Water Pig BBQ — Restaurant in Santa Rosa Island

If I could give zero stars I would.. if anything this one star is for the blue angel drink I ordered. Where do I begin.. we were seated at the beach at a table on an annoying slant, but there was no other table available at the time and my husband and I were hungry. After about 10 minutes going by without menus, or a single acknowledgement we were finally asked by a waitress if someone was helping us. Zero organization with the wait staff and the tables they are supposed to be managing. She asked us if we were able to pull the menu up on our phones, but we didn’t even realize we were to do that. She brought us over a napkin holder with the barcode to scan to pull up the menu and complained that it should’ve been on our table. We asked her to get us some water in the meantime. After she walked away another waitress came over and asked us if we needed help.. again no communication or organization. 10 minutes later we got our water, and we ordered our drinks, and an appetizer. I asked her if she minded that we placed our meal order too, and she responded with a, “if you want.” Well ok. She asked if i wanted any sides with my meal, and I inquired if it was included. She said, “no but you can still get some if you want them.” I ordered a side of potato salad with a 1/2 rack of ribs. My husband ordered pulled pork with a side of mac and cheese. The drinks, and appetizer (loaded tots) came out within 5 minutes. The tots were completely slathered in creme sauce. After she dropped the app and walked away we realized we had no utensils. There was no way you could eat this app without them. There was not one worker in sight for 5 minutes until our food came out. I asked the food runner if we could have some utensils and sauce.. NO sauce was given at all. As soon as we got our utensils, and started to eat we realized how absolutely grotesque our meals were. My ribs were a brownish green on the bottom, and completely dry. I could barely bite into it it was so hard. Disgusting. This was BBQ?! My husbands pulled pork was so greasy he couldn’t even handle two bites! His mac and cheese also looked like milk coated oily noodles. This was a horrendous experience! When we spoke to the manager she did mot seem at all surprised with our complaints. We refused to eat anything, and she comped our drinks so we could get the heck out of there! What a waste of 40 minutes, and a major loss...

Was extremely excited to eat at Water Pig after reading all of the wonderful reviews and viewing your website and social media. After ordering a coconut Magarita, I watched my waitress have banter with the bartender pointing at me about the coconut margarita I ordered. Talking about me and my mother in law for order such an outlandish margarita, she’s advised they didn’t have coconut and weren’t sure why we ordered it. I advised them that it was listed on there menu as an option. I didn’t appreciate watching someone talk about me and my order. I let it slide and still ordered food. As we ordered I inquired about the winter deal from visit Pensacola beach that offered buy one entree get one half off and she said she had no idea what I was talking about .. curious why you offer that deal which runs through March 31 and she didn’t know a thing about it. Then I ask if I could order tots with brisket as an entree and was told I could not of I wanted to get my kids meals free. So I obliged and ordered an entree as well which by the way had she allowed me what I asked for it cost more than the entree anyways so that was curious.I asked about the corn on the cob that was listed on your website and social media and told this was season as well. Why advertise something that isn’t available?The final straw was when my 5 year old asked for tots and she told her to say please. And not in a fun, cute way but in a way that insinuated my child did not have manners. The service was so awful I asked for my food to go. Food is mediocre at best, Mac and cheese is awful and the brisket was dry on my club sandwich. Will never be back. I wish I had this servers name to put her on blast. I am a Guest Experience Expert and have assisted with many businesses in the industry. I advise you hire one immediately and teach your staff to never talk about your patrons in front of their view. For someone who thought it was okay to correct a 5 year old, she was...

Out at Water Pig BBQ on Pensacola Beach, lunch ain’t some sad little afterthought they threw together to please folks in pastel polos — it’s a damn full-blown event, the kind where you show up hungry and leave needing a nap and a life coach. This place squats right up against the sand like it owns the shoreline, and honestly, it kinda does.

They built Water Pig with one idea in mind: make the kind of barbecue that don’t just taste good — it wrecks your whole plan for the day. Low and slow smoking, no shortcuts, no apologies. Open-air seating, Gulf breeze whipping your napkins off the table, and a smoker out back belching hickory-sweet promises into the sky. That’s the vibe.

Now, let’s talk about why we’re really here — the Brisket Barbacoa Tacos. When they hit the table, they ain’t playing around. You get two classic street tacos, built honest and simple: a heavy-handed pile of slow-cooked brisket barbacoa, so tender it basically apologizes to your teeth for making them do any work. They top it with diced onion and fresh-cut cilantro — none of that sad, wilty garnish nonsense — and drop a lime wedge on the side, like they know you’re gonna need a little acid to cut through the glorious meat tsunami you’re about to unleash.

And because Water Pig understands the way normal, decent folks eat, they don’t hand you a couple of tacos and call it a day. No, sir. They toss in a side of golden, crispy-ass tater tots — little crunchy miracles that ought to come with a warning label about how addictive they are.

You sit there, toes in the sand, brisket juice drippin’ down your wrist, poppin’ tots like you’re at a high-stakes carnival — and for a few sweet, smoky moments, you forget about calories, beach bods, or whatever dumb plan you had to “just grab a light snack.”

Water Pig don’t do light snacks. They do barbecue. And they do it like...