Bernie’s Chicken
No Grease, All Juice: Why Bernie's Broasted Chicken is a Columbia Institution
If you want a taste of history in Columbia, SC, you don't look for a trendy new storefront or a sleek downtown bistro. Instead, you take a short drive out toward Williams-Brice Stadium to 1311 Bluff Road.
There, sitting in a building that looks like it hasn't been touched since the Carter administration, you'll find Bernie's Chicken. Family-owned and operated since 1979, Bernie's serves what is arguably the juiciest, crispiest, and most consistently incredible chicken in the area. But don't call it "fried chicken" to them — they'll gently correct you. Bernie's specializes in broasted chicken, a unique process that has earned them a multi-generational, cult-like following.
The Secret to the Crunch: What is Broasting?
The magic of Bernie's comes down to how the chicken is cooked. Most people see it and think fried chicken, since it's coated and cooked in oil. And while that's technically true, there's a lot more science to the process that Bernie's uses. The process is called "broasting". It's a specialized method that essentially deep-fries the meat inside a commercial pressure cooker using hot peanut oil. The technique dates back to 1954, when a Wisconsin inventor named L.A.M. Phelan combined a deep fryer and a pressure cooker into a single machine and trademarked the term.
The process cooks the chicken from the inside out, sealing in the natural moisture instantly. The result is a piece of chicken that is impossibly moist and juicy on the inside, delicately crisp on the outside, and while there's definitely some grease, it's not the heavy, dripping grease you get with standard frying.
When Bernie's opened in the late '70s, they leaned heavily into the official, patented Broaster Company equipment and recipes. Over the decades though, as technology evolved, the family adapted: they upgraded to a different brand of pressure fryers, changed their flour blends, and fine-tuned their house spices. But they never compromised on freshness — the chicken is likely slaughtered the night before, then cut in-house, brined, breaded, and fried fresh to order.
The Vibe: Pure Unapologetic 1980s Retro
Stepping inside Bernie's is like stepping into a time machine. The dining room is old-school: tile floors, yellow laminate tables, faux-wood laminate booths, and classic acoustic foam ceiling tiles.
It is completely unpretentious and filled with nostalgia. On any given weekday, you'll see the entire spectrum of Columbia dining here: college students, blue-collar workers, families, and groups of lifelong friends in their mid-80s who have kept a weekly lunch date here for decades.
The Menu: Just Order the "Special"
While Bernie's has expanded its menu over the years to include solid drive-in classics like double cheeseburgers, hot dogs, BLTs, and chicken club sandwiches, 99% of the people walking through the front door are there for one thing: the Special.
The famous 3-piece Chicken Special is an absolute steal. It comes loaded with three pieces of perfectly crispy, pressure-fried chicken, a pile of hot, golden crinkle-cut fries, fresh house-made cole slaw, a classic dinner roll, and a massive, ice-cold cup of their legendary house-made sweet tea. You can customize your dinner to be mixed, all-white meat, or all-breast meat, with combos generally ranging from an insane value of around $10.50 for mixed up to $14.50 for the all-breast option. And if you don't want a sweet tea, or would prefer a 2-piece or 4-piece dinner, they have several other chicken combos to choose from.
When you do decide, order at the counter and wait for them to call your number. When they do, head to the register, pay, grab your tray, find a booth, and dig in. I definitely recommend adding some of their hot sauce too — it's on every table.
Final Verdict
Bernie's has been running the same playbook since 1979: keep it simple, keep it fresh, and never mess with what works. They're open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., though the schedule flexes on University of South Carolina home game Saturdays — doors open at 10:00 a.m. and stay open straight through kickoff, turning the place into as much of a tailgating ritual as anything happening inside Williams-Brice. Go hungry, order the Special, and see what nearly five decades of doing one thing right tastes like.