Here's Where North Carolina Ranks Nationwide When It Comes To BBQ And It's Not No. 1

Homemade Barbecue Platter with Ribs Chicken Brisket and Pulled Pork

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Here in North Carolina, we are proud of our BBQ. And for good reason. We may be biased but there is a pretty good argument to be made that we serve some of the best smoked meat in the country. If you've lived here for any length of time you most likely have strong feelings about BBQ and a list of your favorite spots. Perhaps you even have some recipes of your own. And while we know here in North Carolina and even the South in general, we do BBQ well, it's always nice to have your ego stroked a little bit. So when I clicked on this list of the top States for BBQ I figured that's what I was getting.

The list was compiled by Empire Stakes who ranked each US state based on the best places to host BBQ. And quite honestly I think North Carolina was disrespected. There are other southern states you could maybe make an argument about. But getting beat out by New York and New Jersey. Absolutely not, I refuse to accept these rankings as valid. And I get it, I don't think they are imagining the same thing when creating this list as I was when reading it. They can't be. But regardless, North Carolina BBQ just barely missed out on the top 5 of these rankings. See the top 10 below:

Texas
California
New York
Florida
New Jersey
North Carolina
Virginia
Georgia
Mississippi
Oklahoma

So how on earth were these rankings compiled? Empire Stakes considered the following metrics: BBQ searches, Government Survey, BBQ Index, BBQ Food Index, and BBQ restaurants per capita. You can read the full study and more about the methodology here. Sorry NYC an NJ I think I'll stick North Carolina BBQ, and I suggest you do the same.

What Are the Most Popular Barbecue Restaurants In North Carolina?

If there is one thing you can say about North Carolinians it's that we LOVE our BBQ. There are different styles, different meats of choice, and different sauces. But we do it all well. And no the term barbecue should never refer to the outdoor cooking of hamburgers and hotdogs- that's a cookout for your northerners. There are so many incredible barbeque restaurants in North Carolina, it's hard to say what the best is. And that's honestly a personal preference. Your choice may be different than mine which may be different from your coworker's. But while we can't objectively tell you the best barbecue restaurants in North Carolina, we can tell you the most popular.

Did you know that May is National BBQ Month? It is and in celebration, our friends at BetCarolina used Google Trends to determine the most popular barbecue restaurants in North Carolina. The data used in this analysis is from May 1, 2022-September 6, 2022. And there is a dominant winner that's right here in the Queen City. It's one that many celebrities choose to dine at when visiting Charlotte. And funny enough, when we told you about the best Charlotte BBQ Restaurants (per TripAdvisor) last year, it was also the winner. So even with different methods, it's still coming out on top.

Keep reading to see which that is, you'll also find the best Charlotte BBQ Restaurants list at the end of this one. You can read BetCarolina's full study and analysis here.

5. Buxton Hall BBQ (Asheville)

Location: 32 Banks Ave, Asheville, NC 28801

Search Volume: 2%

4. Skylight Inn BBQ (Ayden)

Location: 4618 Lee St, Ayden, NC 28513

Search Volume: 3%

3. Switzerland Cafe (Little Switzerland)

Location: 9440 NC-226A, Marion, NC 28752

Search Volume: 4%

2. Red Bridges BBQ (Shelby)

Location: 2000 E Dixon Blvd, Shelby, NC 28150

Search Volume: 8%

1. Midwood Smokehouse (Charlotte & Raleigh)

Location: View all Carolina locations here

Search Volume: 83%

The 15 Best Charlotte North Carolina BBQ Restaurants

Here in North Carolina, we love our barbeque. And we do it well if I may so so myself. There is no shortage of fantastic restaurants across the state and the Queen City is no exception to that. But if you only can eat at one which should you choose? While I have my favorite (and it didn't make this list near the top), I decided to turn to the public for their thoughts on the matter. A quick search on TripAdvisor led me to a list of 30 Charlotte BBQ restaurants. It included chains, multiple locations of some, the heavy hitters, and some I hadn't heard of before. For this list, I took the top 15 restaurants (combining anywhere that had multiple locations).

Trip Advisor compiles these rankings based on average rating and number of reviews. Therefore you will see a couple of places that are ranked higher with a slightly lower rating. This means they probably had a higher number of higher-rated reviews. I have to say for the most part I do agree with this list the top 3 didn't surprise me at all and I feel could have been ranked in any order. What's your favorite of the many Charlotte BBQ restaurants?

15. Let's Meat Kbbq

Address: 1400 S Church St, Charlotte, NC 28203-4114

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Reviews: 31

Here’s Where North Carolina Ranks Nationwide When It Comes To BBQ And It’s Not No. 1

Here in North Carolina, we are proud of our BBQ. And for good reason. We may be biased but there is a pretty good argument to be made that we…

Melanie Day

What Are the Most Popular Barbecue Restaurants In North Carolina?

5. Buxton Hall BBQ (Asheville)

4. Skylight Inn BBQ (Ayden)

3. Switzerland Cafe (Little Switzerland)

2. Red Bridges BBQ (Shelby)

1. Midwood Smokehouse (Charlotte & Raleigh)

The 15 Best Charlotte North Carolina BBQ Restaurants

15. Let's Meat Kbbq

14. Sweet Lew's BBQ

13. Bubba's Barbecue

12. Smithfield's Chicken 'N Bar-B-Q

11. Bill Spoon's Barbecue

10. Bobbee O's BBQ

9. The Q Shack

8. City Barbeque

7. Noble Smoke

6. Bar-b-q King

5. Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q

4. Sauceman's

3. Mac's Speed Shop

2. McKoy's Smokehouse and Saloon

1. Midwood Smokehouse

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