Bar-B-Q King

Gaston County · About 30 minutes

BBQ Near Gastonia, NC

About 30 minutes up US-321 from Gastonia to real hickory pit-smoked BBQ in Lincolnton, open since 1971.

Pork shoulders and chicken on the smoker grate at BBQ King with heavy hickory smoke rolling off them

From Gastonia, BBQ King is a straight shot north on US-321, about 30 minutes depending on where in town you start and how the lights fall. There is no complicated routing to it: 321 runs from Gaston County right up into Lincolnton, and East Main Street picks up from there.

That matters more than the raw number of minutes. A drive with one road and no navigating is a normal weeknight dinner run, not an expedition. Plenty of people making it from Gastonia treat BBQ King as a regular stop rather than a special occasion, and the drive back down 321 is the same easy road.

What you are driving for is barbecue cooked the way it was cooked before shortcuts existed. Pork shoulders go on over live hickory wood coals and smoke low and slow, then get hand-chopped the same day they are served. That distinction is the whole point of the trip. A lot of places market themselves as pit-smoked while finishing on gas or leaning on a smoker box; real wood coals, tended all day, produce something you can taste the difference in immediately.

If barbecue is not what everyone in the car wants, that is genuinely not a problem here. The burgers are hand-pattied from fresh ground chuck, never frozen and never pre-formed, and the onion rings are hand-breaded fresh in-house every day, roughly 200 pounds of onions on an average day. Both have their own regulars who come for them specifically.

Worth knowing before you drive up: this is counter service. There is no table service and no online ordering app to pre-order on. You order at the counter, your order gets hollered back to the cooks the same way it has been since 1971, and it comes out a few minutes later. Call-in orders and curbside are both available at (704) 735-1112, though neither skips the line -- a call-in goes into the queue when it is called in, same as everyone else's.

BBQ King is at 2613 E Main St in Lincolnton, open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 8pm, closed Sundays. We also cater throughout Gaston County, so if the drive is for an event rather than dinner, that works the other direction too.

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Coming from Gastonia? Good to know

How far is BBQ King from Gastonia?
About 30 minutes by way of US-321 North. BBQ King is at 2613 E Main St, Lincolnton, NC 28092, open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 8pm, closed Sundays.
Do you take reservations?
No. BBQ King is counter service only. Order at the counter and we'll holler your order back to the cooks. No reservations needed.
Can I call my order in ahead of time?
Yes. Call (704) 735-1112 and we'll have your order ready for pickup at the counter.
What is red slaw?
Red slaw is a North Carolina barbecue tradition -- chopped cabbage dressed with a vinegar-and-tomato-based sauce rather than mayonnaise. It's tangier and sharper than the creamy white slaw most people know, and it's what cuts through rich smoked pork. We serve both red and white slaw, so you can have it either way.
Do you cater outside Lincolnton?
Yes. We cater across Lincoln County and the surrounding area, including Boger City, Iron Station, Crouse, Denver, Vale, Cherryville, Maiden, Stanley, High Shoals, Alexis, Dallas, Newton, Lowell, Conover, Gastonia, Hickory, Mount Holly, Belmont, Shelby, Bessemer City, Catawba, Sherrills Ford, Terrell, Huntersville, Kings Mountain, Lake Norman, and we travel further for larger events. Call (704) 735-1112 with your location and we'll let you know.

Find us

2613 E Main St
Lincolnton, NC 28092
(704) 735-1112
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