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Posted on 09/19/2025 6:35:16 AM PDT by texas booster
We often hear that the world of Southern barbecue moves slowly, sticking stubbornly to its time-worn traditions. That may have been the case a few decades ago, but here in 2025 tastes and trends seem to be shifting at a faster and faster pace.
It’s been just two years since we released Southern Living’s last list of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in the South, but this year’s rankings look quite different than they did in 2023. The economics of barbecue are increasingly challenging, and the past few years have seen a half dozen former Top 50 restaurants close their doors for good. Other former luminaries are still in operation, but their brightness has begun to fade as they begin to show their age.
But hope springs eternal when it comes to barbecue, and there’s been no shortage of new, ambitious players entering the business and making a splash on the scene. Some are steeping themselves in traditional ingredients and cooking techniques, while others are brashly striking out to forge creative new styles. The best have a foot in both camps, embracing the lessons of the past while looking to the future. They’re simultaneously rooted in their specific geography and local traditions but also look around the South—indeed, around the globe—for inspiration.
A definite theme of this year’s list is expansion or continuous improvement. One well-regarded barbecue operation after another has updated its offering or moved to a new location over the past few years. In many cases these improvements have pushed an existing Top 50 restaurant higher up in the rankings or put a new restaurant on the list for the first time.
There’s plenty of top notch ribs, chopped pork, brisket, and chicken to be found at the Top 50 joints, but there’s so much more to be discovered, too. Lamb chops, pit-smoked steaks, smashburgers, barbacoa tacos, and pork steaks are among the most memorable bites from the arduous research undertaken to compile this list.
I’m often asked how the entries are chosen and what criteria are used to rank them. I would like to say that I employ an elaborate, sophisticated, and completely empirical algorithm. Something, perhaps, based upon a sliding 63-point scale of credits and debits. Serve slaw on your sandwiches by default? Add two points. Line longer than 30 minutes? Deduct three. Located in Texas? Minus 15! (I kid. I love Texas. I do.)
In the end, when it comes to picking the best barbecue, you have to go with your gut.
What informs the selection more than anything else is the overall impression taken away from the full dining experience. That starts with the quality and flavor of the meats, of course, and of the side dishes, too. It extends to the overall ambience of the setting, the “wow” factor of something new and unexpected, and all the little finishing touches. I’m not saying that hanging a taxidermied cow’s head on the dining room wall is enough to put a restaurant in the Top 50, but if that cow is wearing a stars-and-stripes top hat and has a toothpick in its mouth . . . well, that surely counts for something.
In the end, when comparing one joint to the next, it comes down to this question: If I could eat right now at just one of these places, which would I choose? These are not easy decisions to make, especially considering the rich diversity of styles and techniques found across the South. How do you compare an old-school whole hog joint in the Carolinas with a creative, beef-centric new joint in Texas? At some point, you’ve got to just make the call and stand by it.
Here, then, ordered from number 50 down to number one, are my picks for the Best BBQ Joints in the South in 2025.
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The rankings in this list are determined by Robert Moss, Southern Living's Contributing Barbecue Editor, based upon many years of traveling the South eating barbecue. He has dined at each and every restaurant on this list in person and has visited almost all of them multiple times.
When compiling each year's list, he revisits as many previous honorees and as many potential new contenders as time will allow. There are no score sheets or empirical grading systems employed. Instead, it is a qualitative ranking based upon the enjoyment of the meal and the overall experience of the visit.
A ping out to the Texas Ping list, founded by Windflier.
Just thought I would start a fight among BBQ aficionados. I am going to start by pinging the Texas folks to the thread.
It's a long list, and there are 17 Texas BBQ joints on the list. Please note that there are a lot of other scoring for this list besides flavor and sauce.
Oh, and the author lives nearby to #1.
Another special Texas summer edition for your perusal.
As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the Texas Ping list.
Blessings, and stay cool!
BBQ is highly overrated. What used to be a nominally priced restaurant choice has ballooned into fat meat that is too charred or greasy with crappy sauces and costs too much. Every establishment wants to put their own twist on the sauce and usually screw it up and make it too spicey (hot) or tastes like ditch water. I would venture that only 1 out every 20 places are worth eating.
When you do find one that is good you can’t afford to eat there compared to other options. You can do much better at your own home for less than half the cost.
The #1 BBQ joint in the Lower Peninsula is my backyard in Midland.
Prove me wrong.
See my #4 and if you are critique-ing...just DM me with your choice of meat.
I’ve got wings on for this evening.
Very true.
But I did like Stanley’s in Tyler, Texas. Been a while, though.
We ate at Interstellar BBQ in Austin a couple of years ago. Very fancy cooking, and I called it BBQ fit for a BBQ competition.
Not something that I would go to for a regular meal.
Plenty of those places still left, and you can tell them by the smoke marks around the smoker.
BTW, I would visit several of these joints in his list, if only because the chimney/smokehouse has 50+ years of soot.
“Best of” Lists = Who wants to pay me the most money
I got my crabs at Dirty Dicks.
Outlaws in Daingerfield was pretty good. Haven’t been there in few years (I moved), but he was cost effective and the best I have had to date. He also made his peach cobbler every morning and it was awesome.
I do like County Line (in Austin on the river west of town) they are good but again overly pricey.
Believe it or not Rippy’s in Nashville on Broadway was pretty good when I was there last year.
My issue with every place in Lockhart (and central Texas) is it is too blackened. If I want burnt meat, I would let my ex cook it.
Pinging out to the Texas Ping! list
Q39 Kansas/Missouri.
Years ago we did BBQ tasting in Lenexa and since it was our first year, we got to test brisket, chicken etc. all the common ones. If we would have kept participating, you moved up further in tasting and got to try exotic meats like alligator, ostrich etc. I like beef, port and chicken myself.
Man, I would love to take a road trip and try it all, but I don’t think my cardiologist would go with me.
Wow — Roanoke actually took a spot on the list. I guess I’ll have to head over there and check it out. And there are a few more within 2-3 hours of me — I smell a BBQ road trip!
We have a really good one in Lynchburg that I was hoping would make the list. I didn’t think it would, but I was hoping.
It’s been over twenty years since I’ve eaten there - but I am particular to Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City.
Somewhere at home is a picture of a thinner me with more hair digging into a rack of ribs there. Their barbeque sauce is (IMHO) what makes it so good. It’s not that sugary crap. It’s got a great flavor.
There is NO good BBQ in Louisville. It makes me sad
Yes! One of my fondest memories of Kansas City is Arthur Bryant’s! Hickory smoked brisket with sauce on the side.
I think it’s kind of interesting that Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, AL is listed as #21, but just won the National BBQ Championship a few months ago, I think for the 13th time.
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