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The 15 Best Charlotte North Carolina BBQ Restaurants

Melanie Day August 10th

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?

The Great BBQ Debate: North Carolina Has 4 Cities In Top 100

Here in North Carolina, we are serious about our BBQ. Not only that we pride ourselves on it. Whether it’s eastern or western NC, we do it well. And yes there are other areas of the country that think they are better, but we know the truth. While there are countless places to get mouth-watering bbq across the state one city that comes to mind first, at least for me, is Lexington. And shockingly they did not make this list. But before you go grab your pitchforks there is a good reason for that. This list is based on the 200 largest US cities, which is a category Lexington doesn’t fall into. There are other nearby locales that are eligible for these rankings though! The list was created by LawnLove and ranks cities based on their BBQ, though North Carolina didn’t rank as high as my biased opinion says it should have.

According to LawnLove rankings were based on award-winning barbecue restaurants, experience hosting a “master-level” competition, multiple barbecue festivals, and high ratings, among others. The highest ranking NC city was actually Raleigh, NC. And as a former resident who still considers the city my second home I can probably see it. The Pit is a Raleigh staple BBQ restaurant. But if we are talking quantity I think Charlotte outshines them. And then there’s the triad. Where did the NC cities rank? Keep reading to see the top 20 BBQ Cities (according to LawnLove) and where each of the North Carolina cities ranked.

Read the full article here.

  • Top 20 BBQ Cities In America

  • 20. Honolulu, HI

    Honolulu

  • 19. Des Moines, IO

    Iowa

  • 18. Montgomery, AL

    Montogomery

  • 17. Savannah, GA

    Georgia

  • 16. Tampa. FL

    Tampa

  • 15. Raleigh, NC

    Best Companies Raleigh

  • 14. Minneapolis, MN

    Minneapolis

  • 13. Cincinnati, OH

    Cincinnati, OH

  • 12. Richmond, VA

    Virginia

  • 11. Little Rock, AR

    Arkansas

  • 10. Houston, TX

    Houston, TX

  • 9. Chattanooga, TN

    Chattanooga

  • 8. Austin, TX

    Austin

  • 7. Kansas City, KS

    Liberty Memorial and Union Station aerial views, downtown Kansas City

  • 6. Overland Park, KS

    Overland Park KS

  • 5. Orlando, FL

    Orlando

  • 4. Springfield, MO

    Springfield MO

  • 3. Chicago, IL

    Chicago

  • 2. Kansas City, MO

    Kansas City MO

  • 1. St. Louis, MO

    Missouri

  • North Carolina BBQ Cities

    Raleigh previously mentioned at #15

  • 39. Charlotte

    Charlotte

  • 44. Fayetteville, NC

    Fayettevile

  • 92. Durham, NC

    Durham NC

  • 115. Cary, NC

    Cary NC

  • 130. Winston Salem, NC

    Winston Salem

  • 176. Greensboro, NC

    Greensboro skyline

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