I don't have the highest standards for bbq. Most of it passes muster because I love it so much. I smelled the smoker outside this place and got really excited.
I ordered ribs, mac n cheese and green beans. You know its bad when the best thing on the plate was the canned green beans. The ribs tasted boiled, fatty and flavorless. My wife's bbq sandwich was overly smokey - which I didn't think was possible. Avoid at all costs. I wish I would've gone to the McDonalds next door, which would've been more tastey and not cost over $30.
I've been coming here for many years; the Pig 'n Steak has always been a "must stop" for me when traveling between DC and Charlottesville. Â I confess to not having eaten here in 3 years or so, and I was a little concerned about the reviews that said the place had gone downhill. Â I disagree. Â It's still just as good as I remember it. Â Is it the best barbeque I've ever eaten? Â No, but it's pretty close. Â Is it the best barbeque on Route 29? Definitely! Â
The beef is their best dish, a close second is their pulled pork. Â Both have very intense smoky flavor; if you're a fan of that premade glop that some folks dish out of a jar, don't come here, this is the real deal, smoked for a good long time. Â Although the sauces are good, I don't use much of them; I prefer the smoky flavor of the meat. The ribs can be hit or miss; this time the 1/4 rack we got was a little on the tough side and fatty, but on other occaisions they have been superb.
The sides are all homemade and delicious, the potato salad, cole slaw and beans are especially good. Â The fries are just average. And I agree with Thomas W. - they need better buns; they fall apart too easily. Â
Service is great. Â I will still make a stop here whenever I can.
Very good food, great family like service. The meat (we had 1/4 rack ribs, pulled pork, and pulled beef sandwiches. There is a distinct, clean, real woodsmoke character to the meats here. It's a small place and they use good wood in their pit. The portions are generous and the sides we had (2 included with our plates) were all uniformly raved about (Cheese Mac, Mac Salad, Potato Salad, Beans, Collard Greens) and were all delicious, fresh and made on premises. No sauce on their meat, three are available at the table. Our server was a happy, friendly young lady, who fussed over us. We all three ordered Apple Dumplings w/Ice Cream and a destination desert it is. Hot dumpling with yummy crust. Glad we found this place late driving back to DC from the Blue Ridge on Hwy 33. We stopped at a roadside fruit stand to buy some apples and turnips (actually the guy's pickup tailgate) and he and his wife said "we know just the place" since we were going through Madison anyway.
Oh no wifi and my iPhone was at 2-3 bars, if that. There's a jukebox plus the usual 3-4 big screens (with sound off thank God and closed captioning running - perfect for catching up on CNN or game scores :)
Passing through after a hike in SNP so we were starving - good BBQ (pork which the waitress said was the best, but note it is undressed and they have a Carolina vinegar, hot, and mild sauce) and BLT - huge portions of fries and good fried pickles. Â All sides are homemade and the Mac and collards were very good. Excellent sweet tea!! Also the service was really great and friendly. Â Just a hole in the wall type of place but really good, especially if you're starving.
Review Source:I've eaten at PnS off and on for close to 20 years. Their food quality has gone downhill and their prices have gone up. They enjoyed notoriety for a long time for the massive size of their french fries portions - but even with those, you're rolling the dice nowadays on getting stale or soggy fries. The smoke rolling in the back still smells good, and the barbecue is still passable (if overpriced), but there are better places in the area for BBQ. Head to Gordonsville to the BBQ Exchange. It's worth the drive.
Review Source:Sadly, this place has gone DRAMATICALLY downhill. When we walked in on a Friday evening, it was dark, empty, crypt-quiet, and dirty. We should have taken the clue of impending disaster and left at that point, but we didn't. The food was incredibly bland. It was obvious that everything on our plates had been microwaved. You might ask: But how do they keep the BBQ from drying out and turning into jerky? By adding a cup of water, that's how. The shredded pork was so watery and bland that turned my bun into a mushy mess. Halfway through our meal, my partner decided that he couldn't eat anymore. At that same moment--I kid you not!--a cockroach scuttled across our table. Perhaps we should have made a fuss, especially in light of the $33 price tag attached to our crappy meal, but we didn't. TAKE HOME MESSAGE: If you want BBQ and you're in Madison, drive to Charlottesville. Don't waste your time here.
Review Source:Hard, if not impossible, to beat the service at this little pig place just off of Rt 29 in Madison. Â A good place to stop if it's on your way. Â The BBQ is tender and isn't too smoky or salty and the sauces are pour-your-own, which I like because I can sample all 3 of them as I nibble down the sandwich. Â The collard greens were great (add your own vinegar - yum!); but, I think my potato salad is better. Â Theirs had good flavor, but the dressing was a bit too thin and there was too much of it for my preference. Â Passed on the side of cole slaw because it looked too creamy for me, but the BBQ sandwich comes topped with cole slaw, which was good. Â I have to agree that the bun could be improved. Â I expected a Pierce's (Lightfoot/Williamsburg area) type of bun and this was more of a store bought hamburger bun. Â Next time we're down that way I'm going to try the BLT - it sounds fantastic. Â Glad I read the tip on the green beans, seeing canned green beans on my plate would've been a real disappointment.
Review Source:Good, cheap barbecue with 3 different bbq sauces to choose from at your table (vinegar-based, regular, spicy). The spicy's delicious. If you order the platter with fries, you get a ton of fries. The macaroni and cheese is a bit oily, but still good. I always mean to try the funnel cake, but I'm always too full. This place isn't worth driving an hour and a half to get to, but if I'm ever on my way to Charlottesville, it's worth a stop.
Review Source:Great barbecue and even better BLT sandwiches heaping with bacon.  Service is frIendly and very  prompt.  Fries are very good too, though portions are huge so best to share.  Pay attention to the server's description of the various barbecue sauces; hot means really hot.
Only down side are the sandwich buns which are cheap store bought. Â If they had a high quality multi-grain bun, the place would be perfect.
Decor in the main section is a pleasing rough cut barn look --avoid the baby blue annex which has less than no character.
Madison is a small town so the place closes relatively early, especially in the winter.
Good place to get some BBQ if you are passing through, especially after a hike or swim - Old Rag or White Oak Canyon are two of the best trails nearby.
I wouldn't drive too far out of my way to eat here, but if you are in the area it's a good local spot with decent grub and laid back atmosphere.
Get the sweet potato fries!
The kitsch factor alone seemed worth stopping here, and the Rib-Eye Steak and Cheese sandwich confirmed it. Â The 1/3 lb. Pit Cooked Pork Bar-B-Que Platter on the other hand, was disastrously wet and bland. Â Maybe it was nasty, or maybe Carolina Style BBQ is nasty. Â The mac and cheese is a bit smoky (good) and swimming in oil (bad). Â Also, avoid the canned green beans at all costs. Â Let me quote, "These are why people don't like to eat vegetables!" Â Next time I'll know to go for the ribs only.
Review Source:A good meal but not great. We stopped by here on the way out of Shenandoah (a very pretty drive back, I might add). Saw the billboard, we were hungry, what could go wrong?
Things started off well with the fried pickles, which my wife is addicted to. We weren't that thrilled with the BBQ though. It was definitely smoked well, and very pink - but that's where the fun ended. The outside was tough, like it had dried out after being smoked. And if a dry rub was on there, I couldn't detect it. I'm not one of those people who needs sauce on everything, but I definitely needed it here.
Lots of black flies buzzing around. This place needs a few fly traps.
Dessert was funnel cake, which was very good - and where else can you get funnel cake in a restaurant? That was a good touch. (We're addicts.)
Service was great, no complaints there.
All in all I'd give this one 3 stars. Not the best, not the worst, but a decent meal out if you're in need of one.
Nice rustic interior in a quiet stretch of Rt. 29. The service was very friendly and competent. I had the pulled pork BBQ sandwich, baked beans and hush puppies.
The meat was moist and tender, but a bit too smoky in places. They should have groomed out the burnt pieces that were so burnt and smoky they tasted very bitter - almost wondered if they had been cooking the pork over burning telephone poles (chemical treated wood). The sauce wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything notable.
The baked beans were too bitter/ acidic, tasting mostly of raw chopped onions and Tabasco sauce. The hush puppies just weren't hush puppies - for those who know what I mean, you know what I mean. Don't do it.
If it wasn't for the VERY bitter smoky bits of burnt pork in my sandwich (and I'm a guy who likes a little charred meat off the grill, but this is something else) I'd say it only needed a better sauce and some smaller pulled pieces to make it a four to five star sandwich. Perhaps they have other items on the menu that are better. I would recommend stopping by if you are in the area, even if only to just enjoy the interior - it really is a piece of the past.
To whom it may concern, when I visited, they had added Legend Brown Ale on tap (Richmond craft beer) which goes great with BBQ.
So we're rollin on a roadtrip to see U2 and I call my Wahoo bud to say ...
"Me: We're rollin on a roadtrip to see U2!"
"He: Cool"
"Me: Where to eat? You know me ... GOOD EATS"
"He: My BBQ bud says Pig N' Steak is the best he's ever had."
His buddy is "cute" ... maybe "adorable" when it comes to BBQ but surely hasn't lived outside of Madison, VA.
Sure, my one bud ate the hell out of the ribs ... suckin' down the marrow ... but I've had five or six places better than this up in -- can you believe it -- MD and NoVA.
Service was beyond compare though. Â Fun place to eat and drink.
As someone who spent 3 years traveling the Texas countryside for work and visited more than his fair share of barbecue joints, I'd have to rank this place as one of my top five for its pulled pork. The sides were pretty standard, but the barbecue was stunningly good. If you have the hankering for some quality meat, this is the place. Just wish I traveled near there more often so I could try the ribs soon.
Review Source:Nice little BBQ and Rib joint off the beaten path in Madison, VA. Â If you are heading to/from Cville from NVA, it is worth a stop. Â Pig N' Steak isn't too far from White Oak Canyon trail if you are looking for an excuse to order up a full rack of ribs.
They serve the real deal here... not some re-heated stuff from Sysco. Â The decor is pure Que - dark and rustic, but the atmosphere is down home friendly.
This is down home cookin' at it's finest. The ribs were seriously as good as it gets and the pulled pork (of course I had both, you should too) is phenomenal. The service was friendly and fast. The macaroni and cheese is something I would go back for right now... it's that good.
Oh, and the apple dumpling with a scoop of ice cream that you don't have room for after all that food? Get it anyway. You won't be sorry.
They're OK. Nothing to write home about, but if your hungry for smoked BBQ they're the only place to get it close by. I've just eaten a lot of really really good BBQ in my life, and unfortunately for the Pig they just don't stack up to other smoked BBQ I've had. But they're not bad if everyone wants BBQ.
Review Source:Excellent BBQ! Allen R. took me to Pig & Steak as a treat for our relaxing getaway in the countryside, and Pig & Steak is a must visit. For an authentic piece of Americana, you can dine in this country black-wooden-inside rustic diner, Smoking or Non-Smoking. Plently of good drafts on tap, and all the regular imported favs too. Really my favorite dish here is the Mac & Cheese side, but don't forget beans, collards, and slaw, all very good, and homemade.
Review Source:If you are on Route 29 in VA and starting to wander through the Blue Ridge Mountains.....or going to Charlottesville.....or going to the Shenandoah Valley......STOP HERE AND EAT. Â This place is about 90 miles from downtown Washington, DC.
They specialize in  BBQ pork and steaks...duh.   My favorite is the pulled pork sandwiches.  This is the real deal.  Good ole  basic southern pulled pork.
Why 4 stars instead of 5? Â Hard to justify driving out here ..200 miles roundtrip...just for pulled pork....but if you are in the area sightseeing during the fall...this is a Yelper must stop. Â Any place with Mr. and Mrs. Pig on the logo can't be all bad......
Summer Hours: Mon-Thur -- 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
             Fri & Sat -- 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
             Sunday -- 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Winter Hours: Mon-Thurs -- 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
           Fri & Sat -- 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
           Sunday -- 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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