Piggy Blue's Bar-B-Que

We drove to Austin and my dad and his wife specifically wanted to take me to this BBQ place in town. They said they like going here and visit it several times a year, and he always goes for the ribs. Well - dang that sounds pretty good to me. We get seated and the menu has a lot to offer. The people next to us let us know that the smoked turkey is superb here. Now I am feeling fickle, should I get the 2 meat Platter or the half rack of ribs? The difference is you only get 2 ribs with the Smoked Turkey for the 2 Meat Plate, while the half rack you get 6 ribs. I asked if they can just give me a side of the smoked turkey, the waitress says you can order a half pound....! No thanks, don't need that much, so went for the half rack of ribs with a side of those crispy potatoes and the cole slaw. Also got a side of the cornbread which she said was phenomenal. They have several sauces to choose from. My dad's favorite is the Jackass which has a slight smokiness to it, some sweet. I liked that too, but also liked the Spicy and the Carolina mustard style too. So I mixed all 3 together like one happy Minnesota Melting Pot of a family. Our food comes out and it's looking good. The ribs were pretty good but luke warm. No wow factor here but for the northern Midwest - pretty good. The cornbread and those fried potato rings were the best things I had here. Very good and I do recommend. A different girl came out to bring our food, so I asked her for a side of turkey, and she said she could sell me an ounce of it, so I obliged and it came out in a small solo cup. I tried it - nothing special and didn't really have that deep smoke flavor. I am glad I did not get the half pound or the 2 meat platter. I could only eat 2 ribs along with the sides and I had plenty to take home. I'd say this was a 2.5 star experience but I round up to 3-stars (OK) because there were a few things I felt that held back from a better review, and yet they are fixable. Our waitress was okay, she wasn't as friendly or nice with that good 'ol small town Hormel friendly hospitality. She only offered us a half pound of the smoked turkey as an option while the other waitress offered an ounce. Not sure if she didn't know that was an option or if she was pushing to upsell for a bigger bill (that's my hunch because she seemed to be an experienced staff). She kinda disappeared after giving us our food, and it wasn't that busy. We had to ask the other waitress for help. She came back much later to give us the bill and took forever to get us our to-go boxes. I will make an effort to avoid her services should we ever decide to come back. I didn't care for the controlled portions, the coleslaw comes out in small solo condiment cups which also doesn't look aesthetically pleasing. And for what they charge - it's too much. I think places like this which want to give you a homestyle diner feel should used a scoop or ladle the stuff on your plate, and not control the portions so much - - which was also apparent in the small ounce of smoked turkey meat I got that came in half of a solo condiment cup. I think they charged us $4 for that and that is true highway robbery. Wasn't enough to have a sandwich - even if you doubled it (which would have been $8) that would not have been enough for a sandwich. It just felt like uptight penny-pinching the customer here who was visiting from out of town eager to try your meats. I am used to better pricing or even a free sample, which is proven to drive up sales at least 10%. I have spent more $ w/ sampling. Had she just said I can get you a sample of the meat to try - then it would have been a much better experience. Most all BBQ places I have been to do that. I find places who do things like this usually limit the amount of success they hope to achieve - as they think too short term about maximizing profit now as opposed to thinking of the bigger picture and long term stability. How that translates is that if I lived here or close by I would come back here more frequently if the service was consistently great and the business was more customer service oriented in offering flexible options along with good portion sizing - as opposed to portions being so uptight / controlled with premium pricing. Because giving the customer a little more and being generous about it (which is literally just pennies on the dollar compared to the big picture) will go a long way and pay them back dividends in the long run with increased repeat frequency of business. My parents live close by and agreed - they don't come back here as often as they could or would for those same reasons. So my next trip back to MN in a few weeks I don't feel that excited or motivated to hurry back and try them again. The cornbread and the fried potatoes aren't enough - - and to be fair here they were pretty good. That's what helped put this at a 3-star instead of a 2-star experience.

Traveling to Austin for a January getaway, had to try Piggy's after reading the reviews. Very glad we did as we had a tasty big meal and capable service. They were busy on a Friday evening but we were seated and served up beers and spam fries appetizer promptly. I like Spam so I enjoyed the unique "fries" with ranch. For an entree I had the shredded pork (delicious), coleslaw and incredibly delicious cornbread. Honey butter too! Piggy's homemade sauces were great and fun to try. I liked the gold, bourbon and jackass best. My husband had ribs, beans and cornbread and finished every bite.The space was comfortable and fun to read the sassy signs (which were for sale). Also liked the nostalgia signs and items. Place was clean and family friendly. We were too full to try gelato. I would definitely recommend Piggy's for barbecue. Get the cornbread-you won't regret it!

Holy cow! Holy pig! Piggy Blue's really knocked our socks off! It was somewhat busy, but they were attentive and super pleasant! Definitely a small town BBQ "joint", and they're doing it right! We knew it was going to be good when we walked in and saw the first sign of a good bbq joint- a roll of paper towels on every table.Calli had brisket and pork, with pit fries - the meat was smoky and tender, and über tasty! Pit fries are potato slices, cooked perfectly with crispy, salty outsides and tender insides - amazingly well done!My sandwich was called "The Queen Of Memphis", and was absolutely the best sandwich I've had this year! Tender pork, coleslaw, tomato, onion, a seared beef patty and pepper jack cheese - damn tasty all the way to the last messy, delicious bite! We finished with a slice of Key Lime Pie - which Calli immediately pronounced to be the best she'd ever had right after her mother's homemade pies - that's high praise! "Best restaurant key lime pie ever!" was the final verdict.Katie was our server, and she was fantastic! They had eight sauces to choose from, and they were so good that we ordered an extra basket of pit fries just to sample all of them several times.We enthusiastically recommend this place to anyone that has tastebuds!

We love to visit crazy places around the US and the SPAM museum has been on our list of places to see for some time now. But one thing they don't have there is lunch - unless you count getting some a can of SPAM from the gift shop and going to town on a bench outside. But they do have a recommendation and that was to Piggy Blues, right down the street. Piggy Blues is a barbecue place and I love barbecue but I was there for something much different - SPAM. Because unlike the people in the Monty Python skit, I like SPAM, SPAM, SPAM and SPAM. So there. We went in and sat down and grabbed a menu and...what the French, toast...there was no SPAM. When our server came over to start our drink orders I told her we were there for SPAM but didn't see any but she quickly hustled-up a menu of only SPAM-centered items. SPAM fries, SPAM burger, 3 piggies and a SPAM Po'Boy. Oh yeah. My poor wifey is one one of those low-carb Diest so she got a SPAM burger without a bun. It was a piece of fried SPAM with cheese on top. But I went whole hog (hehe) and got the SPAM Po'Boy and it was really, really good. If you like SPAM, of course. Thick cuts of fried SPAM and all the other things you'd expect on a Po'Boy sandwich. This was also served on a pretty delightful French too with that great crust that has a crunch but a soft, wonderful interior. Yum-o! There was also a surprise in the package, fries. But not on the side, these were in the sandwich. That just added fuel to the fire, folks. Goooood stuff. I can't speak to the barbecue at this barbecue restaurant but the fact that they had home-made sauces is a good sign. But if you're in town for SPAM and you want a mouthful to go with your eyeful, you could definitely enjoy yourself here. Oh, and I loved all the silly decorations all over including all the Kellogg's cereal memorabilia.

This is the only place where you jam out as well as have great good food, it's a place you'll have to come back to again and a again

We were hoping to get a table at this restaurant for a group of 5. However, the few large tables were taken and the rest were 4-seaters. We tell the waitress that we could pull up a chair at the end of the table. The lady says we can't put a chair in the aisle and that we would have to wait an hour.Okay, first off, this is a small restaurant in a small town. No one is going to have trouble moving around with one chair in the aisle. Second, the table we wanted to sit at was NOT in the aisle in any way.Either the server and the manager have no idea what they're doing or they didn't want us there. Will not come back.

Loved the bbq here. If you're feeling it, they have a Spam menu perfect for a post-museum meal!

We'd done our hour in the Spam Museum, and needed something fairly quick-ish to fuel us for the 5-hour drive home. Based on location, the fact I had fulfilled my spam quota for the day, and because we hadn't yet had barbecue on the trip, I decided to give this place a try.I landed on the Queen of Memphis burger, because coleslaw AND barbecue pork inside a bun? Sign me up. I also got a side of pit beans, because honestly, it's the best side, and good luck convincing me otherwise.When the order came about 20 minutes later, I had seemed to miss the part where the QoM burger was a *burger*, because I was not expecting a beef patty at the bottom. So now I'm staring down a ton of food, as opposed to merely "a lot". (That's on me, though; got to read that menu carefully!)Everything about this burger works, even the oddly pale-colored bun! Coleslaw and pork is a classic combination, and the meat is moist and flavorful. Just in case, the sauce ensures it stays moist, but don't be too concerned. And the ground chuck and pepper jack rounded out a delicious (and unique) cheeseburger.The beans hit the spot, right at the intersection of sweet, savory, and creamy. Just how I like them.Make sure to try the sauces on the side, too; my favorite is the bourbon. A gem of a BBQ place in southern Minnesota.

I love to visit them but when ordering through door dash the food is not good. Overdone burned and of poor quality.

Not only was the food delish, the service was also wonderful. Our waitress was friendly and personable. The entire family had fabulous BBQ and a wonderful experience! If you're in Austin and hungry, definitely a must try!