The Chow Hall BBQ Pit

We stopped in on a whim after reading about their awesome ribs. The food was excellent, especially the pork belly, ribs, pulled pork and pineapple soufflé. The corn cakes tasted just like the amazing cornbread my boss used to make– it was REAL southern cornbread! The employees were nice and helped us figure out what to order.

I’m a retired army guy from Georgia. The combination or «guns and bbq» (as the store front sign advertises) sounded almost too good to be true. It turns out that the gun store is good and so is the food.
I can’t speak to everything on the menu, but the greens are excellent (a bit sweet, which is the way my wife likes them) and the beef stew is even better (my wife’s favorite bbq staple is Brunswick stew; she was upset they didn’t carry that… until she tried the stew). We also tried the corn (pan)cakes. They are great as long as you aren’t expecting big pieces of corn pone. These really are like small-​medium sized pancakes.
It’s true that there isn’t much seating (two picnic tables), but they wrap things up really well for take out (no stew or greens juice escape into the car).
The service is polite and efficient.
It’s good to have a go-​to bbq place!

These guys now have sandwiches and bbq parfait. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better. You won’t believe how the chicken is just incredible. Real Deal Southern BBQ from sides to Meats. Unlike anything else in the Lehigh Valley, and it’s in a GUNSHOP too.

Awesome smoked deliciousness! Love the chicken & beef brisket — great service and solid pricing!

I was in the mood for BBQ and found this place online and was thrilled because there are no good BBQ places on this side of town. I live right off Emmaus Ave, and was not even remotely in the mood to drive to Grumpy’s and Baby Got Que is closed Sundays!
I ordered the Ribs & Brisket. Ribs. pretty good. Brisket… amazing. According to my boyfriend, the chicken was very very good. I was not really a fan of the beans, but all in all very happy with this place. I personally do not really love guns, but I do love food, so the armory was not really relevant to me, I got good takeout, close to home, great service, and super quick turnaround time. Absolutely will be back!

I wanted to like this place. I was excited when I heard about a new BBQ place close to our house and couldn’t wait to try it. I placed my order and went to pick it up. Now I knew this was associated with a business that sells guns but I didn’t realize you actually went into the gun store to pick it up — a little strange and not very welcoming, Anyway I was there for the food. I got a combo meal with pork ribs and chicken and sides of baked beans and mixed greens. I also ordered the corn cakes. Overall I was not impressed with any of it. Although the ribs and chicken had a decent amount of meat it was all dry and didn’t have a lot of taste. The beans were okay — had a little kick to them. The mixed greens were okay too but had a little vinegary taste. The corn cakes were really disappointing — they were like small pancakes with very little cornbread taste. Overall I was disappointed in the entire meal. There are many other better BBQ places around and I don’t expect to back at this one.

We just tried this place last night and highly recommend it for good BBQ.
We went a little crazy and ordered Wings, (huge and juicy), Brisket (soft and tender, with a perfect smoke ring), Ribs (awesome dry rub and juicy, smoky), a couple of Sausages, (coarse ground and deliciously smoky), and the Pineapple soufflé, which was one of the best things we EVER ate. It was a buttery bread pudding type of deal, seared on the flat top, and was absolutely amazing. We will definitely be going back to try the whole chicken and some of the other sides.

I was told by a friend of mine to go check this place out because they had a good experience. I wish I could say the same. Firstly I was met by a locked door. I checked outside for some sign to see when they opened. I found a menu outside which showed their hours of operation. They were a half hour late opening the door. I assume they heard or saw me looking in because when i tried the door again it was unlocked. No excuse, apology, or welcome given. The service was… bizarre. I had 5 people staring at me as I perused the menu. Definitely not a comfortable feeling especially when they’re all wearing side arms. Yes its a gun shop as well as a restaurant but it’s a bit disconcerting. It made me feel like I was being interogated rather than being served. Although my friend said he ate on location I was told they were takeout only. When I got the food home I was seriously disappointed. I got the ribs which were tough. The greens were so bad I tossed them.
What I took away from this place was that this was someone’s novel idea but it’s execution is way off the mark. It felt like a bunch of young guys into guns and their girlfriends, who have no experience in the restaurant business, were giving it a go.
Sad to say but I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Honestly, it just wasn’t that good. The brisket was the best thing we had, but the portion was so small, it was a little absurd. The pulled pork was more like stewed pork, didn’t have much flavor, and was swimming in pork fat. The greens were the best side, but again, they serve them in microscopic containers… can you imagine paying $ 5 for four bites of collard greens (that cost nothing to buy)?!?
Coming from the south, very BBQ is prolific and usually of high quality, this was disappointing, but it is nice to have a BBQ place up north. It just needs a lot of work.

ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP YOU MAGGOTS!
There’s a NEW barbecue joint in town and unless you’re some namby pamby MOMMA’S BOY that loves that Dickie’s BBQ chain restaurant SLOP, it’s about time you pay some motherlovin’ ATTENTION!
This joint is in a GUN SHOP, see? In case you didn’t know that from their lackluster website (WHO THE HELL HAS TIME FOR BUILDING WEBSITES WHEN THERE ARE GUNS TO SHOOT, DAMMIT?), they sell HANDGUNS, and SURVIVAL gear, and stuff to start FIRES. But if you don’t like guns because you’re a SISSY be sure to call ahead. You’re not scared to hold a PHONE are you?
First up: BRISKET
Hell, I’ve had tastier pieces of meat in Signapore’s red light district, but a man can’t always have the best, can he? Sometimes he just has to be fed and this meaty, bark-​encrusted cut does the duty. THREE OUTTA FIVE MILITARY STARS
Reporting next: PULLED PORK
I’ve pulled a lot of pork in my day, if you know what I mean. (Those bunks get LONELY.) But damned if this stuff isn’t some of the best I’ve ever had. Tender, smoky, sultry – all the right ingredients for satisfaction. FIVE OUTTA FIVE MILITARY STARS
Next up: SMOKED SAUSAGE
The menu calls them «Natural Born Grillers.» I call them something else: MEAT TURDS. The first time I unwrapped the foil package and bore witness to the blackened, dick-​lookin’ thing in front of me, I nearly thought someone snuck a spent 10-​guage 3 ½″ shotgun shell into my order. HELL, I’ve eaten shell casings on the battlefield when things got rough, but I PAID for this shit. ZERO OUTTA FIVE MILITARY STARS
Last in line: CHICKEN WINGS
These poor cluckers fared little better than the smoked sausage. One looked like it got torched by those blowtorches we used back in ‘NAM. All three of them were as dry as a crotch in Afghanistan. The rub wasn’t bad, but nothing to write home to your high school sweetheart about. ONE OUTTA FIVE MILITARY STARS
If this place is going to pass muster, it’s gotta pull its act together. Everybody knows that consistency is the mark of a good soldier. Same goes for barbecue.
Now TEN-​HUT, Chow Hall!

Being a certified BBQ snob from the great state of Texas, imagine my surprise to find this hidden gem. I have had the opportunity to try just about everything on the menu. Here they subscribe to the principle of having fewer menu items but really nailing the execution rather than rolling out every BBQ cliché under the sun but just delivering an average dish.
My personal favorite was the chicken. The home made rub and juicy but crispy bird are absolute perfection. I now live in the dirty South and dream about this chicken regularly. Another great item, much to my surprise, was the collard greens. I’m not a big greens fan, but I eat these every chance I get.
The beans were interesting. Since they are fresh and not canned, they have a somewhat crunchy texture, which may take a little getting used to for some… but the flavor is outstanding!
Do your mouth a favor and check out the ribs. Simply amazing. Full of flavor, these are some of the best ribs I’ve ever had.
Last but not least, the thinly slice apples in the Dutch Apple pie… wow.
Check this place out. Besides the incredible food, it’s located inside a gun store… what a perfect combination.

From the second you walk in the door, everyone makes you feel right at home. I cannot say enough good about the food. And staff! They promised to make me leave feeling satisfied and they did. Do yourself a favor and stop in. The only negative. That it’s not within walking distance!

I’ve had much better. The brisket is very tender, but lacks smokey taste. The baked beans have some zip, but taste under cooked. The greens were ok. They taste like they were cooked with apple cider vinegar. Overall, I’ll probably wont be back. Too bad. Oh yeah, a little pricey, too. Too bad.

Best BBQ and very patriotic if you love BBQ and guns this is heaven. guys and gals are great and very polite. will be coming back here again

Three of us got one meat and two sides each. The brisket was good but only two thin slices. They have three kinds of sauces on the side — regular, spicy, and bourbon. For sides we had pineapple soufflé, buffalo chicken something, memphis greens, and cornbread. As stated previously in another review, the cornbread was in the shape of a pancake. You get two. My son, who is living in Texas, couldn’t stomach the «cornbread». Two out of three of us didn’t like the buffalo chicken side. It tasted okay but looked like mush. I ate the collard greens but never had them before so can’t comment if they were good or bad. They definitely had a very strong taste so suspect they were on the bad side. The pineapple soufflé was the best side. We live close but won’t be going back for food.