Chicken Comer’s Bar-B-Que

Chicken Comer has a unique taste… not for everyone. it brings back good memories of going to the original location back in the 1960s.
the meat has ALWAYS been tender and great taste. the sauce is great… and hot! I really hate to hear bad reviews from people who are from out of town.
to many of us it is the best BBQ anywhere. However, I also like 13^th St. BBQ and Country’s BBQ. so remember Chicken Comer is unique and not for everyone.
Even for us fans we like to change every once in a while.

Ed Meadows, Vacaville, CA
When I was young, I would eat at Chicken Comer’s at least once a week. I’d get a large plate of barbecued Boston Butt slices with several slices of white bread (what we Southeast Alabamians called «Light Bread» back in the day) for 75 cents and a Nehi Orange for a nickel. The «restaurant» was a concrete block building in what was known as «N — er Town» in Phenix City, AL. There were two entrances, one for white customers and one for black.
I knew old Chicken. He would visit Bennie Edwards, owner of The Tender Steak Company, where I worked. He was a grand old man and could have been a very wealthy man, had he tried.
I live in California now and was in Alabama this past May and naturally we had to visit Chicken Comer’s restaurant. The food was very good; the sauce was as I remembered. However, the ambience was changed. The restaurant is now located in Columbus, GA (right across the Chattahoochee River from Phenix City) and it is now owned and run by lily white people and not a black person to be seen! Of course the place had to be different from the old concrete block emporium –health laws now demand it. But I loved the old place. I don’t think the old building is even there today. These facts and the fact that they serve all kinds of food now, even barbecued chicken, is why I gave the new restaurant three stars. I would have given the Original Chicken Comer 5!
Old Chicken served slow barbecued pork, cooked on a large outdoor barbecue «grill» with an old black man sitting alongside with a mop that I swear was made from an old pair of under– drawers. A dozen or so Boston Butts would be cooking on the chain link fence section that was used as the grill. The old man would dip his mop into a bucket of Chicken’s inimitable sauce, douse the butts, one at a time for hours on end. That was as close to Heaven as I am apt to go.

It wasn’t great. I had the ribs and they had been boiled for a long time before being bbq a little. I rather bbq for a long time.

When I first arrived the child behind the counter just stared at me, no smile, no greeting, no customer service. Not only did answer questions about the menu with yes or now answers, but her attitude made me feel like I had done something wrong just by being there. I paid 7.09 for a chicken plate, and only had to wait 5 minutes before it was ready. To their credit, the woman who brought my food was polite and even gave me a smile. The food was okay, not bad but nothing memorable. I would say id return because the price was right, but I would rather pay more some place else than have to deal with hostility from a child. Sorry, but wouldn’t recommend it. Too few selections, confusing menu, and an unhelpful staff person won’t work for me.

I don’t know what all of the hype is about. It’s meat with no smoke taste drowned in sauce.

More BBQ! We stopped by this place on a Saturday afternoon. We were hanging back checking out the menu when the guy behind the counter looked at us and asked if we’d been there before. When we said no, he told us to hang on and disappeared behind the counter. When he came back he had a small taste of pork in mustard sauce. It was pretty hot! He pointed to a handwritten sign (something I love seeing in non-​chain restaurants) listing a combo plate. My husband and I both immediately said «I want that.» I asked for mild though. We also got sweet tea and I got a banana pudding. Like I’m not getting dessert. Yeah, right.
The pork was nice and moist, with a great smoke. The mustard-​based sauce tasted great. I am pretty sure they gave me the hot sauce though, and not mild. I ate it anyway, it tasted good and I had cole slaw to cool it down. The slaw was nice, chopped fine with a nice sweet/​tangy dressing. I also got fries, which could have used a few more minutes in the fryer but were still good. My husband got potato salad and it was almost like it was made of mashed potatoes. He said it was good. I prefer mustard potato salad over mayo so I skipped it.
The pudding was wonderful, as expected. They served it with Cool Whip (or something like it) instead of whipped cream, which resulted in me finding out that my husband thought Cool Whip WAS whipped cream. I quickly dispelled that notion and we headed out. Oh, here’s a tip: if you bus your table, the counter guy will look at you funny and ask if you want a job, because they hire a waitress to do that. I told him yeah, if he’s paying in BBQ!
This is my favorite BBQ place I’ve found in Columbus so far.

Legend exceeds reality ah but what a story back in the day of segregration chicken comer served food that blurred the line in a small hole in the wall in P. City Alabama. Hard to find and hard to beat if you could find the place. Now as barbeque restaurants in Columbus area lead the way in a per capita ratio Chicken Comer is a ghostly landmark to the old days Now forgotten, look away! However the famous sauce is sold in stores.

This is not good BBQ in fact it is cubed meat on a plate with BBQ sauce and bread. The service is pretty much non-​existent and the food is just plain. The general idea is that the sauce carries the meat (pork)! Yes that is your choice pork and no other. Don’t let folks down here tell you this is the best BBQ around.

all you used to get was bread and meat, and you walked out happy!

Don’t let the name fool you. This is NOT a chicken joint!
The name comes from Mr. «Chicken» Comer who originally started this barbecue restaurant in Phenix City, Alabama. Open since 1929.