Pig In A Poke

I have eaten there many times. The atmosphere is wonderful, with seating on two levels. The lower level is a bit small, but it has a spacious upper level. The stairs (inside spiral and outside) are a bit steep and would be hard to navigate if you have issues with climbing stairs.
The ribs are the best. They fall off the bone and can be eaten with a fork. The cornbread is sweet, which is a favorite of most. The portions are plentiful, with corn on the cob and the cornbread standard with your meal, along with two other sides of your choosing. Desserts are provided by the local «Cheesecake Lady,» which are out of this world.

Traveling through and found this little gem. The restaurant is absolutely adorable, the service is great, and the food was good too!

I really like Pig In A Poke. Since moving to Louisville I wouldn’t count this as one of my favorite restaurants, because Louisville just has an amazing dining scene that’s hard to beat, but in Eastern Kentucky this is one of the best restaurants around! The atmosphere is really great. There’s a bar upstairs with lots of booths, tables, and bar seating, as well as televisions to watch games. They have a good beer selection with several beers and at least one cider on tap at any given time. There aren’t many places in Eastern Kentucky to sit and watch a game, or go have a drink with dinner, so Pig In A Poke is definitely an awesome choice if you’re in the area. The staff is also great. The servers are attentive and I’ve never had a problem with my order, or anything else while dining there. Plus, it’s really reasonably priced.
The food is also great. The barbeque is really good, I’ve always enjoyed it whether I got a sandwich with pulled chicken or pork, a barbeque platter served with meat and sides, or ribs. And they have lots of appetizer/​bar-​type foods that are great; including wings, loaded fries, potato skins (which are actually served as wedges, which I love!), mozzarella sticks, pulled pork nachos, etc.
If you find yourself in Eastern Kentucky I definitely recommend checking out Pig In A Poke. We go every time we’re there.

Great place to eat, everybody is freindly. Try the loaded onion rings. Who would have thought to put cheese bacon and ranch on onion rings? Awesome! And the BBQ melts in your mouth

Some of the best ribs I’ve had. The shredded BBQ isn’t off the charts, but I lived in NC for a while and it spoiled my for smoked and chopped hog. I still give it 5 stars because of you don’t order the ribs it’s your own fault! The potato salad is more of a smashed twice-​baked-​potato. It’s good, but it’s not what I had in mind for potato salad, FYI. So order it hot. Also, the cornbread is cake (not a criticism).

Perfect wait staff! Options for people who don’t like barbecue too. Desserts are pricey, but good.

We were in town on business on a Saturday. I’m of the mindset that BBQ is like pizza, it’s all pretty good, and some is awesome. So we stopped in at Pig and a Poke, because we saw good reviews here on Unilocal.It was good to average-​good. I had pulled pork, I’m my opinion, a place’s pulled pork should be the standard all else is measured by. The pork was quite good, some would say over done and over shredded. Maybe just a touch… It had good flavor. The portion of pork to bun ratio was not great. The bun was huge and made you think someone short changed you on the pork. Good fries. I saw another post mentioned not having their own sauces, this is not a big deal because they are using a nice selection of purchased sauces that are very good. Something for everyone.
The bad… My wife got a trio combo plate with pork, chicken and brisket. The brisket was inedible! It was way over cooked, by hours! It had turned into dry beaf crumbles with a burnt flavor. If this is the norm, never get brisket.
Service: when we walked in even though there were several staff around, we were not greeted. I had to ask where to sit, and was told anywhere. That’s OK but the front room was the only visible room. After being there for a while we realized there are other parts to the old house that has seating. It would have been nice to have known about the other options. Still not sure if they have a bar or outside seating. Our server was perfectly attentive.
While this review is a bit critical, it was still very good as my rating shows. There is some room for improvement. But we would definitely go back! I do love bbq.

Great food… especially loved the Buffalo chicken nachos… this dish was enough for two for sure. .the ribs were on the dry side but we’re used to getting saucy ribs. .would definitely go back should we find ourselves in the area again

Pulled pork platter, hot loaded potato salad, and chef salad real BBQ PORK. I had been to one south of Pikeville but this one gave a generous portion pork Love the different sauces.

Wow! Passing through Prestonsburg for the night — all day business trip… time to eat! So happy we found Pig In A Poke! What a great meal! I travel nationwide, and this will top my list! Pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw … kettle chips!!! Do not leave without a brownie! It will change your life! Great service! Great environment! Great Place!

I visit Eastern KY, my birthplace, every summer, and Pig in a Poke is a customary restaurant excursion. Everything is great — the BBQ, side items, bourbon ale, service, and décor. If you’re hungry and looking for good eats and a relaxing environment, this place is a MUST!

Tried the Fried Green Tomatoes and Hot Wings. Both were very good. The fried tomatoes were served with a basic ranch dressing. Some other option here would greatly improve the experience. The wings were grilled /​baked and covered with a lot of sauce. The buffalo sauce was spicy but not what I would consider hot but a good taste all the same. The wings were large, moist and tender almost a little mushy feeling in the mouth. I’m use to fried wings but these were good.
Service was great.
Would recommend.

Very solid Southern BBQ, north of the line where one usually finds it (that being KY-​VA on top, TN-​NC on the bottom). My only complaint was that the pork came out somewhat chewy and dry. On the other hand, the brisket was very tender and flavorful. They don’t make their own sauce here, so that’s a small minus in my book, but I’m picky. The potato salad is very good — similar but different to the one near Lebanon TN that I reviewed a few days ago — and the mac n cheese is a must no matter what you order. The house dessert today was Snickers cheesecake, made locally, and absolutely wonderful.
Other pluses: Later hours than most BBQ places (open til 10), upstairs lounge/​bar (although you wouldn’t know unless you ask), TVs are on, very friendly service.

A year later, I came back and found much improved food quality. Service was still great.

Best barbque in the area! Great atmosphere… everything on the menu is delicious! We eat here every chance we get.

Dropped in to take a break and get a meal. The wife, my daughter and myself sat inside awaiting a table and the wait wasn’t long, although the place was packed. Once seated, we placed our order. Our waiter was very efficient and knowledgeable about the menu. My wife got «A Little Bit of Everything» which had pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken and sides. My daughter had the pulled pork and myself, I had a bone in ribeye w/​some pulled pork and the sides. As appetizers we had cheese sticks and fried dill pickles. The cheese sticks were wonderful and those, long ways sliced fried dill pickles were amazing (just not enough of them to suit me). Our food arrived perfectly and was well appreciated by this hungry crew. The bone in ribeye that I ate was absolute Nirvana, cooked to medium perfection, flavorful (w/​o steak sauce) and tender. Our BBQ (the house speciality) was also cooked perfectly and had a great smoky flavor. The only complaint I had was that this good BBQ establishment uses «Cattleman’s» BBQ sauce instead of making a good house sauce (shame that). Other than that, we all thoroughly enjoyed our meal and left our great waiter a healthy tip.
Great food Pig In A Poke! Excellent service! Bottled BBQ sauce… not so much.

Had the loaded fries and a pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich was just ok. The loaded fries were the best part of the meal.

Pretty good. I’d say skip all of the other meats, they are dry and the sauce doesn’t save it. The only thing thats stellar are the pork ribs and chicken wings. They know how to do those pork ribs right. It falls off the ball just touching it. Very moist and lots of flavor. They dont fry their chicken wings here either. They grill them and then sauce them. Very good for the money. Sweet tea taste really good too. Definitely a come back to place.

Outstanding! What more can I say. BBQ is great, sauce wonderful, our service (Devan) amazing, attentive and social. If you are looking for some good grub — stop here.
Hint — although not on menu, ask for sweet potato fries.

Great food, but bad hours. There have been several occasions where I’ve wanted to eat here and it’s been closed. Odd hours, too, when you’d expect a restaurant of this calibur to be bustling. I’m not sure what the deal is (or was… maybe it’s fixed now? you’ll just have to call or drive by it to see).
That aside, I don’t have any other complaints. The BBQ is great. The upstairs bar portion looks fantastic. This place is a really nice place to eat/​meet up with friends and I’d recommend it to anyone that likes BBQ.
Ordering can be confusing– whether to seat yourself and expect to be served or whether you should order at the counter and then seat yourself– I’m not sure what’s expected (I imagine either works) but the best method is to go in, order, then be seated.