Gibson's Bar-B-Q

We grabbed carryout from Gibson's on Sunday. I was somewhat pleasantly surprised after hearing pretty mixed reviews over the years I've lived in Huntsville. It's not my favorite BBQ in the area by any means, but it was better than I'd expected it would be.

They have a very large parking lot that I'd never noticed as being particularly full...until I came around 11 on Sunday. Must attract the church crowd. I understand they are popular for breakfast, too, but I'm rarely in this area that early.

I phoned in my order. I wasn't given a time frame on when it'd be ready, but I just drove over and it was waiting for me about 15 minutes after I called, so that works. They have a designated anteroom for carryout/pickup orders, which I thought was kind of nice. The staff was friendly and welcoming. I ordered the half chicken plate, a loaded pork potato, one sweet tea, and a slice of chocolate pie. My total was $31 before tip.

Unfortunately, despite their pleasant demeanor, service stumbled a bit on getting my order right. I realized before I drove away that I had been given banana cream pie (I think) rather than chocolate. I went inside and they fixed it quickly, but unfortunately I didn't notice until I got home that we were given only a quarter of a chicken rather than a half chicken. It was still enough food for boyfriend, at least, but it's frustrating to pay for more than what you get.

I sampled both of boyfriend's sides and found them lackluster. The fries were under salted and not very crispy, kinda freezer fry vibe, while the macaroni and cheese has that sort of fake cheese flavor you get from something like Kraft. The sweet tea was good, as were the crispy, crunchy hush puppies that came with boyfriend's chicken plate.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the meats. I didn't try the smoked chicken, but boyfriend described it as "pretty good" and polished it all off. The pork on my potato was quite dry, but had a decent smoke flavor. That's the beauty of a loaded potato -- you can counteract dry meat with all the butter and sour cream, lol. Their potato was cooked nicely and included bacon bits, which was a nice bonus. Double pork! The portion size was absolutely massive and there was a ton of meat on the potato. Not mind blowing BBQ, but a decent meal to be sure.

Lastly, the chocolate pie was just okay. A little too saccharine for my tastes; I like my chocolate pie on the darker side of chocolate. The meringue was suuuuuper sweet, too, so I scraped most of it off.

All in all, while this won't be a frequent BBQ pit stop for me, it was better than expected and I enjoyed my meal well enough.

This reminds me of home, always have to have it when I'm back in town. The quarter chicken plate with hushpuppies, French fries and green beans or the Brunswick stew.. honestly everything is great southern bbq AND THE COCONUT PIE

One of my birthday club members' husband had his birthday - 90th ya'll! lunch party here and it was so great to see everyone and enjoy all the Gibson's iconic goodness. I believe we only had tea this visit. Good tea!

The store on Whitesburg drive (now closed) was more convenient to my work and I had breakfast there several times after medical appointments in the area.

The service is always friendly and breakfast is served really quickly, with waitstaff regularly topping off your drinks.

I'm pretty sure this is the last of the Gibson's BBQ restaurants in Madison county.

Their Q is solid and I've always wanted to, but have not yet tried, their Brunswick stew - soon the weather will be perfect for it.

Thanks Gibson's!

What can you say - it's Gibson's. Have been here forever. They are closed until the spring due to a kitchen fire. Maybe that will give them a chance to update the decor, but I doubt they will. The dining room needs a serious makeover. Breakfast is always pretty good, and service is reasonably fast. Wait staff is not particularly friendly. They act as if they are overworked and harried, which is off-putting.

Their barbecue is okay. There are better options in town. Ribs are usually good. Catfish is outstanding and probably the best around. Their side options are somewhat limited and unremarkable. I personally like their vinegar slaw, but I have heard from others that they don't care for it. Don't order the slaw unless you like very vinegar, finely chopped cabbage. It is so finely chopped that sometimes it's like mush. It's very good on the pulled pork sandwich.

One of my favorite restaurants in Huntsville. I have eaten many excellent meals here, but for me, their breakfast is their strongest area. I was seating quickly despite getting there at close to the peak breakfast time. As always, I ordered my eggs over-easy, with grits, country ham, and biscuits. The eggs were within the realm of the way I ordered them, oddly, they were a little stingy on the grits, which is easily the cheapest thing on the plate, I love the biscuits there, so I feel guilty if I ever leave one uneaten, so I tend to over eat a little here. The meal was quite good and what I expect from Gibsons. The perpetually orbiting table bussers are a little annoying, like sharks looking for prey, they are ready to pounce on any dishes you no longer need.

My brother suggested we go to Sunday morning breakfast at Gibson's, it's apparently kind of a family tradition so I agreed. It's also apparently a very popular place, it was certainly a jumpin' joint this morning!

The place almost defies description. For my friends back home, it's somewhere between Webb's and Blue's Egg, probably closer to the Webb's end of the spectrum. As the name implies, Gibson's is primarily a barbecue joint and the decor confirms that. You'll find ceramic pigs scattered around the place along with vinyl, checkerboard table clothes. Staff uniforms (also known as t-shirts) proclaim "Too much pork for just one fork".

But today was breakfast. The breakfast menu is spartan but covers the basic breakfast favorites. Everything is numbered, so I ordered a number 5 scrambled. While we waited, a small boy across the aisle kept us well entertained by singing lots of old classics, like A Tisket A Tasket and so forth.

My one egg arrived scrambled the way I like it, two pieces of wheat toast, two overcooked sausage patties and a bowl of grits. If you live in the north and hate grits the way we get 'em back home, you really must come down south to discover what they really taste like. Skip the sausage. My brother ordered biscuits, they were light and fluffy.

This is a good breakfast spot, no doubt about it!

I am always weary of places that claim to be BBQ but also dabbles in breakfast and other things. I really think a true BBQ joint does just BBQ and does it well because it doesn't bother with anything else. I found this true about Gibson BBQ. But that does not mean it is bad by any means.

My date and I went on a Sunday after the lunch crowd had cleared out. My choice was ribs, pork, beans, and potato salad with hushpuppies. The ribs were pretty good. Not the best ever, but they were satisfying. The pork, on the other hand, was on the dry side and needed something extra. Well, I found that something extra in one of Gibson's BBQ sauce. They call it their hot sauce but vinegar sauce would be a better description. Once I doused my pork in that stuff, it made a world of difference in the taste. Even though the pork was still on the dry side. My date had the beef. If I ever go back, that is what I'm getting. It's not brisket, but more like a shredded roast beef mixed with BBQ sauce. It was way better than the pork.

The potato salad was a mix of mayo and mustard and had a nice, smooth taste to it. The beans were good. They look like Van Camp's pork and beans from a can, but they certainly do not taste like it as they have a very sweet taste to them. Who knows? It might be Van Camp's from the can mixed with a little tomato sauce and sugar added. Either way, they were good.

Gibson's has 3 sauces - the afore-mentioned hot vinegar, a white sauce, and a sweet ketchup base. All sauces were pretty good...I believe I liked the sweet ketchup base one the best. The white sauce was more runny and vinegary compared to other BBQ places white sauce.

Sweet tea was great!

Gibson's wasn't bad. It would not be my first choice for BBQ though in Huntsville.

I live out of state and Gibson's is my #1 go to place whenever I'm back in town. I always get the pulled pork potato and the white sauce is a must. I'm also a big fan of their pecan pie.

As far as BBQ places go, I feel like the food from Dinosaur (Upstate NY) is better, but Gibson's wins with atmosphere because of their relaxed small town sit down vibe.

I know this is a BBQ spot and a lot of people may not come for their breakfast or care to review it. Nothing is really good at all. The biscuit was literally a dinner roll that they slapped some gravy on top of. The food was either too salty to enjoy or tasted old.. I have not had their BBQ so again laugh

Had a nice dinner here the other night, was quick service and nice staff. We came in here hungry and left full. The food was delicious we had hush puppies, fried ocra, fried catfish, pulled pork, ribs, pulled pork sandwich, chicken and barbeque baked beans. All of it was fantastic.