The Portly Pig BBQ and Catering — Restaurant in Hartford

Update, see original review below. Just got dinner here again, first time in a few months. Was pleasantly surprised to see that they combined their mac and cheese restaurant into the same location, had you can get both menus! Perfect, as always guys, great job!

Oh my, folks, there's a new barbecue contender in town, and this place is coming out swinging.

They're in parkville market, so don't be confused when you go looking for them, but I'll tell you now, it'll be worth the trip.

They style themselves new England style barbecue, and let me tell you... if this is the kind of barbecue New England has to look forward to, I wont miss any of the others.

I recently went to the Portly Pig twice, and at the time of this review, I've tried quite a few items.

The first time with my family we ordered the classic barbecue package, it feeds 4, and it clocks in at a totally worth it 65 dollar price tag. Pulled pork with their house made spicy bourbon sauce which was suggested and did not disappoint. A full rack of ribs with sweet brown sugar sauce, 3 smoked sausage links, 4 pints of sides and cornbread.

It was all delicious, tender and smokey pork, awesome ribs, done the RIGHT WAY. Super tender with just a little pull, came off the bone easy, but didn't fall off, really awesome flavor.

The sides were great too! Maple mustard potato salad, garlic green beans and slow smoked beans, all fantastic, especially the smoked beans... but the street corn... I discovered a need for this corn. I'd come back just for this. Creamy, cheesey, salty, lime loaded deliciousness. Cut off the cob to make it easier to shovel into your face.

The second time, me and the wife split a pork rib mac and cheese and a chicken salad sandwich, both specials, both fantastic. The mac was creamy and gooey and perfect, topped with these cornbread crumbs and their rib seasonings which was awesome. The sandwich was on a French bread, loaded with flavors and these marinated tomatoes... but the best part... the crispy chicken skin chips they add instead of bacon.

Try these guys! They're great and they're gonna be a contender for best bbq in hartford in no time. I'll...

The Portly Pig BBQ and Catering wasn't good, they were great! My wife and I decided to get married at the last minute and only had a week to find a place to cater. After doing some google searches and sending out dozens of inquiries, most places took a few days to get back to me. During my search I stumbled across the Portly Pig BBQ and sent in a request and I received a call back from the owners' mother (she handles catering orders) within 30 minutes. She was very helpful and a delight to speak with. She took the time to send me all the information and pricing for a 65 person wedding. She then setup a time for me to go down the next day with my wife for a tasting. The food was unbelievable! Being from the Carolinas I know a thing or two about BBQ, and this was by far the best BBQ I've had in CT. The tasting was so good we ended up ordering food and taking it back home with us. We were deciding between a few places but being that I'm originally from the south, a BBQ wedding is what the wife and I wanted. Not only was the food amazing during the tasting but the service "J" gave us was above and beyond our expectations. We were immediately sold right there and called the next day to finalize everything. They promised the food would be hot (which it was) and they came on time and seamlessly setup after we said our I do's. We paid for enough food to feed 60ish people but could have easily feed over 100. Everyone took food home and it got to the point where they ran out of to go boxes. All the guess were saying this was the best wedding catering they had ever had before. They literally received a bigger round of applause than my wife and I did, when I thanked them during my wedding speech. One of the best parts was I had a few folks who are vegan and they had many options for side meals for them. We are actually having two weddings (for family who couldn't make the first one short notice) and we will definitely be going with the Portly Pig again. When it comes to price, speed, quality, quantity and professionalism they...

First, my qualifications to review: I've had BBQ all over the country and world. I've cooked a dozen whole hogs, countless pork shoulders, and won an award for my pork ribs.

Since it was Sunday and most local BBQ joints were closed in my area, I gave these guys a try. I definitely didn't want to go to Bears since Bears is some of the worst tasting BBQ I've ever had and I didn't want me and the family to be camped out, sick, in the bathroom like all the other times I've eaten there. But I digress...

Feeding a family function, I got to order a LOT of different items from the Portly menu. Here's my honest review. The king of the meal was the pork belly burnt ends. I mean, it's pork belly, so how could it NOT be good? Ribs had a nice bark and were cooked to perfection- not too toothy or soft. The whole chicken was still juicy while being cooked to proper doneness. Pulled pork was alright- fairly plain. Sausage, on the other hand, was spiced incredibly well and dang tasty! Brisket was tender and moist. None of the meat was over-smoked unlike what seems to be common in the area- no heavy, acrid, overpowering taste of burnt wood. If that's the signature of "New England" BBQ, then I'm all for it!

Now, all that said... there were some disappointments. The sauces (and I only got the brown sugar and the spicy bourbon) were pretty weak. But, honestly, all of the meats were so good on their own, you don't need sauce. However, if you're a sauce person, you'll likely be let down. Second, the sides (maple potato, and slaw) were also lackluster. They definitely weren't bad, but also not that good. Both the sides and sauces just need to be punched up a bit, that's all.

So, all in all, we had a great meal and everyone was happy. Staff was friendly and accommodating. I'd definitely recommend this place if you're in the area. I hear they're moving to a larger storefront. Maybe some of the minor areas for improvement will be addressed.

Put some pork...