Stanton’s Barbecue & Fish Camp

Stanton’s really came through for us on our trip to Florida. Stanton’s BBQ has a well maintained grass strip located across the street from the restaurant. Stanton’s has a very simple main dining room and an aviation themed room in the back.
The ladies running the show were as sweet as the tea, and could not have made us feel more welcomed. The carolina BBQ was delicious, as were the sides and hush puppies. Reasonably priced – coming from the DC area were BBQ sandwiches cost as much as $ 10, it was refreshing to see the basic BBQ sandwich priced at $ 2.95.
For all of you pilots, this strip isn’t on the charts, or even registered with a designator. Check their website for the coordinates, plug it in to your GPS, or follow the roads to some of the best BBQ south of the (North Carolina state) border.

Great spot! Super friendly people. I wanted some real BBQ before I went home to PA after quick weekend with in-​laws. We were driving from Myrtle Beach to Greensboro NC airport and we were ravenous. Although my husband wanted a cheeseburger from a drive-​thru to save time because we were in a crunch, I convinced him to turn off 38 for 2 miles after finding this on Unilocal!Sooooo Glad I did. Sunday special: barbecue, turkey, or fried chicken plus two sides (Mac & ch, greens, slaw, mashed, beans etc) for $ 8.50 including drink. Very fast service and we went on our way nicely satisfied. Yay!
Note: Keep in mind it closes at 2 pm after lunch then reopens at 5 pm. Sunday closed at 2:30 for day. Almost missed lunchtime!

After quite a bit of searching, we are happy to have found THE lunch spot for trips to the beach in South Carolina.
Stanton’s Barbecue and Fish Camp Fly-​In Restaurant is the Real South — friendly people who are happy you stopped in to eat no matter who you are or where you’re from. They served a small but steady stream of dine-​in and carry-​out locals both times I’ve been there, but did not appear to draw much through traffic despite a couple of good signs on nearby SC-​38. But I have to think that the out-​of-​the-​way location adds a lot more to the character of this restaurant than it takes away.
The menu is not barbecue shack — it’s a broader range of Southern lunch staples. In two visits, we sampled:
— Fish sandwich. A slab of flounder nearly three times the size of the bun fried just right and dressed to your liking — and at $ 4.25, one of the pricier (!) offerings.
— (Double) Cheeseburger. Didn’t sample it myself but it was declared to be delicious.
— Hot Dog. Seeemd to have been grilled/​fried, had a soft crust and somewhat sharp/​salty flavor — excellent.
— Grilled veggie wrap (yes, seriously). Wife said it was excellent.
— Sides: Fried Okra (to die for), Fries (classic), Hush Puppies. I’m not always a fan — often too greasy — but these were as good as any I’ve had.
— And of course, Barbecue. This comes in the finely chopped form common to Eastern NC and sauce on offer is a vinegar-​based concoction. Tasty, but my first reaction on finishing lunch was that it was good, but not Bill Spoon’s (Charlotte NC) kind of good. Nonetheless, we took a couple of pounds to-​go (with a pound of slaw — nothing unusual about the slaw, just a perfect execution of what slaw is supposed to be) and we thought what we took out was really delicious when we reheated it a few hours later. The take-​out ‘cue was already chillled in a Stanton’s branded carry out container when we left with it — and we wondered if there wasn’t an effect going on like with homemade spaghetti sauce where cooling/​reheating imbues more flavor.
At any rate, if your travels take you this way, this is the stuff.
Oh, yes, and about that «fly in» thing. They have a dirt airstrip just up from the restaurant. Hard to see on satellite photos, and not direclty visible from the parking lot — but the approach from the south goes right over the building. Didn’t see any planes on my visits, but I ased about the fly-​in trade on my first visit and they said «we had three already today» and had photos of all sorts of aircraft on site.