the salted pig

fairly good. a little pretentious and overpriced for me but they have a goodbeerselection and good appetizers. the mac and cheese and the popcorn are for sure the best dishes.

hipster-ish place.. friend picked this place out for our "restaurant of the week" to eat at. we ate here probably a month or so ago.

so i do not regularly drive through the area of riverside that this restaurant is in. apparently after 5:00pm on a weekend all the paid parking areas are free, otherwise you have some parking spots across the street from the restaurant or a parking lot.

when we arrived, we were queued with probably five or six other patrons. i think we were told it would be about a 35 minute wait, which was accurate. unfortunately i think i was suffering from a headache and the added dimmed lighting of restaurant made me just want to sleep.

we both tried one of the pumpkin beers they had on tap (we thought our server had said it was some sort of "pumpkin pie" beer, but i did not see it listed on thebeerlisting website.) we got the bacon fat popcorn appetizer, the lamb burger for myself, and the roasted bone marrow for my friend.

the bacon fat popcorn was not bad at all. i really liked the maple sugar that was on it, but i thought there was too much sea salt.

i am not much of a burger/meat connoisseur, so when i was asked how i would like my lamb burger cooked... i said "well done." (what a grave mistake i made.) the burger was dry. the amount of black walnut butter and rhubarb jam they put on it was not enough to counteract the dryness of such a thick patty.

the fries and the spicy ketchup that came with it were really good though. i liked the style of fries (shoe string) they make.

my friend loved his roasted bone marrow. i tried a little bit of it and it was delicious.

i did not think the filthy fries at the salted pig quite lived up to expectations. this seemed very much like a pre-packed french fry product (of not the best quality) with various toppings poured on. i also requested some of the house-made ketchup, which seemed to be nothing more than tomato paste.
yes, the vibe here is is nice and hardly ever do you read any criticism of this place.
filthy fries were a tremendous disappointment. i like the salted pig, but i did not like these.


-----14 feb, 2013-----

trendy eatery for downtown riverside. i knew about the salted pig prior to its opening a few years ago, but due to a number of factors i delayed my visit until recently. i had been curious about the place, but i just never made the trek over.
i like trying most things, but i just never got too thrilled when so many restaurants started the hipster/gastropub/craftbeertrend.

the salted pig is a nice spot for downtown riverside, ca which is really lacking in attractions that would make one want to visit the area, although that is starting to change. the atmosphere was nice and service was pleasant and not overbearing during my visit. i do suggest sticking with the script and order your burger medium.

not that it really matters in regards to the overall dining experience, but the salted pig does not have wi fi, which is something that i would expect from a trendy place like this. i was instructed to connect with the free wi fi offered by the city of riverside and that seemed kinda lame to me. i read on another review site some time ago that the initial partners that made up this restaurant are no longer, which could also explain why the twitter feed has gone silent and the website is not being updated.
maybe it does not matter to many, but is quite common for many "trendy restaurants" in the inland empire, to start off with good intentions but quickly trail off in their activity.

great menu, good quality food. great diversity inbeerlist. poor service. ordered a flight and it took forever! then the server didn't know whichbeerwas which. the bartender mixed up my flight with my friend's and after all this, did not comp anything. still worth going, but if there was anybeerbar competition in riverside, this place would drastically need to improve in order to survive.

i don't usually complain about places but, this wasn't a favorite place for me. it seemed like the restaurant creators think it's gourmet but, is lacking in the flavor department. i had the flatbread sampler and wedge salad. the flat bread was 14$ and really didn't have the pizzaze that i would expect from a place like this. the salad really had no flavor i can't even remember what it tasted like. thebeeron the other had was awesome and the decor modern yet industrial... very cool!