Food Truck Review: Knawty Hawg Tallahassee, FL

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I want to start by apologizing for the delay in posts recently. Between, work, grad school, and wedding planning, I just have not had the time to post on here as frequently as I would like to. However, I can assure you posts will become more frequent soon.

To keep with my BBQ theme, I decided to make my next review a BBQ food truck. Expect my next post to be my Barbecue sauce recipe, followed quickly by my pulled pork recipe.

The food truck in question, is the Knawty-Hawg truck usually located on Tennessee St. near Ocala.

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I usually am excited to review food trucks. I tend to think of food trucks as a place I am going to get great food. Why would I think that? It is after all, food off a truck. Well, a food truck is not a place expected to make tons of money. For this reason, I tend to assume that if you are running a food truck, it’s because you have a passion for food. Unfortunately, a passion for food does not always mean you are a great cook.

The first thing that caught my eye when I walked up to the truck was the big smoker next to it. I took this as a good sign. I decided to order the pulled pork sandwich – after all, pig is in the name of the truck. When I approached the truck I was greeted for my order. However, I found the person to be rude. She didn’t smile, or seem interested that I was even there. I felt like I was ordering at a fast food place.

I waited for my food for about 5 minutes (not bad by any means). Since this truck was in a shopping center, I took the food back to my car to eat. I sat down and opened the box. The plating was pretty standard and I was greeted by delicious smells. If only food always tasted as good as it smelt.

The pulled pork had no flavor. None at all. I was surprised. They have a real smoker, yet I could not detect any smoke in the pulled pork. I could not taste any spices either. It was as if they completely skipped the dry rub. The pulled pork also had a tough texture to it. It could have used more time in the smoker. To top it off, the bun was huge. The strongest taste on this sandwich was bland bread.

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I then tried the Mac and Cheese. The noodles were slightly overcooked making them soft. The cheese sauce was good, but fairly generic. There was nothing about this mac and cheese that made we want to keep it eating it. Overall, it was also on the bland side.

Was there any saving grace in this box? Kind of. The BBQ sauce was fantastic. It was vinegar based (not usually my favorite) and had a nice sweetness to it and a little kick at the end. Why was the sauce so flavorful and everything else so bland? I tried covering my pulled pork sandwich in the sauce but it could not save the sandwich.

Overall, I cannot recommend the Knawty Hawg truck. It is not worth your time or money.

The Knawty Hawg BBQ N More on Urbanspoon

  • Madison

    Great review! I am usually very skeptical of food trucks, any good ones in the tally area?

    • Cook The Blog

      Thanks for reading Madison.

      I understand why you can be skeptical. To me, they tend to be hit or miss.

      Yes, there are some great food trucks in Tallahassee. The first one that comes to mind for me is the Cravings truck. The specialize in Red Velvet Waffles and Fried Chicken.

  • Kim

    Your review surprises me. I have been a customer of The Knawty Hawg several several times and I have never had a bad experience. Their staff is over the top friendly, the pulled pork and ribs are to die for and when you put their wonderful BBQ sauce on them, well all I know is one word: AWESOME.
    Maybe you just caught them on a bad day?? Just makes me wonder if we are talking about the same place.

  • Jessica

    Hey so I ate at the Knawty Hawg truck and everything you said, WAY OFF. Man that place was awesome! The cashier was so friendly we talked about school and other food places and she kept me busy so I didn’t even think about the wait. I’m pretty sure the sauce isn’t vinegar based tho. And my sandwich was huge! The pork was soo tender and I skipped the Mac n cheese ad tried the fries and beans. Good stuff. You may have gone on a bad day. After all, it is a BBQ food truck and everyday is going to be a little bit different. Also the sauce on the sandwich when u get it, is the same sauce u get on the side. That sauce with the fries is kick ass! Anyways, I think you should definitely give it another try one day.

  • Patrick

    This is the best BBQ food i have ever had in my life. The pulled pork and ribs are extremely tender and delicious. I would recommend this place to everyone. if you love BBQ then this is as good as it gets. I have been to the famous BBQ places called “Dreamland” in Alabama and i loved going there when i lived in Alabama and thought it was the greatest BBQ food i have ever tasted in my life until I had Knawty Hawg. Also, their homemade fries can’t be beaten. DELICIOUS!!!!! but when you dip everything in their homemade sauce, it makes it all so much better! Best BBQ in Tallahassee hands down!!!!

  • Cook The Blog

    From reading some of the comments I have received it seems I might have visited the Knawty Hawg truck on an off day for them. It happens, especially when you serve food which needs to be cooked for hours on end.

    I root for food trucks to succeed because I believe they are run by people with a passion for food. For this reason, I hope it was an off day for them.

    I stand by my review because that’s the experience I had, whether they were having an off day or not. However, when I get a chance to give Knawty Hawg another shot, I will provide an update to the review if I have a better experience.

    Jessica, the BBQ sauce they served me was defiantly vinegar based. It was my favorite thing they served me that day. A great BBQ sauce.

    Thanks for reading everyone.

    • http://twitter.com/RyanCohn Ryan Cohn

      Don’t trust the reviews of Kim, Patrick and Jessica. They are written in exactly the same voice and I would suspect, authored by the owner (or a close friend) of Knawty Hawg. I see this way too often – it’s pathetic.

      • CooktheBlog

        Thanks for the post Ryan. I got the same impression from those posts that you did. I decided to leave them up though to show that I won’t censor a post (unless its spam).