Golden Rule Bar-B-Q

Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, a barbecue restaurant in Alabama, has been open without interruption since 1891, making it the state’s oldest continuously operating restaurant. It began in Irondale, founded by the Williams family that year. The original building was made of wood with dirt floors and sat on a major dirt road, serving barbecue pork and other refreshments to travelers. Later, the restaurant moved to a new spot with a wood-floored dining room.

When U.S. Route 78 was built, the restaurant found itself on a key route between Birmingham and Atlanta. Because it sold beer, it became popular with travelers passing through dry counties on their way to Georgia. In the 1930s, Ellene Williams married Jabo Stone, and the couple ran the place together. The restaurant moved again in the 1960s when the highway was widened, this time into a building with neon signs and a metal awning.

With no children to inherit the business, the Williams-Stones decided to sell. In 1969, Michael Matsos, a Greek American from Massachusetts who owned a successful Birmingham steakhouse called La Paree, bought the restaurant. Jabo Stone had been a regular at Matsos’s steakhouse, and Matsos had enjoyed Stone’s barbecue. Matsos brought in Greek chefs and managers to help run things, as he did with his other restaurants.

He added Coca-Cola, French fries, and a green salad to the menu. In the 1970s, he moved the restaurant again, this time near Interstate 20. By 2007, Michael’s son Charles was running the business. As of 2013, there were 29 Golden Rule locations across Alabama. In 2023, the restaurant was bought by Brian Kemp.