Carolina Barbecue — Restaurant in Spartanburg

I heard there was a good BBQ place nearby so I drove up and decided to give Carolina BBQ a try. I walked in not knowing what to expect. The exterior is a bit run down and packed in an area beside a gas station and a row of old shops. The interior is a bit dated, but the kind with a good deal of charm for this type of eatery. To me, it was actually a good sign of good food to come.

The service was excellent from the first moment. I was greeted as I entered and chose a booth to sit in. My server came quickly and referred to me as sir the entire time. She smiled and was very pleasant. (I also observed another server using the same great service to other customers.) She brought my drink, took my order, and brought the food out in just a few minutes. She made sure my drink stayed full and broought me a to go cup toward the end of the meal. I asked her what type of BBQ they serve and she said it was the tomato and vinegar based. I told her that was a pleasant surprise as I was moving from an area that only had eastern style. I grew up eating Lexington Style BBQ prior to that and was looking forward to trying the BBQ here.

I ordered the chopped plate with BBQ slaw (of course!) and french fries.The portions were plentiful. The BBQ was indeed a close cousin to the Lexington style I grew up with, but not exact. It was just a tad bit on the dry side but the sauce helped. It had very good flavor and was not chewy or tough. I really enjoyed it. The BBQ slaw was very good. The fries were fine. The hush-puppies that came with the plate were very, very good. I really enjoyed those. The price was fair for the portions and service.

Great food, great service, and a good location. I look forward to coming back with my family and letting them...

Food is usually good. Service can be ok to great depending on number of staff

Update 2022- Don't know what has happened to this place. Been a customer for 20+ years. I think the change of ownership a few years ago has sent this place into a downward spiral. The last two time we dined in, the service was poor, and the food was just not as good as it always has been.

The last two times have been carry-out. Orders looked like they had been ready for a while, with everything in styrofoam containers having condensated and making everything soggy. Despite requests to separate the french fries.

This last visit in May 2022 will likely be our last. It's a shame. What a good place to eat, this used to be.

The food on this last visit in May 2022 was carry-out. The standard BBQ plate with two sides (x2). A five-minute trip home. The BB is barely warm and very mushy, fries are soggy and barely warm. Bake beans, which were one of our favorites with a great smokey flavor now taste like they came out of a can. The BBQ tasted ok, but very mushy as mentioned, small proportion and really lacking the strong smokey flavor that was expected.

To top it off, the hush puppies, another favorite from Carolina BBQ, fell apart into crumbs when grasped to eat them.

At $9.99 a plate for a small scoop of mushy BBQ pork, scoop of canned beans, soggy fries, crumbly hush puppies and barely warm food. We just can't justify going back or recommending Carolina BBQ anymore. It's sad. Used to be really great food, good proportions (BBQ pork used to be semi dry and fill the lower half of the clamshell container) and the dine-in experience (no more Dr. Pepper BBQ...

Okay, I've eat here many times and Everytime it was good. Our visit this time was way off the mark. I ask our waitress if we got hush puppies with the meals we ordered and she said no so I ordered additional pups only to discover when she brought our meal that each tray came with 3 pups each and we ordered additional. I didn't want that many but okay. My wife ordered the chopped chicken. She got 4 pieces about the size of a half dollar and the rest was chopped. I got the chopped tray, pork, and mine was brought to the table luke warm by the time I finished it it was only room temp. Our sides, Mac and cheese and green bean were not what I would have served. Green beans had no flavor, just like they heated them up and had not seasoned them yet and brought them to the table. They were extremely hot but flavorless. Mac and cheese seemed to be left from another time. Elbows, some pepper but no cheese to speak of. The other thing is a worker went to smoke and when she came back in it drew alot of smoke back into the room so we had to smell cigarette smoke until our food got there. I'm not sure I will be back, the visit was that bad. Like I said earlier, many times I have visited and absolutely no problems, this visit was a...