Gus’s Fried Chicken

Food is awesome and prices are too but don’t come here if you expect good or average customer service expect mediocre service. The place is super small and parking lot is a mess as well.

Went for lunch at 12:30pm. At 1:35pm, we still didn’t have our food, but people who arrived after us had their’s. The food is real good, but at this location, be prepared to wait.

Everything it’s supposed to be and then some. If your lucky enough to eat here go for it in a big way! Service like your at someone’s house not like your at a restaurant. We ate Helens BBQ for lunch and were not even hungry when we got here. We ate so much food it was ridiculous! Get thighs and every dessert on the menu. I’ve had Willie Mae’s scotch house a few times and Gus’s is better. F it, I’ll say it, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Southern Comfort food doesn’t quite appeal to me when the setting isn’t comfortable and the food is pretty bland. Multiple items on the menu were unavailable and I ended up waiting 45 minutes for fried chicken. The baked beans tasted like they were out of the can and the sweet tea and potato salad were unavailable. The service was whack, I waited forty five minutes for food and rarely got check in on. When I asked for an itemized receipt, it was an ordeal. Then I was scolded for not saying thank you. Yeah not headed back.

I’ve eaten at Oakland, front street, Cordova, and horn lake, but this is my first time here in mason. This Gus’s blows them away and I think I understand why. This is not some franchise that employees cheap labor. This is not a restaurant that people can work here a short time and then move on. This is not just a job to these people. Rather, it is their way of life.
As I understand it, Vernon (Gus) and his wife Gertrude Bonner opened a little shack here in 1953. Nobody really knows how they do what they do, but everyone agrees they do it well. They raised their kids here, who then carried out the tradition. They also raised their kids here, who also carried out the tradition. These are not employees, they are owners. This is the life that their grandpa made for them, and I bet he’s proud of his granddaughters.
There was a fire in 2002, which in the long run might not have been such a bad thing because it allowed them to expand and do what they do even better. Tidbit: I read that the community pitched in to build this building. Nothing fancy, just mismatched chairs and tables. Some chairs even look like hand me downs from a school. The chicken is what is special. It’s a legacy more than 60 years old. It’s good yall! Thank you for the hard work you do!

This is the original Gus’ location and in my humble opinion the best!
No frills, no ambiance, just down home awesome chicken, always fresh and consistent!
I have even taken two boxes with me on a trip to Los Angles, and everyone on the plane wanted to know what I was taking to California!
You will not get the attention or «service» as you will at the Memphis or other locations, the menu is simple as this is just as it has been since it opened, and I wouldn’t change a thing! I always take my friends from out of town here and they see what all the fuss is about!
Just the right amount of spice and it is about the only fried chicken I will eat!
Also to be fair I have eaten at the other locations and no it is not the same, it’s close, but not the same!
The location you see on TV is downtown Memphis and it is good, but not like Mason!
Come out to the country, it’s well worth the trip!

We had a group trip to Memphis and picked Gus’s based on the reviews and the appearance on MvF. There was a 30 minute wait at 2 p.m. due to the popularity. The fried chicken is very good. Not the best I have had but in the top 10. The sides were great and service was fantastic. As other reviewers have noted, don’t expect a fine dining experience but expect great food.

I’m going to be frank in this review. This is the best fried chicken you will ever eat in your entire life. I’ve gotten about 5 or 6 meals here for free because I will bet my friends on how good it is, and I always win. I always tell my friends «This is literally the best chicken you will have in your life, if its not the meal is on me.» They are always skeptical because it is in the middle of no where, but they always end up loving it and buying my food. The chicken is perfectly fried with a crisp breading on the outside and just enough spice to give it some personality. Whether you are a born and raised southerner like me or if you are a traveler from afar you will love this place.
Attention: Do not come to this place expecting 5-​star service or even close to the same experience at the Memphis location. This isn’t a commercialized restaurant. If you want fancy sides and a smiling waitress then go to some chain casual dining restaurant. This place is a hole in the wall and they treat it as such.
In summary, if you love fried chicken you have to come here. If you want atmosphere, lots of options, or great service, go somewhere else. Still say this is the best chicken I have ever had in my life.

Good as I ever had!!!
Great sides, desserts & even a cold 40 to wash it down!!! Pretty unique !!

Let’s be honest. If you’re eating in this location you’re probably either:
a. a local
b. someone who’s heard a lot about Gus’s and
is curious to try it out
c. already a huge fan of their delicious spicy
chicken and want to see where it all began. Regardless, you did not come to Macon, TN looking for a fine dining experience and all the fancy «real tableware» or «good service» that might come with it. You came for hot and spicy chicken, right?!
We were definitely in the «c» category. This was the fourth Gus’s location that we’ve been to, and we have never had a bad meal at any of them. They’ve all been pretty consistent, and we didn’t expect this one to be much different in terms of food quality. However, like our friend (who IS a local had tried to tell us) the chicken is, if this is even possible, BETTER at this location than any of the others. D and I decided that it’s even crispier, while still managing to be just as juicy and delicious as ever!
Yes, this spot is out of the way. Yes, they have a more limited menu than some of the Memphis locations. Yes, it is old, and not in a quaint «retro» kind of way. Yes, our server was actively talking on her cell phone when she took our drink order. None of that mattered, though, because when it came down to it, our chicken was hot and delicious and left us wanting more!

I love chicken and when I heard about Guss’s well U had to come check them out. I must say that I was not let down. The chicken was amazing and it was fresh and hot when it got to my table. My top chicken places are Publix (this is a grocery store, but baby the chicken is everything!) and then Popeyes. I know can say that Guss’s has made it to my chicken list. They have now open one up in Atlanta, but I am still going to go to the first store to check them out.

UNBELIEVABLE! I’ve never had such terrible service and treatment. I came to this location to visit the original, having already been to the Memphis location.
1. They don’t have the same items available on the menu
2. They don’t even SERVE half the sides that ARE on the menu
3. It’s a dump in here. It’s filthy, chairs laying sideways in the floor? Don’t even look at the «kitchen», BTW…
4. Terribly rude service. No one came to refill our beverages (or bevrages as printed on the menu), I had to go to the counter to ask for a check, got told I needed to wait while she ignored me. Then threw my check at me, no thank you, not even a hint of acting like a humane person.
If this is the original, I have no idea how they ever even got a second location, let alone have this junk pit stay open and become a franchise.
My parents are locals and you’ve lost them for good. I was visiting, but surely won’t be patronizing your new location in my town. Good luck surviving with your crap service.

Items Selected:
Four Piece + a Breast with Beans, Slaw, Bread
Pecan Pie
Chess Pie
Banana Pudding
Now available in a few US Cities, with more to come, the story of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken began in Mason Tennessee, and located a bit off the beaten path between Nashville and Memphis along Hwy 70 a pilgrimage to the place where it all started is perhaps not on everyone’s agenda, yet for those willing to make the thirty minute diversion a rewarding experience is available, the small hall steeped in as much history as it is in oil and spices.
Officially built and opened in 1973 by Gus’s father, a carpenter named Napoleon who handed a recipe much older than the space down to his son, the small house containing an open kitchen and dining area with décor that seems unchanged since long before Gus’s 2007 passing is a homey sort of place and with nothing but locals present as three women cooked while a fourth provided charming service the order essentially wrote itself — one half a bird with sides and two desserts, a complimentary third as an added bonus to take on the road.
Fried to order, but merely a fifteen minute wait compared to the hour-​long lines at the famous Memphis location, it was largely listening to locals kibitz with one another that we waited and no sooner had we finished our beverages that refills were offered along with the object of our desire, each bite of the juicy bird rife with seasoning and spice without being «hot» and the skin literally shattering to tooth, any bits that fell off placed on a piece of white bread with a dash of hot sauce making a sandwich every bit as delicious as it was debaucherous.
Personally finding the slaw to be a bit too one-​note and creamy, but impressed by baked beans with a nice nose of smoke, it was onward to desserts that the meal progressed and with each pie emerging from the oven no more than a half hour prior to service the creamy custard of the Chess was just set while the warm Pecan slice was almost entirely lacking in ‘filler,’ both texture and flavor benefitting tremendously with a buttery nuttiness as opposed to overt sweetness — a descriptor no one would rightfully apply to a jar of pudding that featured bananas at their peak of ripeness in a creamy housemade base with whipped cream and ‘Nilla wafers not for lack.

Yes, I’ve been to the original. My dad’s family happens to yield from Mason, TN so I grew up eating at this place back when the original «Gus» was manning the fryers (my grandma used to live down the street). My dad used to bring me here and I would sit on a stool while he would go back in the back and chat up Vernon while he was making the chicken.
I didn’t eat here as much as you might think because I’m convinced while my dad was chatting up Gus he was also watching exactly how the chicken was made (I believe there’s a sixth person who knows the world famous recipe). My dad’s chicken tasted remarkably similar but sadly that recipe died with him long ago.
In any case, this place is damned good and holds a special place in my childhood. Try the original and leave happy.

Heading back from Memphis on Sunday afternoon, I found myself in Mason Tennessee. Little more than a wide spot in the road northeast of Memphis on Highway 70, there are a couple of gas stations, a Dollar Store and what seems to be the main attractions, Bozo’s Hot Pit BBQ and Gus’s Fried Chicken. I had eaten at the Collierville franchise location of Gus’s the day before, so was really looking for some BBQ. Bozo’s is closed on Sundays, so I decided to go to the place that started the legend of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken.
The building was just what I expected; a not-​so-​modern version of the roadside restaurant you see on the backroads everywhere throughout the South. Modeled after the original building, which was probably a repurposed house, it still had the same down-​home feel that separates these places from all the retro-​imposters.
The staff were friendly enough, although I could tell I had come on the downhill run of what was probably a busy week and they were all tired. I ordered my standard two piece dark plate with beans, slaw, and a drink and sat down to wait. There were quite an interesting mix of patrons in the place; several well dressed middle-​aged church goers, a dad with his two young daughters, a couple of camouflaged good olé boys and a drunk guy drinking a 40 and arguing with his girlfriend who was trying to get him to come home. All the makings for a bad reality TV show!
My plate came out and I got down to business. The chicken was on the smallish side, but what really disappointed me was the fact that the chicken obviously had been cooked a while ago and then re-​heated to the point it that is was way overcooked. It wasn’t spicy at all and the color was a disturbing dark brown. It didn’t taste bad, it just that I was looking forward to what was supposed to be some of the best fried chicken ever. This was not that chicken. The beans and slaw were nothing special, but I can live with that because that’s not what this place is about. The Fluffy brand white bread was an authentic touch though.
If I happen to be traveling through Mason again, I will stop, get another two piece dark plate and update my review. Only the potential of this place will cause me to go out of my way to return. This could be the first time I found that a franchise was better than the original.

I read/​hear/​see things about many different places. Sometimes I check out these places and sometimes not. During my recent trip to Tennessee I made a trip out to get some «World Famous» fried chicken from Gus’s. This ended up being the best thing I ate during my trip. The chicken was fantastic, the best I have ever had. The restaurant is a total dive and if you are picky you may even think it was kinda yucky. The service was good and the food came fast. The sides were good but the chicken was seriously amazing. I am a chicken freak and this made me so, so happy. I wish I had some Gus’s right now! If I am ever in the area again I will make another stop here, no question.

I went here on Wednesday afternoon for lunch. It was about a 35 – 40 min ride each way. Upon arrival we were told it would be 20 min and 45 min later I was still waiting on my food.
The chicken was ok, but not worth the drive or the wait.
Now, on the other hand they have a dessert called a checked square (I think that’s what it is) and now that was worth the drive but they are prepared and always ready for pickup. NO wait!!!

Go for the fried chicken, fantastic — ⁵⁄₅ stars!
Slaw is a bit runny, beans are good, ³⁄₅
We will keep coming back for the breasts, succulent, perfectly-​seasoned, DO NOT put anything on them until you have eaten one as is…
Service is good, y’all do need better utensils, the plastic forks are flimsy and I like a knife to cut the meat… really a use-​ur-​hands place!

This chicken is hands down the best I’ve had. Flavorful, not over battered, and just a little spice for a nice kick.
«It’ll make you wanna slap yo mama,» as the trucker next to me told me.

If this place was solely based on chicken, I would give it 4 stars but its a restaurant, so there are other things to consider. First off the restaurant itself has the feeling of an old greasy country shack… that is cool! It fits the nature of a southern fried chicken diner. I like the feel and trashy décor. You would feel like a fool eating greasy crisco fried chicken on white linen unless at a country club or an antebellum home in the heart of Mississippi.
The chicken was great… very crisp crust, spicy, juicy, perfect. Pieces were a little small but still great! What is not good are the sides… They suck! Slaw– you can get better from Kroger, Potato salad– just ok, Baked BBQ Beans– runny and flavorless, and two pieces of plain white bread– really?
Now for the gimmicks… Paper plates, plastic forks, and paper napkins. Come on guys! Plastic and cheapest napkins ever… I know it’s part of the image but it sucks. Plastic and paper is made for picnics, if even then.
I have eaten at many Gus’s so wanted to try the Original… Same food, different location, same gimmicks. Still ok though!
Even though there are negatives… I would still go back many times because it is better than KFC and I love fried chicken.