The Fishin Pig, Farmville VA

Oh yeah, did a mini Jeep run today. Too bad the weather was nasty and rainy. However the food was well worth it.

You see, my sister sent me a link to an article about BBQ restaurants in VA. Several of them I’ve already been to but there are quite a few that I have not. So, we hit the road. Slightly over 2 hours away we made it to our destination…The Fishin Pig in Farmville, VA. If you look for this place on the internet you’ll find mixed reviews. Some I agree with and some I don’t.

Well, here’s mine.

I ordered the smoked sampler plate. It had pulled pork, pulled chicken, ribs, sliced brisket, and some sausage. In my opinion they all were very good. I’ll run them down separately.

The pulled pork was simple. Not a lot of spices, just some good smoke flavor. I ate some plain and I ate some with their homemade sauces. I’d get it again.

The pulled chicken was already in a sauce. It was moist and had a very good flavor. I know it’s against my rules to order chicken at a bbq joint but it came on the sampler plate. It was very good. If someone wants chicken it is a good choice. I would not order it by itself just because of my personal preference.

The ribs were smoked and served without sauce. And that’s exactly how I ate them. I could handle a rack of those babies. They were very good.

The sliced brisket was wonderfully cooked. The smoke ring was obvious and the meat tasted great. It had some fat in it but to me that just seemed to help keep it moist and tender. If you like brisket, go for it.

The sausage was also very good. It had some spice/heat to it. I loved it. I should have tried it with their homemade mustard sauce but didn’t think about it until now. I ate it plain and loved it.

So there’s my rundown on the various smoked meats at the Fishin Pig. Now the sides were pretty good also. We had coleslaw which had a slight sweet and vinegar taste. I’m not a huge fan of slaw unless it’s on a sandwich but this was good. My dinner also came with hush puppies (Oh my!). Hurt me. Need I say more about them?

Ok so my wife ordered the kettle chips with her meal and they were right up there too. I’ll probably order them next time.

My other side was baked beans. These weren’t wonderful but they were good. They really just tasted like doctored up pork and beans but they went well with my meal. However I probably would not order them again if I can choose something else.

Finally, we ordered desert. They are homemade also. My wife had the chocolate chess pie which she said was very good. I had a peach, blueberry dumpling type dish. Mine came warm and to die for. Next time I would get ice cream on it too. It would be worth a mid-day stop just for that and a glass of sweet tea. I know this is supposed to be about the bbq but I couldn’t help myself this time.

You can read the other reviews on-line but I suggest doing what we did. Just put all of them out of your mind and give this place a try. Do it with an open mind and I think you’ll be glad you did.

Let me know what you think.

The one thing I would consider if I were the owner…I’d like the dining area to be a little brighter. By this I mean lighter walls and such, not brighter lightbulbs. The little area that we ate in was really dark.

That’s my only negative. I will not let that stop me from returning. I love finding places along highway 460 since we travel that way often. We will return to the Fishin Pig.

The website: www.fishinpig.com