Hog’s Breath Saloon

I was in the Fort Walton Beach area for work a couple months ago and was told by a friend that I «had» to take the trip over to Destin and go to the Hog’s Breath Saloon. Cool place and I am glad that I came over here even if I did feel a bit over dressed. I came right from my meeting so I had on dress clothes. They didn’t treat me any different though so that was good. I had the black pepper burger and fries. The burger was great with lots of pepper, some places call a burger a black pepper burger but they don’t put much black pepper on them. Not the case with this place, and the fries were hot and very tasty. I have to come back to the area in a couple months so I will make sure to come back over. Hopefully more casual dressed.

With a group of seven I expected to wait a bit for service. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case. I was the last to arrive and when I was seated a menu was provided and my drink order was taken. Everyone else had ordered by this point but my food still made it out with everyone else’s. I got the brisket, which comes with beans, slaw, and some Texas toast. The brisket was ok, the beans were good, and the slaw was slaw. Can you really mess up Cole slaw? BBQ sauce options were good and definitely made the food better. If I lived here I’d go back, but being that I’m a visitor the variety of food establishments will keep me from returning. Overall I was happy with this restaurant.

We had to stop at Hog’s Breath Saloon. We hadn’t heard anything about the food but we loved the name. I’m sure they get a good part of their first-​timers stopping here just because of the name. The atmosphere is great. There’s nice seating outside and also inside. However, sitting outside can be a little noisy due to the traffic.
Service was just fine. Waitress showed up quick, took our orders and food delivered perfectly.
We started by ordering fried green tomatoes as an appetizer. They were amazing, absolutely delicious. If our meal had stopped there, we would have given this place a 5-​star but it didn’t.
We decided just to split the BBQ brisket dinner and I’m glad we just split it. The brisket was served with toast, baked beans and coleslaw. Neither of us liked the baked beans. It’s hard to describe the taste but we didn’t like them at all and that’s very rare for us. The cole slaw could have been good but it was dry. It needed dressing and there wasn’t much of that so we didn’t eat the coleslaw either.
The brisket was even worse. It definitely wasn’t smoked like most brisket is for hours and hours to get the perfect smoked flavor. It tasted like it had been steamed or boiled or cooked in the oven. There was no smoked flavor or really any flavor at all. We even tried smothering part of it in barbecue sauce but didn’t even care much for their barbecue sauce either. We make a point at stopping at many, many barbecue places for brisket but between the two of us, we couldn’t even finish this one order here.

Great spot to chill. Bryon the singer i think was his name was ok. Great acoustic one man set. Interactive with guests. Got patron red stripe and carona. The tee shirt shop closed at 9 though and like myself people kept coming in to buy stuff but turned away. Wish this was a beachfront bar!!!

After 10pm The hostess told us immediately that their kitchen was closed, but that we could sit at the bar and order food. We appreciated her frankness.
Service: From the bartender was fast and friendly.
Food:
Southwestern chicken sandwich: a grilled, marinated boneless chicken breast, topped with Monterey Jack cheese and bacon, spicy Chipotle mayo, sliced avocado (I got extra), lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed bun (see picture).
My sandwich was tasty and the bartender was attentive. Although our experience was good, we will try other places in Destin upon our return visit. However, I recommend this place for a good, solid, tasty meal.

We went for an early dinner so we could avoid the crowds. We were able to be seated right away. We ordered some appetizers, the mozzarella sticks and the spinach artichoke dip. Both were pretty good. The mozzarella sticks were huge. I ordered the boss hog burger which sounded appetizing on the menu. It was tiny and over cooked. It said it had Canadian bacon and grilled onions on it and I couldn’t even see them. Apparently they were under the cheese. Fries were ok. My husband got a variety of BBQ and he said everything was dry and blah except the chicken. The server wasn’t very friendly either. We won’t be going back.

The good reviews here are all from staff members… and the bad ones are the true review of this dump!

This place has amazing ribs and great sauce in house. I loved they way they did their fried pickles because they were cut like French fries and did not have a lot of salt.

Took a large party there. Manager Chris Wallace was extremely rude and not workable at all. He would not even consider setting us up a table for 17 even though the restaurant was dead on a Wednesday night. We figured he missed out on at least a thousand dollars between our food and bar bill. We were very disappointed but Margaritaville was happy to seat us and food was great there. So was the atmosphere right on the water. I would not recommend the Destin location to anyone.

I may just be spoiled to great Texas BBQ, but the food was not good. Maybe the locals like it, but if you’re from TX or St. Louis, you may not. The brisket tasted like it was microwaved, and the slow smoked ribs were tough. Ribs shouldn’t need a knife to separate the bones, they should fall off the bone. The brisket didn’t have the red coloring. Instead, it was gray. We were very disappointed in this place.

Fried pickles were delish. Our meals were also yummy. The service was a little slow but we noticed they had one server taking care of all the tables.

I thought this place was really good… there sauce is a mustard based sauce tho some people might not like it… but they do have one that’s not… had live music and it wasn’t to loud to were u couldn’t hear other people talk.
The inside is pretty big and they seat outside too that’s were we ate… the food was really good I got the BBQ pulled pork and my wife got the hogzilla platter… it was a lot of food so they was some for later

Stayed in Destin hoping to have a nice seafood meal while on the road. Got in town about an hour too late, so the places with good reviews just closed and we were directed here as a place that is open late. Didn’t seem very clean inside, and maybe the bug (you know what kind) was evidence. Saw it climbing the wall and the bartender swung at it and said it just flew in, like it was no big deal. It may be just me, but if I see that before I get my food that doesn’t even look appetizing to begin with, it kind of kills the entire dining experience. We both kind of ate whatever we got, and didn’t look in the back of the kitchen or the floor, just in case. There were kids in the back cooking and lots of commotion back there, so pretty much wanted to just eat a few bites and get out of dodge.

Ai was looking for a place to do karaōke, Unilocal said this place does karaōke. I called and asked to make sure they did. They never do karaōke. I haven’t eaten here before but I would like to put this out there for reference for people looking to do karaōke.

Yallll sho nuff shut my mouth honey child. (In my best southern fried accent) LOL!
With a name like Hog’s Breath, I left home knowing that I was going to be writing a bad review of this place. But I guess they showed me! Cause like the old saying goes: «People can show you better than they can tell you». I have to say I was really shocked at how nice this place was. Above average service and actually really good food.
Of course, you know me, I started out with the Oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer. And I have to say I was NOT disappointed. And that is a big statement to make with all of the restaurants in this area that fall waaaaay short on that dish. It really wasn’t bad and I would have to give it about 4 stars.
And of course, what kind of vegetarian /​closeted meat eater would I be unless I ordered the Hog Leg Dinner. This thing was so sinful and so yummy. I’m going straight to hell for eating it but with a smile on face. It came with some delicious sides: some tasty beans, off the charts texas toast and coleslaw. This was 5 stars, hands down easy.
My husband had the BBQ Chicken and said that it was «ok, nothing special» and gave it 3 stars.
We sat outside on the patio and they had some live music playing.
I am a professional eater, and although I probably prefer the more high end, highfalutin places, I have to give this place it’s due. It’s definitely worth putting on your «to-​do» eat list.

Sorry, not good barbeque. The bbq sauces they have were not good at all. Oysters were good and we’re quite big. Service was not very good! Not a good experience. Might want to try bbq somewhere else.

They have a great outside bar. Went on a Monday night & they had great late night happy hour specials ($ 3 crown and down). Appetizers were also discounted.

If there’s one lesson I truly took away from visiting Hog’s Breath, it’s don’t order the pork legs. Initially, I was intrigued. Being Asian, my mom cooked pork hocks and they were always delicious. The server described the pork legs as really good. Since I ate a big meal earlier and was trying to not over-​indulge, I got the two piece appetizer. Well each pork «leg» was smaller than a pork rib and not that tasty. Nothing else came on the plate. Just two tiny pieces of what looked like ribs, for $ 10. Am glad I didn’t pay $ 15 for three pieces of the damn things.
My friend got the wings which were nothing spectacular.

While vacationing in Destin near the end of our trip we thought we would try a different place that we have never tried before on any of our other visits there. We had a 10% off coupon for Hog’s Breath, so after much consideration, we went ahead and went there. We had driven past it many times over the years.
We arrived for a late lunch and the place was pretty empty at that time. The front staff were not very friendly. We chose to eat outside on the patio. Our waitress was pretty nice and offered us suggestions about the best choices to order. I already knew I wanted the fried mushrooms, so I got that. They were pretty good. Probably the best thing out of the whole event.
Our entrees came out shortly after. My boyfriend and I decided to split the seafood platter and the Hogzilla bbq platter. Neither entrée was really that exceptional. The seafood platter was pretty subpar compared to other seafood platters I’ve had elsewhere. The bbq platter was really disappointing. For a place that is supposed to be known for bbq, it sure wasn’t good. We had paid $ 4.00 extra for the brisket to be added as the waitress suggested. It was terribly dry and tasteless. They offer 3 different bbq sauces on the table to choose from. I didn’t much care for any of them. I did however love the plum bbq sauce that goes on another dish. It is not on the table, you have to ask for it. I had seen it on the menu and asked the waitress for a side of it. I’d say that plum bbq sauce and the fried mushrooms were the best options there. My boyfriend was highly disappointed and doesn’t want to return again. I would probably go back for the mushrooms.
As we were finishing up our time there, a guitarist/​singer had set up his equipment on the patio and began his set. We thought his music was fine and all… but he chose all depressing songs. Kind off odd.

There isn’t anything BAD about Hog’s Breath but I can’t say that there’s anything particularly special about it either. I think if you’re looking for a quick lunch or you want some bar night life, this is probably a great spot.
Service was a little spotty — she was pretty new and you could tell, not ready for the Destin tourist season. The food was fine. I was told the «best fish sandwich» in Destin, but I believe that was taking it a bit too far.