SF - Anyone actually eat at Pig & Whistle?

[rworange]

There have been a few brief mentions about this British pub on Geary ... very brief.

Looking at the website, pouring Guiness properly seems to be a big thing to them ...

"At the Pig and Whistle the staff are trained to pour Guinness the correct way. From using a 20 ounce Guinness glass to allowing the Stout to sit for a while after pouring 2/3rd's, to topping it off with a nice white creamy head raised just above the rim"

I read that the do beer foam art too ... the top of the beer will have a shamrock on top.

If you answer the question on the website correctly, they will email a coupon for a free pint.

A British breakfast is served till 3 pm ... Bangers, Irish Bacon, Black Pudding, Scrambled Eggs, Baked Beans, and Home Fries, with Toast or English Muffin .. anyone tried it?

The site says there's a weekly special. Any comments on these dishes from the regular menu?
- Steak and Mushroom Pie
- Shepherds Pie
- Banger Roll (on a sesame roll?)
- Burger (they say it is flame-cooked)
- Chicken Masala Curry.(Our own finely seasoned Indian style curry served on a bed of pilaf rice with mango chutney)
- Cornish Pasty
- Curry Fries
- Buffalo Wings

Do they still offer free pool on Sunday morning? What's the crowd like there?

I read that BofA allows parking in the lot after the bank closes. Any truth to that?

What is happy hour at Pig and Whistle all about?

If they get a mention, it is for the fish and chips ... any detail on the F&C?
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/380314#2390308
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/36776#170680
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/18907#61565

The beer battered mushrooms get mentioned too.

Place record
http://www.chow.com/places/9072
-

[Emily Hope]

We went there quite a while ago--I was excited because I love good fish and chips and having it in a nice pub setting is even better, and feel like those things together are not easy to come by in the city. Unfortunately, the fish and chips were nothing special--as I recall, they were on the greasy side and fairly heavy. I can't remember for the life of me what my husband ate. Both meals were served with a heaping side of attitude from our server. Needless to say, we haven't been back. The beer WAS really good, though.

[foodseek]

"If you answer the question on the website correctly, they will email a coupon for a free pint."
Unrelated to food, I guess they have a passion for asking questions-they have a trivia night with prizes on Wednesday. The atmosphere and banter, I think makes up for average bar food. I seem to order the curry fries and bangers and mash more times than the fish and chips. Ask for a Guinness and you may find a fourleaf clover decorated on top.

[lindamar]

The Pig and Whistle does not offer table service like a restaraunt. It is a pub that serves food. The comment "Both meals were served with a heaping side of attitude from our server," should take into account that the Pig and Whistle has no servers to speak of. There is one cook, one barback and one bartender for each shift. During the daytime it is only a cook and a bartender.
The cook or the barback or the bartender, whoever has the most time, will deliver your food to the table. And one of those people will clear your plates if given the chance when you are finished.
Clearly printed in chalk amongst the lists of beers and beverages is a friendly, "Please place all orders at the bar."
One places their order for food and drink at the bar, waits for the bartender to make/pour their beverages and lets the bartender know where they will be sitting so the food can be delivered to the right patron.
The assumption that table service is available makes some patrons grumpy and they begin shouting orders from their table to the barback or bartender. If one needs napkins, water, extra tarter sauce...just stand up, and come ask for it...they will gladly give it to you. Running an establishment on just a few employees keeps prices lower for patrons. I hope Emily that you will try the Pig again. The same people have been working there for years and it is rare one hears a negative word about any of them.

[kresge86]

I recently had dinner there for the first time, and thought the food was "okay" but nothing to go out of your way to eat. I had the Shepherds Pie, and a couple of my friends ordered the burger (one LOVED it, and the other HATED it). However, all-in-all it was enjoyable. The happy hour prices were appreciated, and the service was very friendly.

[NoeMan]

Never been there.

Funny thing, only the Irish pour Guinness right, the Brits usually muck it up, so hats off to them for that level of care. Also Irish bacon???? Hmmm. Other than tourist joints you'd never hear a real Irishman call their breakfast pork sausages Bangers, so that's very authentic.

Despite their identity crisis/confusion sounds like a place I'd like to try.

[Rich]

The English, believe it or not, do eat Irish bacon (and Danish etc.). Thing is, Irish Bacon is about the only lean bacon available in the US. We call American-style bacon streaky bacon and it is never acceptable in a Full English. Anyway the P&W is about the only place in town to get sausage rolls and a good pint. That alone is reason enough to go.

[wolfe]

link

[rworange]

link

[Xiao Yang]

Yes and no. When I worked in the Hobart Building ca. 1962-1965 there was a place across the street (nr. 2nd and Market) named "The Pig and Whistle" which I occasionally ate at. I've often wondered if there was a connection, though I doubt it. As I recall, it was basically a lunch counter place with sandwiches and blue plate specials

[masked_superstar]

the guys who started this pig & whistle were still young kids in england (Birmingham i think) in the 60's.

[Xiao Yang]

The Market St. restaurant may have been a remnant of a local chain. The 1922 City directory show's two Pig'N Whistles [sic] nr. Union Square.

http://is.gd/3udy

[lindamar]

Pig and whistle is merely a play on the old English words "piggin" and "wassail". Piggin is ale and a wassail is what you put your ale in.
That is why there are so many English pubs by this name. The Pig and Whistle on Geary is of no affiliation with any other pub in the world no matter if another pub has the same name. The British owner of Geary Blvd's Pig and Whistle works there himself.

[Kazy Ctn]

Yes - I lived a block away from this place for over 3 years and I've eaten there entirely way too many times to remember. Keep in mind that this is definitely primarily a bar, and food comes second in terms of their revenue stream. They do pour a good Guiness (and Old Speckled Hen and a few others), but this is technically an English Bar run by a chap named Paul from England...

The food is decent, an the more "euro" dishes are generally better than the rest. The Irish breakfast is good and the dinner standouts are surely the Pasty and beef and mushroom pie. The curry sauce that comes with the fires is also a great counterpart to a half-dozen pints...

Also - I think you can probably find establishment called "Pig and Whistle" in almost every major US city. Plough and Stars as well...