The Barbeque Joint

My wife and I had family and friends coming in from Indiana, Tennessee and Florida. With 20 people coming to the house, neither one of us wanted the hassle of cooking dinner for that many people with a 2 month old. Enter the BBQ Joint. They have a catering menu with costs on their website, and I was able to arrange the entire order over the phone. On the day of the event, I drove to the restaurant and the owner helped me carry everything out to my car.
Our menu primarily consisted of bbq pork, cole slaw and macaroni with extras of bbq chicken, collards, and baked beans. Everyone loved the food. Portion sizes were great. Serving spoons, paper plates and utensils were included.
The bbq was moist and tasty. My family loves bbq, and this was bbq done well. The most shocking side dish for me was the baked beans. I don’t normally eat them. I made an exception since I paid for the food and wanted to make sure everything tasted great. Those were the best baked beans I’ve ever had. Definitely will be my side of choice when I go in for a bbq lunch.
My thanks to the BBQ Joint. They helped make our family event easy and stress free.

Before I write my review on The BBQ Joint, I want to preface it with a caveat: The problem with Unilocal is you are mixing social media with food reviews. Too many here want to be seen as a ‘liker’, not a ‘hater’. It unfortunately makes for less than objective reviews, by so many on Unilocal.There are way too many 4s and 5s awarded to mediocre restaurants who think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, not. A restaurant can’t fix problems when it doesn’t know something is wrong.
The Review
The BBQ Joint looks inviting from the outside, but once in the doors it’s drab dingy, and no life to the joint. I know, I know, some BBQ places go out of their way to achieve that «ready to be condemned» look. This was more like the operation is tired, lethargic, and burned out. I don’t know about you, but at 7 o’clock on Thursday night in Old North Charleston, you’d expect a place to be hopping, full of happy, noisy people, having a good time, but it wasn’t.
When the two of us started to place our order at the counter, I knew something was off, when the cashier stopped to prepare the plate for the first order, before taking mine and letting me pay. Hey, wait a second. Isn’t the person handling dirty money from the public, supposed to either wash their hands before handling food or having somebody else fix the plates in the kitchen?
(there was a teenager or young adult sitting on a stool in the kitchen playing with his smart phone, not doing anything.)
So let’s get to the food. Here is your WARNING (pick another place). The hot food was colder than the cold food. When a place is in trouble, one of the first things to happen, is the steamtable is turned way down or off, to save electricity, at the expense of the customers health. The cold food such as potato salad and slaw should be kept refrigerated or on a chill table. Read ‘food safety 101′ or ‘Health code violation’.
While the sauce on the table was indeed pretty tasty, the barbecue meat on our orders obviously had been sitting around awhile. Good smoke flavor, but lost with the other issues. The coleslaw and potato salad both tasted like they came from an institutional food service. I hate it when places do this as both items are easy to make from scratch, and actually cost less to make on-​site.
Not sure exactly what strain of bacteria we were introduced to, but the following day we were both listless and tired, had no energy, and felt somewhat dizzy at times. This disappeared within 24 hours. We had not eaten elsewhere out in public that day or the next.
I feel sad having to write a review like this, as the place has such great potential. But it is, what it is.
If you are the owner reading this, and just don’t care anymore, hang up your apron and quit. If you do care, this act badly needs to be cleaned up.

Omg, this had to be the most flavorful & tender brisket I’ve ever had. That’s not all, though! The Cole slaw was the perfect mix of tangy & sweet, the red rice had big pieces of sausage in it & the cornbread tasted almost like pancakes with butter & syrup. My son had the pulled pork sandwich with mac & cheese and he agreed that it was the best he’s ever tasted. The staff were also very friendly & helpful. Next time I come back to South Carolina, I will definitely be back!

Best BBQ in town, if you haven’t tried if you need too! I also really love their fried chicken and all their sauces are made from scratch. Located in the very cool neighborhood of Park Circle this is definitely where you want to go for good local BBQ!

Like a lot of the reviews have already stated, the meat was dry and tough. The sides were okay. Just didn’t seem to be as organized as a lot of the other BBQ joints around here. The staff was nice though.

Meat was incredibly dry and tough. Was almost like jerky, but less flavorful. Sides were edible, but not good. Friendly-​enough staff and good cornbread, but definitely won’t be back. We were pretty disappointed.

The Joint is awesome. Scott and his team do a wonderful job of making a place to enjoy the basics. Great barbecue and fixxxins!
The décor is perfect for throwing down. Picnic tables inside and out for a community feel that is just right for BBQ.

Went here for lunch with my wife and we both liked this place. It’s simple, fast, and good. You order at the counter and they assemble it there in front of you. I had the brisquette which was the special. Tender and tasty for sure, you could eat this no sauce and be happy. The sauce on the tables is good, I wanted to buy some and bring it home, little sweet with some heat… yum. I also had the collards, which can be bad if you don’t know your collards prep game. They nailed it, not bitter at all, I want more! My wife never had collards prior to this and she now likes them and compared all others to this place, hard act to follow. We sat outside and ate, it was a perfect day with good food. We will be back, check it out you won’t be disappointed.

The Barbeque Joint is AWESOME for lunch! The portions are HUGE, the BBQ is great, the catfish fridays are large and the breading is SO good, and the they have plenty of side dishes. The prices are very reasonable, especially for the amount of food you get. I personally love the hash and rice as well as the collard greens. Each platter comes with delicious, sweet corn bread, and fresh made pickles. This is probably the last place you would want to take a vegetarian.

The BBQ Joint is decent barbecue but a limited menu –at least on Sunday’s. Basically pulled pork or pulled chicken. You get a choice of a platter or sandwich. The sides are good. I enjoyed the greens but didn’t think the Mac and cheese was that great. I did think the homemade pickles were quite good. The outdoor tables are dog friendly too. I wish we got there earlier to try the chicken and waffles special.

Fast, friendly service but much better bbq available in the area. The special was sausage and it was great but everything else wasn’t very good and seemed like it had been sitting awhile.

Excellent BBQ. I had the pulled pork sandwich with a side of mac&cheese and an Arnold Palmer. All for 11 bucks! And note the spicy bbq sauce has some kick!

Very small menu but fast and tasty. Basically chicken and pulled pork. If you are in a hurry and not felling very picky about selection, this is a good choice.

We’ve been here several times and each has been a great experience. You order your food at the counter and are dipped up right away. I thought the collards were the best I’ve ever had and the sausage in them did not hurt! Once you are done getting your food on the tray head over and grab your tea, sauce, and pickles and grab a seat. Overall some rock solid BBQ. I do prefer a bit more smoke in my food and a good brew which they don’t have.

Great bbq for a great price. The bacon and bean cake is a nice dessert but not worth the extra price. Stick with the house platter, one meat, two sides. The tomato pie is basically cheese pie with salsa, and mac-​n-​cheese is mac-​n-​cheese.
Nice plate someone suggested once was a house salad with bbq pork dumped on top. Health but yet not, so good.

Good BBQ. Really simple dining experience. They don’t have much seating space but they make it work. I had the brisket when I was their. The selection of sauces is good. I typically go to EVOs but I wanted some BBQ this time. Very friendly and fast service. I love my BBQ and this was in between good and great. I wish I could have given it 4.5 but i can’t. But I will totally eat there again and I suggest you try it out!

Some of the best BBQ in the area. Everyday of the week you get a choice of BBQ or the special menu item. Great food and service.

On December 8, 2014 Sam R. and I, Dante G. responded to The Barbecue Joint located at 1083 East Montague Avenue, which is in the City of North Charleston in reference to lunch.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a male at the counter who very quickly obtained and fulfilled our orders. I went with the simple and quick pulled pork sandwich with one side. I went with my old faithful choice, Mac and cheese. Sam G. chose similarly, however, went with the slaw. We both drink Arnold Palmers.
We sat along the interior of the D wall. This gave me a clear view of the dining room as well as the single with entry in the center of the A wall of the building. Sam G. sat opposite and had an acceptable view of the counter, service area, and kitchen. All of which we’re very clean.
My sandwich was on a regular role. The pork was tender and juicy. I complimented it with the mustard based sauce. The mac and cheese was very cheesy.
Just as we were finishing our meal, we were joined by a random citizen. That is the type of place it is. People, when did they know each other or not, come together for meeting barbecue and sometimes great conversation. Unfortunately, I believe this man had taken a vow of silence.
End of Report.

I’ve been to a variety of bbq places in the Charleston area and this one is my favorite so far. It’s a very casual «plate lunch» style restaurant, to borrow a term from Hawaii, where the food is the star. You won’t get fancy place settings, a waiter, and to be honest the décor isn’t my style.
What you will get is a trip into the historic old town of North Charleston, which is very neglected at times, and some great flavors. I’ve had pulled chicken, pulled pork, and brisket and each one was well worth ordering a second time. The portions are enough to make you feel full but not bursting, a tea or lemonade is included, and the plastic cutlery is high quality (heh). I’ve also gone back and forth between the red and yellow bbq sauces and both are delicious.
For me, the clincher is the sides. This is where the fifth star is earned. The baked beans are the best I’ve ever had and the hash and rice is possibly the best food item I’ve had since moving to Charleston. Top it off with a glass-​bottle Coke if you want. This place is excellent, and the east side of North Charleston is on the rise due to amazing establishments like this one.

Mixed feelings on this place after 1 visit. Some stuff was awesome, some stuff very sub par. Going with a solid 3 stars for now but another visit is in order because I feel that they could definitely go up or down a full star.
Pulled pork was excellent. No issues here. Very moist and tender with a really good flavor, especially the bark. They sell their rub and it might be worth picking up because that bark was delicious. The pulled chicken on the other hand… not so great. Very little flavor and extremely dry. Would have loved to try some ribs, but that’s a Wednesday only thing apparently.
Sauces…hmmm. Their mustard sauce is ok but nothing exciting. Their ketchup based sauce is flat out bad. Sorry guys, but it just wasn’t even edible. They also had a watermelon and peach version of the ketchup based sauce. Those were actually pretty good. Much better than the plain one. I liked them a lot, but didnt even notice them until I was almost done eating because the only 2 bottles of them were over by the drinks. I’ll definitely look for those first next time.
Sides were about average. I really liked the collards with the sausage. The others I tried (cole slaw, mac n cheese, and potato salad) were good but very average.
Sweet tea was excellent. Sliced lemons on hand, always a plus in my book. OH and they have PBR on tap. I like sweet tea with my Q but I love it when bbq places have a beer option because most don’t and sometimes I just want a cold one with my meat. That’s what she said?
All in all not a bad place but not up to the standard of the other Park Circle restaurants that I’m big on. Will give them another shot for sure.