Hillside Music & Que closes its doors in downtown Vestavia Hills

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The Hillside Music & Que restaurant on U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills closed its doors for the last time Sunday.

The eatery started at 633 Montgomery Highway in July 2023 as The Palm & Pig seafood and barbecue restaurant and rebranded about a year later to become Hillside Music & Que after Doug Smith, one of the original three partners who served as the primary chef and manager, left and went in another direction. But the rebranded restaurant only made it less than four months.

Skip Davis, one of the remaining partners, said the economic climate was just too rough.

“It’s too difficult these days to try to run a family kind of business in the current political and economic environment we’re in,” Davis said. “Eventually I think there will only be corporate stores and things like that left.”

Davis and original partner Charles Perry, both of whom have other full-time jobs in medical sales and financial advising, thought they could make it with a new executive chef, JP Holland, but things just didn’t work out.

Hillside Music & Que kept its barbecue, ribs, oysters, shrimp po’boys and frozen drinks but added some hot dogs, new burger options, a few more salads and new signature cocktails, Davis said. The restaurant also added some new sides, including baked beans, potato salad, red beans and rice, collard greens and hand-cut fries, he said.

The owners also started a brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“It was fun while it lasted. We had a great time there,” Davis said. ‘We loved our patrons.”

A lot of people were sad to see it close down because it was really about the only place in that area with live music, Davis said. A number of musicians came by on the last day to show support, he said.