The Fishin' Pig Norfolk — Restaurant in Norfolk

I went the other day and I met the hostess to be seated, she did not say anything at all. Not when I walked in or got seated. I don’t know if she was unstable to speak, but it would be nice to get a smile or a wave or some form of acknowledgment. She didn’t even ask if I was ok with the table or let me know that my waiter would be there shortly. The waiter took a while to come to the table but, that’s understandable if she was the only one waiting tables as there were a decent amount of people in the restaurant. However, throughout the time that I was sitting down I saw my waiter constantly going back to one table while barely coming to mine. There was at least 15-25 minutes between the times my waiter came to me. And within those 15-25 minutes they would visit another table at least 2 times. All this I was able to look past as I understand certain areas and groups may have a bigger priority than others, but it didn’t even seem like I was wanted in the restaurant. It was like I was waited on as an afterthought. However, once I finished touching my food and I was clearly done as I was sitting there for a good 20 minutes before my waiter came by asking if I needed a to-go box. They came back quickly, but left without asking if I was ready to pay or even bring back the check. I sat there for a good 15 minutes before cleaning up my area and trying to make it easy for the waiter to clear the table while attempting to catch my waiter’s attention from the group talk that they were having to let them know that I was ready to pay. After I was able to get their attention, they came over and asked if I was ready to pay and the rest went on smoothly. Overall, the waiter was kind and friendly, but it seemed as if they put me on a back burner compared to others.

The food was great especially for the price that I paid. The appetizers were well seasoned and the perfect blend between sweet and savory, the sides were flavorful and juicy, the sauces added an extra kick, but the meat...

4/5 things we ate were pretty good. The 5th was terrible.

The crab cake sandwich was bad. Not in the “oh too much breading” kind of way, but literally BAD in the “this will make you sick” kind of way. It looked fine, lump crab meat and very little breading or filler. This is probably why they did not want to refuse serving it. I understand lump crab is expensive, but if you’re not selling it fast enough just take it off the menu and save us both the trouble. The manager and kitchen insisted the crab cake mix was only 3 days old, but that is the maximum you should be serving it in the best conditions. And I also doubt that was the truth because it turned both of our stomachs and we like crab (almost ordered the crab dip pretzel as an app).

Despite that, their not bang bang shrimp, hush puppies, and burger with peppered bacon were great. Enjoyed them very much.

Another low light was the manager did not come over until we got the bill and the rancid crab cake was still on the table with the check. If he had come over when we mentioned it (2 minutes after the food was delivered) then we’d likely not have been so turned off by the experience. No one wants bad seafood and when they say it’s bad they certainly don’t want it sitting there in front of them where they can smell it. Just come take it away.

The BBQ sauces were pretty good.

It was a red flag to us that the menu was so diverse, so maybe just eliminating a couple things they don’t sell enough of would help because most of it was good. The experience with the crab cake and poor management is enough that we likely won’t be...

This used to be one of my favorite places to eat, but it’s slid down in quality so dramatically.

I really was feeling like I wanted some ribs tonight so I was the one out of our group that decided we would go here, and I couldn’t have been more disappointed. We showed up just a little bit after 6 PM. Everyone ran around the table and ordered, and when I got to my order, I asked for a full rack of ribs and was told we’ve run out of ribs.

You’re a pig joint and you’ve run out of ribs at 6 PM?

So I settled for the brisket, the waitress said the brisket is a little fatty tonight, and boy, oh boy she wasn’t kidding. There were three slices of brisket approximately 2 1/2 inches across. Right down the center of each and every slice was one and three-quarter inch wide fat only. And approximately 1/2 inch of meat on the sides. I should’ve sent it back but I didn’t. The end of the slices were completely dried out for the last inch up from the bottom and were slightly darkened. Clearly they had been exposed to heated air for an extended period of time and dried into a petrified form of meat.

My sweet tea I drank in the first five minutes of sitting down and then it sat empty for 45 minutes, and only when I prompted the waitress was it refilled, which I promptly drank in the next five minutes and remained empty for the entire rest of the meal.

The waitress was polite, but not at all attentive.

When they first open, I easily would’ve given this place five stars, but they really have lost their shine, and now they’re just trying to put...