I went to Chandler's last week after hearing o much about it in the News Sentinel and Metro Pulse. I could make this short but it deserves more attention. First, to me BBQ is a sandwich first and ribs second. Since I had heard so much about there fried chicken, I opted against ordering any ribs and went the pulled pork sandwich and a chicken wing route with sweet tea.
Sandwich: When I ordered it they said it would take a minute and went to the back. Everything else is out front in a cafeteria style. The sandwich was chopped not pulled like they advertise, no slaw, and the sauce was incorporated into the meat, there was no way of adding extra sauce without buying a side of it. I kinda question whether the meat was even cooked on site as I didn't notice a smoker beside the ornamental one they had burning wood out front. Not the worse Q ever but just not what I had expected from the reviews. The sandwich was huge and only cost $3.50.
Chicken: This may be one of the best fried chicken places I have ever eaten at. FINALLY KNOXVILLE HAS SOME CHICKEN!!! Since this isn't the right forum for fried chicken I wanted to post my personal experience of the Q in case any of you should wander over that way.
Sweet Tea: Yes a good BBQ review should consist of a tea review. If you like sweet tea but don't want it to be mouth puckering sweet then this is the place. The tea was fresh brewed and had the perfect mixture of sugar for me. Of course I like a milder sweet, just enough to make it taste like a drink without it tasting like candy. They also serve Kool-Aid which I thought was cool.
The place was packed and Elvis sung a song about the part of town it is in. Lunch time had a bunch of business people, tourist, and soccor mom's when I was there.
Conclusion: Eat the fried chicken!!! Eat as much of it as you can as often as you can, but alas that belongs elsewhere.
Located: 3101 Magnolia Ave.
Another review
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/may/23/chandlers-is-hog-heaven-with-or-without-feet/
