The Steele Pig

Great food every time we go there. Wonderful staff. The only down side is that it is pricey for a small town.

Great little downtown restaurant with some great southern charm style dishes. The shrimp and grits are worth a visit alone. Loved the ribs! Staff is friendly and atmosphere relaxing. Would recommend for a great dinner night out.

I had heard so many great things about this place that I think I set the bar to high before I even got in the door. The food was good– exceptional for the area in fact. But I never went back. Service was great.

If you enjoy barbeque, and at tired of the same-​old, same-​old, head for the Steele Pig. You can find some traditional fare. You can find items I’ve not seen anywhere else. Plus, some really great desserts! Nice folks, nice place, reasonable prices. Try it, you’ll like it.

This place was fantastic! I had the pulled pork and my wife had the pork chop. They offered 3 different homemade barbecue sauces. My kids, 2 and 4, were pretty loud when we first got there. The staff really did a great job keeping them occupied by first offering coloring sheets and crayons and then offering tater tots on the house. Really great place to eat! Very glad we found this gem!

The smoked pork chop is to die for! The burgers are massive, the bbq is tender and juicy and the sides are creative twists on southern favorites. Upscale comfort food. It is pricy for a bbq place, but worth it in my opinion. The service is good and the staff is friendly. We take friends there when they come to visit and all of them have loved it!

I came here on a trip to pinehurst from SoCal and of course had to try the southern-​style BBQ. The sweet tea was amazing! I also loved the pulled pork, which came in large portions, with their home made BBQ sauce adding good flavor. The beans were very flavorful, sort of tasting like vinegar and spicy. The corn pudding was amazing as well. The server wasn’t quite so good. She was trying hard but was overwhelmed by us. She took a long time to refill drinks, fetch lemon wedges for our teas, and carry out any other requests we had. Although I must note that the other servers were much better, and were helping us while the other waitress was doing other things. The last thing that I have to say is that the food took too long to come out. Overall, it wasn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t come back the next time i visit.

I’m gonna call this place the best hidden gem of southern reinvented bbq, I’ve ever experienced. Being a self proclaimed «foodie» I am all about this place! My husband and I recently moved to NC and wanted to get a quick bite eat after a movie in the small town of Sanford. Well in true form we Unilocaled the area and I am so glad I did!!! This place is a great take on southern bbq. My husband had the bahn mi sandwich, which was to die for! I ordered the fried green tomato BLT. YUM!!! The fried green tomatoe was lightly battered and the bacon was smoky with a hint of pepper. Ugh! The sides were so delicious! It’s a must try in our opinions. Thank you Sanford for a great take on BBQ. (Yes I normally photograph but it was gone within 10 mins of being in front of me)

Thank you so much Sarah, we are happy that your experience was 5 star! Hope to see you soon.

I was a little concerned by some reviews but when I go to a restaurant I give my time and attention to the company I’m out with, the food and the atmosphere. This place was absolutely amazing. You don’t get this quality of food many places around here or 50 miles in any direction. We had fried grits, duck breast with snap peas over buttermilk mashers and banana pudding cheesecake to finish it off. Everything was so good my daughter and I looked at each other with the OMG look after tasting each new dish. Service was great, restaurant has an intimate feel with nice jazz playing in the background.

The first two times we went here, the food was amazing. However, our last visit was just a catastophe. The steak was grissly and over cooked and the food was not fresh. After watching my husband attempt to eat his, I just threw in the towel and ordered dessert. Unfortunately, they sent out the wrong dessert and hit the three strike mark.

Service was outstanding and quite prompt, maybe even a little too fast! I just wanted to sit and relax and have a nice dinner, and before I even finished my first beer my food was in front of me.
Regarding the food, it was pretty tasty to say the least. I had a bone in ribeye, grits, and baked beans.
But the reason I gave it three stars, was the overall value, My ribeye was quite thin, and for a tab of over $ 50, I just did not feel that it was worth it.
Would I return if I was in the area? Most likely but I would not go out of my way…

Sitting here for 30 minutes and no food. Starting to wonder if anyone is cooking. Food review coming… maybe…
Finally received food. Shrimp and grits were excellent. Chicken and waffels, burger and pulled pork not so much. Chicken tasted frozen, pork was tough and burger over cooked. Cant say its worth the wait and money. I will give it one more chance…

We were just going through town & decided to do something special! This was it! Very, very good! Chicken Fried Chicken!!! Corn pudding, fresh vegetables, onion & squash casserole! For just happening in somewhere this was very special!!!

My parents had just moved to town so we decided to go to The Steele Pig based on the Unilocal reviews and it did not disappoint. Everything that we ordered was delicious and full of flavor. All the food came out hot, the beer & bourbon list is extensive and they have craft cocktails to boot. I will definitely be back.

Where to begin!!! The service from Iesha was excellent! The owner and everyone made us feel welcome!
As for the food — every single bite was delicious! We had the shrimp and grits appetizer — asian chicken breasts two ways — a very large pork chop which was more like a pork steak — and every side dish melted in your mouth!!! We are currently waiting forever dessert — can’t wait!!!

Back a year later. Service and food still very good. She had to have the shrimp and grits in Tasso sauce again. He went for the evening special … smoked and grilled quail. The quail was halved, bone in smoked and then grilled. The meat was served in a clementine marmalade … flavorful and very tender. His side consisted of hot, grilled medley of zucchini, cabbage, green pepper, squash and onion … grill marks on the outside, but still crisp.
Dinner was followed by a great key lime pie (one slice was enough for two) and decaf.

#TheSteelePigBurger Chef Chadd creates a different burger every night from what’s available locally and they make everything in house including balsamic vinaigrette ketchup. Tonight it was a ground chuck on a house made pretzel roll with creole mustard, horseradish cheddar, pepper bacon and crispy onions. I chose the sweet potato with salted ginger molasses butter and the herb and garlic fries. Worth every bit of 13 bucks. #TheSteelePig #Sanford #NC #GoodSouthernFood

On most weekends they now serve specialty burgers that are creative and AMAZING!!! Two of my favorites have been the Banh Mi burger with angry veggies and the black and blue burger with bacon and blue cheese. Both were outstanding!!! Highly recommend! Make a reservation for Fri and Sat night!!!

The only reason I give it a one-​star is because I can’t give it a zero. Very disappointed after reading great reviews, making reservations and driving 40 minutes to dine here for dinner.
The décor is fine, no real theme, but decent. The table tops were linoleum marble looking with green framing… not so stylish. I agree with an earlier review that table cloths would help significantly… at least make you feel better about paying the prices here.
We started with the biscuits for an appetizer. When they were brought out they asked if we wanted butter and honey and brought it out sometime later. The butter was cold slices from a block of butter out of the refrigerator and it was not possible to spread it on the biscuits at all. I wasn’t impressed with the flavor of the biscuits. I had to drench them in honey when I usually ear biscuits with just a little butter and nothing else.
I ordered the beef short rib (s) and was thoroughly disappointed. There was a thick layer of scorched BBQ sauce and spices on the rib that tasted like salty, sour preservatives and felt like sand in my teeth. Even after scraping all of it off I couldn’t eat it. Nor could my husband and he is not usually not picky about his food. He actually told me to return it to the kitchen, which he never does. I decided not to make a scene and I wasn’t sure what they could do instead and I didn’t want everyone to wait for another entrée to come out for me.
My husband ordered the NY strip which came out with a tiny bit of pink in the middle when he ordered medium rare. It was dry and had no flavor. We walked away with a $ 51.00 check and our plates still pretty full. They were out of their garlic fries so we tried their parmesan grits, Cesar salad, calico beans and cole slaw. I was not impressed with any of them. My husband was ok with the beans.
Another friend with us got the shrimp and grits and she seemed to enjoy her meal. Her husband got the pulled pork sandwich, which was dry, according to him, and he was not very satisfied with the grits.
We had three different people waiting on us and I was never asked if I wanted another drink, which I had completely consumed before our food arrived.
Maybe this place in general is an acquired taste that just doesn’t work for me. I won’t be trying it again.