Ben and I continued our NYC eating excursion this weekend at the Spotted Pig. First thing to know about this West Village gastropub: it does not take reservations and you will WAIT. The first time I tried to get into this joint for dinner (I had been previously for drinks at the bar), there was an hour and a half wait. Considering it was 9 PM on a Sunday and we were ravenous, we passed. Last night there was an hour and a half to two hour wait when arrived, but we decided to pass some time at a local bar (the White Horse Tavern) while we waited for the table. Second thing to know about the Spotted Pig: it’s a Michelin Star restaurant! Be prepared to spend a little bit of cash while here. That being said, it’s definitely one of the more reasonably priced Michelin Stars around: our burger and shoe string fries entrees were $25 each. The brewski was only $7, though! It’s a world renowned restaurant– if you google it you’ll find tons of praise, especially for the chef, April Bloomfield. 

The space is really cool. It resembles a traditional British pub, but the decorations are all related to pigs and meats. It’s so funky! The walls are legitimately covered in different paintings, illustrations and statues. I wanted to take some more pictures, but the space is tiny and being that it’s so dark inside, I didn’t want to disturb anybody’s meal more than I already did! 

As I mentioned above, Ben and I both got the Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese and Shoestring Fries. The burgers are definitely the Spotted Pig’s signature entree. They were juicy and pretty tasty, but I wish that they were a little messier. That’s definitely a weird critique, but I love a burger that’s messy, greasy and feels like it’s falling apart in your mouth. Almost as if the chef took a slab of raw beef and molded it by hand into a far-from-perfect patty. This felt overly prepared. It was a decent burger, but not my top pick. The cheese was also a little much, but I don’t like the taste of blue cheese in large amounts and unfortunately that’s what Roquefort cheese tastes like. My own mistake! I’m owning it. When I scraped it off, though,  I was much happier. The shoestring fries, however, were out of this world. Seriously, they were amazing. They had rosemary, salt, and garlic mixed in, so they were jam packed with flavor. I recommend eating them with a fork, though, because they’re a little difficult to pick up by hand! 

All in all, this is definitely a great spot and I would love to try some of the other entrees on the menu. Is the burger worth a 2 hour wait? Probably not. But it’s a must-try NYC joint for sure!