Hog Wild BBQ & Catering — Restaurant in Milwaukie

The worst service experience we have had period! Our family recently went to a company event which was catered by Hog Wild, apparently they were also catering to vegetarians in the crowd (a decent proportion were vegetarians)! Even though we have been to a number of events where the vegetarian menu was extremely limited the service staff have always been polite taking extra consideration and trying to help with accommodating our personal preferences. I have no problems with a bun and cheese or ketchup if its given with a smile!

So when my wife, 2 kids and I went to the queue which the catering had set up we saw that they had buns, pork, beef, beans (w meat), some steamed veggies and potato salad. I got a bun and requested the server to give me a couple of addnl buns thinking we would go put the veggies and salad on the bun and have a go. To my extreme surprise, server refused to give me buns! The reason being that these were meant only for folks who had the meat servings. So the choice was that I either just ate the soggy veggies and potato salad which was considered the vegetarian option with nothing else. Or that I give up my personal preference and turn to meat if I wanted a bun!!!!!!!! I tried to reason with the person who was very adamant and refused us point blank. As upset as I was, I think that I was even more upset for my ravenous 4 and 8 year old kids, whom I had just picked up from daycare thinking we would have a pleasant evening outing at the company picnic with food and games.

Not only did the have basically nothing to cater to vegetarians who made up 16 of the total 100 or so persons attending, they were inconsiderate enough to refuse something as simple and cheap as a bun. Not like this was a specially baked bun from the restaurant or anything. Just a regular supermarket bun (Franz bakery if I remember!!!)

Not only did these folks starve us, they had 10 bottles of water for the whole crowd on a 90F evening. First come first serve they said so, my kids could not even get water.

We ended up leaving immediately very upset with the whole experience.

Assuming you have someone in your close network who is vegetarian please, please, please avoid this place for their sake. Or at least forewarn them so they can take a rain-check or eat before coming. Assuming you have no issues with the vegetarian deal, I would still give this place a miss for the rude and uncaring attitude of the caterers.

Come on guys, don't count buns and...

I must say, for how excited I've been to try this place, I was sorely disappointed. The cost to serving-size ratio is insane. I ordered a beef brisket Philly sandwich with potato salad & added sides of onion rings, BBQ beans and mac & cheese. The philly sandwich cheese is a liquidy, runny mess of something I shudder to call cheese (see photo). Many reviews complain the brisket is too fatty (it kind of is), but brisket is supposed to be fatty. The problem was that the brisket was terribly undercooked, leaving the fat thick and chewy, rather than it falling apart or melting in your mouth. The bread was so soggy from the liquid "cheese" I had to eat it with a fork and knife, as I couldn't pick it up. I couldn't finish half of it, before my stomach started to protest. & That was with picking all the gristly bits out. The sides were comparable to a small side you'd get from a KFC. The mac n cheese was lacking one of the main ingredients - CHEESE, it tasted like buttered noodles with a dash of seasoning (I'm assuming Cayenne pepper). I didn't receive my potato salad at all, so I can't comment on it's quality. Unfortunately, I'd ordered to go, while on lunch break from work - so I didn't notice until I got back to work and opened the bag. The only saving grace was the BBQ beans and the onion rings. I gave a star for each. The BBQ beans were moist, but not soggy & seasoned beautifully. I don't think I've ever had such delicious beans in my life. Kudos to the chef. The onion rings appeared homemade, were fresh and crisp, they did not disappoint. All in all, for one sandwich and 4 sides (one of which wasn't received). I paid $30. This wouldn't have bothered me, if all the food was provided and good, as it would have fed 2 people. However, the sandwich was only half edible, the mac & cheese, dry cheese-less noodles & I never even got to see the potato salad. Maybe they were hit hard by Covid... & Ingredients are hard to come by. I suppose I'll try again after Covid...

Brisket and Cheddar sausage. Mashed potatoes and jalapeño poppers.

Brisket: Not bad. Flavor was pretty typical of what you would expect. Not sumptuous juicy, but, not dry as a bone either.

Cheddar Sausage: Unless you have a strong jaw, it's probably better to try a different kind of meat. It was difficult to cut and equally challenging to chew. The waiter knocked $5 off the bill when I showed him.

Mashed Potatoes: They were whipped potatoes. Not bad flavor at all. If you are looking for a thicker more chunky mashed potato side, you can skip this one.

Jalapeño Poppers: The four came out pretty good. Crunchy and done right. Pretty standard other than being bigger than average.

Service: Attentive and friendly. The staff really was THE reason I went back and forth between 3 stars and 4 stars.

Ambience: No frills. The tv was playing basketball with the volume off. The music that was playing ranged from "Redneck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson to "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. The speakers had no low end and hardly any mid-range and seeing as how it was being played loud enough to be heard, it was distracting rather than enjoyable.

Overall: I think if the owners were willing to put money into the place settings (ie: quality forks and knives), a real stereo and more than one little tv, it might make sense as a restaurant. It felt more like an upgraded cafeteria than a BBQ joint.

The food, while not bad wasn't anything to make a trip out of your way for. The sauces were good, but it really was basic BBQ food. If you happen to be in the area and have a yen to spend $20 (+$2.50 for soda) for 2 meats and 2 sides, go for it. Portions were good for 1 person to get really stuffed, but not quite big enough to split...