Charlie's Chicken & Barbecue — Restaurant in McAlester

Our first time eating at Charlie's Chicken was a mixed bag of good and bad.

First, the bad... I had the sliced brisket dinner. This was likely the worst brisket I've ever had. The brisket definitely had the taste and texture of meat that had been frozen. It certainly wasn't fresh. It was an ugly gray color and had very little taste and it wasn't tender at all. When I removed it from the foil it was wrapped in about 1/4 cup of water came out of the foil with the meat. There was no way the brisket was freshly cooked and cut. Pretty awful. And if I didn't know better I'd say the beans were canned pork 'n beans that had been spiced up. My wife had the chopped brisket. It looked, and tasted, like sloppy Joe meat from a can.

There was some good, too... My wife and I both had coleslaw and we both thought it was good. The Texas toast was also good. The restaurant was clean with an inviting atmosphere. Prices were reasonable. We had very little interaction with the staff but they were generally pleasant and helpful.

While the slaw and toast was good, that's not why we go to BBQ restaurants. We go for the meat...and it just wasn't good so we likely won't be going...

We stopped here on our way traveling to Dallas. I appreciated that it was a quick service where you order at the counter. They do walk around to refill drinks. We got the 1 pound family pack meal. The pulled pork was good, good flavor and a little sweet. The mashed potatoes were instant so that was disappointing. They told me they only have white gravy so that was disappointing as well. The chicken chunks seemed a little overcooked. The chicken in the chunks was not juicy or tender. We did not try the bone in chicken. I didn't think the breading on the chicken had much flavor. The fried jalapenos were ok but they only had packet ranch which wasn't that great. Wish they had homemade ranch. The macaroni and cheese was ok. Tasted like those deluxe boxes of Kraft, did not taste homemade, but was still creamy and good enough for kids. Family 1 pound pack meal was plenty for family of 3-4. Restaurant and restroom were clean. They had nice clean baby high chair seats. Atmosphere is casual and very...

Charlie's Chicken is average the mashed potatoes and white gravy average mac and cheese below-average green beans just okay the barbecue chicken would have been really really good if it had barbecue sauce on it barbecue sauce had dried up the fried chicken is really really good just really salty I love well seasoned chicken but even from me this was salty I guess North Carolinians are the only ones that bake their macaroni and cheese macaroni and cheese should be an experience noodles with cheese sauce on it is not really good and it has no flavor I don't eat beef and pork so I did not try their pork menu their parking lot is full my experience just eating chicken was not that great I spent $21 and did not finish my mealsI would not go back there to eat again I now know why everyone looks so sad they lost an employee that breaks my heart that people feel that hurt I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend and you're employee my condolences to the family to all that loved him/her ...