Hog Wild New Lenox — Restaurant in New Lenox

My experience at the New Lenox Hog Wild was remarkably average, but disappointing relative to my standards for Hog Wild. As a long-time customer in Midlothian, I went to the New Lenox location with an open mind. I ordered the Ribeye steak sandwich with portobello mushrooms, which was a favorite of mine at the Midlothian location for years. The first thing that I noticed was the wait time for my sandwich, which was around 12-15 minutes. I’d like to stress that for any other restaurant this is a completely acceptable amount of time to wait, but to me part of the quintessential experience at Hog Wild (at least in Midlothian) was the surprise of your food coming out unbelievably fast, usually even before you can even sit down. I talked to a waitress after sitting down to confirm that I hadn’t made a mistake in seating myself, and we had a brief and pleasant chat where she commented that “people here would be unhappy if we served them that quickly”, which I thought was a little odd. The sandwich itself was OK, but definitely not what I am used to. The amount/type of bread was much larger, and the amount of meat/mushrooms was rather stingy, and almost as if they had carefully calculated exactly how many of each ingredient to place on the bread and nothing more. This is in contrast to the many times I had ordered the same sandwich at Midlothian, where each time I would describe it as perfectly (semi-haphazardly) slapped together with an ample amount of meat and mushrooms, always leaving me satisfied. This time, however, I left hungry. Supposedly the recipes are the same at all locations, but that was not my experience. I imagine that more care is put into standardizing the more “signature” items like the pork chop, and I would be open to returning to this location or trying the Oak Lawn location for an item like that, but the sandwich I had today was a swing and a miss, and I wouldn’t get it again. If this were any other restaurant, I would write this meal off as simply average and think nothing of it, but also probably not make any effort to return. That being said, the venue itself is quite nice (almost more upscale in feeling) and somewhat reminiscent of the original location, although without the abundance of quirky pig decor, which I don’t fault them for not being able to replicate. The only reason I am leaving a review with an admittedly negative tone overall is because I hope that I can have a more positive experience in the future as I would like to continue to patronize the Hog Wild brand so long as it is true to its...

I have been to the Oak Lawn location about 10 times since it opened and have always enjoyed great food ! Now they’ve opened in New Lenox which is much closer to my home. Friends who live in Channahon have been asking if we’ve been there. We hadn’t yet so we made a date. We got there and much like Oak Lawn the line was out the door. Didn’t take but a minute or two and we were in. We were way lucky enough to get the best table in the place right next to the extremely charming fireplace. The girls got in line and me and my friend had a beer. There is an incredible Sports Bar that is part of the whole deal there. Anyway, the line went quick and the girls got our order in and came and sat and had a drink as well. Hadn’t finished our first round when our meals all came to the table. I haven’t yet tried their ribs so I was excited to be getting them now. Well I sure wasn’t disappointed, they were certainly some of the most meaty, tender ribs as I’ve ever eaten. Blows the Patio away ! I tried to cut the ribs and eat off the bone but that wasn’t possible cause the meat literally fell off the bone as I raised it to eat. Now I know some people like ribs you have to work a bit to get off the bone but not me ! Tender delicious, meaty, juicy fall off the bone ribs are 100% my jam. The decor is off the charts cool I might add…My wife and our friends meals were no different… everyone enjoyed their meal and we ate till we were ready to pop. Only complaint I could find was the corn was a bit cold but that’s probably my fault for just working on the ribs. Staff walked the floor to serve anyone who needed anything. Someone said one of the owners was bussing tables ! Holy Cow! So, if you find yourself in the Southwest suburb's and your family is hungry I strongly urge you to check out the new Hog Wild. Delicious food, friendly and quick service and a fun outing for the...

My family visited Hog Wild to try a new BBQ restaurant, and had a BBQ platter, cheeseburger, and breaded chicken sandwich. If you are expecting actual BBQ, you're not going to find it here as the ribs, pulled pork, and brisket are either slow roasted or braised to make it tender, and not smoked like you'd get from an authentic BBQ restaurant. All of the meat tastes like it's boiled and unseasoned, mostly being covered in sauce to give it some flavor. Genuine BBQ is served with BBQ sauce on the side to compliment all of the flavor already in the meat from being properly seasoned and smoked. I'm assuming the 5 star reviews for the BBQ are from people who have never had real BBQ.

The BBQ Platter: Beef brisket was sliced thin, tough, dry, presauced and served in a foam cup. The pulled pork was relatively tender, heavily sauced and scooped in a cup and relatively flavorless. The ribs were relatively tender, bland, sauced, and briefly broiled/grilled to caramelize the sauce.

The sides: The oven browns were actually very tasty, crispy, hot and I would definitely order them if I were to dine here again. The fries were mediocre and I think the baked beans are Bush's baked beans you can buy in the grocery store. My toast was oddly soft and not crisp while the cornbread was on the mushy side.

Our breaded chicken sandwich was good, but the cheeseburger was beyond well done, and very dried out. A neighboring patron had the pork chop which also looked completely dried out when he cut into it.

Overall, I'd say you should expect very bland food from Hog Wild with the exception of the delicious oven browns. If you're very hungry, the portions should fill you up and I'd say the prices are reasonable relative to most of today's dining experiences of pricey...