Hard Times Cafe

This is the place for home cooking. Keep your eyes open, if you blink, you’ll miss it!

Tiny, hidden, and easy to pass by. But don’t! We had fish sandwiches. They were fantastic, as were the hushpuppies and coleslaw. The catfish was light, crispy, slightly spicy and not salty. We has gotten there right before they closed and the people kept trying to push off additional fish and sides on us. I couldn’t believe it. We were really sort of inconveniencing them by getting there when we did, but they treated us as if we were old friends and welcome to stay as long as we wanted. Yes, we will stop if in the area again and you should, too.

Picture this. Driving from Raleigh to Columbia SC. As we skirt past these really cool dwarf and not Pine patches on the NC/​SC border bisected by US 1 we say, lets get some BBQ. BUT we dont want just any old BBQ, we want BBQ BUFFET on a TUesday!
Subsequent calls to the usual suspects in and outside our destination Columbia, prove futile and we are down to cold calling Pulled Pork establishments from Cheraw to Camden. NO luck.
So now, hungry, tired, listening to Noise Tapes we got from a freak in Chapel Hill, we think of other options. Gas Station fried chicken looks better and better with each old RR town we pass. but then,
OH MY GOD!, Frank says, wegottastop!
The Hard Times has three cars, er, pickups outside. Maybe they are going to the post office next door, NO, they are going to Hard Times for the BBQ and SO is the 2003 Chrysler 300M that we have been following since McBee!
the BEST place we ate on tour. we got 4 plates EACH! of chicken, ribs, bbq, sweet potaters, pie, corn bread, everything.
And then I had a smoke on the rocking chair outside.