The restaurant's owner is retiring, and he said Saturday night's dinner service was their last. Since the announcement, lines formed outside the restaurant.
ABC13 crews saw lines wrapped around the building all day on Saturday.
The community staple had Houstonians waiting over two hours in line for a table.
"This is literally the first place I ever went after I was born, the first restaurant my parents ever took me," diner Cameron Walker said.
"I've been coming here since 1973," diner Lee Rose told ABC13. "I spent the summer here because I came here to get married and my wife brought me here."
Barbecue Inn opened in 1946, just one year after the end of World War II, and the first menu had a barbecue plate priced at just 60 cents.
Owner Wayne Skrehot told Eyewitness News he was closing the restaurant to retire, but also because of the financial strain the business was under.
"The cost of everything is just - it's basically working for nothing," Skrehot said.
In a report last year, 88% of Texas restaurant owners said they're now grappling with higher food costs. Labor costs are also on the rise, impacting 66% of operators, while 52% have seen a decrease in customer traffic.
Skrehot's son, David, started washing dishes at the restaurant at 14 years old. When asked what he will miss the most, he replied, "Working with my dad, that will be the biggest....We had kitchen staff years ago that have been here 50 years; they knew me when I was a little kid."
Teresa Ruiz, a waitress at the restaurant for 33 years, didn't usually take orders.
"I just say, the usual? They say yes, the usual. They've come in while I'm not here, and they said I don't know; Teresa knows what I order," Ruiz told ABC13. "I've been very emotional, very emotional; I'm heartbroken, but I'll be fine."
The fried chicken and shrimp were the most popular items on the menu, made from an old Czech family recipe. They were originally sold out of a drive-thru before the restaurant, which became a family tradition for Houstonians, was established.
"When I graduated from Reagan High School, I was 17, and that was the first time I worked in the area and started coming here," Kay Gutowski said. "I'm now 78."
Well-known establishments like Kim Son, Ginger and Fork, This Is It, and Uncle Tony's all closed their doors in the Houston area in the past year.