By far my favorite place to eat. You can beat the family owned, old time atmosphere. My family has travelled to Chattanooga for 3 generations for this awesome all-you-can-eat jewel. read more

The staff was doing a good job keeping things clean and sanitized, but there is one health issue that I found offensive on more than one level. Customers who were waiting in line to enter the restaurant are allowed to come inside the restaurant and stand near the tables close to the entryway. These customers should be required to wait in the enclosed foyer until their table is ready. As the line grew longer and waiting customers grew hungrier, they inched their way inside the restaurant until the coke machine was blocked and people were almost standing against the backs of the chairs where dining customers were seated. The waiting customers were not kept at a 6-foot distance and dining customers do not appreciate strangers looking at their food and talking in such close proximity to their food. read more

This is a great place and a must try if you're in the area, the menu is simple and delicious fried chicken, bbq,and a third meat which varies daily. Other items include slaw,potatoes, beans,potato salad, and rolls, with cobbler for dessert. Tea,and water to drink, there's a coke machine if you prefer that not included in the price. Great experience and very unique dining with the lazy Susan, highly recommended this historic all you can eat restaurant. read more

We've been going to Beas for over 50 years. Not much has changed. Always fried chicken, potatoes, pinto beans, and rolls or cornbread on the lazy Susan that rotates for guests to replenish their plates. Always eat as much as you want. They now offer the ability to take leftovers home, fee applies. We will always keep coming back. read more

This is it real deal southern cooking ,the absolute best fried chicken i have ever ate in my life ( sorry mom ) no menu just sit down and hold on , they bring small platters of southern favorites place on a lazy susan and continue to bring more of the same as you devour all the delectable fixings ,then when you think you can eat no more they bring out peach cobbler Outstanding read more

I would like to preface this by stating that I love southern food, I love sweet tea. I have grown up eating at mom and pop restaurants like Bea's. However, this place is an exception. The environment is nostalgic and the sweet tea is phenomenal, but the food (oh the food) will leave you begging the good Lord for mercy on your ride home. That after affects of the food here is comparable to some Old Testament punishment. When three out of the three people you went with left with some kind of stomach issues you know something is wrong. read more

The only thing I found good was the fried chicken and the ckicken n dumplins. First of all the place is old as dirt nothing has ever been updated.I found it to be dirty and just prayed we wouldn't get sick! The potato salad and cole slaw were already sitting with the potato salad already been eaten out of. Water rings stoll on the table and not cleaned well from previous diners. Something floating in the tea. The worst bbq I have ever tried, cornbread was old, greens and okra were decent. Potatoes in a thick sauce bit flavorless. Pinto beans most likely from a can. Cherry cobbler was cherrys in sauce! Bowls are replaced without asking mostly. There was a lot of food left on our table so I can't help but wonder if all this food is wasted or reserved either way is bad!!! Yuk yuk yuk...an experience I won't foget! I can't get over how this place is still in business! read more

Chasing the Dragon at Bea's When I arrived in Chattanooga 26 years ago a friend took me to Bea's. Being broke, hungry, and unfamiliar with Chattanooga's restaurants, I enjoyed the food. It was almost home-cooking. Since 1987 though, my repeat visits have never equaled that first visit in taste. I'll admit that buffets, lazy Susan style, and eating with groups of unknown people at the table do not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. But each repeat trip over two decades (the last few at the request of friends or clients) leaves me wondering what happened. The good flavor of the food has dropped. That can be as much the abilities of the cooks as quality of the food. In earlier times bacon grease, lard, salt, all those things that make for good southern-style foods now seem non-existent or incorrect. Even the taste of the much vaunted fried chicken is lacking. Whether it's the cooking or quality doesn't matter if the taste isn't right. I'm also more aware of overall cleanliness and appearances than before. There's something about the old building and location that doesn't sit well with me (many newer restaurants have me questioning the cleanliness as well). My last visit cinched it. I didn't care for the manners and food etiquette of others at the table, the food was lacking in taste, and the price was too high for the experience. To those who enjoy Bea's please continue to do so, but I've slain that dragon for good. read more

Southern' food -- family style!!! I love this place. The ambiance is southern casual with a touch of home. Be prepare to be seated with others and let the conversations flow. This is one of the best part of Bea's -- you get to enjoy great food with others. No worries if you're shy, you'll feel at home in seconds. The lazy susan is constantly replenished with piles of fried chicken, baked beans, cornbread, collar greens and other side dishes that the kitchen serves up depending on the market availability. Save room for dessert, the peach cobbler, you'll be happy you did. The buffet, $10/per person, is still one of the best in town. read more

You haven't had friend chicken or peach "cobbla" til you've been to Bea's. I'm pretty sure it's just over $10 a person, now, so that pushes it over the "cheap" range. Regardless, if you're visiting, you just have to try it. Good 'ol home cookin' that's been done right ever since I can remember. If you're a group of 4 or less, you'll probably be sitting with a stranger or three around the lazy-susan. Oh, and that fried chicken is incredible. Watch your hands, 'cause I'm givin' the wheel a spin. You gon' eat yo cone-bread? Hell yeah I'm gon' eat my cone-bread! Yeah, the fried chicken is THAT good. read more

A Chattanooga classic. The food is always good. I have never been disappointed. The restaurant is unique. Instead of eating alone you are seated with others. It can be fun mostly has. Once we had snobs their loss not mine. Hands down this place has best fried chicken. I have heard others say champys does. It was barely edible. Dry and tasteless. Awesome deserts like i said the food is consistently good. Also one of the few remaining family owned businesses in America. They have employed the same wait staff for 30 yrs. Take that corporate America. read more

4 stars for the fun unique experience but the food may be 3 stars. You sit at round tables with a lazy Susan centered. It turns and brings out the country classics directly in front of you so then you serve yourself from a family style menu! No selections here.... It is daily planned! Would recommend but not for the healthy weight conscious! Loo read more

Down home Southern Cooking, man o man! Words will not give the restaurant justice. This restaurant was est.1951, all you can eat Soul Food. Chicken,ribs,greens,beans,corn bread,rolls. Stew potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato salad, cole slaw, cobbler, im sure im missing stuff as well. Food is put in small dishes and you spin the table to get what you want, family style dining. Had a great waiting staff, very friendly and knowledgeable about Bea's.... A MUST TRY RESTAURANT, WHOLE IN THE WALL GREATNESS!!!...... read more

Bea's Restaurant - Great experience, if im ever come back to Chattanooga I WILL BE BACK!! - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Bea's is the greatest restaurant sod all time when eating the chicken you know there is no better restaurant the peach cobbler, potatoes, rolls, cornbread, and beans are also great the sweet tea is some of the best ever and even though the portions are smaller it's ALL YOU CAN EAT read more

Solid-solid-solid buffet-style home style meals. Fried fish was excellent, as was the fried (see a pattern, here?) Chicken. The sides of pinto beans, mac 'n cheese, incredible cole slaw (!) potatoes made as good a home meal I've enjoyed since I've left home. April, our server, made certain that our Lazy Susan carousel of delicious food items was never lacking, always replacing food dishes exactly when needed, as well as bringing extra ice for our teas. I'll admit, the thought of sitting at a table with strangers while we spun the food carousel was a bit "off-putting" - but the conversation and comradely attitudes of our fellow diners quickly won us over to the concept. Plus, the effect of the carousel serving concept was almost cornucopia-like: Whenever a serving dish began to run low, it 'magically' reappeared refilled on the next pass! Okay, the 'magic' was Ms April! Bea's is a place that (honestly) generations of locals quietly attend and support. "A word; to the wise......." Paved parking lot, room along the back for large vehicles. Great ADA access! Senior discount for those of 60 years of age; which is just a tad 'under' how long Bea's has been serving their scrumptious meals. Eat here, and drive a short distance and visit Walter A. Woods, an old-school hardware institution. read more

Great no-frills food! The food is great, the price is fair and the service is attentive. I would go back anytime!

The place to go if you're looking to throw down on some good ol' southern homestyle cooking. I love their green beans, mashed potatoes, okra, rolls and awesome sweet tea. I love the homey feeling of the round tables with the lazy susan service. It's just a really comfortable place to reconnect with the family. I'd recommend it (: read more

BEST Fried Chicken ALL YOU CAN EAT Buffet EVER!!!! If you want to have the best traditional southern comfort food, please come here. I know most people don't like to share a table with strangers, if that's true, invite some friends. But the food is amazing!! read more

I had wanted to eat here for 3-4 years and finally made my way over. I wasn't impressed or non-impressed either with the food. It was neither great nor bad. I was with my son and daughter, my daughter did not like the chicken so she didn't eat it. My son and I did, and we both got sick that evening. Can't say if it was the food there or not but I know I can't think about that chicken now without feeling nauseous! read more

I loved the concept and really wanted to love this quaint restaurant but they failed to deliver. Loads of food is brought to you and served on a lazy susan for you to eat until you drop...the lazy man's buffet! What's not to love? We were served fried chicken, fried fish and pulled pork along with whole potatoes in a tasteless gravy, generic mac and cheese, pinto beans and dinner rolls. All of the food was less than luke warm. Toward the end of the meal cole slaw was added to the table along with the desserts (overly sweetened strawberry cobbler and crunchy banana pudding). I've never had banana pudding with cruncy Nilla wafers before but it didn't create a good texture for me. Overall I was not impressed with the food or service. read more

Everyone in Atlanta told us we just had to eat at Bea's if we were headed to Chattanooga, so we took the advice and weren't disappointed. What they didn't tell us is that we'd be sitting at a table with 6 other people - which in our case turned out to be a family with 4 kids! Although a little hectic with the kids constantly turning the lazy susan, it was fun and actually hilarious at times. The food is stereotypical southern-fried, so we definitely had our cholesterol fix for the month. The signature chicken is scrumptious, but my husband loved the veggies more than I did. My first time for pickled beets, and I was surprised to find I kinda dig 'em (haha, no pun intended). The peach cobbler was maybe the best part of the meal, so save room! read more

Bea's is quite the experience. The food is so good!!! You HAVE to go... Especially if you've never been before... Sweet yea and fried chicken and whatever other southern food you can think of! read more

This is the place that launched my love of Southern food a couple years ago. I could barely understand the guy on the phone when I called for directions but thank GOD we found this place on one of my first visits to Tennessee. Fluorescent lighting in a low-ceilinged restaurant filled with giant round tables with giant lazy susans in the middle. Bea's was like no place I had ever seen. Then the perfectly kind server who's missing a few teeth starts filling up the table with trays of warm fried chicken, rolls, mac and cheese, cole slaw, cobblers, pitchers of tea... It's so fun and it's so awesome. All you can eat, for about $12 when I was there. If you're in the area you MUST visit. Great food and a good time. I'm only giving 4 stars since I've only been once, not fair to 5-star it just yet. When, oh, when can I return to Chattanooga? read more

This tops the endless buffet at Shoney's. Glorious fried chicken and its smothered friends delivered to you by a little Southern woman. You don't have to get up! Ever! You don't even have to reach for that extra helping of fried okra - just flick your finger on the lazy susan and it spins towards you. God I love the South. Like RaShonda J, I really like the concept - eating family-style with strangers but honestly, I wasn't a big fan of the food. The fried chicken was great (that alone may get me to come back), I liked the chicken & dumplings, but the rest was just so-so. The cornbread was dry, potatoes in white gravy where bland, and the pie left me wondering if there was real fruit in it, or just sugary blobs of...well, anything. The ceiling is really low - I felt like I was on the 7-1/2 floor (reference to Being John Malkovich). The spit shields are above spitting level, which triggered wonderment when this place was last visited by a health inspector, and lingered when I saw a napkin stuffed into the ceiling vents. The people we did sit with were very nice, and didn't seem to realize that Bea's had become a tourist attraction. But don't knock it til you try it. It deserves a visit. So lace up your Pro-Wings cuz it'll be like going back in time. read more

Definitely a new experience for me. Went to lunch with a client today upon their suggestion. Walked in and there are several round tables and 8 chairs with meats and vegetables on a lazy Susan in the center. Today's specials were pork barbecue, fried chicken breast, spaghetti. Veggies were potato salad, greens, boiled potatoes, Lima beans and peach cobbler for desert. I wasn't a fan of sharing a table with strangers but enjoyed the concept. The food was very good and service of refilling the lazy Susan was prompt. The price was a bit high at $14 a person for the quality of food. I feel the price point should be around $10. This was definitely a first for this dining experiences. read more

Bea's Restaurant - Round table with lazy Susan - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

It's the atmosphere and the experience that makes Bea's viable. Standard home-style fare, but lots of it. A local legend so get there early as the locals will quickly fill it. Also be sure to check their hours of operation. Good for a group as you're seated around a gigantic lazy-Susan of unending comfort food, most notably their fried chicken. read more

Great people and the best down home cooking around. Best Fried Chicken in Chattanooga.

Restaurant I have gone to my whole life. It is family owned and now in its third generation. Country Cooking. Great Chicken. Great place!

Good food good people we just took are kids there for the first time they love. It my lill boy what to go back tomorrow i told hem not sure if i have the money to go back tomorrow but i well try to thank you B.B's for the good food keep up the good Work Lesley Morgan @Brandon Ellis read more

Dirty environment, bad service, and a total rip-off price of $17 per person. After giving our table of five three pieces of fried chicken to share, our server told us to tell them "Right now if we want more fried chicken because otherwise, they will run out." Did they think we would be happy with three pieces of chicken? What kind of "all-you-can-eat" runs out of the main food? They also said they ran out of spoons when we asked for one. Ever heard of a dishwasher? All 3 wall hand sanitizer dispensers that I tried were out, and the bathroom had no soap. The fried chicken was mostly breading instead of chicken, so it was hard to even fill up on that, and all the sides were terrible. The coleslaw tasted like dirt. What a joke of an establishment. Don't waste your money and time here. read more

Yall this is southern cooking at its finest. I have lived in Chattanooga my whole life and this is the first time I have ever been. I never went because I wasnt a fan of the part of town that it was it, but do not let that discourage you! This is the best place to eat with great southern service. You have got to try the fried chicken! read more

This restaurant used to be good but after the old owners retired the service is awful

Historic place that I somehow overlooked for years. We were not disappointed and will definitely be going back. The food was awesome! The staff were friendly and helpful to newbies, I just wished the couple we shared a table with weren't so grumpy and greedy with the chicken. lol read more

this place is a family style buffet where everyone sits at a round table with a lazy Susan in the center that holds pitchers of water & sweet tea, condiments, extra utensils, etc along with plates of food that your server brings out, each holding a different dish. On the day we came, fried chicken, potatoes, cole slaw, pulled pork, potato salad, beans, fried okra, creamed corn, chicken & dumplings, and rolls & cornbread were on the menu. Each dish was replaced when empty so the more you eat, the faster they're refilled. Sadly, I'm not a fan of many of the side items (nor was my 12 year old) so I probably didn't get my money's worth. My oldest son and boyfriend enjoyed their meals much more and loved the cherry cobbler that was offered for dessert. Our server Jamie, was fantastic and super friendly, not only to us, but also with the other patrons I overheard him interact with. (Kudos to Jamie, especially on such a busy day!!) A few things to note: if you want soda, you may buy cans from the vending machine at the front of the restaurant for $1 each so if you enjoy refills, bring extra cash. The small dessert bowls could've used a more thorough washing as I went through several of them in the stack before I found a semi-clean one. This place has been around for years, definitely shows it's age, and isn't in the best part of town, but if you like a hearty portion of southern food, this is the place to be. read more

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I love this place for the best fried chicken anywhere. It's not fancy and I like it that way. The side items are good but the chicken and ribs are what I give attention too. Just eat with someone your size so ya'lll can lean on each other walking out the door. read more

Terrible service. Took our server Kim 10 mins to even greet out table and when she did, she acted as though we were pests and she was too busy for us. Food was great! The only good thing about my experience. Kim never came back to our table but to take our order and to bring the bill, no drink refills and no customer service skills. read more

Bea's was exactly as I imagined it to be. Lots of locals and southern hospitality, endless country (but rather unexceptional) food, in a hole-in-the-wall establishment. I love that it's a family business and Chattanooga classic. The two other patrons at our shared table were friendly enough to us outsiders from Atlanta and conversation was very pleasant but not overly intrusive. Unfortunately, the food itself was just mediocre. The fried chicken was fine for buffet style fried chicken but does not come anywhere near fried chicken goodness from Wilie Mae's in New Orleans or Busy Bee's in Atlanta. The fried catfish was okay (note, prepackaged tarter sauce), as was the bbq shredded chicken, chicken and dumplings, and beans. My favorite dishes of the table were the potato salad and the peach cobbler. Least favorite was definitely the bland, boring, coleslaw. It was a nice sampling of various southern dishes but the food was just ... okay. Our table only had 4 adults and 2 kids (who did not eat much), so our food wasn't rotated very often and aside from the fried chicken, was cold for the most part. I noticed most of the staff was very nice and friendly, but ours was rather cold and probably only said 5 words to us the entire time we were there. Perhaps she was having a bad day. She did perk up and offer a fresh serving of cobbler right as we were leaving. (I gather because she saw how much tip we left her despite her lackadaisical demeanor.) It was cool to visit for the experience, but I can't say it's worth going out of your way for. I will say we were in and out pretty fast since we didn't have to wait too long for our table despite after church crowds on Sunday. Germaphobes would absolutely hate the family style nature of this restaurant. read more

I came here with big recommendations, it wasn't a very good experience. No complaints about the food or service. My complaint is about the management. I witnessed one of the managers chastising one of the servers. I know servers are not paid well to start with and too put with that behavior is awful. Anyone in a management position should know better. They are too busy watching to clock. They have the staff come in to clean without getting paid. They should be worried about the back door instead of cheating their servers out of money. read more

Hmm. I like to think of myself as a country cooking aficionado. Over the past fifty years or so I've certainly done more than my share of research into the topic. I've heard talk of Bea's for many years and when we found ourselves driving by and saw the very full parking lot, we figured it was time to give it a try. My momma always said be positive--so I'll start with that. Any restaurant that serves blueberry cobbler can't be all bad. Period. And the fried chicken was better than average. Moist, flavorful--not the best I've ever had but certainly not the worst. But I gotta talk about the mac and cheese. Good golly--that was the most disgusting mac and cheese to ever come out of a kitchen. The cheese was a watery, not-quite-cheese-like substance and the macaroni itself could've been eaten thru a straw if I was so inclined. The lazy Susan is charming and gives you a great opportunity to dine with total strangers if that's your thing--but it can also mean you're eating some cold food, because even though the servers were hard-working (and really cheerful--five stars for the service, really), the food got placed on the lazy Susan, and then there it sat. Sometimes for quite a while. And finally the cobbler--yes, just the idea of blueberry cobbler in a restaurant is enough to make me fat and happy, but if I need a knife and elbow grease to cut thru the actual cobbler, well, that's just disappointing. Overall, it was not horrible. Cheap eats. But if I'm looking for food like my grandma used to make, I'll probably look elsewhere. read more

my family has been frequenting Bea's now for three generations and thru all the years the food has not changed...its wonderful! Yeah you may have to sit with strangers but after a few spins of the food you have made some new friends. the veggies change daily but the chicken, bbq, rolls, corn bread, pintos, potatoes and coleslaw are always there (thankfully). Sundays are very busy so expect a wait that sometimes stretches outside. for $10 per person its still the best value in town (and the best food) yeah somethings may not look like much (and strait out of th 40s) but the food is good and they are working on some upgrades (love the new bathrooms!!) beware they are closed on mondays and tuesdays and close for a full month from mid december to mid january. if you want anymore reason to visit - check out the video of my gran at bea's on my facebook page. I will gladly drive from atlanta to chattanooga to eat at Bea's. read more