Saw's Soul Kitchen

One thing you notice as you drive through the south is the number of BBQ joints… well that and churches. There are so many churches that they serve as landmarks. You can probably do the same with BBQ restaurants because every local knows where they are, and which ones rise to the top. I can name SO many I love all across Alabama but that will be another post, mainly because I have to take photos of the food before I post.

One of our favorite BBQ restaurants is Saw’s Soul Kitchen in the Avondale area of Birmingham, Alabama. There are five Saw’s locations - Avondale, Crestline, Homewood, Leeds, and Southside - with a Hoover location coming soon. We live in Hoover so having a Saw’s right down the road for us is DANGER. We’ll be sure to cover the Hoover location when it opens up. Each Saw’s location has the same delicious bbq/smoked meats but they have special items on their menu that may not be on the menu at other locations.

Saw’s Soul Kitchen has been in Avondale since May 2012. They have a huge following - their food is all over Birmingham food blogs and beyond. We were asked to photograph and name our favorite chicken sandwich in Birmingham for food blogs outside of Alabama… it’s hands down the The Colonel —> Sweet Tea brined fried chicken, house made pimento cheese, pickles, tomato, and white sauce.

I’m going to go ahead and say that their Alabama White Sauce is my favorite. The perfect amount of pepper and isn’t so mayonnaisey.

Saw’s Soul Kitchen opened up their space quite a bit. When they first opened up, they only had minimal seating inside with picnic tables outside, but they expanded the inside of the restaurant not too long ago. I love the feel of the inside of the restaurant. It’s super causal, a nice bar space, and the staff is extremely friendly. Like my kind of friendly. Where the wait staff is kind and will engage with you like you’re a family friend. I wish I remembered the name of our waitress - she was training a new employee at the time and made me laugh/smile the entire time. And there was plenty on the wall (signs/art/tv) to look at when your date is on his scrolling on his phone… but granted, I like to look around at everything including the people dining around us so when Nick talks to me, I won’t hear a word of what he’s saying. I can’t be the only one who does this… right?

Here is what we had on date night:

Loaded BBQ French Fries: the fries were crispy and topped with cheese, smoked chicken, green onions, sour cream, bbq sauce, and white sauce. Ask for more white sauce - I would rather have more white sauce than sour cream!

Combo Plate: BBQ pork, smoked chicken thighs with white sauce, mac and cheese, deviled eggs, and slices of white bread.

And Sweet Tea!

Our favorites on Saw’s Menu are now the smoked chicken thighs with white sauce, bbq pork, pork n’ greens (not pictured), deviled eggs, mac and cheese, and the sweet tea brined chicken sandwich. I’ve had the smoked sausage - I love smoked sausage so it’s a yes for me as well!

And I would probably love the banana pudding if we went early enough to get some. Early bird y’all. It’s probably good that they run out though because we are always so full - but I’m thinking the next time we go, I’ll order the banana pudding and set it aside so it’s a reminder that we need to save room. Maybe we’ll get the order in before they sell out.

*Family Friendly

*Perfect low key date night and friend night

*You’ll leave happy!

-Jenny