Mean Burgers Bar and Grille & Hog Island Beer Yard — Restaurant in Wellfleet

Great, casual outdoor beer garden area. Nicely spaced tables for 2 - 4 people and plenty of larger tables to gather with group of friends or family.

Place your order for drinks and food at the bar stand. Good, cold local beer on tap. Some specialty cocktails offered as well as wine. I had a spicy margarita, and it definitely was spicy and tasty. But they were out of the advertised jalapeno garnish. That would have been the perfect kicker for me! Next time, hopefully.

The menu is casual, pub style food. We enjoyed their veggie pizza (added pepperoni) baked in the brick oven in the restaurant. Very thin, crispy crust, fresh veggies and flavorful sauce. They were also offering "Buck a Shuck", Wellfleet oysters for the low price of, you got it, a buck each. Can't beat that deal! They were served nice and chilled in an ice filled metal tray. The two of us ate at least a dozen and the pizza too!

On a previous visit we had the Brewery Pretzel with our beer. Not bad, though I prefer a chewier version of a warm pretzel. We pretty much ignored the rather bland pub cheese served alongside in favor of the much better grainy mustard. All the food we've seen being served looks good. We'll eventually get around to trying it all, I'm sure.

Friendly bar tenders and servers at the walkup bar.

We haven't eaten inside yet but went in to check out the brick pizza oven. The interior looks inviting though it was empty when we went in late May. I'm sure it will be busy in the summer, inside and out!

If you remember Rookies Restaurant then you know where this place is on Rt. 6 in Wellfleet, before you get to Marconi...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for local, and the new "beer yard and surf lodge" concept at the former Rookie's location is a great idea that will be very successful long-term. But as it is, in Hog Island's case, that ultimate success will be entirely due to tourists' relatively elastic standards/budgets, and in spite of Hog Island's notoriously mediocre beer and the new place's small and badly overpriced menu. Only five soups/salads, ($10 for a CUP of chowder), seven starters ($10 for a pretzel), five pizzas ($15 for cheese), five sandwiches ($13 burger), two sides (fries: $6.50), and only six beers to choose from ($8.50 - $9.25), all of them inferior to essentially all other local beer brands. Good spot otherwise, with well-done renovations and solid food quality; I would go back if the beer selection improved and prices became more competitive. (A menu of excellent size, quality, and value can be had literally 20 yards away...)

SEASON 2 UPDATE: Some prices have moderated slightly (pretzel now $8, chowder cup $9), while cheese pizza is actually MORE expensive ($16) now, as is a simple burger ($17). The blonde Summer Ale has been added to the lineup, representing by far the most normal/drinkable Hog Island brew to date. This success is tempered somewhat by the hefty $8.50/16oz draft price, but this is not the worst value around, either. Overall, one additional star...

A burger joint “should” have a decent burger. Both of us got the burger with salad AKA greens. It’s cooked to order and we asked for medium with Nate’s sauce. They arrived promptly, unfortunately the server never came back until we were finished eating. That said the plate looked great, bun toasted perfectly, ample sauce, utilizing half sour pickles, which I love. The salad and dressing were top notch. The meat was cooked a perfect medium. The issue was the burger was tasteless and bland. Like it was frozen before cooking with absolutely no seasoning, utilizing a poor blend of meat. It appeared to be almost steamed, cooked with too low of heat. The Nates sauce appeared to be a take on Big Mac sauce, it was missing something as it was bland as well. If your looking for a decent burger, seek...