality (like what we experienced during our first visit), but we left feeling about as disappointed as Ohio State fans on New Years Eve.

In the end, The Iberian Pig went from being my favorite restaurant that I hope to show to visiting family and to visit on special occasions to a restaurant that I will be unlikely to visit again at all and would most likely...