We figure there's something wrong with people who can't enjoy an occasional fried chicken dinner. Nonetheless, we feared we'd be wandering onto the documentary setpiece for America: The Obese at Babe's, a venerable family dining establishment exactly where you'd expect to find it, in a Garland strip shopping mall. We were wrong, sort of. Not everyone looked like they'd been feeding on fried chicken skin their entire lives, but all-you-can-eat places do tend to serve as magnets for the gluttonous. If we're going to overdo it, we thought, it might as well be with fried chicken and side dishes as tasty as these. Babe's serves up family-style dinners which include piles of super-crispy, thick-breaded monster chicken pieces, an iceberg lettuce salad (very fresh, with a sweet vinaigrette), tasty green beans, creamed corn (for those who can stand the sight of it), biscuits and excellent mashed potatoes. Everything, it seems, is doused in butter. Babe's has a few other things on the menu as well, including hickory-smoked chicken, pot roast, chicken-fried steak and fried catfish. Eat till you explode.
Have only visited the location in Carrollton, but love the chicken fried steak. Carrollton location is BYOB, and very comfortable.
Review by Beth
Overall:
While "Brothers" serves better fried chicken, Babe's definately has the best restaurant in Dallas serving the same. The family style, all you can eat atmosphere is inviting, and the servers are friendly and efficient. Certainly, not a trip to the Mansion, but they don't claim to be. Worth the drive to Garland for an occasional fried feast.
Review by skipbrn
Overall:
The best chicken fried steak in texas, all veggies the same. Okra & tomatoes, wonderful. I'm surprised my tummy didn't explode! Biscuits & fabulous gravy...my favorite in all the world and I've eaten a lot of cfs in my time.
Review by Risa Ray
Overall:
The smoked chicken is great, and the cream corn is to good for words. This is the place to take the family that wont break the bank and have great homestyle cooking and fun.
Review by Paul M. Thompson
Overall:
I had heard all the hipe about Babe's Chicken so finally tried it. The chicken was good, not great, but good. The salad was lettuce, what else can you say? The mashed potatoes tasted instant, the corn was fine, and the green beans defintely had a canned taste. The biscuits were pretty good, and probably would have been better if they were allowed to actually brown a bit (Honestly how do you pull still white biscuits out of an oven and say 'yeah, they're done'?) Coconut pie is one of my favorite deserts so its hard to make one I won't like, Babe's was able to. I've never had warm coconut pie, and I hope to God I never do again. Needless to say, I won't be going back to Babe's. I can usually see why people like a place even if I don't, but I'm clueless on this one. If you want good fried chicken, go to Celebrations on the days they have it. They have as good of fried chicken as Babe's; MUCH better vegetables; AWESOME salad with many choices of home made dressings; and cold, to die for, creamy coconut pie.
Review by Jarred
Overall:
I had heard all the hipe about Babe's Chicken so finally tried it. The chicken was good, not great, but good. The salad was lettuce, what else can you say? The mashed potatoes tasted instant, the corn was fine, and the green beans defintely had a canned taste. The biscuits were pretty good, and probably would have been better if they were allowed to actually brown a bit (Honestly how do you pull still white biscuits out of an oven and say 'yeah, they're done'?) Coconut pie is one of my favorite deserts so its hard to make one I won't like, Babe's was able to. I've never had warm coconut pie, and I hope to God I never do again. Needless to say, I won't be going back to Babe's. I can usually see why people like a place even if I don't, but I'm clueless on this one. If you want good fried chicken, go to Celebrations on the days they have it. They have as good of fried chicken as Babe's; MUCH better vegetables; AWESOME salad with many choices of home made dressings; and cold, to die for, creamy coconut pie.
Review by Jarred
Overall:
Our daughter-in-law asked us to take her to Babe's Frisco for her birthday, so we did. My wife has Crohn's Disease and cannot have pepper on any of her food. From talking to the server, we knew that the only thing we might have a chance to get without pepper would be the chicken fried steak (CFS). We asked the server to check with the kitchen to see if they could simply do my wife's CFS in plain flour with no pepper; the server returned and said the kitchen could accommodate our request--we were relieved to hear the good news. Then, around ten minutes later, the manager came out and said that because they had already been frying the steaks in the oil for several orders, there was no way to do my wife's CFS without getting some pepper on it. I asked the manager if they could do my wife's CFS in a separate pan, and she said they could not. I then asked her why they had to pepper everything--the salad, the green beans, the corn, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the smoked chicken, the roast beef, the fried chicken--and she said it was necessary to get the right flavor. I told suggested it would be better if they left the pepper out and allowed the customers to apply the pepper themselves (the pepper shakers are on the table). She didn't think that would be a good idea. Really? Well, we ate our meal--my wife stripped the breading off the CFS the best she could, but she still ingested some pepper and endured some severe stomach pain as a result. If it had not been our daughter-in-law's birthday celebration, we would have simply left the restaurant on learning that they were refusing to accommodate my wife's special needs diet request. Needless to say, we won't be going back to Babe's. Shame on them!
Review by Bob S.
Overall:
If you love pepper and have a cow’s palate, you’ll love this place! What a joke: The food is cooked the night before—how else could the green beans turn out so soggy?!? And no wonder they use so much pepper—there’s no better way to hide “old” food than to cover it with pepper. It’s an old trick used by many marginal restaurants when they don’t want to throw out food—especially meat—that is not edible. As long as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is in a growth stage (i.e., more people moving here than moving away), then Babe’s will continue to do well. In a growth area, there’s always a new group of “suckers” to take advantage of. Save your money.