When traveling to Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort, this restaurant almost always has a line out the door. We made it into the Polite Pig and we dish.
On our latest trip to Walt Disney World Resort, we hit up Disney Springs on arrival and departure days. We do try to get to Disney Springs at least once per trip. Dining and shopping opportunities are around every corner at the great location. We like our food, so this makes perfect sense.
Something Disney Springs has over say Universal Orlando Resort’s City Walk, two words — free parking. If you’re headed down from what’s our favorite parking deck — there are three garages and two lots — the Lime Garage, the Polite Pig is right on the right hand side as you walk into the Disney Springs complex.
The Polite Pig
The Polite Pig is a “modern bbq” restaurant. It’s kind of a hybrid blend between table and quick service. You order your food at a counter, similar to other modern barbecue restaurants, and then a server will bring you your food. Dessert? You can order that at your table after you eat.
The Polite Pig is the third restaurant owned by James and Julie Petrakis, with James’ brother, Brian being a co-owner as well. The other two locations that James and Julie launched include The Ravenous Pig and Swine & Sons in Winter Park and Cask & Larder in the Orlando airport.
On April 10, 2017, The Polite Pig opened up for business!
Wanna sit down in the Polite Pig, you better have a number after ordering. There’s no staking your claim while one member of your party does all the ordering.
Getting in
As mentioned in the lead, the Polite Pig almost always has a line running out its door. Because of that, we’ve always passed on stopping in. Our latest trip we found ourselves at Coca-Cola® Store Rooftop Beverage Bar trying out a mega flight of Coke branded products — love that Beverly! We sat down to try and figure out where we were going to dine and our junior adventurer said he wanted to give the barbecue joint a shot.
When we sauntered by, ready for lunch, we saw there was actually no line — didn’t quite take us a decade to get in, but close. It was a Tuesday the first week of September, so the crowds weren’t that bad. When we visited Orlando in July, we couldn’t say the same.
There wasn’t a wait at all and there were tables available. Not a lot of tables available, but enough for us to pick one we liked — either indoors or at their outdoor patio.
The menu
It’s a barbecue restaurant, so many of the regular types of food are served there. They have much more than your typical brisket, ribs, and pulled pork. The Polite Pig has more of a gastropub feel to it than a conventional barbecue eatery.
The “shareables” or appetizer menu has some really unique options. This is where we ordered most of our food from. We opted for more of a tapas, taste of what they offer approach, rather than stuff a giant entree down our gullets approach.
Shareables
- BBQ Meatballs
- Hop Salt Pretzel
- Slider Trio
- Wings
Salads
- Chipotle Cobb
- Polite Caser
- Mediterranean Salad
Kids
- Kids BBQ Meatballs
- Kids Chicken Tenders
- Kids Mac & Cheese
- Kids Pork Slider
- Kids Turkey Breast
Sandwiches
- Fried Chicken
- Low & Slow Brisket
- Smoked Chicken Salad Wrap
- Southern Pig
- Turkey BLT
- Pulled Chicken
From The Smoker
- Brisket Burnt Ends
- Butcher Board For Two
- Cedar Plank Salmon
- Half Chicken
- Jalapeno Sausage
- Layla’s Ribs
- Prime Brisket
- Pulled Pork
- Sliced Pork
- Smoked Turkey Breast
- Pork Belly Tacos
Sides
- Baked Beans
- BBQ Cauliflower
- Brussel Sprouts
- Burnt Ends Chili
- Cornbread
- Seasonal Side
- Grits
- Mac and Cheese
- Potato Salad
- Roasted Beets
- Side Caesar
- Street Corn
- Sweet Tots
- Tomato & Watermelon
- Waffle Fries
- Cole Slaw Side
Desserts
- Blueberry Bread Pudding
- Bourbon on the Rocks Cookie
- Brownie Parfait
- Key Lime Tart
- Pecan Pie
- Brownie
Our experience
We really enjoyed our visit to the Polite Pig. When ordering, we didn’t go super crazy. We opted for a side trio and two appetizers.
3 Sides
For the three sides that we picked, we went with the street corn, waffle fries, and potato salad.
All three sides were good. We’re very critical when it comes to our potatoes, and both the fries and salad were satisfying.
The waffle fries had just the right amount of crisp to them.
The potato salad was not overly dressed and had just the right amount of seasoning. The dish was crisp and had a slight snap.
The street corn was as expected. Seasoned like a weatherman. Nice bite and spice.
BBQ Meatballs
These were really good. The BBQ Meatballs are made of brisket and are dressed with Polite Pig’s sweet Layla’s barbecue sauce.
Slider Trio
The slider trio is not for everyone but it was for me! As the name implies, there are three sliders that get delivered to patrons. The sliders are southern pig, slow brisket, and fried chicken — mouth just watered.
I shared this with my eldest roommate. She was not overly enamored with the brisket — but this is an individual that doesn’t want her meat wet. I say, “Bring on the fat!” and, “I like it wet!” (That can mean whatever you want it to — The meat you pervert. The meat.)
The southern pig was pulled pork with a dressing-free house slaw of sorts. This was a tasty bit of pork balanced with the snap of the veggies.
The brisket slider was dressed with frizzled fried onions. I’d say this was a satisfying and mellow bite. Good flavor profile with a decent balance between wet and dry meat, giving deference to wet — as it should!
The fried chicken slider was a wonderful explosion of flavor. It had a great sauce and was adorned with traditional coleslaw. Keep your napkins handy for this little bugger. Yum!
Overall impression
We hit the “like” button on this restaurant and will add it to our “to return” list. There are a ton of dining options at Disney Springs, and this is one we’ll be returning to — especially if there’s no line. The quality of the food was on point with a conventional hybrid quick service barbecue restaurant and the staff was plenty friendly. There was taste to everything we tried and we can recommend giving this place a shot.
The Polite Pig is located in Walt Disney World Resort at the Disney Springs complex, located at: 1536 Buena Vista Dr., Orlando, FL 32830. We like to park at the Lime Garage located at: 1652-1668 Buena Vista Dr, Orlando, FL 32836
