Some restaurants dabble in the deep fryer. Champy's Famous Fried Chicken treats it like a competitive sport. Walking in, the place feels like it somehow drifted inland from a beach town. Casual, colorful, the kind of spot where you expect someone to walk in wearing flip flops and carrying a fishing pole. Comfortable vibe. Easy place to settle in and see what the fryer can do. First up were the fried green tomatoes. They came out looking like they'd just won a beauty pageant. Crispy outside, tender inside, cooked exactly right. Texture nailed. But flavor-wise they felt like they forgot their gym bag at home. Needed salt. Needed a little personality. A rare moment where the fryer did its job but the seasoning clocked out early. Then the headliner arrived. The fried chicken at Champy's Famous Fried Chicken has a reputation to protect, and thankfully it shows up ready to work. Crisp, flavorful crust. Juicy inside. The kind of chicken that crunches just enough to make everyone at the table look over and get jealous. "If the deep fryer had a Hall of Fame, Champy's chicken is getting a first-ballot vote." And then came the move that sealed the deal. A dip into Champy sauce. Suddenly the flavor level jumped another notch. Salty, tangy, just enough punch to make the crust shine even more. The sleeper hit though? The cole slaw. Creamy, balanced, and actually refreshing next to all the fried goodness. It's the quiet kid in class who ends up acing the exam. Easy to overlook, but absolutely worth ordering. Now for the tiny curveball. I happened to land there on karaoke night. And let's just say... the speakers believed they were performing at an arena concert. Loud enough that conversation required leaning halfway across the table and reading lips. On the flip side, the crowd was clearly having a blast. A few genuinely good singers, a few that were more... enthusiastic than talented, and plenty of people cheering them on. Honestly, respect to anyone with the courage to grab a microphone in a room full of strangers. So no star deductions for that. The people who showed up to sing were having the time of their lives. Bottom line, Champy's Famous Fried Chicken is a fun place with seriously good fried chicken. Order the bird, grab the slaw, lean into the fried side of the menu, and enjoy the show if karaoke happens to be on the schedule. Just maybe bring your singing voice... or your earplugs. read more

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Food: The fried chicken is cooked to PERFECTION! And if you love chicken livers as much as I do, you will hurt yourself trying to eat them all! On top of that their side dishes are DELICIOUS!! We ordered the mash potatoes and gravy and green beans!! I live in GA and am only planning my next trip back! Service: our waitress was friendly and helpful! And kept glasses filled with GOOD cold sweat tea! Ambiance: There's money all over the walls, all types of signage and lights! I liked it! The FOOD is good!!! read more

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Fried pickles are the BOM. Slaw was soupy for me. The beans were delicious. Blue cheese dressing for the chicken was a bit off. Service was fast and with. Smile. It was karaoke night so it fit the mood. Some good, some so-so. read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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Great Local Catfish and Fried Chicken. Friendly Service. With a friendly family outdoor setting and great service you won't be disappointed to make this stop a must do! And the prices are great too! I give Champy's Lee Hwy. an .5 Stars. Ask for Kate read more

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WHAT A FIND! EAT HERE! Making the pilgrimmage from Michigan to Florida. Got hungry just before Chattanooga... Happened to look on Yelp! for a place my mom heard about... but found this instead. They had me at Fried Chicken! 1. Talk about character and personality! What a delight! Like nothing else I've experienced (if you've been to Skinney's burger shack near Holmes Beach in Florida -- kinda like that but on steroids... with chicken and $5 40 oz beers!) 2. Delicious food at great prices! The chicken was steaming hot, juicy, perfectly cooked with the flakiest, crunchiest battered skin -- the definition of FINGER LICKING good! (No offense, Col. Sanders) 3. Our Waitress, Lauren, was a delight. She was friendly, welcoming, happy to Sam's wet our tourist questions about the place. She fixed me up the perfect sweet-unsweetened tea mix AND quickly and happily produced a sharpie and staple gun so we could add our Doll@r bill to the wall art! (Be sure to bring an extra One to add!) LOVED every bite and minute. We look forward to stopping again on our way home! read more

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We have dined at their downtown restaurant but never here. This location is a basic copy of it. It has a bar feel. Think honky tonk. The food is just as good as down town. Love their fried chicken. The starter, tamales are excellent as well. Their potato salad is above average too. Our server was attentive and very pleasant. If you love fried chicken this is the place. There are several locations in TN and AL. read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Tamales - excellent - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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Great service atmosphere and food. Love the chicken salad sandwich and potato salad, both of us had leftovers for dinner .... Their food is consistent and all the staff makes you feel welcome. read more

Located along Lee Highway, they are really easy to find. Parking is in a area separated from the rest of the shopping complex so traffic is reasonable. Parking is adjacent to the building as well as across a traffic lane. There are handicapped spaces near the entrance door as well. Walking in, we were greeted right away and quickly taken to a booth. They have outdoor covered seating, but we opted for indoors. Indoors was not really any different from outdoors as they had doors and windows open. Our waitress took our drink order and returned with them quickly. We made our entre selections and waited about 15 minutes until the food was brought to our table. The fried pickles were very good. There is enough breading to add to the flavor but not so much the pickle gets lost. The fried chicken is crispy and tender, which you would expect from a place that specializes in chicken. The fries are extra crispy outside and soft inside. The mac-and-cheese side was watery instead of creamy with little cheese flavor. It seemed more like the cheese came from a powder mix. The chicken sandwich was good, with well-prepared chicken and fresh lettuce, etc. They do what they say they do well, which is exactly what you should expect. read more

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Champy's is everything you want in a Southern comfort food spot--and then some! We stopped by while visiting Chattanooga and were absolutely blown away. The fried chicken is next-level--crispy, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. You can tell it's made fresh, with real care and attention to flavor. We've had a lot of fried chicken over the years, but Champy's easily ranks among the best! The vibe inside is super chill and cozy, with a fun, Southern dive feel. It's the kind of place where you can kick back, sip a cold drink, and enjoy good food with good company. The staff really bring the experience to life--they're friendly, full of energy, and seem to genuinely enjoy being there, which makes all the difference. We didn't get a chance to try everything (those Mississippi Delta tamales are on our list for next time), but we'll definitely be back. Whether you're a local or just passing through, Champy's is a must-visit for anyone who appreciates authentic, flavorful food and a fun, welcoming atmosphere. read more

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Great atmosphere , good food, decent prices and outdoor seating to bring the pop. Went a few times

Nice dive bar atmosphere. Chicken was delicious hot, crispy and fresh. The Cole slaw was my favorite side item. Beans were very good but not what I expected. The real treat was the Mississippi tamales. They were exceptional. Had great amount of meat and 6 is a meal in itself. Service was great seated right away waitress was helpful and food came out very quickly. Didn't have to wait on refills Had a great meal and will be back read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - 2 piece dark with Cole slaw and baked beans - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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A Chattanooga local favorite according to staff at the Drury inn and they were right... some of the best fried chicken I've had read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - The interior... - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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Amazing kind ans patience service. Everyone smiled at me and food was fast. Would recommend.

Great place for hot fried chicken and fish! The inside is casual, unpretentious and a bit whimsical with dollar bills, booths, large bar, assorted tabletops with plastic tablecloths. You can dine inside or outside. Very affordable with most meals under $20. Lots of drink specials. Sunday there are Bloody Mary and mimosa specials. The service was great. Worth a visit! read more

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First and foremost: me and my whole family have been suffering from SEVERE food poisoning since eating here. I can only imagine what goes on in this kitchen. We will never be back. Even without the food poisoning, I highly doubt we would've visited again. Our server was not friendly nor knowledgeable of the menu, and she did not come back to our table until it was time to pay. We had to get refills and sauces from other servers passing by. Overall terrible place. read more

Sydney hands down best waitress in the building .. she makes coming to champys fun ... great personality and is always spot on

First visit here and it was an enjoyable experience. Had a chicken salad sandwich that was on the large side with plenty of filling. It was good and the fries were great too! I will definitely be coming back to have more. read more

I watched as a man exited the men's room wearing his vinyl food service gloves. He proceeded into the kitchen where he immediately started handling boxes and plastic containers of uncooked food without ever changing them. I informed the manager and she agreed this was unacceptable. We will not be back. read more

These have to be the best chicken livers that I have ever had in my life. I highly recommend them! read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Fried Chicken Liver Plate - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Never been to Champy's before tonight, but I think I will be a regular now. I had the catfish with baked beans and potato salad. I am picky about my catfish, can't stand when it's mushy, but they cooked it perfectly. The beans had nice sized chunks of pork and the potato salad was just like Mamaw used to make, it had egg in it! We also had the best server ever that made sure that everything was perfect, her name was Annalise. My dad had the fried chicken, slaw and baked beans. He wasn't the biggest fan of the slaw "it was alright", it was a bit acidic but not bad, he did however think the chicken was phenomenal. We wound up eating outside, NO BUGS!!! This place is absolutely amazing. read more

Don't see what the big deal is here. Skimpy with napkins. Plastic silverware that's impossible to use. Paper plates. We're not going back. Why bother? My homemade fried chicken is so much better anyway! read more

Great chicken, we were only in town one day but I wanted to go back the next as soon as they opened. Didn't have room for a 40oz but would plan ahead for next time. read more

The service was good, but it took a while for the food. The ambiance was fine for lunch. It was busy but this was a Saturday. The food was good. Not sure about all the pickles with salad but easy to move them since they were on the side. Tenders were amazing! read more

The atmosphere is very cool. Service was so-so. Waitress was nice enough but lacked a bit of common sense--won't go into details on this. We ordered fries and hush puppies as an appetizer. It took a long time to get our food main dishes. The fries and hush puppies never came out and when we asked about it she put In Another order saying someone must have taken them. Chicken was pretty good and I liked the beans. The coleslaw was okay but nothing I'd come out of my way to get and I really like having coleslaw when I can get it. So appetizers came out after the rest of the food. The hush puppies were spicy and this wasn't clear on the menu and I usually love hush puppies but don't like spicy food so didn't eat them. Someone in our party ordered the bone less chicken wings and it came out with a different sauce than was ordered -- it came out with a spicy buffalo sauce. We were waiting so long we just decided to go with it as it was late. Overall not impressed enough to come back. read more

Solid experience here. The chicken was good. I love the gimmick with getting a 40oz. We also got a koozie. The vibe was very dive bar. But I'd go back. I must say the tenders were better to me than the bone in chicken. read more

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We went to Champy's as our first stop in Chattanooga on the day after Christmas. They had a sign up that stated all apps on Tuesdays were $6.99 - what a pleasant surprise for us! The restaurant was pretty crowded that night, but we still were seated immediately. We went with a couple of items that came heavily recommended: Mississippi Delta Homemade Hot Tamales x3 ($6.99, typically 6 for $15) - First time I've had hot tamales before. These are certainly different from traditional tamales. Firstly they're only about 1/3 of the size of a normal tamale, wrapped in a single corn husk each. They are simmered and soaked in a savory and slightly hot sauce and they have a very generous amount of filling. Both the meat and the corn meal is extruded in this case instead of hand packed, so the tamale isn't really forkable and the soft texture is pretty uniform throughout, including the meat. In a typical tamale, you can fork it and it remains relatively intact - in this tamale, the pieces fall right off the fork and splinter into even smaller pieces. Taste-wise, the slight spiciness complements the corn and meat flavor well. These are served with slaw and saltines. Apparently you are supposed to eat everything together in a single bite, but we didn't know that until afterwards! Southern Style Fried Green Tomatoes ($6.99, typically $12) - These are very well breaded and salted quite a bit too much. The tomatoes are sliced thinly perhaps around 1/5 of a inch, but then the breading pretty much quadruples the size. These are prepared well with no soggy bits of tomato sloughing off the batter, but the batter they use is extremely oversalted. As soon as I bit into a piece and chewed, all I could think about was drinking water. The only way to make it palatable was to dip it into the buttermilk dressing on the side. For half of the green tomatoes, we actually elected to just remove the breading and only eat the tomatoes. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like this or this was just a bad batch. 2 Piece Dark Meat Plate ($11) - Champy's doesn't do anything special or unique with their fried chicken but that's not a bad thing. This was a good fried chicken in general. Good crisp on the breading, juicy interior meat, and properly salted. I don't think they put anything special in the breading other than salt and perhaps a little pepper. The breading isn't too oily, but the taste of the oil does come through in some sections. The chicken came on a piece of white bread and with a side of slaw and beans. The slaw was good, the veggies were coarsely chopped in a sweet and savory dressing. The baked beans came with a mix of different beans and larger pieces of onion in a sauce that was quite sweet. Neither stood out too much but were perfectly good and complemented the chicken well. The food at Champy's was overall pretty good and it was a generally promising first food foray into Chattanooga for us. Hopefully this chain can retain their quality as they expand. As a side note, Champy's charges a 2.5% credit card surcharge, which is kind of bizzare for a small restaurant chain. read more

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Fantastic experience the 2nd go around at the location off I-75 north. I wanted to give the brand another look. This time I wanted to try their signature fried chicken and it didn't support. Unfortunately, the bartender/manager Lauren was having to deal with Karen and her Togo order. She was very professional in handling the guest and went above and beyond. Despite the distraction the service was really good. I enjoyed the food a lot. Great experience. Thank you Michael J Beal Clearwater, Florida read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Ok I heard so many good things about Champy's. Champy's chicken was crispy and juicy! What it wasn't was seasoned. 1st bite I (who normally doesn't salt anything) I started looking for the salt and pepper. Luckily there was hot sauce on the table...but seriously then all I could taste was the hot sauce. Hopefully tha enchiladas I got to go are better. Aside from that...Breana took great care of me. Atmosphere is great and the drinks generous!. read more

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We were in town for the weekend and wanted to try something we don't have. My husband found this place on yelp and they had chicken livers! Service was great, food was great and my kids loved sitting at the high bar table. Definitely has the laid back locals feel to it. read more

This spot was close to our hotel so we decided to give it a try. I read the reviews and people said they enjoyed the chicken and fried jalapeño's so that's exactly what we eat!! Amazing!!! Service was great! Everyone was attentive and friendly! Will definitely go back when we are in town! read more

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This place is amazing mate! Amazing food and amazing service! Absolutely love the fried green tomatoes and our server was bloody brilliant!

I was excited to try Champy's from the largely great reviews, but was a bit underwhelmed by the food experience. I have to give a shout out to the design of the place, as the interiors and decor are simply stunning, which are right up my alley for uniqueness in places I like to visit. Besides all the license plates and signed/customized dollar bills from diners over the years, the place exudes a southern charm that makes it feel like an escape rather than just another dining experience. As for food, we ordered Champy's famous catfish platter and the spicy chicken sandwich. While the catfish (4/5) was good, the southern sides of baked beans and mac & cheese (2.5/5) didn't really have any discerning taste or southern flair to them and were rather ordinary. The spicy chicken sandwich (3/5 was decent with a bit of mild heat, but nothing made it stand out from other chicken sandwiches you can find at other restaurants. The bun seemed a bit stale, as the edges of it had become really hard, which detracted from the experience (I've had heated up/grilled buns before, but never ones where the edges become hard like that). The fries (2.5/5) that came with the sandwich were just average. Either Champy's is overrated or perhaps I caught them on an off night as it was very slow on the night I visited. While it's not a place I'd make a glowing recommendation for, it did hit the right notes for me with regards to decor, atmosphere, music, and friendly service, so would suggest that visitors to Chattanooga try out Champy's for themselves. Of note, there is a 4% surcharge to use a credit card, which is a bit petty considering that was not something I've seen any other business charge in other restaurants I've frequented in the region. read more

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I love champys and still believe this is some of the best chicken but it has changed over the years. The Tamales are so good I have to get them everytime but I have had a few meals that have been meh. The chicken on the bone is the way to go they always hype up the chicken sandwhich and it's always a disappointment to me. Small portion and not a good cut of meat for my experiences read more

Fresh fried chicken quick service and great drinks- three good reasons to stop and give Champy a try! Can't wait to get back to see them again! read more

This place is pretty cool! Food was excellent. More than I could eat! Great prices and very friendly staff!!

Sure, it's a bit divey looking from the outside but the food & service were very good although I was a bit surprised at the overall bill. Our family of four paid just under a $100 - for fried chicken, an app, sodas and a drink? Others in our group had the same comment about it being a bit pricey but 8 locations later, their fried chicken has won several local and national awards and mentions since opening in 2009. That said, the other half seriously loved the chicken and tore into our 8-piece family meal as well as polishing off the leftovers the next day. The apps and family meal sides were tasty too - fried green tomatoes, green beans and mac and cheese. The kiddo must have loved his chicken sandwich because that disappeared too. Champy's doesn't take reservations but they can easily accommodate large groups. TIP: Call ahead to check if it's their busier period to avoid any long waits. read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Entrance - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

We had a great experience at Champy's this evening. Our server, Selena, was the best. We got tenders, Mac n cheese, fried pickle spears and ranch and sauce. Everything was delicious and hot. Thanks! read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Fried Chicken Tenders and Mac n cheese plate - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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We always have a great experience the food is always good and hot. The customer service is always great THANK YOU FOR BEING CONSISTENT

Went to meet a friend for lunch. It was dine in and seated fast. There is plenty of parking available around the restaurant. This is my friends go to so a few things weee ordered that I don't eat but was told we're good (tamales and wings) I got the tender basket with sauce. It was okay. I ate most of the fries while there and ended up taking some of the tenders home. Overall the food was cool. I would like to sit down and have more time to look over the menu. Lunch always feels a bit more rushed. Staff was nice and service was really fast. read more

I created a yelp account literally just so I could leave a 5 star review. This chicken changed my life for the better. I would do terrible things for a free lifetime supply because it is THAT good. The best food I've ever had in my life for like $11.99. God is real and this place is his finest creation. read more

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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