Bea's Restaurant — Restaurant in Chattanooga

A Chattanooga institution, Bea’s celebrated 75 years in May. I remember going once as a child (there were probably several visits, but I have only vague memories). It’s family style and you could find yourself with your own table, or if it’s crowded, you might be given an opportunity to make new friends. Service is charming and on-point. Extra helpings is not a problem. And the menu? I’m told to check their Facebook page if you want the daily menu. But it’s really kinda like eating at your Nanna’s—- food is put on the table eat it or don’t. A variety of dishes will be brought out and placed on a turntable in the center of your table. Pitchers of iced tea and water, along with extra napkins and condiments sit ready. Today included pinto beans (chow-chow available upon request), collard greens, coleslaw, potato salad, beets, fried okra, two types of chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, chicken wings, and pulled pork. Remember, eat what you want. It’s all the same price. Collard greens are making a come-back in uppity cuisine, but they never lost favor in some circles. These were excellent—I’m not an expert, but I got seconds—give them little splash of hot sauce or hot peppers for a bit of a kick. They weren’t finely chopped and cooked to mush. Rather they were big chunks soaking up their cooking liquids waiting for some hot sauce and pintos. Coleslaw was good and fresh. Potato salad was excellent—slightly tart. Fried okra was of the frozen variety, but you can’t get the volume Bea’s goes through fresh, so it’s all good. Fried chicken had a nice crunchy coat, but under seasoned and a funky back flavor that made me think they needed to change the grease. The pulled pork was good, especially when you gave it a splash of barbecue sauce and ate it with the coleslaw. I’m not a chicken and dumplings fan, but I did try the flat dumplings and found them tasty. My companion didn’t care for the pillowy style. Pinto beans and chow-chow— if you aren’t used to it, it may sound strange. Damn solid home cooking, though. However, where they excelled were the wings. I am indifferent to wings—a lot of work for minimal effect, usually over-cooked, and too messy for public consumption. These! Wow! They were cooked to juicy perfection in a peppery vinegar sauce-salty at the front, nice heat at the back. I ate 1 to say I tried them for a review. I ate 4 more to make sure I really liked them. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) No meal would be complete, according to my grandmother, without bread. We were served a selection of cornbread and rolls. The cornbread was slightly overdone, but slathered with butter and pinto beans you hardly noticed. Rolls were fine. My grandmother also believed every meal required a bite of sweet at the end. Cherry cobbler was on the menu. Ice cream is $2 extra, so that was a little annoying. I have to be honest, the crust was tough and soggy. But the filling was good and I enjoyed it with the ice cream. I began my review with acknowledging the age of this eatery. The teal chairs feel like they are straight out of 1960s the floor is that antique broken pottery in tan and red, and I doubt you’d be able to find those double-stack turning tables anywhere any more. The ceiling tiles sag a bit in places. The exterior is utilitarian brick—and mildly uninviting. The neighborhood feels sketchier than it is. You pay first—at $18.00 a person and drinks are extra. The counter is cluttered with candy bars and mints and gum. Don’t pay attention to the “menu” behind the cashier—listen to their instructions, you’ll be fine. It is a little bit pricey? Yes. In fact, I’d say it’s more per person than some of the trendy places down town. On the other hand, Bea’s has survived for 75 years serving exactly what they served up today. There were several generations there today. I have to say it made me smile. Longhorn on Market is gone, as are so many of the old school restaurants that made Chattanooga dining a unique experience. This one is worth...

From the moment I walked in I was hit with this ominous odor of dust, must, and, perhaps, sewage. Entering anyway, I paid $20 (before tax) for a "buffet" at your table with no drink. Immediately I was concerned at the uncleanliness I was presented with. Uncovered pitchers of water and tea sat at each table, left there permanently from patron to patron until emptied and consumed. Who knows what the last people who sat at this table dropped unintentionally into these drinks. The ceiling was breaking open and coming apart in places. The base boards were broken and dirty. The chairs felt sticky. There were crumbs all around the pitchers and napkins and BBQ sauce bottle on the table. It was... not good.

The food was served in shareable portions with plates to dispense to. I received fried chicken breast, ham, pulled pork, and about 5-6 sides. The best items were the chicken and ham. Everything else varied in degrees of adequate to bad. I took one bite of several of the sides and wrinkled my nose at the bland, unpleasant taste. If I had to pick a best side, I guess I'd say it was the pickled beets. Though the fried chicken was good, it wasn't exceptional, and I could get equally good fried chicken from my hometown Popeyes. Dessert was peach cobbler. It was okay, but syrupy sweet, gelatinous goop with canned peaches, and I only ate 3-4 bites of the large portion they gave me before deciding I was done.

The best thing I can say about this experience, is that the waitress was very friendly and kind and helpful and agreed with us that thwre was a bad odor and the restaurant seemed unclean.

I would sooner go to Golden Corral, wich is cheaper, has much more variety, and, is frankly better. Seeing as Golden Corral is barely adequate itself... That tells you something.

Not sure how this restaurant is still going without deep cleaning and renovating at the least.

IN REPLY to Bea's reply to my review:

Oh, believe me, it was specifically as soon as I walked into your restaurant that the odor (must, dust, and sewage) hit me. Not before or after. So don't worry. I don't have covid 😉

As for "maintaining" your restaurant for 75 years... well, you're clearly not maintaining it. Maybe maintaining the way it's run, but not maintaining the restaurant itself. It seems to be wearing all 75 of those years and desperately needs upkeep. If this level of clean is what you call "deep clean" then I'm afraid for what a quick clean must look like. The pictures I attached were bits and pieces of the grime as a whole and didn't remotely cover everything. There was dust, rust, crumbs, stains, and grime everywhere.

Food taste varies wildly, but as someone who cooks at home as well as traveling a lot and eating at many different restaurants, I understand food and could list two dozen country restaurants and three "family style," "buffet at your table" restaurants with better food (Farmer's Daughter in Chucky, TN; The Kitchen in Jonesborough TN; and Dan'l Boone Inn in Boone, NC) one of which has been around for over 50 years and yet somehow manages to keep its restaurant free of odors, upkept, rust-free, and clean.

I don't have anything against you, personally. But in my opinion, restaurants should maintain a level of cleanliness to remain open. Not sure how yours managed to pass the test based off of everything I saw without doing more than a general glance around the rooms. Regardless, others ought to know what to expect before they venture in. Had I seen a review similar to mine before making the trip to your restaurant, I would have saved us both the time...

I was in Chattanooga for a business trip and asked my local contact where a good place to eat would be that wasn't a chain, had great food and might reflect some good southern cooking. Immediately he blurted out, "Bea's!" Before he could tell me why, a stranger nearby who overheard him butted into the conversation. He went on and on about the food, the atmosphere, and what he called "pully bones", a term I had never heard before. I found out that he was talking about fried chicken with part of the wishbone still attached, and he said it was the best chicken in the world.

So Sunday afternoon we stopped by for an early dinner at Bea's. Sure enough the place was an older, modestly decorated old home cooking type of restaurant. Many people were seated as we were, at a round table with a lazy Susan type rotating tray in the middle. Soon that was filled with wonderful serving dishes piled with pully bones, pickled beats, turnip greens, smashed potatoes, okra, corn, barbecued meat, and many other items.

The corn bread was terrible. Maybe we caught them at the end of a batch that had been sitting for awhile, but it was dry, flavorless and heavy. That was the only bad item served to us. The rest was delicious!

When I tried the pully bone chicken I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but my business contact said that the dish we were serving ourselves from was not fresh and complained that it was sub-standard. I told him he was spoiled and couldn't imagine it being any better. But then the pully bone chicken dish was replaced with a fresh one and was he ever right! Unbelievable tenderness and flavor! I have had fried chicken all over the country, including the south when we lived in Georgia. But never have I experienced food as good as the pully bones we had that day. It was worth the whole business trip just to eat them.

The server was very prompt and conversational and constantly asked us what we might want more of which she quickly brought out. We ate until we couldn't get any more into us. Then she said that for $4.50 we could fill up a take-out container with anything remaining on the table. We opted for those so we could have tasty leftovers the next day. Best leftovers I've ever had.

When I'm in Chattanooga again I will be sure to...