The Pig & The Sprout — Restaurant in Denver

I almost hesitated to write this review because I don’t want this place to get so crowded that we can’t go back again. But this place was really good and the folks that work hard at making it a success deserve to hear about the experience.

We had reservations through Open Table and were greeted by a friendly lady at the front desk and were seated immediately. On the way out, the front desk person asked how our meals were and we had a conversation about the food and our thoughts. She even gave us a coupon for the next visit.

Our server was friendly and patient. She allowed us time to be able to think through our selections. I appreciated this as it was our first time eating here and there were many things on the menu that sounded good.

Drinks: My daughter had the Rum Sickle and I had the Strawberry Fields. Both were good. Not weak at all.

Food: Everything was delicious and flavorful. It is food that is served at many bars but done much better. It is as if the owner and chef took the time to understand the concept of this place and worked to execute the best version of bar food. Seasoned and satisfying without being a grease bomb (as bar food can frequently be). We ordered multiple small plates. Let me just say.. they aren’t small! The portions are plentiful on the small plates menu. When the plates were served a gentleman came and told us that the beets were cold smoked and he explained the bacon candy smoke preparation and thickness of the slices. That is a nice touch which shows that people are invested in their workplace. Only today when sending the site to a friend to tell them what I had did I come to the understanding that this gentleman was the owner. Now that’s the way to run a restaurant! Know what is being served, be able to talk about it and do so with passion.

Bacon Candy – My goodness! Nice and thick cut, not fatty. A wonderful sweet and salty mix. And the slaw underneath was crisp and a nice balance to the pork. I seriously wanted more when it was finished.

Brussel Sprouts – HUGE portion. This was a pass the plate around at family dinner plate. The sprouts were well browed (as they should be), and the maple cider vinaigrette on them was perfect. Many places pour a too sweet sauce on sprouts without realizing the natural sweetness that comes out when this vegetable is roasted. The chef here got it right. The vinaigrette was delicious and treated as a compliment to the vegetable.

Smoked Beet Carpaccio – The thinly sliced beets had a light smoke flavor which was not overpowering. In fact, we could still taste the olive oil flavor and the hints of salt that were added.

Street Tacos – 3 tacos on the plate and there was so much meat in them. Seriously I kept saying over and over that I couldn’t believe that any of the food would be considered small plates. The pork in the taco was still moist but had a chew to it and the vegetable slaw stayed crisp.

Cheddah’ Pig Fries – I know that fries are just a common thing but if fries have cheese sauce on them and they are soggy, they just aren’t good. Well, these had the sauce, and bacon and lived up to the menu description of crispy. Crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside the way that a fry should be. They stayed that way until the last one was done.

Bacon Sticky Toffee Pudding – So very full but it was Sticky Toffee Pudding which I have a thing for and can’t get everywhere so don’t judge me! My daughter and I split this, and the bacon added a nice salty balance to what can sometimes be an overly sweet dessert. The ice cream is homemade and I don’t know what was in it but it was fresh and vanilla flavored and just GOOD. I will be thinking about this for a while. Great food and service. Looking forward to my next visit to the area so that I can try...

We went here on a Saturday evening just before a dinner crowd would have normally started arriving. However, the place never filled all the way up so there were open tables even when we headed out. We parked in the public pay parking garage about a five minute walk away. The neighborhood was clean and we saw no unsavory types lurking about. Our reservation was for 5pm and were greeted and seated within seconds by a friendly hostess. The atmosphere was very warm and cozy and the booths are spacious. I used the facilities ( there are 4) and the one I picked had a gapping hole in the ceiling that could have housed a small adult. I could see that a water leak of some sort had been repaired so I had no worries. Our waitress was quite slow in getting our drink order and not very much faster getting back to us for food though the server was quite quick with our meals.

Now food: First, if there are deviled eggs on a menu I'm totally in, as I consider myself a connoissuer of this delicacy since I am Philadelphia, Pennsylvania born and raised. These were interesting, especially with the pickled jalapeno on top, and I must say absolutely delicious. The flavor of that pepper with the bacon and yolk paste sticks with me several days later. Though, I did remove most of the dill off the top as it was a bit much for my taste...not a big dill fan.

On to our entrees, I had the brisket dip with a side of the chefs vegetables and my wife had the brisket poutine. The poutine came with about a solid inch of molten cheese on top which is always impressive looking and in this case was a good quality cheese that tasted very yummy. The brisket in this dish is chopped up a bit more then we were hoping for and tended to be mixed down through the potatoes but very tasty. Also, the two eggs that were added were well done and not over medium as requested. Also, this dish was a bit salty and we chalked that up to the cheese. Great dish when drinking beers.

My brisket dip was loaded with meat and the roll was absolutely perfect texture. The au juis was very tasty but, again, a bit too salty. I think this sandwich would rate as one of the best I have ever eaten if the salt would have been dialed back by about 50%. If I need salt I'll add it. On the same note, my order of chefs vegetables was so nice...string beans, mushrooms, peppers, squash, carrots, onions, an excellent medley...however, I could only eat half of them because I felt like if I took in any more salt I might just have a stroke right at the table. Maybe it was the butter they swam in. Believe me I have been eating out at restaurants of all sorts for 35 years so my palette has been exposed to all kinds of awesome and terrible and I can tell you, for some reason, these dishes on this night were over salted. I love giving out 5 star ratings for food especially when someone is noticeably trying to satisfy there customer with great tastes and interesting cuisine but I'm sorry, I can't do it here. I am certain the food here could be absolutely delicious, as it almost was if not for the overpowering saltiness this night. We will be back here for a second shot to see if it was just a bad night or if the chef at The Pig and The Sprout has lost their...

What a great little spot for some very good food!

This place was recommended by the staff at the Hilton Hotel across the street, so we decided to check it out! Definitely glad we did!

This was our first time here and we were sat right away! They do take reservations, so if you're not sure, call them and ask just in case, always safer than sorry because I can see this place getting pretty busy!

The atmosphere was the first thing that I enjoyed! Although it can get kind of loud if there are multiple large groups, it was still manageable. Just a heads up though about the potential of it being loud if it's busy.

The drink menu was full of great options, I highly recommend the Strawberry Jalepeno Mule!

Menu was very well organized and simple- they had a side for meat options and a side for vegan options. Easy to read and follow. The food we ordered from the meat options was very good! Our server was very nice, friendly, and attentive! I highly recommend trying the Meat Candy! Although I wish there were a few more pieces of pork belly, only because it was that good I wanted more! I ordered the Carnitas Tacos and he ordered the BBQ Mac N Cheese. The tacos were very yummy with a good portion of meat for the size of the taco. The mac n cheese was also a good sized portion and had a good ration of pasta vs. meat, which was nice!

Dessert menu was also good, I ordered the Pistachio Tartufo because I had never had this before, highly recommend it! It was very yummy!

Overall, we were very happy we came here! Service, food, and atmosphere was great! When we stay at the hotel again, we'll definitely be walking over here for a...