Full Moon Bar-B-Que is an Alabama institution, and its menu carries two things almost no other barbecue chain does: a chow-chow relish that goes on nearly everything, and a chocolate chip cookie handed to you free at the end of every meal. It is also, by some distance, the cheapest place to eat a barbecue sandwich among the chains on this site.
Full Moon Bar-B-Que prices at a glance
Every price quoted in this guide, collected up front. Prices vary by location and change without notice.
| Chain | Pork sandwich |
|---|---|
| Full Moon Bar-B-Que | $6.99 |
| City BBQ | $8.39 |
| Mission BBQ | $8.89 |
| Sonny's BBQ | $9.29 |
| Dickey's | $9.75 |
| Jim 'N Nick's | $11.07 |
| Lucille's | $11.99 |
| Famous Dave's | $15.59 |
| Plate | Price |
|---|---|
| Black Angus Beef Brisket | $21.99 |
| Chicken & Rib Combo | $20.99 |
| Two Meat Combo | $20.99 |
| Southern Fried Catfish (2 pc) | $19.99 |
| Hickory-Smoked Turkey | $16.99 |
| Classic Rib Plate | $16.99 |
| Baby Back Rib Plate | $16.99 |
| BBQ Chicken (½ chicken) | $15.99 |
| Bar-B-Que Pork | $14.99 |
| Smoked Pork Links | $14.99 |
| Love Me Tenders | $14.49 |
| Southern Fried Catfish (1 pc) | $13.99 |
| BBQ Chicken (¼ white) | $13.49 |
| BBQ Chicken (¼ dark) | $10.99 |
| Order | Price | Per bone |
|---|---|---|
| Rib Sandwich (1 bone) | $3.69 | $3.69 |
| Rib Sandwich (2 bones) | $6.59 | $3.30 |
| Rib Sandwich (3 bones) | $8.99 | $3.00 |
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Buffalo Wings (20) | $39.80 |
| Buffalo Wings (10) | $19.99 |
| Buffalo Wings (6) | $11.99 |
| BBQ Pork Nachos | $11.99 |
| Full Moon Riblets | $11.49 |
| Love Me Tenders (4) | $10.99 |
| Pork Links & Pimento Cheese Plate | $9.99 |
| Angus Beef Brisket On A Salad | $15.99 |
| Greek Salad with Pulled Chicken | $12.99 |
| Pork / Turkey / Chicken On A Salad | $11.99 |
| House, Greek or Caesar Salad | $8.89 |
| Soup & Salad | $6.69 |
| Homemade Chili (bowl) | $6.29 |
| Brunswick Stew / Homemade Chili (cup) | $3.89 |
| Full Moon | Jim 'N Nick's | Sonny's | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork sandwich | $6.99 | $11.07 | $9.29 |
| Cheapest plate | $10.99 | $14.12 | $14.99 |
| Rib plate | $16.99 | $22.12 (half rack) | $17.99 |
| Brisket plate | $21.99 | $18.11 | $18.99 |
| Vegetable plate | $8.99 | No | No |
| Free item | Half Moon Cookie | Cheese biscuits | No |
| Approach | What you order | Cost (8 people) | Per head |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual plates | 8 × Bar-B-Que Pork | $119.92 | $14.99 |
| Sandwiches and sides | 8 × pork sandwich + 8 trimmings | $87.84 | $10.98 |
| Mixed | 4 plates + 4 sandwiches + 4 trimmings | $103.88 | $12.99 |
The two things that define it
Chow chow
A tangy pickled cabbage-and-pepper relish, Southern in origin, served on the pork sandwiches and available alongside almost everything else. It does the same job vinegar sauce does in Carolina — cuts the fat of the pork and resets your palate. If you have not had it, order the pork sandwich the way it comes rather than asking for it plain.
The Half Moon Cookie
A large chocolate chip cookie given free with every meal. It is not on the menu as a paid item, it is not advertised, and it is the thing the chain is best known for outside Alabama. Take it.
The cheapest barbecue sandwich in chain America
A regular pork sandwich at $6.99 ($8.29 large) undercuts every other chain covered here, and the gap to Famous Dave's is more than double. Full Moon is genuinely the value option in this category.
Full Moon plates
The quarter dark chicken plate at $10.99 is the cheapest full plate at any chain on this site. And note that both rib plates cost $16.99 — classic or baby back, same price, so order whichever cut you prefer rather than treating one as an upgrade.
Famous for ribs — sold by the bone
A rib sandwich — ribs served on bread — is a Southern format most chains have abandoned. At $3.69 for a single bone it is also the cheapest way to try the ribs before committing to a plate.
The vegetable plate
Worth its own section because it is rare. Full Moon sells a 3-vegetable plate at $8.99 and a 4-vegetable plate at $9.99 — a legitimate meat-free meal at a barbecue restaurant, priced as a proper plate rather than an afterthought.
Almost no other chain on this site offers an equivalent. City BBQ's 3 Side Plate at $6.17 is the nearest thing.
Sandwiches, burgers and dogs
- BBQ Pork Sandwich — regular $6.99, large $8.29
- Open-Face Pork or Pork Links on Texas Toast ($11.49)
- Open-Face Catfish Sandwich — regular $4.89, large $5.99
- The Southern Classic / Kickin' Cheeseburger — ¼ lb $7.49, ½ lb $8.79
- Moon Dog ($2.99) / Chili Cheese Dog ($3.75) / Grilled Cheese ($2.99)
The Moon Dog at $2.99 and grilled cheese at $2.99 are the cheapest hot items at any barbecue chain covered here, and they make Full Moon a genuinely workable stop with young children.
Starters, salads and soups
The Soup & Salad at $6.69 is the cheapest complete meal on the menu, and Brunswick stew at $3.89 is the cheapest way to try a genuinely regional Southern dish.
Sides
Sides are called Trimmings ($3.99). Also on the list: Fried Green Tomatoes (3 pieces, $5.69 small / $8.69 large), Loaded Baked Potato ($6.99), Potato Chips ($1.49), plus onion rings, deviled eggs and a vegetable of the day whose prices vary by location.
The fried green tomatoes and deviled eggs are the two most Southern items on any menu covered on this site.
How Full Moon compares
Full Moon is the cheapest on pork, on the entry plate and on ribs, and the only one with a proper vegetable plate. It is the most expensive of the three on brisket — Alabama barbecue is a pork tradition and the beef is not what the kitchen is built around.
Where Full Moon sits regionally
This is Alabama barbecue: pork-forward, hickory-smoked, sweet-and-tangy sauce, and chow chow rather than a vinegar mop. It is not Texas barbecue — order the pork, not the brisket — and it is a different tradition again from the Carolina and Memphis styles covered in the smokehouse guide.
What to order
First visit: BBQ Pork Sandwich, regular ($6.99) with chow chow on it, a Trimming ($3.99) and the free Half Moon Cookie. Under ten dollars and it is the whole chain in one order. Cheapest full plate anywhere: quarter dark BBQ chicken ($10.99). For ribs: the Classic Rib Plate ($16.99), or a 3-bone rib sandwich ($8.99) to try them first. Vegetarian: the 4-vegetable plate ($9.99).
Alabama white sauce and the sauce range
Full Moon runs a sweet-and-tangy tomato sauce as its default, which is the Alabama norm outside the northern part of the state. What it does not lean on heavily is Alabama white sauce — the mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper sauce from Decatur that most people outside the state associate with Alabama barbecue.
That is worth knowing because it is a common misconception. White sauce is a north Alabama tradition tied to smoked chicken; Full Moon is a Birmingham operation built on pork and chow chow. If white sauce is what you came for, ask — some locations carry it, but it is not the house style. The smokehouse guide covers how the regional sauces map.
Why the prices are this low
Full Moon's pricing is genuinely an outlier — a $6.99 pork sandwich when the category norm is $9 to $11. Three structural reasons:
- Pork, not beef. Pork shoulder costs roughly a third of what brisket does per pound raw, and loses less weight in the smoker. A menu anchored on pork is cheaper to run.
- Counter service. No waiters, no bar, faster turnover.
- Regional density. Thirty restaurants clustered in one state means short supply lines and shared overheads.
The trade-off shows in the brisket, which at $21.99 is the most expensive plate on the menu and the least competitive line against any other chain.
Ordering for a group
Eight pork sandwiches plus eight sides at under $88 is among the cheapest ways to feed eight people barbecue anywhere in America. Portion planning for larger numbers is in the catering guide.
Calories: our estimates, not Full Moon's
Full Moon publishes no nutrition information at all — nothing on the menu boards, nothing on the website, no printed sheet in store. Every figure below is our own estimate, worked out from comparable smoked-meat portions at chains that do publish. It is not the restaurant's data and it has not been lab-tested, so read it as rough brackets for comparing one order against another rather than as counts to log.
| Order | Our estimate (not brand data) |
|---|---|
| Moon Dog | 250–400 |
| BBQ Pork Sandwich (regular) | 450–600 |
| Rib Sandwich (2 bones) | 550–750 |
| Vegetable Plate (3 veg) | 350–500 |
| Bar-B-Que Pork plate | 750–950 |
| Classic Rib Plate | 900–1,200 |
| Trimmings (side) | 150–300 |
| Fried Green Tomatoes (small) | 300–450 |
| Half Moon Cookie | 250–350 |
The relative ordering is the part worth trusting, and it does not depend on the numbers being right. A plate is roughly double the equivalent sandwich, because it adds two sides and bread to the same portion of meat. Frying is what actually moves the total: a small order of fried green tomatoes costs you something like 150–200 more than a plain vegetable side, and battered sides can land in the range of a sandwich on their own. The 3-vegetable plate is the lightest full meal on the menu by a clear margin — but only if you pick unfried vegetables, since three fried choices puts it much closer to a meat plate than to a salad. The Half Moon Cookie is handed to you free rather than ordered, which makes it easy to forget it counts at all; assume it is in the region of a large bakery cookie.
If you need exact figures — for a medical diet, or anything where being wrong matters — ask in store. A chain this size is not covered by the federal menu-labelling rules that force the largest national chains to publish counts, so staff describing how a dish is cooked and portioned is the only real source available.
The vegetable plate, properly considered
Most barbecue chains treat vegetarians as an afterthought — a side salad, or three sides on a plate. Full Moon sells a proper vegetable plate at $8.99 for three or $9.99 for four, listed in the plates section alongside the meat.
Two caveats worth checking locally, because they apply at every Southern barbecue restaurant: green beans and collards are frequently cooked with pork, and the vegetable of the day rotates. Ask which of the day's vegetables are meat-free rather than assuming.
Timing your visit
Full Moon opens at 10:30, earlier than most of the chains covered here, and closes at 21:00 (20:00 Sundays). The practical windows:
- 10:30–11:30 — quietest, and the pork has just come off
- 11:30–13:00 — Birmingham lunch rush; expect a queue
- 14:00–16:30 — quiet, but ribs occasionally sell out
- 17:00–19:00 — second rush
Where Full Moon fits
This is the value pick of the chains covered on this site. It has the cheapest sandwich, the cheapest full plate, one of the cheapest rib plates, a genuine vegetable plate, and a free cookie. What it does not have is national coverage, a bar, or a beef programme worth paying for.
If there is a Full Moon near you and you want barbecue for under ten dollars, there is no better option in American chain barbecue.
Practical notes before you go
- Order the pork. This is an Alabama pork house — the brisket at $21.99 is the least competitive item on the menu.
- Keep the chow chow on. It is the point of the sandwich, not a garnish.
- Ask which vegetables are meat-free if you are ordering the vegetable plate. Greens and beans are often cooked with pork.
- Go before 11:30 to miss the Birmingham lunch rush.
- Take the cookie. It is handed to you free and it is what the chain is known for.
For someone new to Full Moon: a regular BBQ pork sandwich ($6.99), a trimming ($3.99) and the free Half Moon Cookie. Under eleven dollars, and there is no cheaper way to eat proper barbecue at any chain covered on this site.