Fresh Air Bar-B-Que

Not my style of bbq. I had the bbq plate. Sauce was too vinegary for my taste. I like carloina sytle sauce, and was excited, but not like this. Over powered the flavor of the bbq. The pork was finely chopped, i prefer pulled. I didnt like brunswick stew. Cole slaw pureed, super sweet, and wasnt my flavor. Nice people, friendly atmosphere, just not my style of bbq.

This BBQ was impeccable. Perfect amount of sauce and juicy and tender. I went back for more

Really good ribs, meat fell off the bone. Loved the Carolina style sauce too. More sides options would’ve been nice.

Great barbecue — it comes chopped really well with sauce mixed in. I prefer vinegar based bbq sauces rather than the sticky sweet type which is why I prefer this place. Great brunswick stew, baked beans and really sweet cole slaw. Love it!

Looking for local barbecue and we found the right place! It’s Carolina style with vinegar based sauce, a favorite of mine! The prices are great! Very laid back and friendly atmosphere.

Worst BBQ I’ve ever had? It’s among the contenders. The ribs were moist but the bone fell apart and black marrow was a part of every bite I tried to take. I was really grossed out. I got my kids the half chicken and that was by far the best thing we tried. The pulled pork sandwich was mediocre at best. The coleslaw was the highlight of this dining experience.
Even worse than the food was the décor. Bright fluorescent lights, uncomfortable chairs and weird wall décor (like medicine ads from the 20’s?) and location in a strip mall just made it one of the oddest places I’ve eaten.
Don’t waste your time & money here.

Wonderful pulled pork at a very good price $ 2.85). Brunswick stew was wonderful. We stumbled on this place and am so glad we did!

The best barbque ever! We had the ribs, they were extraordinary and all the sides were excellent! We usually stop at this strip center for the Phở? It was closed today so we got a special surprise! Highly recommend.

Fast and friendly service. I ordered the rib plate and loved every single bite. The ribs are so tender that the meat falls off the bone, delicious coleslaw, and amazing brunswick stew, even the slices of bread tasted abnormally great.

The baked beans, chicken and pulled pork are average. Not bad but not great. The ribs. I don’t know. They either oversmoke or re-​smoke the prior day’s ribs. Twice I have had ribs were the bark was rock hard and the bone was mushy. The coleslaw and brunswick stew are almost baby-​food like.

Not my cup of tea. Cole slow was purée. The Beans were sweet beyond imagination. The Pulled Pork wasn’t half bad but stingy on the BBQ sauce.
What really got me started was the sign in the window said they were open till 9 PM. We were told we had to order to go because they close at 8. I speak for about 30 Family members and myself who will never ever spend our hard earned money at this business. The Best BBQ in Macon? (I don’t think so)

This is the place to stop when you’re driving through Macon. You have to get the chicken and the pork so just load up. You can also take some to go. The Brunswick stew is top notch and the coleslaw is really good.

OMG! Such wonderful food and service here! I would love to come back here in the future.

HOW have I never given this place a review? Holy cow.
We have been eating at Fresh Air for years and years… it’s a convenient «pit stop» on our way from Atlanta to Tybee Island. (In fact, a trip to the beach WITHOUT a stop at Fresh Air would seem incomplete…)
The atmosphere… I’d give it a 75 (it is vastly improved from what it used to be). The folks who work the counter are nothing special. Not terribly friendly, not rude, just very «run of the mill».
But the BBQ sandwiches… Oh.My.Goodness… the BBQ sandwiches.
(My mouth is literally watering as I’m typing this review…)
The pork is chopped — nice and moist and smoky (the way BBQ pork should be). The sauce is a freaking MASTERPIECE. Spicy, vinegary, tangy… WOW.
Honestly, this is my favorite BBQ anywhere.
Caveat: I’m not a fan of Brunswick stew, nor a big fan of ribs, so I can’t comment on those. But if you’re craving a BBQ sandwich and you’re ANYWHERE near Macon, you need to stop. (It’s right off 75, on the access road, behind the Longhorn, in a non descript strip shopping center.)
Go there. Your taste buds will be happy. :)

This is authentic «carolina style» bbq. You should ignore negative reviews from those who might be unfamiliar with this style.

Passing through town on the way back from spring break and found this gem. Great value for the large amount of food you get. The best baked beans I’ve ever had! Loved the ribs and chicken plates. Tons of food.

Simple old-​fashioned Georgia* barbecue at its best.
The menu at Fresh Air is pretty simple. I recommend the pork plate. It comes with a serving of chopped pork, coleslaw, brunswick stew, bread, and a pickle spear. Everything is pretty old-​fashioned, like grandma used to make. (A «Special», two sandwiches and chips, is also a good choice. But add a side of slaw to go on the sandwiches) The Macon location offers ribs and chicken, not available at the original Jackson location. They are good, but not as good as the classic chopped pork.
Their sauce is the best I have ever had. It is similar to a western North Carolina «Lexington» style sauce. Primarily it’s a pepper and vinegar sauce, with a little tomato and sugar to round off the edges. If you like your barbecue sweet, Kansas City style, this might not be your thing. A cup of (extra sweet) sweet sweet tea complements the sauce perfectly.
The pork is cooked in large pieces, so it’s not especially smoky, but the fine chop helps mix in the outside pieces.
The Brunswick stew is the best I have ever had and the competition isn’t close. It’s a simple but effective combination of tomatoes, corn, onions and meat.
My grandmother once wrote a recipe for coleslaw, it read: cabbage, mayonnaise. Fresh Air heard that message. The coleslaw relies on the natural sweetness of the cabbage to play first chair and it works. My wife loves (LOVES) coleslaw, she says Fresh Air has the best.
Why do I give Fresh Air five stars? Their coleslaw is the coleslaw against which I measure all others. Their Brunswick stew is the Brunswick stew against which I measure all others. Their sauce… and so on. To me, the barbecue at Fresh Air is the dictionary definition of the word barbecue. It’s what comes to mind when I think of barbecue. Simple smoked pork with a simple tangy sauce.
Fresh Air has been around since 1929 (the original in Jackson, not the Macon «outpost») Little to nothing about their food has changed in those years. It was the best in Georgia for 70+ years. There’s something to be said for that. When I eat Fresh Air it just tastes «right».
*Despite popular conception, Georgia does have it’s own traditional barbecue style. It’s closely related to Western North Carolina (Which it’s usually lumped with) as both were brought down from Virginia along the Great Wagon Road by Scots-​Irish immigrants to the Piedmont. Both favor chopped smoked pork with a vinegar-​pepper-​tomato sauce and chopped coleslaw. The biggest difference is the obligatory Brunswick (See Brunswick, GA) stew in Georgia. Fresh Air is the exemplar.

While in Macon for a conference I went to Fresh Air with a fellow conferee who hails from Springfield, MO.
I’d been very excited to sample Fresh Air’s offerings because i read positive reviews and received several recommendations.
My chum and i agree:
WORST BARBECUE EVER.
Really, the «chopped» pork lacked smoke flavor altogether, had the texture of boiled meat left out to dry, and was served with a small squirt of very thin sauce that proved reminiscent of cheap ketchup cut with white vinegar.
the ribs similarly sported a boiled, gummy texture bereft of smoke flavor. The sauce on the ribs was palatable.
the sweet tea wasn’t even right.
On the plus side, the cole slaw was VERY tasty. Brunswick Stew, not so much.
I ordered:
Barbecue Plate ($ 6.99) — serving of «chopped“pork and two sides
4 ribs
sweet tea.
my bill totaled $ 15.61.
they ought to pay people to eat barbecue this bad. i expect bad barbecue in the deserts of New Mexico, but not in the South.
and my Missouri acquaintance refuses to qualify the nastiness at Fresh Air as «barbecue» as doing so would insult any self-​respecting fan of smoked meat.

Been to Fresh Air a few times over the years when traveling to FL. Macon is a fun stop and Fresh Air seems to always make in on the list of places to stop. The place is not fancy at all, but the staff is consistently nice.
I like their Brunswick stew but wish it wasn’t served in styrofoam. For those that have issues with the BBQ — I wonder it they don’t like the Carolina style vinegar based sauce? I think it is a reasonable example of the style in a basic no frills environment.
Despite the other reviews, I like their BBQ and will continue to pop in when in the area as long as the food is consistently tasty!

Absolutely the best barbeque I have ever eaten. When I was a kid, my parents used to make a stop in Macon to get Fresh Air bbq on our way from Atlanta to St. Simons. I later spent three years living in Macon and absolutely savored having Fresh Air down the street because my family has never found a place that compares to Fresh Air. (Slopes in the Atlanta area is the only thing that has come remotely close.)
The pork is quality meat. You won’t find any nasty chunks of gristle or charred slices. The mild sauce is so tangy that it will make your mouth water just thinking about it; it has the right combination of spices to give it enough kick without being overpowering. (Tip: You can even get a container of sauce to go.) I am not at all a coleslaw person but I will actually eat the slaw from Fresh Air, and the Brunswick stew is incredible.
Do yourself a favor and stop by this great Macon establishment.