Brooks House of Barbecue

I don’t understand the hype. I literally had a waitress tell me not to get an entrée on the menu because it wasn’t good. I ordered their chicken and ended up just eating the sides because it was dry and overcooked. To me, it’s a tourist trap for people passing by on the interstate.

I went to college here fifty (!) years ago. Brooks was the place all the students wanted to go to when their families came to visit: a nice meal!
Since then I have become a vegetarian and then vegan. For that reason I headed straight to their salad bar. It was okay, but far from great. The lettuce at the salad bar could very easily be replaced with either spinach, kale, or both; those would be significantly healthier options.

Tried to stop in, but the restaurant was closed, no sign on the door why. Was looking forward to some ribs.

A famous, delicious BBQ place that has completely earned its delicious reputation. Best coleslaw you’ll find. A local standard and must see, must eat if you’re in the upstate NY region.

I saw Brooks while passing by and it fit a couple of my road tripping rules: It wasn’t a chain and it had an old neon sign. I had no idea it was also steeped in history.
Maybe I’m a giant man-​child, but I can’t stand waiting in line. I saw the line and almost turned around, but my senses were dulled from spending most of the day on the Cooperstown Beverage Trail. Another customer in line told me that after dinner, he’d be ordering seven half-​chickens to go. Seven seemed like an odd number and I assumed this individual was ill.
Turns out that fool was on point! This chicken is fantastic! It’s not Southern-​style BBQ, so don’t come looking for that. This is Cornell-​style chicken and a lot of it. Plus potato, bread, and salad bar for less than $ 11?! As a resident of southern New England, I can tell you that we never see prices like this for quality food.
The restaurant itself reminded me of places from my childhood. A lot of wood and animal heads, plus chicken-​themed wallpaper that my financee loved. All-​in-​all, a great value for great food.

This is a favorite place to eat every time I visit the area. The food is amazing and very filling. Salad bar is included with the meal. Barbecue sauce is out of this world.

Incredibly under rated ribs. Great fast service. Chicken is good, the long marinade makes the chicken tender if a bit soft. Sweet rather than tangy BBQ sauce. Hot sauce is flavorful but not hot. Salad bar is sparse. Nice warm loaves of bread and cinnamon apple ring served on top of meal are nice, memorable, and tasty touches. You will not leave hungry!

I’ve been to Brooks BBQ a number of times and it was OK, but tonight I had the worst chicken EVER. The meat was mushy… not tender, but almost gooey and so salty that I told the waitress to take it off the bill. I don’t mind a little salt, but it was awful. After taking the price of a senior meal off the bill, she charged me $ 4.89 for a little bitty plate of salad (I would have had more salad except that it was getting toward closing time and the salad bar was a mess) and $ 2 for a baked potato that was brown INSIDE… obviously it had been around awhile. This restaurant was going to get the full price of the senior meal regardless of the inferior quality of the food. On the way home, I was feeling queasy and rather ill, barely making it home to get to the bathroom. Thinking I ought to call health department tomorrow. I won’t be going back ever again… and I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

The pulled pork and chicken in their sauce is amazing. Will be back again!

There is only 1 and there will only ever be 1! The chicken is the best chicken in the world. The fries are not average either and are best dipped in the bbq sauce, which is heaven for those who love a sweet bbq sauce. Unless you live in the area and eat here frequently there’s no reason to order anything but the chicken w fries. If you’re a first timer and you comment on their ribs or pork or whatever else they serve then you’re an idiot because this is a chicken place. The other items on the menu are for locals who have had the chicken 10,000 times already. This is the rare kind of place that should not feel the need to change a thing and it will keep being the best because it simply is the best chicken anywhere.

This is an excellent place to eat bbq family style. With a very unique country, community feel, any local would call it home base. The food was good, large portions, friendly staff, and quick service. Great place for large or small groups, and easy place to bring kids. Thanks we will come back!

No, No, No… did I say No?
For real BBQ lovers, consider yourselves warned. You will not like this place at all. I don’t know what food the other reviewers are eating but if they ate what I did tonight, I can’t imagine they would give this place more than one star.
Lets start with the décor. This place opened in 1961. I think thats the last time they remodeled this place. It’s old inside and out. It looks like a weathered diner/​commissary. There is no ambiance whatsoever.
The Food. The salad bar that people rave about consists of lettuce, a few add ons like bacon bits, onions, peppers, olives, one kind of cheese and cucumbers. We ordered the following dinners: BBQ Chicken and Pulled Pork combo and The BBQ Sampler. The chicken tasted like it was simply grilled and had some BBQ sauce thrown on. The ribs, while they fell off the bone, were bland at best. The pulled pork was ok. Gelatinous and tender but slightly bland as well. The sliced beef and pork were pathetic at best. In fact pathetic would have been an improvement. The fries we bland and very greasy/​soggy.
Their BBQ sauce that they are selling is more the BBQ flavored water. It has very little flavor.
I felt bad for the wait staff and hostesses. They all seemed depressed working there. It’s not their fault the place is so bad. Perhaps if the place had some lore ambiance and updated décor they would be a little happier to work there.
If you’re expecting a real BBQ place don’t get your hopes up if you decide to go here.
Oh, by the way… NO!

Best NYS chicken BBQ out there… well…I do really dig Giffy’s and Baker’s too but Brooks is still awesome. I ate here a few times while I was vacationing in the area. I live in Florida now and they know nothing about a proper chicken bbq. Eating at the restaurant is much, much better than getting it at your local fundraiser (where Brooks is known to cater around the state). Stuff your face with a nice salad, enjoy the clam chowder, and chow down a half chicken. GNOM! This place is HUGE with plenty of parking, seating, food, and friendly servers.

I recall my first trip to Brooks feeling like I was doing something really special. The restaurant had been featured on the Food Network and was touted as having some of the best BBQ in the state. Following my initial meal, drunk with the romanticism surrounding the destination, I had proclaimed that it was one of the best meals I had ever had. Perhaps my palate has since changed or perhaps Brooks isn’t what it once was, as my most recent experiences left a lot to be desired.
I most recently visited Brooks in late August and left rather underwhelmed. I ordered the chicken dinner with a baked potato. The meal came with a complimentary salad bar comprised of wilted lettuce and bulk dressings out of a jug. I wouldn’t expect much more with it being free, but that definitely wasn’t my thing. The dinner itself, the chicken specifically, was just okay. The char on the chicken was tasty, but the meat was fairly dry. The baked potato was a bit rubbery, as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp all day. I ended up eating half of the meal but didn’t leave too disappointed because my dish only cost $ 10. Every member of the waitstaff that I encountered was really cheerful and eager to accommodate.
Would I revisit Brooks? The answer is that I probably would, but only because the choices in that area are fairly slim. This is not to say that Brooks is a bad restaurant, because it isn’t. However, the hype surrounding this tourist destination is, in my opinion, entirely overblown.

Being from the area many years ago and familiar with the restaurant (and with family still in close proximity), we decided to do a nice takeout order on a Saturday afternoon (early August) for a family get together.
We ordered take out to feed about 20 people and placed an order the day before. We wanted to make sure all was good so called to confirm about an hour before our planned pick up time of 1:00 pm.
When y the time we showed up a half hour later, our order was confirmed. We waited about 20 minutes or so (still nervous) and our order came out fully boxed and sealed to keep things warm. We had a 20 minute drive and then a half hour wait for guests to arrive before opening the box… the chicken was perfect. We would order again.

This is the place I have to go to every time I am in Oneonta. I always get the sampler platter. The chicken isn’t really the draw for me… it’s the ribs and the sauce. When you enter the first thing they do is provide you with a delicious loaf of bread. Next, you get to help yourself to a salad bar. The salad bar is pretty classic and includes a nice selection of pasta salad and coleslaw.
The chicken wallpaper is also pretty classic! Love it!

Every summer, religiously, I make a 3 hour trek from Rochester to Oneonta for the chicken from Brooks’. I then bring home a horde of their chicken halves, and a bottle or two of their sauce.
You haven’t had barbecue chicken like this in your life, and you will not find it anywhere else.
For Rochesterians, Cooperstown is nearby to Oneonta. A day trip consisting of the Baseball Hall Of Fame + Brooks’ Chicken is an amazing day.
Even after being full of chicken, the SMELL on the way home will still make my mouth salivate. Seriously, it’s THAT good!

Brooks specializes in Cornell Chicken, a marinade recipe developed in the 1940s to promote poultry production. It has a higher than average amount of vinegar and contains a raw egg, which may help emulsify the contents and a Cornell food scientist has assured me is safe because of the acid content. Anyway, it’s delicious.
If you are anywhere in the vicinity of north Oneonta, make it a point to get to Brooks and take out several of their chicken halves. They are tangy, meaty, tender and superior to supermarket rotisserie chicken in every way for not much more money. They are best if you can eat them hot or at room temperature soon after you get them home; chilled out of the refrigerator is next best; I don’t like to reheat them because the tastes seem to separate a bit and the meat dries out.
I have not eaten in, but inspected the premises and think it is a worthy idea. Where else are you going to get a fine served meal for under $ 10 (in most cases) in this day and age?

Winner winner chicken dinner.
We could squabble all day about whether Brooks makes BBQ chicken or grilled chicken. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s freaking delicious. And anyone who says that they can make something even close to this at home is either the most amazing cook in the world with a massive amount of time on their hands, or sorely mistaken.
The flavor of the marinade and the mopping sauce runs deep. Every single part of the half bird is fantastic. The wing is succulent. The thigh is rich. The leg is tender. Even the breast is juicy.
This was my first visit to Brooks and now I’m a lifelong fan. Hopefully this can become a regular stop on our trips back from the family farm in Pennsylvania.
My nits are small.
I’d love to see if they could crisp up the skin on the chicken. Next time I’ll ask, and this alone would bring the place up to a full five stars. For that I could overlook all the broken fries that arrived with the chicken. After all, they were remarkably crisp.
Really, getting sides is a terrible idea anyway. Every bite of a side is one less bite of chicken. And when you can order a half chicken for just $ 5 a la carte, I say just keep ‘em coming until you can’t lick clean one last bone.
Don’t be like me and wait years to make it out to this Oneonta institution. I’m kicking myself for not getting here sooner.

Insanely good chicken! Where on earth did Upstate New Yorkers learn how to make chicken like this. There is a sharp vinegar’y, smokey, bbq’d flavor that I just have difficulty describing. I honestly have never had chicken that tastes like Brooks bbq chicken.
The rest of their food, honestly, is a disappointment but there’s a reason why there’s about a thousand cars a minute in their parking lot and a line outside the door ever afternoon. It’s because of their chicken! Don’t be tempted by the sampler plate like most visitors (and yes, I must admit, like I was :() Go for the gold and order Brooks BBQ Chicken — you will not be disappointed!