And then there were 2. Tell us which Midlands restaurant is best in our barbecue bracket
»» The people have spoken. The winner of The State’s Midlands barbecue bracket is...
This one is for all the marbles.
After weeks of duking it out, a winner will finally emerge from The State’s Barbecue Bracket. On Friday, the bracket entered its final round, with only Ward’s Bar-B-Que and Big T’s Bar-B-Que remaining.
Ward’s Bar-B-Que is a South Carolina old-school classic, with several locations in Sumter County. Established in 1953, the Sumter barbecue joint has no website and no Facebook posts since 2018. However, the restaurant’s reputation and word of mouth helped earn 10,400 votes as of Friday morning.
Big T’s Bar-B-Que, which has two locations in the Midlands, is a mainstay that has been in business for around 40 years. A 2019 list from Southern Living ranked Big T’s No. 38 among the best barbecue restaurants in the South. Big T’s is also reportedly a favorite of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball Coach Dawn Staley. The restaurant received 10,039 votes as of Friday morning.
Now it’s time to choose between the two. Will it be Ward’s or Big T’s? Voting in the final round ends this Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
The bracket kicked off Feb. 1 with 16 entrants, identified by staff members at The State as some of their favorites in the area. It’s not a scientific poll, of course, but readers were then asked to make their top choices among that initial group of 16.
The initial 16 included Big T’s Bar-B-Que, City Limits Barbecue, Railroad BBQ, Southern Belly BBQ, The War Mouth, Roy’s Grille, Ward’s Bar-B-Que, Little Pigs Barbecue, Palmetto Pig Bar-B-Q, Hite’s BBQ, Shealy’s Bar-B-Que, Doc’s Barbeque, Hudson’s Smokehouse BBQ, Midwood Smokehouse, Farm Boy’s Barbeque and Home Team BBQ.
The Tasty 8 included Little Pigs Barbecue, Ward’s Bar-B-Que, Roy’s Grille, Big T’s Bar-B-Que, The War Mouth, Southern Belly BBQ, Railroad BBQ and City Limits Barbeque.
The Flavorful 4 consisted of Little Pigs Barbecue, Roy’s Grille, Big T’s Bar-B-Que and Ward’s Bar-B-Que.
Now that the list is down to two, it’s up to you, our readers, to name the best barbecue restaurant in the S.C. Midlands.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 9:00 AM.