Beasley's Chicken & Honey "Good Ole Southern Comfort"

Location: Raleigh, NC

Cuisine: American ( Southern comfort food)

Price Range: $6-$17

Website: www.ac-restaurants.com/beasleys/

Atmosphere:  Beasley's Chicken & Honey is another great place I stumbled across by going out to eat with my family, that has delicious breakfast,lunch, and dinner food. Beasley's is located in beautiful downtown Raleigh, North Carolina and conveniently sits on a strip with other restaurants and local shops. Beasley's Chicken & Honey screams "Southern Hospitality", As soon as I walked in a was filled with good vibes and a sense of belonging thanks to their polite staff. First thing I noticed was the huge community style table in the center of the restaurant; I liked this idea because it gives patrons the opportunity to meet new people while enjoying good food, but if you come with a party or just want to have your own table, no worries they also have plenty of tables outside of the

community style table. The atmosphere was a very cozy, homey feel that was actually pretty relaxing. It was interesting because if with the restaurant being pretty busy, you still got this laid back relaxed vibe from the atmosphere. The decor was modern and trendy but still gave of the look of an old renovated saloon/ general store which I felt helped add to that southern comfort ambiance I had mentioned before. Personal menus are available upon request, but I thought it was very cool how the menu's were written on big chalk boards on the wall. Once again, this creative idea helped add to the ambiance of the restaurant making my experience a great one.

Staff:  Beasley's staff does an amazing job at making sure your visit is a good one; especially our waitress we had that afternoon. She was very polite, pleasant and knew the menu items extremely well. We never had to look around for her when we had a question or needed assistance, she would just magically pop up with a smile. I've mentioned it before, but i'm a firm believer in your waiting staff really making or breaking a restaurant. Beasley's staff definitely backs their establishment up very well with great service.

The Food:  Beasley's takes southern comfort food to another level with their menu choices in my opinion, they took dishes I grew up loving and made them even more enjoyable! On top of their great food selections, Beasley's also has great bartenders that put out some creative tasty adult beverages.
 We started off with the grit fries, and homemade Churros. These appetizer's were so delicious, that I'm going to need a slight moment of silence... The grits fries were creamy, smooth grits with pimento cheese mixed in; then its cut into a shape of a big french fries and flash fried.  The grit fries were served with an aoili and homemade chow chow that helped bring everything together for a mixture of great flavors. These fries were a delicious and genius creation, you get a nice crunch from the breading on the grit fries; followed by the smooth texture, and cheesy flavor of the grits. These elements mixed with the aoili and chow chow team up to give your taste buds a knock out punch to remember; If you love grits you must try this amazing appetizer, I promise you'll enjoy every bite.

Grit Fries w/ aioli & chow chow

 Beasley's home made Churros somewhat ruined my childhood, but oddly in a good way. I have vivid memories of enjoying the huge churros from trips to the zoo when I was little, but those did not even come close to Beasley's home made churros. Tasting Beasley's churros almost gave me a feeling of being deprived, confused, lied to even. These churros were the truth; point blank. These amazing

Churros

morsels of fried dough were the perfect size, came out piping hot and were coated with just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar that would kill anyone's sweet tooth. The appearance was one thing, but flavor and texture is what made me fully fall in love. The outside had the perfect crunch to it blended with that wonderful cinnamon sugar coating, while the inside was hot, lite, and airy; it almost felt like you were eating a cloud covered in cinnamon in sugar. It was so hard not filling up on these sweet treats but I knew I was going to need room to enjoy the main course so I backed away respectfully.
  My main course was a very memorable one, and pleased me just as much as our starters. I had the pork shoulder meatloaf with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and a side of creamed collard greens. This dish was the epitome of southern comfort food and tasted like something your grandma would make for Sunday dinner. The meatloaf was a 50/50 mix of ground pork shoulder and ground chuck which made the meatloaf very tender and flavorful, surprisingly it was fairly light also. The gravy was the cherry on top for this dish, it was made from the pork shoulder drippings which made the gravy rich and very flavorful. The meatloaf had a perfect char on the outside and was served on top of fluffy, creamy, mashed potatoes that almost melted in your mouth. Our waitress recommended the creamed collard's, which went perfectly with my dish. They were seasoned very well and had just the right amount of crunch to them. Everything complimented each other very well, I would highly recommend this meal selection if your ever stop by Beasley's Chicken & Honey. I also tried a little bit of everyone else's food and it was also very good! I'd say they got southern comfort food covered at Beasley's Chicken & Honey.

Pork Shoulder Meatloaf w/ Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

Biscuits w/ sausage gravy

Chicken and Waffles(Amazing)

Eggs with country ham grits and biscuits

Moscow Mule w/ my twist ( sub Bourbon for vodka)

Recap: Beasley's Chicken & Honey is a spacious but cozy, and trendy restaurant located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina that upholds the phrase, "Southern Hospitality".  They specialize in southern comfort food that is sure to have you leaving pleased and wanting to come back. On top of their amazing breakfast food, they also serve lunch and dinner that is just as delicious. I strongly recommend this restaurant for family's, groups of friends, couples, and anyone else in search of some great food in downtown Raleigh. If you plan on going for breakfast or brunch, I recommend getting there fairly early. With the tasty food they're pumping out it tends to get really busy around brunch time. In search of great food and great hospitality? Treat yourself and check out Beasley's Chicken and Honey!!