Stephenson’s Bar-B-Q

My favorite Eastern NC BBQ place west of I95. I go here every chance I get which isn’t often. I’ve been a patron for near 35 years.
The BBQ is great, I never really get anything else but the chopped pork. The slaw is very good, sweet. Green beans are good, collards needs a little doctoring.
The service is quick but they do get busy. The waitresses are not going to coddle/​baby sit you but they are polite. Drink, then food and might have a minute to make sure everything is ok. They are typically busy. Perfect to me.

Note — this review is from a strict vegetarian. Yes, I can eat here! It’s refreshing to go to a barbecue restaurant in the country and get a full meal. I got the veggie plate with cabbage, green beans, and potatoes. None of them are seasoned with meat and they were all cooked to perfection. The boiled potatoes are especially yummy with a little barbecue sauce to make them extra tasty. Good country folks serving good country food!

My wife and I went here for their buffet and were seated in very uncomfortable chairs at an unsanitary table. Nothing was cleanly wiped and there was mold all over the air vents. The temperature was way over 72 and their prices are ridiculously high for a mom and pop style restaurant. The food was terrible and my wife wasn’t feeling well and only had a few hush puppies and the high school waitress that rarely showed up to the table said we still had to pay full price. After being unable to complain to any management we paid full price and went back when owner was there for one meal refund and were offered 2 free meals… which we quickly declined. Terrible service and food as well as gross environment, rather drive to Raleigh for more choices. DO NOT EAT HERE!

Positives: One of my favorite places to get eastern NC BBQ. The BBQ, cole slaw, and hush puppies are all great. Atmosphere is a quaint, old BBQ joint with one wall that is all windows looking out into a green area. A large serving of BBQ and two sides, along with hush puppies is $ 7.50, so prices are very reasonable.
Negatives: service can be a bit spotty.
Conclusion: it’s on the NC BBQ trail. I love it. My recommendation is go check it out.

This is
.bbq I have ever had. I grew up in Eastern NC and I am particular about what folks refer to as «Carolina BBQ», but this is the real deal. The hush puppies and Brunswick stew are on point!
When you walk into a restaurant and there are little buckets of crushed ice and pitchers of sweet tea, then you know you’ve come to the right place!

Excellent old school eastern BBQ. Friendly service, delicious food. Fried chicken is better than the BBQ chicken but you’ll be glad you went no matter what. Not many places like this left you know?

Probably my all time favorite BBQ joint inn eastern NC. If you’re looking for some modernized flashy restaurant probably not up your alley but if you appreciate great BBQ and a classic country style setting, Stephenson’s is the place you should be taking all of your friends.

Hello fellow Unilocalers,
My family & I stopped at this amazing little bbq joint on the way to the beach. Born & raised out in the country of NC & eating at everything from the best restaurants in the triad to the dives out in the sticks, I can really appreciate what they at Stephenson’s are doing. The bbq is great, I love to tradition they are still holding true to the way the bbq is prepared (wood pits). The atmosphere is true to southern bbq & the menu is plain & simply, nothing fancy. I have cooked many hog shoulders myself & it is a job. For the ones who rated this place low, I would almost bet they are from up north! If you are just get back on I-​40, head west & keep-​a-​gettin it’,! Again, thank ya’ll guys for holding true to real NC bbq, your ancestors would be proud!

We would have given more stars, except for a few factors that this restaurant is missing: First, let me say that the food is good. That’s about it. We let our waitress know that this was our very first visit. She really didn’t seem to care, nor did she introduce herself. All we know is that her name is «Server ID #5» because we saw it on our receipt. She forgot our 2^nd serving of hushpuppies (first batch was cold), and it wasn’t until I intervened in a conversation that she was having w/​others, that she ran to get them. She NEVER returned to ask us if everything was ok or if we needed anything… You can see where I am going w/​this… the food is good, but the service is NOT. Upon leaving, nobody bothered to say goodbye, thanks for coming, nothing …

We had a very disappointing experience tonight at Stephenson’s BBQ restaurant. I ordered 2 fried chicken dinners at 5:10pm. The woman taking the order informed me that it would be 10 – 15 minutes. We show up at 5:30pm and our food wasn’t ready.
My boyfriend waited until 6:08pm for our food. During this long wait, he didn’t receive an apology or discount on our order. The woman at the cash register was very rude and when our food was FINALLY ready, she waited on other customers before us!
We will NEVER be back to this restaurant. The chicken was dry and greasy. I had to give at least 1 star in this review but Stephenson’s BBQ deserves ZERO stars.

I’m so glad to have discovered this restaurant, its a bit of a drive out in the country (off of Hwy 50 in Willow Springs) and its a true, old fashion sit down BBQ restaurant that opened in 1958, listed by the NC BBQ Association as one of the best on the NC BBQ Trail. It was also featured in Our State Magazine, this article can tell you more about it than I can:
This was our lunch destination to take my folks visiting from out of town last weekend, and we hit some local wineries to do some tastings afterwards, as well as a walking tour of downtown Benson. What a great way to show off just some of the goodness we have here in NC. But back to Stephenson’s… My Dad and I both had the ribs special and they were served in a vinegary-​sauce, very wet and of course fall off the bone. The slaw is good and on the sweet side. Steamed cabbage was great. I was very tempted to order their Fried Chicken but they fry it to order and I was told we’d need to wait about 20 minutes on that, and I didn’t want to hold up this hungry crowd. The rest of the family had BBQ and BBQ Sandwiches and everyone was full and happy when we left. Service was excellent! This is definitely going on my list of places to re-​visit!

Stopped in for lunch going
from RDC to Wilmington. Wife and I both ordered the pig and chicken plate.
Chicken was falling of the bone and really tasty. Very happy that it came dry and not lathered in sauce.
Pig was bold with the heavy vinegar, but that is what the rolls and hush puppies are their to offset, right?
Solid sides. Great coleslaw without too much dressing and perfectly cooked corn.
Service was what you want roadside — FAST and no nonsense.

If you want good NC barbecue, this the place to get it. Great fried chicken, cole slaw, best hush puppies around, and the very best boiled potatoes.

I live very close to this restaurant and love the hush puppies. Some stuff can tend to be bland but I like lots extra stuff on everything. Chicken pastry is good with salt and pepper. Same for the green beans. Sweet tea is really good and fairly consistent.

I have been wanting to try this place for years and I was not disappointed. We ordered family style which included bbq, fried chicken, slaw, bbq potatoes, brunswick stew and hush puppies. The bbq was eastern style with a hint of western NC smoke. The fried chicken was awesome. Two members of our party ordered ribs. They were good but remember these are NC style ribs. They are not sugar crusted sweetness. They are cooked in the sauce with almost a par boil consistency when they are served. The corn and green bean sides were good. This place is on the NC BBQ Trail and a worthy contender.

I can only comment on the fried chicken, not the BBQ…
First off, make sure to allow 30 mins for your order of fried chicken. There is no breading, batter, etc on the chicken. It is lightly peppered and salted and fried. It did not remind me of what I think of when it comes to southern fried chicken. The portion is also smaller than I would have expected.

Nice little down home country spot. I had the fried chicken, cabbage and corn. The corn was spot on. Needed to add a little more salt to the cabbage but it was still nicely cooked. I think the chicken could have used some more seasoning in the batter but it was also nicely cooked. Fried chicken takes 30 mins to prepare. So if you don’t want to wait getting the BBQ chicken is your better bet. Was disappointed I couldn’t get collards since they are technically in season (spring through fall) right now. Sweet tea and hush puppies were hella good.

In the raging bbq war, battle lines are drawn between warring factions. Today we are behind the lines in the great battlefield of North Carolina vinegar style. (Visitors — thats the best style).
The décor is simple, unassuming and plain; like any proper bbq place. I recommend you bring cash as cash is king and required for dealings under $ 10.
The menu is traditional, chopped pork, fried chicken, Brunswick stew and sides (slaw, greens, potatoes, cabbage). Get your drinks in the can and your tea in pitcher’s (sweet and unsweetened). Of course there’s banana pudding.
In this war, ground is gained by the power of your flavor. My order was pig and stew, side of cabbage and green beans. It was a little challenging to judge since my plate was lukewarm. (The fried chicken of a fellow food soldier was hotter than a leather car seat in July). All in all, the taste was good, but the temperature was a significant taste casualty.
Today’s battle had neither winners or losers. Just a continuing pledge to place my body in the trenches of the bbq battle.

Eastern NC BBQ at its best. Friendly folks, clean and authentic.
Consistently clean meat.
Great Brunswick stew.
Better than Wilber’s, McCall’s, King’s, Parker’s, Allen’s and everywhere else!
This is the place.

Some of the best eastern Carolina BBQ I’ve ever had. All the side dishes were fantastic, especially the Brunswick stew, banging.