Twelve Whiskey BBQ – South Side

After a day of exploring Pittsburg together, we had nine hungry friends looking for a place to grab dinner. We ended up at Twelve Whiskey, a barbecue joint on the South Side that opened in 2014. The menu looked delicious, and the restaurant was rather large. Based on the limited crowd on a Saturday night, I would have expected this restaurant to be much newer. Perhaps it was just a slow night.

As a group of ten, we sat at a large, high table in the back. I loved the aesthetic of this restaurant, including the fun pig murals. It had the feel of a modern dive bar. I could see this being a popular spot on game day to gather and watch the game with some brews.

The service we had was decent. We had a large group, but there were not that many other people there. The server forgot to take one person’s order from the group. I believe we all did get what we ordered, except for one order where the side got switched from macaroni salad to macaroni and cheese.

I had trouble deciding what to order. I was between the Gold N Smoked Burger and the Pig Mac.  The burger was enticing because it was topped with “smokey cheddar, a slice of 16 hour smoked brisket, house Carolina style mustard BBQ sauce, and apple Brussel sprouts vinegar slaw.” I thought that sounded amazing. However, I got the Pig Mac. It was a bowl of mac and cheese and corn bread topped with BBQ pulled pork and bacon. I chose this because it seemed more mac and cheese focused and I wanted to try the pulled pork. 

I suppose I may never know if I made the better choice, but what I got was delicious. The pulled pork just melted in my mouth. I loved the house BBQ sauce better than the mustard style one.  The macaroni and cheese was fantastic. It had a great cheesy base, and they used cavatappi pasta. In my humble opinion, that it the best pasta to use for mac and cheese, because it has so many curves to hold the sauce.

After this meal, I think we were all starting to feel the heaviness of Pittsburgh food. I realized that I hadn’t had a vegetable all day, except for the cole slaw on the Primanti Bros. sandwich. I pretty much only ate meat and carbs all day. I can’t say that I have any regrets though. 

Overall, I feel we had a positive experience at Twelve Whiskey (although no one actually got whiskey to my knowledge). We were a group of DC tourists lost and looking for food. What we found was unexpected and delicious. 

By the way, Twelve Whiskey serves brunch on Saturday and Sunday.  The brunch menu looks glorious and worth checking out if you are in the area.

*This post reflects my honest views. I did not receive any compensation or other incentives to post this review.

Twelve Whiskey BBQ
1222 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
412-742-4024