When this post was originally written, it was taken about five months after their 2022 fire and it wasn't clear if the restaurant would ever reopen or not. (Good thing I didn't bet real money against it). It's quite difficult to tell what the history of the Chicken Oil Company actually is. It did appear to be a genuine gas station at one time, dating back to the 1950s, and apparently, owned by Joe Ferreri of the nearby Triangle Drive-In. This newspaper ad suggests that it was built (along with another gas station) as a companion operation to Ferreri's restaurant operations (Sugar 'N Spice was Ferreri's other restaurant). The Amlico name was acquired by Fina by the late 1950s and eventually rebranded though I'm not sure if it ever flew under the Fina banner.
By the mid-1970s it was known as "Larry's Key Service Station", but this was soon purchased and expanded by Don Ganter into Chicken Oil Company, featuring a bar with hamburgers and beer. Gasoline was still an option but at some point this was discontinued and turned into another expansion of the restaurant. While its College Station counterpart of the same ownership, Dixie Chicken continued to focused on beer, Chicken Oil Company became known for its hamburgers and other menu items.
On the afternoon of April 3, 2022, the restaurant suffered a devastating kitchen fire, which, although sparing the building from total disaster (the fate of Olive Garden and later, Harvey Washbanger's), caused significant damage to the restaurant. The insides of the building were photographed a few days after the fire1. You can see that the kitchen areas were trashed but the dining room, while suffering extensive smoke damage, looks salvageable. For several years, Chicken Oil sat idle; this is when the pictures were taken, but eventually renovation started. Parts of the west side of the building were demolished to conform to Bryan's right of way (these were the most heavily damaged parts anyway) and the parking lot was finally rebuilt from the gravel lot it was before.
As a result, the "new" Chicken Oil looks substantially different from the old version. As you can see in this X post (archived version here) the kitchen and the dining room seem to have effectively switched places, but that's not quite true.2 On August 4, 2025, the restaurant reopened. Does it still hold up to its pre-2022 reputation? Well, you'll have to decide that for yourself, but I found it an excellent value when compared to how expensive fast food is these days.
1. Courtesy James "Tex" Crowley, and originally hosted on YouTube under the "Texas Media Foundry" name.
2. From what I can tell, the old entrance has been sealed off and arcade machines placed there, with the current queue for ordering about where the kitchen window used to be. You can definitely tell the kitchen side is brand new.
UPDATE 08-06-2026: One year later there were a few little things I wanted to correct, fix, and add. [Joe Ferreri] and [gas station] added. The video source has been added.
UPDATE 08-06-2025: Extensive rewrite of post incorporating previous updates and to have less of a past tense. Previous updates archived.
UPDATE 08-28-2025: Upon a visit the restaurant is still laid out similarly, the old door has been sealed off. The kitchen is at the southwest corner of the building.
