Hop Hog Backyard Brewpub — Restaurant in Greenville

I've driven past Hop Hog for quite a while now. I'm regretting those decisions, because this is a great restaurant. We're at the tail-end of the era when everyone seemed to open a food & brew which couldn't master either of those things, but Hop Hog goes against that.

The restaurant has a very warm, open ambiance with staff that is friendly without being overly/fake friendly. Service was prompt and despite covering a number of tables, never wavered in their upbeat attitude.

I ordered the Hop Hog in Havana, their take on Cuban sandwich with pulled pork, ham, pickles, Swiss, and Carolina gold mustard on a French roll. Served with a side of house chips. All of this was absolutely excellent. I love a good Cuban and so many places are only serving a ham and Swiss with mustard. The sandwich was a great balance of flavors and moist without juice running all over the plate. The house chips were somewhere between crisps and kettle and nicely salted.

They are running only two in-house beers right now due to training a new brewmaster, but I can vouch for the Imperial Stout. For an 11%, the flavor was surprisingly smooth. I'm very aware of the alcohol flavor on higher percentage beers, even ones I like, but their stout tastes almost creamy to me. It's a dangerous 11%, to be sure!

Considering how great I found the food, service, and beer, I was more amazed that price falls right in line with most pubs that are serving a far lesser quality of all three things. This place is going to become a regular stop when I'm cutting...

Went there last night around 7:45p. Got completely ignored.

My friend had arrived around 7:30p went inside. She stood in the doorway, waiting for a hostess because the sign says "please wait to be seated." After nearly fifteen minutes of being ignored she went outside.

I and another friend arrived. We went inside. The three of us stood in the doorway , waiting for someone to come over and seat us. There were several staffers congregated near the cooking line window. They kept looking at us but no one would come over. The bar tender then went behind the bar, looked at us several times, but quickly put her head down so we couldn't talk to her. After about 8 minutes of the three of us standing there, we decided to leave. My friend who had arrived first, spent almost a 1/2 an hour waiting for someone to seat her.

I would say that this was extremely rude.

There were plenty of tables available, so that was not the issue. After seeing such poor customer service it is no wonder there was so many tables open.

(We had checked the website, which states the restaurant is open till 9p, so we weren't that close to...

We were greeted and seated immediately which surprised me on a Friday evening. We started with the chips and salsa. The salsa was different. I initially thought I didn't like it, but it grew on me. The chips were seasoned well. We didn't get any barbecue food, but I used the chips to sample the different BBQ sauces. They were all very good, but I especially liked the Carolina Gold. Next time I'll order something that I can use it on. My burger was HUGE. While that sounds like a good problem, I literally couldn't fit it in my mouth. I ended up cutting it in half (had to ask for a knife) and kinda smashing it down to manage. It was delicious and cooked perfectly. I LOVED the homemade potato chips. They were fantastic! (If you've been following me, you know homemade potato chips are not my favorite, so this is a glowing review!) My daughter said the (award-winning) Mac and cheese was only okay. It was a bit sticky with not enough sauce. Overall, we both very much enjoyed it and would love to return. The prices on the takeout family meals seem REALLY reasonable...