The Bearded Pig

This place is great. I went in a few Saturdays ago walked up and the owner immediately started talking to me and welcomed me. I asked his opinion on choice of a side and he gave me a huge sample. Then I ordered a full rack of beef ribs. They were gigantic, and delicious. Terrific smoky flavor and sauces and any request was politely answered immediately and everyone seemed very happy to help. The owner/​pitmaster even commented on my old school Redskins hat which is almost worth a star right there. I thought it was a great experience and will go back very often.

This is a new place so things are still settling in and it showed. But don’t get me wrong, it was good enough that I will be coming back there in the future.
We went for lunch on Sunday August 12^th, and it was very quiet. Only 2 tables were taken and we were taken care of right away. Service was friendly and efficient.
I got the brisket plate with creamy slaw and mac & cheese. My wife got the 3 meet combo plate with collards and vinegar slaw.
The pulled pork and ribs were delicious. I loved the pulled pork because it was not too greasy and very tasty. The brisket was on the dry side. Luckily the sauces were great (the «original» and «spicy») and helped with the lack of moisture.
The sides were mostly disappointing. The collards were good but both slaws lacked seasoning, and the mac & cheese wasn’t very cheesy and lacked salt, pepper and spices.
The portion size were good and we got to take some food home. The price was adequate for the amount and quality of food we received.
As we were leaving, Michael, the owner, asked us if we enjoyed our meal. I basically told him what I just wrote here. I hope that he can make some changes to make this place truly the «best BBQ in Somerville» (as the website claims).

summertime. wednesday night. sweltering heat. the idea of cooking in this AC-​less apartment seems horrifying. languishing on the couch he looks up at me, eyes full of desire as he coyly whispers, «Pig?»
i thought you’d never ask.
Solving the «what’s for lunch/​dinner/​snack?» debate for meat eaters this side of the Charles, The Bearded Pig’s brick & mortar locale has arrived bringing all things BBQ to Union Square. No longer catering only, you can now eat in or take out delicious brisket, ribs, pulled pork and Southern comfort sides from their cafeteria style Somerville Ave restaurant.
Standouts:
Pulled Pork Sandwich: well, duh. It’s perfect. Tender, flavorful, and not the least bit greasy. The original sauce if you like it sweet, go for the spicy if you prefer a little heat with your meat.
Brisket Sandwich: Sweet, juicy and successfully avoiding the typical brisket conundrum of too much gristle– great hearty option.
Sides were all vegetarian & over our handful of trips they’ve all been tasty so far. The highlights were the Jalapeño Corn Bread & the Mac’n’Cheese. Consider it carb loading for carnivores. A relative newcomer to the world of slaw– I also liked the NC vinegar option but think I got it SO fresh, it would have been even better if given time to marinate.
The space is comfortable, the staff friendly, and the food is obviously made and served with love (Michael Schmidt knows what he’s doing). Last time we were in, we signed their petition to help get a liquor license. Booze might be a bonus draw but until then, bravo– That’ll do Pig, that’ll do.

Yeah: The pulled pork and potato salad (non-​mayo!) are great. The space is nice and the people are friendly. Banana pudding was pretty darn tasty.
Needs Improvement: The buns for the sandwiches seem like cheap store-​brand type and I ended up ditching mine to eat the meat «solo». The pork is so good– get a tastier bun to show it off! No AC and we roasted. A few laminated menus around or at least a stack near the door would go a long way toward helping the line along and letting people know the drill (i.e. go to counter, order/​get food, pay, sit). Another high chair would be cool but I know space is limited. We lost out on the one chair and sat with a sweaty infant in the steaminess. Less of an issue for the more hipster/​non-​kid-​ed Union Square crowd though.
We will definitely go back because it is new and there are obviously going to be some things that need to be ironed out. Also, it is super-​close and I feel like the pork at The Other BBQ Place in Somerville is getting mushier and less appealing.

This place is Awesome! Having tried the Bearded Pig at a catered event I was super excited when I found out that they were opening a restaurant. I love BBQ and especially pulled pork and they do not disappoint! I got the pulled pork sandwich and a side of beans and also 2 single ribs on the side (duh). You can choose your own sauce and I actually went with the original. The sandwich was so so good but I have to say that the bean salad is the best I’ve ever had! It’s not your typical vinegar 3 bean type deal. This salad is sweet and tasty. Finally the ribs were really delicious (I added some spicy sauce to these). I washed it all down with a root beer but I also signed the petition for the Pig to get a Liquor license because let’s be honest, root beer is good but regular beer is better.
Excited for many trips back especially because I saw a new Hubway station nearby!

As we always like to give local business a try, we stopped in to The Bearded Pig for a quick dinner. Some goods, some not-​so-​goods. While most of the food was very tasty, I found the portions very meager. (The ribs, however, were fine.)Yes, the price is right, but a minute scoop of pulled chicken on a tray looks sad. Charge a little more and give us a little more! And, clean it up a little – too much «meh» stuff left in with the good chicken. Beans were great, as were the greens, but the cube of plastic wrapped cornbread that was put on my tray, while looking very pathetic, was probably the worst, dried-​up cornbread I’ve ever tasted.
Come on guys, if you mean to compete with that «other BBQ place» in the nabe, you’ve got to step up to the (excuse the pun) plate. And get some AC!
We’ll try it again, since you’re so new, but we’ll give ya a while to iron out the kinks.

Positives: The owner seems really nice and eager to please his customers. I like the simple BBQ vibe implied in the décor. Its a comfortable space for lunch or dinner. The «Bearded Baked Beans» are amazing!
Negatives: On my 1^st visit, I ordered the brisket sandwich and 1 side (mac & cheese). The brisket was pretty dry and although it was nicely smokey, a lot of the house BBQ sauce was needed to make it enjoyable. The portion size of the mac & cheese was way too small! Other local BBQ joints offer 2 sides with larger portions for about the same price. The sandwich portion was just right.
On a 2^nd visit, I ordered the «3 sides meal», I sometimes crave vegetarian BBQ (all the side items are listed as being vegetarian). I was hoping the portions of the sides would be much larger than the sides offered with a sandwich, because it was a «meal» and priced accordingly. Wrong… the 3 sides where still rather skimpy. The tiny piece of cornbread included (wrapped in plastic) was rather sad. I’m NOT a person who likes crazy /​huge portions at all… I just want to leave satisfied.
In addition: the menu offerings are quite limiting. How about some whole pieces of BBQ chicken?
This place has potential and the owner seems nice… they are just starting up so I hope they will make some changes /​improvements. I will wait a while, and give them another try!

My wife and I visited the Bearded Pig (⁸⁄₇) and ordered up a good representation of the menu (brisket, ribs, pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw, mac and cheese, jalepeno cornbread). Overall, we found the brisket and some of the ribs to be pretty dry and tough. The sauces were just okay, kind of one-​dimensional. I actually prefer the Rufus Teague bbq sauce we get from the grocery store. The drink selection was pretty limited. Fountain soda. Apart from not having beer (they are currently seeking a license) they didn’t have iced tea (sweet or otherwise) which to me seems like a big miss for a bbq place. Standouts at this visit were the pulled pork and baked beans. Did not care for the mac and cheese. Was a bit oily and didn’t really have much cheese. I know it’s probably blaspheme to say this, but the mac and cheese at our local Whole Foods is better. Lastly, they should have rolls of paper towels at the tables instead of those thin pizza place napkins. BBQ is messy and I’m not a practitioner of finger-​lickin’ at the table. Maybe some handi-​wipes as well! The owner is a friendly guy, basically running the place by himself. I want them to succeed and will be back to give them another try. They’ve only been open for a week, so they will undoubtedly improve as they go. Next stop for us is Blackstrap BBQ in Winthrop!

Stopped in for lunch on day two, shiny new floors, really empty (which was a pro trust me!) and five minutes later off with my brisket sandwich and some beans and mac and cheese.
Now I know its lunch so everything is always a little less… awesome…then when eaten fresh at dinner. Knowing this I was still a little less than impressed with the mac and cheese, a little rubbery and not all that awesome. Beans on the other hand were downright, well, awesome. Mixed beans not your standard one variety like it or lump it. I’d go back for them alone.
And now to the meat (get it?) of the review. I’m a brisket fanatic, to the point where yes I have made the two hour wait at the Franklin in Austin TX to get the brisket. Please note I can not and would not compare this to that.
The brisket was just okay, the fat was a little gristly and not so much melt in your mouthy as you want brisket to be, it was also a little on the dry side, but again, that’s lunch so I overlook that. Portion size was a touch on the small side for the price, I’m a fat American, I demand larger slabs of meat! This may sound stupid but the bun was phenomenal. The perfect white bread with just enough moisture. The sauces are all amazing, sweet isn’t too sweet, hot isn’t too hot.
All in all, we’ll have to give it another shot at a more peak time, but a solid addition and some solid brisket.

Have returned a second time. Ribs are a different cut according to the Q’ master. Much larger, jucier full spare cuts. Much more crust rub flavor. Better fat content. Better overall meaty experience.
Brisket was not phenomenal but not bad either.
Pulled pork was liked by all — light and clean pulled meat, not too oily. Good texture and good smooy flavor.
Also tried mac’n cheese — a decent rendition to be sure.

This place is probably 4 stars for the people and 2 stars for the food.
It pains me to write this review because the peeps at The Bearded Pig seem super nice and they just opened the place not too long ago, but the food here is disappointing overall. The Bearded Pig is a cafeteria style bbq joint located near the Market Basket in Somerville, i.e. you order and pay at the counter. I actually prefer cafeteria style because I get to eyeball all the food before ordering, so this is a plus for me. I do wish I got to see the cold sides too before ordering, but they were covered by a metal hood.
Walking in, I noticed immediately that there was no AC, or if there was, it wasn’t working very well. This could be problematic for diners on a hot day. It was warmer than preferred in there when I walked in, but bearable with the ceiling fans running.
So off to the counter I go, excited for some bbq and some foodgasming to occur, but the food was a resounding… MEH. I ordered the half rack of ribs with potato salad and creamy slaw and my cohort ordered the two meat combo with brisket and pulled pork and the mac and cheese and cole slaw for the sides. The combo also came with a chunk of honey jalapeño corn bread.
I’ll start with the sides first. The Mac and Cheese was pretty good. Much better than at some of the other BBQ places I’ve tried, for example Sweet Cheeks. I liked their potato salad too. It was more of a german style than a traditional style, but that was a plus for me because it wasn’t very heavy. The creamy slaw was bland, it didn’t taste like they used salt or seasoned it at all. To spruce it up, I had to add some of their bbq sauce to it, which made the slaw taste much better. The corn bread also tasted weird, sweet with a hint of jalapeño (and I mean a hint because I found one speck of jalapeño in the entire chunk we got). If they’re going to go the jalapeño route, they should have definitely made the corn bread more savory than sweet, for example a corn, cheddar, and jalapeño corn bread, if they made that, I bet it would be delicious, but what they offered was again, just meh.
The meat: The pulled pork here is good, so I would recommend getting that if you plan on trying this place, but the brisket and the ribs were extremely dry and chewy. I tasted no smoke or flavor whatsoever in the brisket or ribs, and I’m not sure if they were dry and chewy because they didn’t cook the meat low and slow, because they overcooked it, or because it was sitting under the heat lamp for too long. They weren’t inedible or unpleasant to eat, but they weren’t good either. I think I’ve made better ribs at home myself. I also couldn’t really differentiate between the bbq sauces they offered, they all pretty much tasted the same, with the sweet being slightly sweeter than the others. I tasted no spice or heat whatsoever in their «spicy» bbq sauce.
Overall, it may be worth a try if you’re in the area and craving meat, but unless they do some tinkering with the food recipes here, I’d probably opt for another joint for BBQ if what you’re looking for is melt-​in-​your-​mouth flavorful meaty goodness.

Its 930 on a Thursday night. I’m still stuck at work. I’m starving. I think, «that great new bbq place in somerville would be great right now!» I check their website. Score! 10 pm. Visions of pulled pork and vinegar slaw dance in my head. I quickly pack up, run to the elevator and head to the lobby. The elevator shows an ad for the bbq place I’m about to head to. THIS MUST BE FATE. I’m literally tasting bbq at this point. I check the time as I head outside: 938… plenty of time to make it. Better call in my order from the cab to be safe. I flag a cab and were off to Somerville. Hit the mass ave bridge, time to call.
The phone rings. A man answers. «I’d like to put in an order for take out.» «What’s that? You’re closed? The website is wrong?» I hang up and tell the cabbie, «change of plans.» I go home and eat cold pizza. Its stale.
1 star for raising my hopes only to dash them. 1 star because the guy on the phone was somewhat apologetic about it.

As a barbecue enthusiast, I’m always looking for places around Boston that can do barbecue right. The Bearded Pig does not disappoint. I’m a very happy resident of Somerville right now.
Management clearly gets what barbecue is all about – they’re not pandering, or trying to get away with subpar product, even though many other restaurants do that due to the less-​than-​robust barbecue scene in New England. Amazingly, this place does great pulled pork – they use a good rub, the pork gets good smoke penetration, and they’ve got a very tasty mustard/​vinegar sauce to go along with it. The creamy cole slaw was another highlight, as was the mac and cheese. I also tried the brisket, which was trimmed of enough fat to make it so you’re not chowing down on a half inch of gristle, but had enough left so that it didn’t dry out too much in the smoker.
Happily, The Bearded Pig also makes its own banana pudding – the most fitting homemade dessert for a barbecue joint, and it also happens to be a personal favorite. Bananas, custard, NIlla wafers and whipped cream. Heck yes. If you live in the Boston area and you’re looking for quality barbecue, look no further and give this place your business.

I have been searching in every nook and cranny of beantown since moving here for legit BBQ… Look no further .(and…I am a picky BBQ man too)
The pork was so very well done, great smoke penetration, moist meat, homemade sauces and I am pretty sure he is serving that deliciousness up on a martins potato roll… If you know BBQ you get it. If not get to the bearded pig and up your BBQ experience!
Sides are flavorful Mac is great as is the creamy slaw…
I will be back to sample he Ribs and will update then…
In the meantime get movin and get your pig on!

Finally a excellent Southern BBQ in Boston Area!!! This place is amazing. Great minimalist interior space, get the Pulled Pork Sandwich with beans and vinegar slaw as side. It’s gonna be Pig-​Tastic!!!

The bearded pig opened its restaurant location at 445 Somerville Ave. today, and I could not be happier about it! I’ve been dreaming about their bearded baked beans since I tried them at a catered event. Not only was the food delicious, but they were fast and organized despite having only been open about an hour.
Try the bearded baked beans and Southern Sweet bbq sauce; you will not be disappointed.

Went in today for opening day since its in my hood… The brisket looked amazing, but I opted for the pulled pork sandwich and a side of Mac n cheese. The portions were a bit small for what you pay for (the total was about 8.50 I think), but the sandwich was pretty tasty. I bet the Mac n cheese would be tastier if I had a fresh batch, but I think it had been sitting around for a while. They are awaiting a license for beer and wine at the moment, so hopefully they can get that soon.
I’ll definitely go back in a couple weeks once they get into the swing of things!
Edited to Add: The restaurant location is at 445 Somerville Ave, across frrom the Market Basket, not the location on the linked map!

I used The Bearded Pig to cater a party for 30. It went exceptionally well, delivery was prompt, price was fair, and the food was exceptionally good. We had pulled pork, bbq chicken, brisket, and baby back ribs as our main meats. We also had mac + cheese, coleslaw, and baked beans as sides. Included was cornbread and potato rolls. In all people ate until they were stuffed and the LOVED the food. I have a ton left over so I’m going to be snacking on it for a long time to come. I would absolutely use them again for future parties.