Hawg Wild BBQ & Catfish House of Hiawassee — Restaurant in Georgia

My wife and I stopped in with another couple around 5:00 on a Friday night in JULY for early dinner and a few drinks.

The restaurant was not busy (about 1/3 full). We were there about midway through Happy Hour. The waiter took out drink order and about 5 minutes later returned to tell us they did not have any white wine—-at all. Only two whites on the menu (Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio) but they were out of both.

That should have been our first clue.

Alright-sodas around the table for Happy Hour and we placed our order for dinners of fried catfish, pulled pork and brisket with sides of fried okra, potato salad, French fries, baked beans, and tater tots.

We waited for what seemed quite a while but our orders finally came out on small aluminum trays lined with white paper. The catfish was lightly coated with corn meal (very good). Everything else served at the table was cold. Not warm—cold. The tater tots and fried okra (each a $1.00 upgrade) were “barely” room temperature. The pulled pork was only slightly warm to touch.

We explained all to the waiter and asked him to send out another two orders of the fried okra. This “rush order” arrived as we finished our meals. The cold fries and tater tots just sat uneaten. The second order of okra was piping hot and tasted fine. Either our food sat out in the kitchen for 10-15 minutes before they brought it out or the kitchen makes large batches of fried sides and serve from that pre-cooked inventory until gone. If you are at the end of the cycle you get the old sides. I have admittedly picked at my kid’s leftover tater tots before-what we were served this evening were 15+ minutes old when they got to our table.

The potato salad was served in quite a helping of a yellow sauce—not sure what the sauce was but it was the consistency of heavy cream. It was like a cold mustard-potato soup. Would not recommend.

The baked beans and Texas toast were fine.

No idea what they have for desserts as the waiter never offered, he brought out check with the second go-around of okra. He did go out of the way to tell us that if we rated the restaurant on Google before we paid the bill they would take 10% off the tab-we just need to show him the review first. Here it is.

(I initially thought he was telling us they were taking 10% off of our tab due to the 4 trays of cold food)

They have outdoor seating (it was a beautiful night) with seating overlooking the lake but the restaurant allows vaping so we watched as a table of 3 adults vaped away and continuously annoyed the table of diners seated next to them. The non-smokers were obviously irritated as they dramatically swatted away the huge clouds of vape that exhausted over their dinner table. The staff did nothing to accommodate the crop-dusted table of six nearby. What a shame.

The restaurant prominently displayed faded pictures of the chef/owner with politicians and celebrities and printed and framed accolades from the mid 1990’s but the Chef certainly wasn’t there this night. Things have gone downhill since he made cakes for President Bill Clinton 25 years ago.

I realize every business is struggling post-COVID. They need to try harder.

A...

I’m so sad to write this review because previous experiences were wonderful. In just few weeks, quality has declined into a completely different echelon. The first time we went, we were sat on the beautiful patio and had an attentive server who offered me a printed gluten free menu and was extremely helpful with my dietary accommodations. It was such a great experience, we returned the next day. This time, they had closed their patio (the chief draw of the location) due to staffing issues. Regardless, we were given a seat by the window and had a courteous, accommodating server. So, when we returned to the area a few weeks later, we returned in hopes of a similar experience. It was night and day. The patio was still closed and we were given a table near the back of the restaurant with no view. When I informed the server I was gluten free and asked to be accommodated, she refused. She charged me for a full brisket meal when I simply wanted the meat a la carte (as I had gotten it two times previously). She said “give the sides to your kids.” Then, I was served my brisket on top of a piece of Texas toast. Even after informing the server of my gluten intolerance! I removed the pieces of meat that touched the bread and tried to eat the rest, but I was glutened. I’m not so sensitive that a little cross contamination will send me to the ER, but if you serve my food on a piece of bread, you’re putting me at risk. I did my best knowing that I wouldn’t get any help from the staff if I made further attempts to eat safely. To top it all off, EVERYTHING that hit our table was lacking seasoning. Did they run out of salt in the kitchen? This was NOT the scrumptious experience that had us driving half an hour out of our way to visit. My son ate all his apple sauce, but couldn’t pallet the unseasoned hockey puck of a burger he was served. The chicharones lacked any flavor whatsoever. I also don’t know how it’s possible to serve a piece of brisket that is both leathery AND overwhelmed by fat, but boy this place did that kind of magic yesterday. We walked out dissatisfied, sick, angry, and almost $100 poorer. Our server’s name was Sara and she was wearing overtly religious themed clothing while we were there. She was gruff and unprofessional aside from completely ignoring my clearly communicated food allergies and refusing to help accommodate. The other servers were so sweet and helpful. I dunno how this lady got through the door. Needless to say, we won’t be returning. We’re withdrawing our recommendations to others as well. If this is the unsafe, unpleasant experience our people will receive, there’s no way I’d send them there. Your money is better...

When traveling, I always like to check out the local BBQ. This location had pretty good reviews, so we decided to check it out while visiting in Helen, GA. First off, we had a great server. She was very polite and on the ball. My wife ordered a BBQ plate and I ordered a Rib plate. Our food came fairly quick, nothing to complain about there. I noticed right away that my ribs were kinda tough... Could be a preference, by I like mine falling off the bone. They had a good flavor, just tough. The server noticed right away that something wasn't right and came right over. As soon as I told her, she offered to get me something else. I had already tried my wife's BBQ, so I just asked for some BBQ. I was eating my onion rings when my new plate came, brought by who we think was the manager. It was a complete plate with beans and onion rings just like on my original order. Since I was munching on the onion rings, she told me to keep both plates and to eat whatever I like ( I was only expecting them to bring some BBQ since there wasn't anything wrong with the sides). The BBQ was great! So were the beans, onion rings and the fries my wife ordered. They also have multiple sauces from sweet to hot, from vinegar to tomato or mustard. I tried them all!! and they were all very tasty! After completing our meal, we had a real nice conversation with our server. I wanted to thank the manager, but never got the chance. It was near closing time and she was busy organizing the back area that had already closed. By being there at closing, it was obvious that they made every effort to clean everything before leaving, very impressive! The other workers even stepped up to allow our server to continue our conversation, which to me shows it to be a great workplace. I recommend this BBQ joint and will eat here again if we are ever back in the area!! Keep up the great work!! Again, the ribs could just be my preference... I have taken part in open pit BBQ at least once a year since before I can remember and we have at least one event each year, if not more, when I break out the smoker loaded down with ribs for friends and family. I guess when you cook your own, it makes you a little...