These barbecue joints in NC rank among the nation’s best. What makes them special?
North Carolinians take their barbecue seriously, and that dedication produces tasty results.
So much so, the state is now home to six of the nation’s best barbecue joints, according to the review website Yelp. Here are the restaurants that made it onto the list of “Top 100 Barbecue Spots 2024”:
Haywood Smokehouse in Waynesville at No. 7
Midwood Smokehouse in Charlotte at No. 32
Prime Barbecue in Knightdale at No. 34
The Smoke Pit in Concord at No. 61
Smokehouse at Steve’s in Graham at No. 78
12 Bones Smokehouse – River in Asheville at No. 92
To create the list, Yelp said it studied restaurants across the country. It “ranked those spots using a number of factors, including the total volume and ratings of reviews” mentioning barbecue that customers left over time.
What makes the BBQ joints special?
The highest-ranking barbecue spot in North Carolina was Haywood Smokehouse in the mountain town of Waynesville. Yelp gave nods to the restaurant’s brisket and ribs, which founder Joe Beasley said are the largest available.
“For an adventure, try the Pitmaster’s Special — a slightly unusual, rotating dish, like barbecue hash,” Yelp wrote. “Popular scratch-made sides include Nana’s Creamy Coleslaw (Joe’s grandmother’s recipe) and Burnt-End Baked Beans, cooked for hours in the smoker, right under the brisket.”
Roughly 30 miles away in Asheville, several Yelp users raved about the blueberry chipotle sauce at 12 Bones Smokehouse’s River location. In a state where styles of barbecue have their fan bases, 12 Bones said it doesn’t like to follow rules and draws “inspiration from all over the South (and sometimes the North).”
In the Charlotte area, top-ranked barbecue joints included Midwood Smokehouse’s Central Avenue location and The Smoke Pit on Concord Parkway North in Concord. Burnt ends were listed among the most-photographed items on both restaurants’ Yelp pages, as fans praised the meat cubes’ crispy exterior and juicy interior.
Also earning top spots on the list were Smokehouse at Steve’s in Graham — near Greensboro — and Prime Barbecue in the Raleigh suburb of Knightdale. Several customers went online to rave about the restaurants’ pulled pork, saying the meat was tender and flavorful.
Yelp released the rankings two months after Southern Living readers chose Lexington Barbecue as their favorite North Carolina barbecue joint. The restaurant is in Lexington, synonymous with a style of barbecue sometimes called “Western” or “Piedmont.” While that style uses pork shoulder meat and ketchup in its sauce, Eastern Style barbecue instead uses the “whole hog” and no tomatoes in its sauce.
In the latest rankings, Yelp said the nation’s No. 1 place to eat barbecue was Wright’s Barbecue, near the University of Arkansas campus.
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