Pat James' Full Moon Bar-B-Que
525 25th Street South, Southside, 324-1007
2000 Patton Chapel Road, Hoover, 822-MOON (6666)
4635 Hwy. 280 East, Inverness, 991-7328
337 Valley Ave., Homewood, 945-9997
www.fullmoonbbq.com
In our opinion, what was once the best BBQ in Bham has gone downhill since they expanded beyond two locations. When it's good, the meat is tender, the sauce a perfect blend between zesty and sweet, the spicy relish and pickles a perfect addition to the sandwiches. And the "sides" are just as good, whether it's the steak fries, marinated slaw, key lime pie or decadent "half-moon" chocolate-dipped chocolate chip cookies. A top 10 finalist in the Birmingham News' "Best Ribs in Birmingham" contest, 2008.
Deborah Lockridge
7 Comments
Reader Comments (7)
After a long night of Christmas shopping, we decided on some BBQ and decided to visit Pat James Full Moon BBQ in Hoover. We both ordered a BBQ pork plate with onion rings, fries and potato salad as our sides. We were both a bit disappointed with our visit this time. Every other time it has been really good. This time, the meat did not have a lot of taste to it. It was very bland The only thing saving the pork was the sauce. It is one of the best BBQ sauces that I have tasted. The fries were standard steak fries. The potato salad was a bit runny and not all that good. The onion rings were pretty good. It was one of the better things we had that night. I usually would recommend Pat James to anyone, I still do but maybe try the one on Valley Ave. (December 2003)
We have eaten at two of their locations. The one in Hoover was not very good. The pork was very greasy. The Alabaster location was just OK. About a 6 on a 10 scale.
Average bbq, never been a big fan. The meat never tasted bbq'd to me. One of my good friends swears by their ribs...but I don't see it.
Very inconsistent since the recent expansion. Still a good bet for BBQ in a city whose BBQ institutions are declining.
I went to the Valley Ave location around 1:15 on a Sunday afternoon. When I walked in I almost immediately found myself giving my order. Little did I know there was a table of 30 and another 6 table of 2 plus three to go orders already ordered in front of me. A half hour later I received my order with not a single word from the server during my wait or when my food was handed to me. When a customer has to wait that long wouldn't it be appropriate to minimally acknowledge the inconvenience? Maybe even offer me a cookie on the house. I got neither and would have been satisfied with the former. I agree with the other reviews that the food has become ordinary. I don't see myself giving them another chance to change my mind.
Why would you put Chow Chow on a BBQ sandwich? This joint is awful.
Actually, I like the chow-chow on the sandwiches. Unfortunately, the quality of the food and service has declined since it was just a single location on Southside.