We could tell you BBQ King is worth a visit, but we run the place, so of course we'd say that. It's more interesting to hear it from people who don't work here: reporters, food writers, and barbecue bloggers who've walked through our doors, ordered at the counter, and written down what they found.
The Charlotte Observer visited in 2021, as BBQ King was approaching its 50th anniversary, and asked founder Steve Abernethy how the whole thing started. "Becky and I thought that would be a great location for a restaurant, as there weren't many, especially on the eastern side of town," he told them, describing the decision he and his wife made to open a barbecue restaurant on the east side of Lincolnton back in 1971.
It wasn't an instant success. The Observer's Eric Edwards wrote that the Abernethys built a 40 x 50-square-foot restaurant that stayed open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, with 20-hour days, high staff turnover, and what Steve Abernethy called "definitely not a smashing success" in the early going. They eventually closed on Sundays, a decision Abernethy said they never regretted, and that's still our schedule today.
As Lincolnton grew through the 1980s, so did we. The Observer reported that the Abernethys built an addition with a larger smoking area, expanded the menu, and grew seating from 25 people to 150. Along the way, the restaurant became known for the same things people still order today: Piedmont-style barbecue with a ketchup-and-vinegar-based sauce, sweet tea, homemade onion rings, hand-pattied burgers made fresh every morning, and, in colder months, homemade Brunswick stew.
The article also included a quote from Jordan Smith, Keith Smith's son and part of the family now running the business, about keeping things the same rather than chasing change: "I don't want to change much. We've got a lot of local culture eating here and working here. I hear from some customers who tell me they've been coming here since it opened. It's just cool to see that keep going for all these years."
"I don't want to change much. We've got a lot of local culture eating here and working here." — Jordan Smith, The Charlotte Observer
That approach to hospitality shows up in how visitors describe their actual counter experience, too. Barbecue blogger John Tanner drove out from a Blowing Rock, NC trip in September 2025 specifically to check BBQ King off his list of the best Piedmont-style barbecue places in the state. He ordered a barbecue tray and a side of onion rings, and got a firsthand taste of the hollered-order tradition: "The kitchen began preparing my order before the echo, and had it out by the time I could extract my credit card, pay, and return my card to the wallet. Now that's impressive."
Tanner had good things to say about the food itself, too, calling the onion rings "exceptional" and noting that "the batter adhered to the onion, and the onions themselves had a distinct sweetness." He also tried our spicy sauce for the first time, a Lexington-style dip with pickled jalapeño rings mixed in, and came away a fan: "The jalapeños added their own good flavor as well as some heat." He closed out his review calling the pork "good, fresh, moist, tender pork kissed with hardwood smoke," adding that it's "good enough to holler about" and that Lincolnton is "well worth a hundred miles each way."
"Good, fresh, moist, tender pork kissed with hardwood smoke... good enough to holler about." — John Tanner's Barbecue Blog
We've had a lot of nice things written about us over the years, from TV features to barbecue blogs, but there's something grounding about a stranger driving a long way, ordering off the menu like anyone else, and writing down exactly what stood out to them. It's the same food and the same counter every time, whether a food writer's watching or not.