TV Restaurants

What Happened to Big Jim's Bama Q? (Hammondville, AL)

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Big Jim's Bama Q has closed — confirmed via foodnetworkgossip.com, 2016.

Primary source
foodnetworkgossip.com ·
Secondary source
al.ltddir.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: Food Network Gossip's tracker table puts the closure around early 2016, after mixed reviews continued to appear online through September 2015; separately, Alabama corporate records list the business entity as administratively dissolved effective January 22, 2015, an earlier and possibly unrelated administrative date. (unverified exact closure date)

  • Season / episode Season 8, Episode 11
  • Original air date
  • Address 10339 Alabama Highway 117, Hammondville, AL 35989

Address

10339 Alabama Highway 117, Hammondville, AL 35989

We have not geocoded this record yet, so it is not on the map.

What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

On Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network), Robert Irvine visited the small community of Hammondville, Alabama for the episode "The Writing on the Wall," which brought him to Big Jim's Bama Q, a rural barbecue restaurant. The episode, which aired May 28, 2014, focused on standard Restaurant Impossible territory: outdated decor, an unfocused menu, and operational habits that Irvine's team worked to reset over a two-day renovation, including new signage, seating, and a tightened barbecue menu. Community-focused coverage of Hammondville at the time noted the restaurant's importance as one of relatively few sit-down dining options in the immediate area, a factor Irvine's team weighed when deciding how much of the existing menu and format to preserve during the renovation. Online reviews of the restaurant remained mixed in the roughly year and a half after the broadcast, with commentary as recent as September 2015 still appearing on local review platforms, though the restaurant does not appear to have kept an up-to-date website or Facebook page during that stretch. Food Network Gossip's Restaurant Impossible tracker table puts the closure around early 2016, roughly a year and a half after the show's visit. Separately, Alabama business-entity records list the corporate registration behind the restaurant as administratively dissolved effective January 22, 2015, an earlier date tied to the entity's state filing status rather than necessarily to the restaurant's last day of service, and the two dates should not be treated as describing the same event. Big Jim's Bama Q operated at 10339 Alabama Highway 117 in Hammondville, a small unincorporated community in DeKalb County near the Georgia state line. No dedicated news article documenting the restaurant's closure was located; the closure timing here rests on the tracker blog's periodic review-monitoring rather than a single announcement or article. The restaurant's owners had operated the barbecue business for a number of years prior to the show's visit, according to local coverage of the makeover.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 8, Episode 11
Original air date
Episode title
The Writing on the Wall
What was featured
Signage, seating, and barbecue-menu renovation at a rural community restaurant
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Big Jim's Bama Q

Frequently asked questions

Is Big Jim's Bama Q still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Big Jim's Bama Q has closed — confirmed via foodnetworkgossip.com, 2016.

What happened to Big Jim's Bama Q after Restaurant: Impossible?

On Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network), Robert Irvine visited the small community of Hammondville, Alabama for the episode "The Writing on the Wall," which brought him to Big Jim's Bama Q, a rural barbecue restaurant. As of September 2026, Big Jim's Bama Q has closed — confirmed via foodnetworkgossip.com, 2016.

Is Big Jim's Bama Q permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Big Jim's Bama Q has closed — confirmed via foodnetworkgossip.com, 2016. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Big Jim's Bama Q located?

10339 Alabama Highway 117, Hammondville, AL 35989. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Big Jim's Bama Q?

Season 8, Episode 11 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired May 28, 2014. The episode is titled “The Writing on the Wall”.

Did the makeover last at Big Jim's Bama Q?

The episode first aired May 28, 2014. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 12 years later —: As of September 2026, Big Jim's Bama Q has closed — confirmed via foodnetworkgossip.com, 2016.

What do reviews say since Restaurant: Impossible?

Online reviews of the restaurant remained mixed in the roughly year and a half after the broadcast, with commentary as recent as September 2015 still appearing on local review platforms, though the restaurant does not appear to have kept an up-to-date website or Facebook page during that stretch. We summarise what dated sources report; we do not publish our own rating.

Is Big Jim's Bama Q still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

The episode, which aired May 28, 2014, focused on standard Restaurant Impossible territory: outdated decor, an unfocused menu, and operational habits that Irvine's team worked to reset over a two-day renovation, including new signage, seating, and a tightened barbecue menu. Anything newer than our last check on September 7, 2026 may not be reflected here.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
10339 Alabama Highway 117, Hammondville, AL 35989
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

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