Union Pig & Chicken

Great menu and very friendly fast service
I would definitely come back here
The Cobb salad was awesome and the meatballs are as good as advertised on the menu!

We had seven people for dinner so our server suggested family style. The food was excellent and server was attentive about refilling drinks etc. only complaint is that they were out of cornbread and the rice and beans which seemed odd. Otherwise it was a great meal and an enjoyable experience.

Stopped in for lunch today. New and expanded menu it seems. Had the lunch special of meatball sandwich, side and drink. Plenty of food! Excellent and unusual smoky meatball sandwich. Side of baked beans were also very good. I like this place!

You can’t walk by without being enticed and lured in by the smells. Once inside its like a dream come true with mouth watering meats and Mac & Cheese!

I had a disappointing meal here last night. I’ve always been a fan of Union Pig since it opened, but I have noticed changes since the new ownership, and I have to reconsider my loyalty here.
I ordered the ½ BBQ Chicken, and it was unpleasantly dry. In the past, it’s been delightfully juicy, but this was difficult to eat.
The kitchen messed up on our order, they brought meatloaf instead of vegetarian tofu. Not good. Although they did eventually make it right.
My greens and mac and cheese were still very good, and our server was excellent, however I’m having a difficult time recommending this place anymore.
The back room was packed for Adventure Bingo, and that’s still a cool and unique draw.

Great food and service.
My only gripe is that it’s listed as kid friendly, but they don’t have a kids menu. Our kid did manage to have fun because luckily the place wasn’t crowded and we could check out the bocce area.

My first time here, I was slightly disappointed since I had heard such great things and the menu looked so great! They were out of poutine and meatloaf but that didn’t really affect what we were going to order (though poutine sounded pretty good). We arrived at 6 PM on a Friday and it was surprisingly not as busy as I expected. Their happy hour was $ 1 off beer and half off wings (though the wings were so overpriced to begin with). We ordered the mighty Mac, 6 bbq wings and 1 lb of St. Louis pork ribs. It all looked really small when it came out but afterwards, we were so full. Everything they serve is basically comfort food so if you’re looking for nice picnic /​staple American food with a slightly urban experience, come here.

Went here to try them out since a lot of people have said amazing things about them. Besides the fact that they were out of ribs, pork shoulder and meatloaf– so we could only order the brisket, it was not a good experience.
The brisket was dry and leathery, absolutely nothing good about it. We ordered the meaty Mac, which was fantastically creamy but the taste of wasabi was so overwhelming, it was impossible to get more than a couple of bites in, and I love wasabi.
However, their biscuit was good. And when the only thing I can compliment on at a BarBQ place is the biscuit– that’s sad.
Not to mention it is horrendously overpriced and slow.
Will not go back or recommend this place to anyone.

I have to start by saying the mac and cheese is heavenly. It’s creamy, has excellent flavor, and is not too salty or greasy.
My boyfriend and I sampled the ribs, brisket, meatloaf, and pork. The ribs were a little over done, but everything else was incredible. Easily the best bbq and mac and cheese I’ve had in Pittsburgh. We had bourbon chocolate chip cookies and milk for desert, which were a tasty and refreshingly simple desert. The service was very friendly, and the food came out in a timely fashion. Definitely 5 star worthy

I used to frequent this place a lot, with friends and family. A while ago, management changed and there was a noticeable shift in both staff and food quality. Staff is friendly, but not always super attentive. Food is still good, but sometimes a little dry.
My boyfriend and I had dinner here on Thursday around seven, and by 1:00am Friday morning, I was throwing up. I was sick with food poisoning the entire day Friday. It’s now Saturday, and I’m finally holding down food.
This place has gone downhill, and the food poisoning is the last straw. We will not be returning.

**Update** I went back again… I should know better. It was a sunday and I was really craving that mac n cheese. I ordered that and we split half a chicken (my sister and her daughter and I). The chicken was just bordering on raw/​undercooked. There was blood in the chicken, i’m not just talking like a vein I mean pink meat bloody blood. I just feel like this place has gone progressively down the shitter since the first time I was there. The menu changed, the food changed, the prices changed. What a bummer

I ordered the brisket and yams, and they were delicious! The meat was full of flavor and super tender. The yams were super tasty. And the overall price was not bad at all for the food we got. We tried this place because we had purchased a Groupon, but we will certainly be returning!

This is a really cool spot in East Liberty and I’ll give them that. The servers are friendly too but that is pretty much where the «good» ends.
We walked in the place and most of the tables were occupied. We were immediately greeted and taken upstairs which was nicely dimmed and offered up a great view of the street below.
The menu had a selection of meats ranging from ribs, chicken, brisket, wings, etc. We opted to sample a small order of ribs and 12 buffalo wings with mac/​cheese and greens to go with. When the food arrived, it looked good. The only thing that was odd was the buffalo sauce didn’t seem to stick to the wings but that’s an easy fix… just dip em, right? Wing flavor and sauce= did not taste good. I’ve had many smoked wings and these just did not taste good. My daughter who is a chicken wing lover wouldn’t eat more than 2. A couple of the wings were dried out. Rib flavor, tenderness and sauce= whatever the yellow stuff on there is… they need to get rid of it. Only half of my rib was edible and the other was tough… see pic. The greens were decent but a tad on the salty side. The mac/​cheese was a no. There was cheese and it was moist but lacking any good flavor. I sampled that bbq sauce on my ribs. It has a few different notes but not something I would choose to lick off of anything. I tasted some ketchup, sweetness and maybe a bit of vinegar but they didn’t go together at all… not good.
The bar area looked nice and folks appeared to be having fun. Whatever was going on in the next room really took away from our meal. It was soooooooo loud! I was dining with my daughter and heard a guy with a microphone drop some curse words. Don’t get me wrong, I realize my daughter has heard all of those words before. I am a little old school and just believe I should be able to choose, as a parent, if I want to sit in the midst of all that with my child when it’s on my dime. After a long day at work… I just wanted a peaceful meal with my mini me.
In my opinion, good bbq is not that hard to pull off. I REALLY wanted to like this place but it fell far from the mark for me. Again, I’ll say the service was good. I was too tired to complain and after reading some of the reviews, not sure if it would make a difference or not. I did leave info on their comment card. Hopefully it will be taken as constructive versus bashing because it’s truly not my intention.
I wish them luck but my search for the best bbq in town continues.

The liquid smoke is strong with this one.
Had to check this place out after hearing people rave about it.
The good:
Friendly host and excellent wait service. Sweet and cordial without being cloying. Matter of fact and unapologetic about the missing menu items which leads to the bad.
The bad:
No ribs at a BBQ joint? Uhhhh ok.
No cornbread? Ouch
No daily pudding? Oh hell no!
The Mac and cheese was bland and had a slightly gritty texture.
The green beans were just cleverly disguised bowls of vinegar.
The cookies were okay, but 3 cookies and a tiny cup of milk for $ 4 just makes you want to say forget it and grab a bag of Oreos and a half gallon of 2% for more satisfaction.
The ugly:
Ordered wings to go for my spouse, who was sick at home. Poor thing said the wings were awful. I had one and it just tastes like liquid smoke. No meaty flavor or anything, just pure chemical nastiness. Oh and the bottomless cup of coffee just sat empty for 45 minutes, I didn’t receive a single refill.
Final verdict:
Great restaurant if you don’t like eating.

Honestly one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I love good bbq and this place has it. The bahn mi is insanely good and if recommend getting it with cole slaw. The brisket is really delicious. It’s a fun atmosphere, too. The cocktails can get a little pricey but that’s because the bartenders know what they’re doing.

Horrible. Worse than horrible. It took an hour and a half to get our food and it was a joke on the plate. A huge slab a fat they called brisket and burnt cornbread. No really I’m not joking, a big greasy piece of smoked fat they call brisket. I honestly can’t believe I gave these people my money. Go to McDonalds and save your money

Meat was very very fatty. Orders pork shoulder and half the pieces were pure fat.
Waitress «how was everything»
Me «ok, half pieces were pure fat»
Waitress «that’s the way it’s supposed to be»
There you have it.

Waltzed in here on a weekday for lunch… left with my bbq dreams satisfied and a good buzz.
So the place is adorable and the atmosphere is on point for a bbq joint. We came in before the bar opened, but our server, Jenna (= amazing), helped us navigate thru the menu and pick out a few glasses of whiskey. Ordered the ribs, pork shoulder, greens, and slaw (+ a pickle and jalapeños for good measure). The food didn’t take long at all to come out. I’ve waited twice as long for a slice of pizza at a few nearby spots.
The ribs and coleslaw were
, but the pork shoulder and greens stole my heart. The meat was melt-​in-​your-​mouth amazing and the sauces they had out were delicious: one traditional, one tangy. Really, that’s all you need. For the record, I mixed them together… it was epic.
After lunch, gee what luck, the bar was open. Went up intending to have one drink… fast forward a few hours. The cocktails are fantastic — made w/​unique, quality ingredients. Couldn’t have just one. Also, the staff members are lovely people (shout out to Jordan at the bar who kept us full of great spirits *and* the best convo I’ve had in weeks).
Great food, wonderful people… awesome drinks. I’ll be back.

Great atmosphere and good drinks. Extremely slow service and staff attitude sucked-​both server and manager.
Started off with cocktails which came timely and were made well. About 10 minutes after getting our drinks we placed our order-​appetizers and main dishes. An hour later we still hadn’t gotten any food and our waters and cocktails had been sitting empty for at least 20 – 25 minutes. Flagged the server to see what the hold up was and we got a very generic «your food is being prepared in the order it was put in».
An hour and 15 minutes into dinner or meal came. It was nothing to rave about. Two orders of brisket and both were more than 50% fat. They plated the tofu app on top of the chicken wing app– literally laid on top of the wings. For a vegetarian, this is unacceptable. The Mac and cheese was ok, but personally it’s not as good as homemade. The tofu was seasoned nicely.
The manager ended up giving us our drinks for free but would not apologize for the extremely slow service. His excuse was that there was a large party upstairs.
Wanted to like this place but unfortunately we will not back and do not recommend.

Admittedly, I knew I hadn’t been here in a long time for a reason, and I’ll preface this by saying I’m not a huge BBQ person. From last visits the main thing I’ve enjoyed here has been the fried chicken and Mac n cheese. Not earth shattering, but enjoyable.
We came here for dinner with a large group on a Saturday night and the service was more than fine. Since I wasn’t very hungry I decided on the Banh Mi sandwich with no sides. I knew I would regret it as soon as I ordered it.
The pork was a big chunk and 90% fat and I couldn’t even bite into it. The pickled vegetables and jalapeño/​cilantro packed zero punch and all you could really taste was the liver mousse. It was also on a soft roll as opposed to a crisp French roll that I’m accustomed to.
Most of the group seemed to enjoy their food so I didn’t say anything but I’m sure the waitress should’ve noticed I didn’t eat any of my meal, but oh well.
Given my distaste for BBQ (especially) when it’s expensive, and my lack of a memorable meal here on all occasions I doubt I’ll be back.
They do mix up a good cocktail and beer is reasonably priced though if you want to come here to drink.

Wow…1^st spot we hit on our biz trip to Pitt. This place looked like it was gonna be great. From the outside to the inside to the hipster staff. We couldn’t wait to dig in. And that’s exactly what we did… WAIT. My wife and I ran out of conversation just waiting for our drinks let alone the food. Then I thought to myself, maybe the food would make up for this inconvenience. NOPE!
Mediocre at best. Over smoked everything. Drowning in oil potatoes. While we ate we ordered another round. Didn’t come til we were already done with coats on and ready to go. Best part of the whole ordeal was the mac & cheese. But wait!!! THERE’S MORE!!! Ordered the creamy non meat m&c. When we got the bill they had charged us for the more expensive with meat. At this point I decided to let Unilocal be my voice. Paid our share and left. Pittsburgh please tell me there is better out here!

We were quite skeptical walking in here – after all, there are several homely, low-​key BBQ places in the city where you can see and smell the meat in the smoker as you walk in, so how much better could this rather more upscale joint be for BBQ? Turns out that everything is fancier and more expensive for a reason – all the meats left us speechless. Everything was perfectly smoked, tender, and flavorful. The wings were juicy, the meat fell off the rib bones, and the beef brisket had the right amount of fat. It was probably impossible to choose a favorite.
Along with the two sides, the smallest portions of all four meats were enough to fill two people up. Probably also because the macs came with meat in them as well. The meaty mac and cheese was pretty good, but it’s a good idea to share, since we found it a bit overwhelming to eat the whole thing. As for the chili mac, we didn’t intend to get this but it seems that they mistook our order. It was pretty good as well, though it was hard to enjoy two macs fully.
Service wasn’t the best – in addition to getting the side wrong, it was a bit of a wait for the food, and water refills took a while as well. We asked our waiter for a refill, and he probably passed by our table several times, once with cocktails for the neighboring table, before doing so. Maybe better luck when it’s less busy.

Smoky, smoky, smoky. Most everything here had lots of smoky flavor. It worked for the brisket and ribs which were decent. The meatloaf tasted like someone had put it right on an open flame. I usually prefer somewhat of a sweetness to my bbq, but if you’re looking for this, then this is not your place. The bbq chicken was good though. The Poutine would probably be the only reason for me to come back here. It was made with fingerling potatoes smothered in brisket gravy and cheese! Deliciosio!!! The only other side we had were the greens and they were done really well. Not the best bbq, but if you like a hickory smoke flavor then this would be your place.

I was excited to try this hyped up restaurant and the boyf and I LOVE us some BBQ (I may or may not have a countdown to ribfest). I was so disappointed in the food — BBQ is average at best. The service is really slow. Everything was on the drier side. The brisket was really fatty (I’m Jewish — our family crushes brisket on the reg). Mac was pretty good.
The big elephant in the room for the one star… this place made us extremely sick. We eat out often and TMI — it was not good. I’m legit terrified to return. Other friends of ours who have dined here as well have said the same thing.
Just warning you… #goodluck

Dear Union Pig and Chicken, we used to have a long-​standing and satisfying love affair. Your meat was juicy, your cornbread fluffy, and your chicken and waffles were the best in town. So you must understand why it pains me to tell you that we must break up.
It’s been awhile since I’ve visited (over a year) but this recent dining experience was not even close to what I’ve come to love and appreciate about UP&C.
My shredded chicken sandwich was dry and boring and the cornbread was dry and boring. The ribs were mediocre. The Mac & Cheese and cocktails were good, but a gal can’t live off of dairy and alcohol alone (I would if I could). Our server was lovely, hence the extra star.
Honestly, I feel like I was ripped off. Dinner and drinks for two was over $ 80. I don’t mind being spendy, but I expect quality if I’m going to drop $ 30 on an entrée.
I hope for the good of humanity that the fried chicken and waffles are still delicious, but unfortunately I’m not going to risk getting my heart broken. It’s been real and I’ll cherish the memories, but I won’t be back.

I’m not a big fan of smoked food, but decided to give this place a try since they were featured on Groupon. As a smoked skeptic, I was surprisingly satisfied with the flavors. Foodwise, I would only give this place 3 stars, but the service was phenomenal and that bumped it up an extra star. Shout out to the waiter who gave us extra habanero sauce to go, you’re an angel!
Ordered a pound of St. Louis ribs, 12 buffalo wings, a brisket sandwich and a side of classic mac and cheese. All that was shared with my food partner, and we had tons of leftover to take home. The wings were moist inside, but I could taste the bitterness from the overly smoked exterior. The brisket sandwich was a little bland, but tasted great with the vinaigrette on the table. The ribs were amazing! It was so well cooked that the meat slid off the bones. I usually don’t like cheese, but this mac and cheese was quite tasty.
The amount of food we received was probably enough to easily serve 3 people. The biggest shocker of the night was how charcoaled all the meat was, as you can see from the picture. Smoked food is not my specialty so I’m not quite sure if that’s normal. I was a little turned off though because it looked straight up burnt!
In conclusion, I had a great dinning experience here. The service was top notch and the food decent, although kind of overly smoked. I highly recommend the St. Louis ribs and mac and cheese!

This place is great. Food is excellent and the service is personable.
They feature meats, as you might expect, but there is a lot more to the menu. They have some interesting sides, like Rice & Beans (with cilantro/​pesto on it), Chili, Mac-​n-​Cheese, and Carrot Salad with red cabbage — it tastes kind of like cole slaw and is crispy and good.
I had Meaty Mac-​n-​Cheese (mac/​cheese with some brisket and pork mixed in) and it did not disappoint. This is proper, baked mac & cheese, and the mix of meats was just right. The vegan version has blue cheese chunks and roasted tomatoes. I will try that next time.
They have a pulled chicken sandwich and a chopped pork-​shoulder sandwich, the latter comprised of really large cubes of pork. (My colleague had to cut it up more before trying to eat it.)
The setting is minimalist, with community-​style tables and two-​person benches. They were playing this great, weird music that sounded like a Doctor Who soundtrack from 1982. Loved it.
One thing they need to improve is the cold air that rushes in the front door each time a patron enters or leaves. This is a fairly small space, so everyone sits pretty close to the door. They have hung some heavy curtains, but they don’t help much. I hope they are planning to build some hard walls there.
This is almost a 5-​star spot, but service was pretty slow (well, the food was slow to arrive — the server was great) and one item was incorrectly prepared and had to go back. Overall, though, the food is so good, you have to try it! Let me know what you think!

Went here for brunch the day after Halloween.
Our waitress tried really hard to keep things up, but another staff member was a no show and it was very obvious. Even more than not having another server, the kitchen was really backed up and the food took an insanely long amount of time.
I will say that the chicken and waffles were some of the best I have ever had, though if you are looking for a traditional waffle then you are not going to get what you expected. This waffle was light and crisp and had almost a sourdough aftertaste that paired really well with the chicken and the syrup. Personally I thought the gravy was superfluous and a bit unappealing in that it was quite congealed in the cup and not warm.

Upscale urban bbq, small portions and high prices, but oh so exceedingly good.
The ribs — served by the quarter pound, which is like two small ribs — are coated with seasoning, so they don’t need any sauce (which is only on the table, not in the cooking), and are in fact better heated up the next day than they are at first. Meaty, not fatty, yet very tender.
The fried chicken is not so good reheated, but absolutely splendid straight from the kitchen. Again tender meat inside, and the light, well-​spiced coating works ideally with it. The pieces are small, so don’t be afraid to order a half-​chicken and eat all of it. Marvelously good.
Had the greens as a side. Pretty good, and like the ribs better reheated the next day.
Stark wooden butcher-​block tables, disconcertingly undecorated walls. Chicken is cooked to order, I guess, so it takes a while to come out.

First off, any restaurant playing Danzig on the stereo is ok in my book.
The BBQ is definitely the star here. I typically get the ribs, pork shoulder and brisket. They all have a great bark and smoke flavor. The pork shoulder falls apart easily with just your fork and the ribs pull easily from the bone. My only knock on the meat is it can be a little dry.
The sides are also very good southern stsples. Mac and cheese. Greens. Even a southern take on poutine. I can be a poutine snob but their version is very good.
I’ve never had to wait here and the staff is always very friendly. Overall it’s not the best BBQ in town, but I also never decline an invitation to go.

Updating my review.
Good news:
Consistently good service by the wait staff (fast, cheery, personable) and great rock-​n-​roll music upstairs.
Bad news:
Inconsistent food quality from great to not-​so-​good makes me not want to return. The ribs were dried out as if they’d been sitting around. And, what is with the yellow runny liquid on my ribs? I’m gonna assume it was mustard but, honestly, I don’t think it was appetizing to look at and I’ve never had yellow «stuff» on ribs before. The quality of the meat, even with sauce added was just below my standards even when I’m doin’ the cookin’. And, even the slaw, which I usually like, was sub-​par this visit.
No draft beers?
And the unisex one-​stall restroom upstairs? Oh, don’t even… The cleanliness (or, rather, lack thereof) reminds me of a college bar — no mirror, urine on the seat, and an air freshener that’s been plugged in way past its time (as in, it’s older than my toothbrush). If the restroom is like this, then, what about the kitchen? Mind you, it’s 6:00pm on a Friday, not like it’s near closing time and there’s been a rush and maddening crowd lined up…

After the recent Unilocal’s Clucking Good Time event at Union Pig & Chicken, my husband and I snagged dinner at this restaurant. I couldn’t leave after having just had a couple cocktails and small bites.
I could tell the restaurant was a little overwhelmed by the extra patrons due to the Unilocal event, and we were kindly asked to wait a couple extra minutes while our waiter cleaned off a table. Since we were already a little full, we decided to just split a few dishes — 1 lb Pork, Meaty Mac, and Cornbread. I enjoyed everything! We generally like very different BBQ sauces, so I was excited that we both enjoyed the sauce on the table. Though it was a little sweet which I like, it also had a little kick of spice and vinegar that my husband enjoys. The assistant manager also placed a special habanero sauce on our table, which was absurdly spicy. I literally placed one drop on my finger to try the sauce, and it burned my mouth. Yikes!
Our two sides — Meaty Mac and Cornbread — were also very enjoyable. I was a little terrified by the bleu cheese and wasabi in the mac and cheese, but these ingredients proved to be only minor components rather than major flavors of a delicious dish. The warm cornbread was a traditional, sweeter kind covered in butter. So yummy…
This is a really low-​key place to grab dinner, and I definitely hope to return very soon.

ALL THE YEARS WASTED!!!
I have had Union Pig & Chicken bookmarked on Unilocal for years but, never went prior to a Unilocal event earlier this week so I couldn’t wait to go back with my girls to try more of their food.
Once inside we were given the choice of either floor so we went for the second floor which I preferred. We started off with the house sweet tea and a order of the smoked wings covered in BBQ sauce as they were half off since it was still happy hour when we got there. The wings were nice and hot and big and full of smoky flavor.
For our main meal we went with the whole fried chicken, a ¼ lb of brisket, baked beans, greens and mac & cheese.
Now let me just tell you about that fried chicken! OMG! It was so, so good! So tender and juicy. Even the skin was perfectly cooked and seasoned! It was defiantly some of the best fried chicken I have ever had in my life! Only Gladys and Ron’s Chicken & Waffles, Busy Bee Café and Mary Mac’s Tea Room all in Atlanta have better fried chicken.
Now that brisket! Holy $#@%! was it good! Imagine beef flavored soft butter. It was so tender you didn’t even need to chew it as it quite literally melting in my mouth. The brisket is totally worth the trip by itself!
The baked beans were just ok as they had too much rosemary in them for our liking. The mac & cheese though was just superb! Very, very cheesy and gooey and just so good! The greens with little bits of bacon were very good as well. They are vinegary which might not appeal to everyone though.
Our waitress Abigail took really good care of us and made sure we never ran out of sweet tea and that we had plenty of napkins as the food will get your hand quite messy. She even packed us some of all three of their sauces for us to go with the food that we took home.
F.Y.I. Check out the bathroom upstairs. It’s covered in really cool graffiti.
If you haven’t been here yet, GET HERE NOW!!!

An update is in order, since I ordered take out from UP&C yesterday after a Unilocal event. I ordered the following items: Pork shoulder sandwich ($ 12) and mac and cheese ($ 4), which I took home and consumed shortly after the event. In addition to these items, my take out bag included condiment sized containers of both of their BBQ sauces (tomato and vinegar based). My order took only about 10 min. to prepare. By the time I arrived home, about 30 – 45 min. after receiving it, the items weren’t as warm as I’d like, but a quick stint in the toaster oven/​microwave solved this problem in short order.
Consistent with my last visit over a year ago, the flavors were bold and delicious, delivering mouthwatering bliss. The pork, which comes in chunk form rather than the usual pulled variety, was tender and savory, and both the whole grain mustard that coated the meat and the BBQ sauces, which I added, upped the ante to a whole new level. The sandwich stayed together well despite the application of all of these sauces, which was no doubt due to the substantial, chewy bread enveloping it. My one criticism was that I felt that more pork should have been included for the price, given that the going rate for a sandwich in PGH is $ 7-​$ 8.
As for the mac and cheese, it was just as good as I recalled. The cheese was incredibly creamy, with the perfect amount of stretchiness (due to the use of mozzarella, I’m guessing) adding some textural interest. The flavor, like that of the sandwich, was mouthwatering, and the cheese: noodle ratio was perfect. Because I was at home, I added some bread crumbs, which further enhanced its flavor and texture, taking it to the next level. Without a doubt, this is still one of the top mac and cheeses in PGH (revised score: 8.5÷10).
Although the flavors of these items were excellent, I’m sticking with my former rating of 4 stars due to the cost (total check, w/​tax and tip: $ 18.10), which I feel is quite pricey for BBQ. Even so, I stand by my former assessment that UP&C offers great fusion BBQ, despite the departure of their former owner (Kevin Sousa), a local celebrity chef. Just go in with an open mind knowing that (1) it’s not perfectly authentic BBQ; (2) it’s more expensive than BBQ usually is, and you’ll be in for a great experience!