Chonell’s Home Cooking

Laziest & sorriest operation ever. Food use to be good when the owner was running it. Now her kids and random teens have just about run all her customers off. Bad attitudes and sorry service.

Actually one star is TOO generous! The service is terrible with a line to order food from people that appear to be having a horrible day! The food is mediocre and I got automatically charged a gratuity when I ordered my food and ate the food bar! REALLY… I believe in tipping but when someone ACTUALLY does something I think it is more appropriate! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY!

This place has moved to 1080 Baxter St. Better digs, same great food.

Very good food, but terrible service. Also, the items on the menu are rarely available even though the menu appears to be hand written on a daily basis. If catfish is on the daily hand-​written menu, it’s not available. This whole restaurant just seems lazy.

I give it 3 stars for the food and 1 star for the service.
I recently ate at Chonelle’s new space on Baxter Street where Gnat’s Landing used to be. I walked in there and I was literally the only customer there. Some guy was sitting behind the bar talking on a cordless phone and typing on his computer. He didn’t say anything to me, but proceeded to yell into the back kitchen until an annoyed woman emerged to take my order. She told me not to look at their menu because they were out of half of the things anyways, so I ended up choosing fried chicken, collared greens, and french fries from what they did have available. Given that I was the only customer in the restaurant, you think that it would have come out in a reasonable time, but it took over 20 minutes for them to bring me my food. The fried chicken was pretty good, but the collared greens tasted like they had been basting for too long, and the cornbread and french fires weren’t anything special. Given the track record of restaurants on Baxter Street, I wonder how long before Chonelle’s will shut down too.

Great southern cooking. The food is a variety of meat and vegetables based on availability. They have a few great favorites offered almost everyday (like baked chicken) and an eclectic set of rarities (like goat or out of this world turkey & dressing).
The only complaint is the dining area during this past summer suffered due to poorly functioning A/​C. Fans were added, but if the summer heat got to you, you’d probably want to get the order to go. No idea if this was a temporary of permanent issue, though.

I came here with a large party today around 12:15. It was very busy but very efficient. My only «complaint» might be that the credit card machine was slow but probably not something the staff could control. How refreshing to get a healthy but delicious veggie plate! I ordered the Black-​eyed Peas, Yams, Cabbage and Squash. All was cooked just right, seasoned just right and came with a nice sized piece of cornbread. Since we were part of a large party, gratuity was included but since the service was great, no problem there.
I only wish I lived and worked near there so I could eat there more often but work only finds me in Athens occasionally.

A tasty southern cooking restaurant, refreshingly not a a buffet. Prices are decent, at 8 – 10 dollars for a meat and two sides with a tea or soft drink, a bit less for a veggie plate.
Chonell’s has a huge selection of sides, I choose collards and baby Lima beans, both tasty but definitely not southern spiced, it seems they cater more to the older folks who are watching their salt/​fat intake. I’m more of a ham in my collards and bacon grease in my Lima’s when I choose to eat them, both lacking in my plate today.
My entrée was the country fried steak and gravy, the steak was cooked to order and the white gravy was very good, but a bit bland.
I enjoyed the meal, and those who are watching their diets would be very happy, but for the rare occasions I choose to dine in a Southern/​Soul food restaurant, I like the full flavor of decadent cooking.
Excellent service, real sweet tea, but the blandness of the food for what is supposed to be southern cooking kept them to three stars. Do try it, but don’t expect what Grandma used to make.

This place is the last stop on the line of a nearly defunct strip mall. Know where the Broad St. Kroger used to be before it was moved to Alps Rd? (Omni Fitness took over their space.) Well, that’s where Chonell’s is, situated at the end of the shopping center next to three or four empty retail spots.
Chonell’s seems to be doing fine, though – we wandered in around 2 PM this afternoon and saw that the two-​room place was full. The décor is minimal and a bit cheesy; the overhead fluorescent lights are crappy; the atmosphere leaves a little something to be desired.
Or does it? This way you can focus on the food. And it is excellent.
We approached the counter but had a few minutes before we could order – a woman kept telling us that she was sorry, she really would be with us in a minute. I got nervous about the customer service at this moment, but my first impression got knocked on its butt the rest of the time: the service was EXCELLENT. We ordered food, paid, and then took a seat, sweet tea in tow. Our food came out a few minutes later. I got fried chicken with two sides; my beau got BBQ chicken with two sides. The styrofoam cafeteria plates were piled full of food! So much okra even I couldn’t eat it all without help! The fried okra was crispy good on the outside, juicy and flavorful on the inside. The chicken was pretty good; the homemade cornbread was crumby and yummy. The sweet tea was superb.
The ladies of the waitstaff came around a few times making sure we were all right, joking around, and making sure we knew that we’d get more sweet tea, that they were brewing up a brand new batch for us. One waitress told us that she sees some customers every single day – now that’s the sign of a solid place. (She said she’s also happy to see new faces!)
Try out this hole in the wall. Your Southern self will be satisfied.