Little Pigs Too

Address: 11210 Broad River Rd, Irmo, SC 29063

Phone: (803) 781-6160

Web site: http://www.littlepigs.biz/hist.htm

Cards: yes

Hours of operation:  Thursday 5-8, Friday 5-9, and Saturday 11-9, Sunday 11-3.

Little Pigs is one of the oldest barbeque operations in Columbia, dating back to 1962 when it was operating out of a store front in a strip mall on Rosewood Drive.  It actually first opened as a franchise for a barbeque operation out of Memphis, Tennessee called Little Pigs of America.

But in only two years time Little Pigs of America went bankrupt so the Columbia operation changed its name to Little BBQ Hut and kept on trucking.  It did well on Rosewood Drive under its new name but under the same management (Mr. Lawrence Britton who became a fixture in the Columbia barbeque scene) and demand for his que was such that he had to move to much large quarters on Alpine Road in northeast Columbia. By then it was operating under its name of Little Pigs of Columbia, or as the sign said and everybody else said, “Little Pigs.”

Then, in 2008 the owner of the Alpine Road operation partnered with John Reynolds and opened a second Little Pigs restaurant in Irmo, SC in a location that had been a well-known seafood restaurant until family circumstances caused it to close.  The old seafood restaurant was completely renovated and redesigned so as to operate as a buffet style barbeque restaurant.  Since Little Pigs in Columbia was so well known (almost everyone in Columbia has eaten there at one time or another) the new operation in Irmo was called Little Pigs Too.

They serve three types of barbeque in Little Pigs Too; a vinegar and pepper based, light tomato and a mustard based.  They use an indoor smoker and you can smell the wood smoke when you pull up into the parking lot and you can taste it in the barbeque too. 

They offer a large country-style buffet with chicken and fish as well as great hush puppies and some people think they have the best chicken gizzards and livers in the state.  They have sweet potatoes as well as the usual beans, slaw and other goodies that are usually offered in such country-style restaurants.  For instance, their fried potatoes are hand cut and thin style and they are delicious.  They even have a salad bar in keeping with the trend in newer barbeque restaurants.

The fare is virtually the same as at the successful Little Pigs in Columbia with the addition of a pig pickin’ on both Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Give their long history of pleasing tens of thousands of Columbians this new place should do well.  The buffet is one of the least expensive you will find in the state with the Wednesday b uffet even cheaper. Now that’s hard to beat.