Edley's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Glen Carbon

I called on Mother's Day for a half chicken platter Togo, the guy that took the order did not tell me over the phone that they ran out of bone in and that he put it in as pulled chicken instead. When I came to the location, I came to the takeout door and waited there for a few minutes. The bartender did not see me at all and I decided to go to the girls at the main ordering area and asked where I should pay for my order. They said that the bartender would take care of me.

I walked back to the bartender and to his pickup counter and I was behind another guy. The bartender decided to help the people currently at the bar and people that just came to the bar. Once that was over, the guy in front of me was helped. After that, the bartender decided to continue to ignore me and helped 3 others parties of people that came to the bar. I had enough and went up to his register and asked if I could pay for my order. I paid and then checked my food and saw that it was pulled chicken. I asked the bartender about this and he said they ran out of bone in chicken. The bartender was the one that took my order over the phone (I confirmed if this was the case with the girls). He should have told me over the phone that this was the case.

After that, I decided to go over to the main ordering area to ask for a refund. The girls asked one of the line cooks (I'm assuming he's a manager or shift lead), he said he would take care of me in a couple of minutes. 10 minutes go by and he clearly had other priorities other than helping me real quick. He goes to the cash register and I ask him if I could just get some cash and he says yes; he pulls out money but for someone else. Another 5-10 minutes go by and I ask the girls if he is going to help me and the guy just says yes. Another 5 minutes go by and I just tell him at the window that I will just come back for my food another day or store credit and he just says okay.

I used to be a restaurant manager, so I know what it is like for a restaurant to be busy and it is definitely stressful. However, the restaurant clearly has mismanagement. The bartender should have had a second person at the takeout window to take care of orders. All of the high school girls should have known how to take care of refunds. And the manager or shift lead clearly has terrible customer service skills. Perhaps they were understaffed that day.

I will come back for my food and re rate the restaurant...

Where to begin? Went with my man, and wow. I'll break it down:

BBQ Fries with Chopped Brisket: Easily the best part of the meal. Cheese was amazing. Perfect amounts of each ingredient. Brisket was not fatty or greasy. BBQ sauce was a great combo of spicy, sweet and smoky. It's listed as a shareable appetizer, but it's extremely challenging to share. We're both only children so that may have had something to do with it. 🤷 You could get this as a main dish and be totally happy with life.

Hot Chicken Sammich: We both got this for our entree. When I first looked at it, I thought it would be dry. I was incorrect. Chicken was juicy. Seasoned well. Slaw with pickled Jalapenos. Bread looked big, bit it wasn't overwhelming. Some sort of sauce and/or BBQ sauce. Not too sure on that part. I was too busy eating it.

Fried Pickles: We got this too, and it's the one thing I didn't get a pic of. I don't have much to say about this because it's fried pickles. They all look the same. It was very good. Loved the seasoning. Well done.

As for the joint itself, it's very atmospheric. I liked how the walls opened for an indoor/outdoor scene. It was a very warm day and breezy so that probably added to the ambiance. They have and outdoor TV. Great place to plan a work thing at. Not sure what you call that. I'm too full of brisket and chicken to think of it. Lighting was bright but not obtrusive.

The drinks are self serve at the fountain. Of course there is Sweet Tea for that authentic Nashville experience. I really like the self serve thing. They have some serious meat going on, and you can't wait around for drinks.

Can't speak on booze because I didn't have any. Plenty of people there had some, and they seemed happy enough. All in all it was a great time and I will...

Sorry for the late post, I last visited this location on June 12, 2023. When I first tried the brisket tacos, I fell in love. I got the 2 brisket tacos and they were quite filling. For me, two is all it takes. Aside from giving you a good amount meat on your tacos, the special sauce they use is phenomenal and the deep fried jalapenos gives it an extra kick of spice that I love so much. I have been to this location twice already, once by myself and once with by teenage boys and they loved it.

I wish they could sale the deep fried jalapenos as an extra add-on or something because that is life-changing for a taco especially if you like a spicy kick to your food. My son's ordered the spicy pork tacos, the catfish tacos, my husband had the spicy chicken Nashville tacos, one of my sons had spicy pork, the other had regular pork tacos.

My husband did say that his taco was too spicy, but that's only because he doesn't really like spicy foods and I took a chance and got it anyway, hoping it wasn't too spicy for his liking. Even though he said it was too spicy for his liking he did finish it, I literally kept offering to take his tacos to finish it for him and he wasn't having it. Lol. I tried his tacos and I loved it because I am a spicy-food fan.

Overall, everyone raved about how good the tacos were, the excess oil was a bit distracting, but we still ate it all our tacos, I just assumed it was a one-off situation.

Also, the service is great, they can be very accommodating, they are always professional and smiling, I enjoyed Edley's on every level and will certainly be back and the family wouldn't mind a second round either. Sorey we didn't add a photo, we couldn't wait to eat. Lol.

Thanks for great service, keep up the good work. I love...