Let’s “Meat” and Try Some New ‘Cue:
Smoke, fire, history and tradition intermingle to make South Carolina barbecue special. Whether you’re driving the Lowcountry streets of Charleston or cruising the upstate near Spartanburg, a barbecue restaurant is never far away on a road trip.
But what about when you find yourself on some two-lane country road near Hemingway, South Carolina or approaching the small community of Eutawville? What are the odds you’ll find great barbecue there?
Well, the chances are better than you might think. With over 300 barbecue joints operating from the mountains to the sea, our small state offers numerous places to satisfy that craving for ‘cue, no matter where you travel. And the ones you haven’t heard of might just become your new favorites.
That said, why not take a trip outside of the cities to places you might be less familiar with? We’re talking mom-and-pop restaurants that offer a true South Carolina barbecue experience, many with riveting family histories.
So hop in the car—let’s visit some of South Carolina’s best backroad barbecue.
Scott’s Bar-B-Que
2734 Hemingway Hwy. #5420, Hemingway, S.C. 29554
843-558-0134
Wood-Cooked/Whole Hog/Vinegar-based/No Hash/No Buffet/Cash Only/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Pulled pork
Scott’s in Hemingway has long been considered the state’s best barbecue. The reputation is well-deserved, but this backroads barbecue joint didn’t start out as a restaurant — Roosevelt and Ella Scott opened Scott’s Variety Store in 1972, and “Rosie” eventually started cooking whole hogs at the store weekly. Before long, their side-hog-hustle became the main attraction.
Today, Scott’s is world-famous for barbecue. Their son Rodney helped foster that acclaim, and he eventually left home to start his own separate chain of restaurants that you might have heard of: Rodney Scott’s BBQ.
But the barbecue at the Hemingway Scott’s remains on top. In fact, Southern Living magazine ranked Scott’s number one on its most recent ranking of “The South’s Top 50 BBQ Joints.”
What makes Scott’s exceptional is the combination of wood-cooked, whole hog barbecue and their zesty vinegar-pepper sauce. It is simple perfection.
The rest of the menu is rather limited, with pork or chicken plates or sandwiches. Scott’s also offers ribeyes on Saturday. Sides include coleslaw and baked beans. Pork rinds remain a crowd favorite.
If you visit, keep in mind that Scott’s is not your typical restaurant. It’s more of a take-out place, with some picnic tables outside and a couple of tables inside. And be sure to bring cash for your purchase. Cards are not accepted.
Carolina Bar-B-Que
109 Main St., New Ellenton, S.C. 29809
803-652-2919
Wood-Cooked/Hams and Shoulders/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Chopped pork or hash and rice
Carolina Bar-B-Que in New Ellenton remains one of SC’s most respected BBQ restaurants. That’s why it has been in business since the 1960s.
In 2016, Southern Living placed Carolina Bar-B-Que ninth on its list of “The South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints.” In addition, the SC Barbeque Association awarded them with its highest distinction of 100-Mile BBQ — barbecue so good it’s worth driving 100 miles to enjoy. (Other restaurants in this roundup share that distinction as well.)
Carolina Bar-B-Que traces its lineage back to Willie Baltzegar. He was a noted pitmaster from the late 1800s who taught members of the Dukes family. They would go on to establish Dukes BBQ legacy. Willie Mae Walker, born Baltzegar, and her son Jess Walker founded Carolina Bar-B-Que in 1969. Famous for its wood-cooked barbecue and mustard sauce, Carolina Bar-B-Que offers a classic all-you-can-eat buffet.
While they do offer plates and sandwiches, most come for the buffet. On the self-serve line, you’ll find chopped pork, barbecued chicken, a variety of sides and one other dish Carolina Bar-B-Que is known for: hash. The hash sports an orange color and peppery flavor that makes the stop well worth it.
Whether it is the barbecue, the buffet or the hash, when you find yourself on the backroads near Aiken, make time to visit Carolina Bar-B-Que.
Sweatman's Bar-B-Que
1427 Eutaw Rd., Holly Hill, S.C. 29059
803-496-1227
Wood-Cooked/Whole Hog/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Barbecue and ribs
On the backroads of Orangeburg county, birthplace of mustard sauce, hides yet another barbecue treasure. Cooking whole hogs over glowing embers of oak and hickory, Sweatman’s Bar-B-Que has been making great barbecue since 1977 in one of the most iconic settings of any barbecue joint in the state.
Halfway between Holly Hill and Eutawville sits a charming old farmhouse under a canopy of oaks, bordered by plowed fields. From the pits in the back wafts the smell of true barbecue — that combination of smoke and slowly roasting pork that signals you’ve found the right place.
Owners Mark and Lynn Behr purchased Sweatman’s from the family in 2011, a few years after the passing of founders Margie and “Bub” Sweatman.
Diners will miss the once-heralded buffet, which ended with COVID-19 and will not return. Regardless, the same great food makes its way to your plate. The chopped pork at Sweatman’s may well be the star, but the ribs and sides are equal. Truth is, everything at Sweatman’s is a treat.
Today, the Sweatman legacy still stands strong, even if it is no longer all-you-can-eat.
McCabe's Bar-B-Q
480 N. Brooks St., Manning, S.C. 29102
803-435-2833
Wood-Cooked/Whole Hog/Vinegar-based/Hash/Buffet/Cash Only/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Pulled pork, perloo, hash
There is a lot to love about McCabe’s Bar-B-Que in Manning.
To begin with, David McCabe and family make some of the best barbecue in the state. They cook whole hogs for 10 to 12 hours over wood at their small restaurant on the outskirts of Manning. It is an old-school approach that creates timeless flavor, so mouthwateringly perfect that it’s delicious without sauce.
The sauce, however, is special. McCabe’s offers a vinegar sauce that is slightly sweet with a nice touch of heat. They mix the sauce in right when they pull the hogs from the pit, creating savory strands of rich pork, balanced with the heat and tang of the sauce: a perfect combination.
But that’s not all. The sides alone would make a trip here worth a 100-mile drive, and that’s what sets a place like McCabe’s apart. While the buffet is not large, the variety of items is special: fried chicken, red hash, perloo, collards, slaw, hush puppies, and other Southern treats. McCabe’s provides something for everyone.
Midway BBQ
811 Main St., Buffalo, S.C. 29321
(864) 427-4047
Gas-Wood Smoked/Hams and Shoulders/Tomato-Based/Beef Hash/No Buffet/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Beef hash and chicken stew
Midway BBQ outside of Union offers a barbecue experience different from many barbecue joints in the Lowcountry and Midlands. Opening its doors as a “hash house” in 1941, founder Jack O’Dell began a legacy that stands strong. Today, daughter and son-in-law Amy and Jay Allen own and operate Midway. Despite some recent renovations, not much has changed.
Midway serves 100-mile barbecue, but the restaurant may be even more renowned for two other menu items. First is their hash. Unlike its cousins to the East with a pork and mustard base, Midway’s hash is made primarily with beef, butter and onions. This style of hash is common throughout Union and Greenwood counties, where the hash houses of yesteryear predominated.
The other must-have item on Midway’s menu is chicken stew. Like beef hash, chicken stew is an important dish in this part of the state, though not exactly what you’d picture if you’re from the coast. A milky broth rich in butter and tender shreds of chicken, Midway’s chicken stew is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter day, though you can enjoy it year-round.
Whether you visit for the barbecue, hash, or stew, you’ll want to add Midway to your barbecue bucket list.
Wise's Bar-B-Q House
25548 US Highway 76, Newberry, S.C. 29108
(803) 276-6699
Gas-cooked/Hams and Shoulders/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet
Must-Try: Hash and mustard sauce
Wise’s BBQ near Newberry is yet another old-school South Carolina barbecue buffet. Established in the 1960s, Wise’s hasn’t changed much in six decades — neither its menu nor its non-descript cinderblock building.
One notable evolution came after the passing of founder Herman Wise, when they converted the pits from wood to gas. Despite the transition, the Wise legacy continues.
That’s because they focus on what they do best: delivering a consistent, albeit limited, buffet experience. The small menu takes you back in time to early barbecue joints and includes only chopped pork barbecue, ribs, chicken, hash and rice, slaw, baked beans, pork rinds, white bread and pickles.
But there are two items that make Wise’s extra-special. The first is their unique mustard sauce — really a butter sauce, with a bright yellow mustard twang that adds a lot of flavor. The second is their hash, a shredded pork and beef combination. Here, meat is complemented by a thin broth, lacking the body of hashes to the East but representing the style of hash common to its region.
Shuler's Bar-B-Que
419 SC-38, Latta, S.C. 29565
843-752-4700
Wood-Cooked/Shoulders/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Ribs, pork bog, liver hash and red gravy
Not far from the noise of Interstate 95, drivers cruise to a more peaceful setting on the road to Shuler’s Bar-B-Que. Within a few miles of Exit 181, an enormous American flag signals their arrival at one of the Palmetto region’s best barbecue joints.
Here, motorists will find more than a restaurant. Shuler's success — and an appearance on “The Profit” — has shaped something more grand than founders Norton and Lynn Hughes probably ever imagined. In addition to the original restaurant now stands a sprawling general store. The restaurant, however, remains the focus.
A log cabin on the banks of a small pond, Shuler’s offers a picturesque scene. The food inside that cabin, however, is what keeps drivers turning off the interstate. Shuler’s buffet stocks great wood-cooked barbecue, but there are a few other noteworthy items here that you should try.
First is the liver hash, originated as a way to use parts of a hog that might otherwise have been wasted. While most hash today contains no offal parts, liver remains an ingredient at a handful of places, and Shuler’s is one worth trying.
Another item on the buffet unique to the Pee Dee is red gravy. Generally served over rice, this concoction resembles a thin, tomato sauce and can be used as such, though locals might stare. It’s quite tasty.
A third item with Pee Dee roots is their “bog.” Chicken bog is a common recipe in homes throughout the area. Lowcountry residents may be familiar with a close cousin of this boggy chicken and rice dish called “perloo.” Shuler’s serves a pork bog in the same spirit: an unctuous, peppery rice with strands of pork.
Drop in at the dinner hour when you can also enjoy barbecued chicken and some of South Carolina’s best dry-rubbed ribs.
Price's BBQ
408 Ervin Price Rd., Gilbert, S.C. 29054
803-892-2502
Wood-Cooked/Hams, Butts, and Shoulders/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet/100-Mile BBQ
Must-Try: Barbecue with sauce, yellow hash
Price’s BBQ is an unassuming cinderblock building that awaits about a mile off of Highway 378, near the Southern shores of Lake Murray. Price’s is one of a few old-school, Midlands-style barbecue joints remaining.
Hampton and Dean Price opened Price’s in 1964 as a way to put their daughter, Beverly, through school. Today, Beverly and her husband Jerry continue the tradition.
Price’s burns down oak and hickory in barrels, creating the embers they shovel beneath cuts of pork. About 12 hours later, they mix and chop the pork for service.
While the smoke imparts a true barbecue flavor, Price’s is also special because they serve a style of mustard sauce unique to the Lexington area. The sauce is long on yellow mustard tang and is strikingly different from the sweeter concoction you may have enjoyed at Bessinger-family restaurants.
In addition to their wood-cooked ‘cue, Price’s makes a rich and meaty yellow hash that takes its flavor from that same sauce.
The buffet is full, offering a nice array of homemade sides, fried and barbecued chicken, meatloaf and even fried shrimp and catfish. If pork skins are available, be sure to add some to your plate.
Dukes BBQ
949 Robertson Blvd., Walterboro, S.C. 29488
843-549-1446
Gas-cooked/Hams and Shoulders/Mustard-based/Hash/Buffet
Must-Try: Rust gravy, buffet
No list of must-visit barbecue joints would be complete without a mention of Dukes.
Today, there are a number of Dukes barbecue restaurants dotting the map, from Orangeburg to the coast. While there are at least 10 Dukes total, the restaurants are not a chain. Each location is independent, and each offers its own experience.
Historically, each location was owned by a family member. Earl Dukes opened the original location in Orangeburg in the 1950s. That family tradition eventually evolved.
The Dukes in Walterboro is one of the outliers and is owned by Terry O’Quinn, whose son Bryan owns the James Island Dukes in Charleston. And not far from I-95, O’Quinn’s Restaurant represents an adjustment to that legacy, but he maintains long-standing Dukes traditions.
Like most Dukes, the original Walterboro restaurant centers on its ample though not extravagant buffet. Here, you’ll find all-you-can-eat servings of their barbecue, fried chicken, hush puppies, slaw, mac ’n’ cheese and much more. It’s all delicious.
One of the main reasons to try Dukes is because you'll find yet another variation of mustard sauce. Born in South Carolina, the sauce hasn’t spilled far beyond our borders. Within the state, however, it has forked into at least three primary branches: Bessinger-style, Price-style, and Dukes-style.
Dukes’ sauce doesn’t assault you with a strong mustard flavor. Rather, they balance the mustard nicely, using a mixture that includes both mayonnaise and ketchup. This combination led to the nickname “Orangeburg Sweet” or “Rust Gravy.” Whatever you call it, Dukes in Walterboro will provide a full Dukes dining experience, from savory to sweet.