The spread between the lightest and heaviest meal at Full Moon Bar-B-Que is about 900 calories, and most of it is decided by two things people do not think of as decisions: whether you order a plate or a sandwich, and whether you eat the cookie that arrives without being ordered. Here is the whole menu by rough calorie count, and the swaps that move the number most.
The short version
Full Moon is a pork house with counter service and low prices, and the menu structure pushes you toward a plate. A plate is where the calories are.
- Plate or sandwich. The Bar-B-Que Pork plate at $14.99 is roughly 840 calories. The regular BBQ Pork Sandwich at $6.99 is roughly 520. Same meat, 320 fewer calories, eight dollars cheaper.
- Ribs or not. The Classic Rib Plate is the heaviest thing on the menu at around 1,050 calories, and there is no lighter version of a rib.
- The Half Moon Cookie. Around 280 calories, handed to you free at the end of every meal, and easy to forget because you never ordered it.
The calorie table
| Order | Approx. calories |
|---|---|
| Trimmings (one side) | ~200 |
| Half Moon Cookie | ~280 |
| Moon Dog | ~320 |
| Fried Green Tomatoes (small) | ~380 |
| Vegetable Plate (3 veg) | ~420 |
| BBQ Pork Sandwich (regular) | ~520 |
| Rib Sandwich (2 bones) | ~620 |
| Bar-B-Que Pork plate | ~840 |
| Classic Rib Plate | ~1,050 |
Two figures are worth staring at. The 3-vegetable plate at roughly 420 calories is the lightest full meal on the menu by a wide margin, and it costs $8.99 — this is one of the very few barbecue chains where the light option is also a real, listed plate rather than a salad. And the rib plate at ~1,050 is two and a half Moon Dogs.
The lightest orders
- Soup & Salad ($6.69) — the cheapest complete meal on the menu and one of the lightest, provided you go easy on the dressing.
- Brunswick Stew, cup ($3.89) — a thick tomato-based Southern stew with corn, lima beans and smoked meat. A cup is a snack, not a meal.
- Vegetable Plate, 3 veg ($8.99) — around 420 calories, though the number moves depending on which vegetables are on that day and how they were cooked.
- Bar-B-Que Chicken, quarter dark ($10.99) — the cheapest full plate at any chain we cover. Quarter white ($13.49) is leaner if that matters more than the $2.50.
The heaviest orders
Ribs first: the Classic Rib Plate and Baby Back Rib Plate are both $16.99, and both land around 1,050 calories with sides. Behind them sit the fried items — Southern Fried Catfish (2 piece, $19.99), the Full Moon Riblets ($11.49) and the large Fried Green Tomatoes ($8.69). The Buffalo Wings deserve a mention purely on scale: twenty wings for $39.80 is a party order being eaten by one person.
Four swaps that work
- Sandwich instead of plate. Regular BBQ Pork Sandwich ($6.99) plus one Trimming ($3.99) is roughly 720 calories against 840-plus for the plate, and it saves four dollars.
- Regular instead of large. The large pork sandwich is $8.29 against $6.99 for the regular — you are paying $1.30 for extra meat you did not need.
- Rib sandwich instead of rib plate. A 2-bone rib sandwich at $6.59 is around 620 calories; the plate is 1,050.
- Give the cookie away. Or eat it and skip the side. Both are 200 to 280 calories and only one of them is famous.
Where the numbers come from
These are estimates compiled for planning, not laboratory figures. Full Moon is a counter-service operation where meat is chopped and sides are scooped by hand, so a 10 to 15 percent swing between two identical orders is normal. The vegetable of the day rotates, which makes the vegetable plate the hardest item on the menu to pin down — and, as with any Southern kitchen, greens and beans are frequently cooked with pork, which changes both the calorie count and whether the dish is meat-free at all. The Full Moon allergen guide goes through that in more detail.
For current prices on every item mentioned here, see the Full Moon Bar-B-Que menu.