BBQ in Florence, SC: The Definitive Guide

You’ll want to visit Elliott’s BBQ Lounge because it serves old Pee Dee whole-hog barbecue in a place that feels very much of the moment.

Elliott Moss grew up in Florence before spending years in Asheville, where he became the founding pitmaster at Buxton Hall Barbecue. He eventually came home and opened Elliott’s inside Seminar Brewing in 2025, building the menu around the kind of whole-hog barbecue he grew up eating.

The hogs are pasture-raised and cooked on custom pits over pecan wood burned down to coals. Whole hog is where I’d start, but there are also ribs, smoked chicken, hash and rice, chicken bog, and plenty of sides if you want more than a barbecue plate. Southern Living ranked Elliott’s among its Top 50 barbecue joints in the South in 2025, not long after the restaurant opened.

The place itself is easygoing, with local beer, cocktails, games, and plenty of room to stick around after you eat.

However, you might not choose Elliott’s if you want an old-fashioned Florence barbecue house. Cain’s gives you the buffet version of that, while D’z is much more of a roadside stop.

You’ll want to visit Cain’s Bar-B-Que because this is the kind of place that shows you what Florence barbecue looked like long before brisket trays and craft smokehouses came along.

Cain’s has been at its Pamplico Highway location since 1968, and the restaurant is still run by the Cain family. Pork barbecue is part of the draw, but you really have to look at the whole buffet to understand the place.

There’s fried chicken and barbecue chicken, chicken bog, liver hash, rice and red gravy, vegetables, casseroles, and desserts. You don’t come here just to order a pound of meat and call it lunch. You build a plate, go back for something you missed, and probably make one more trip than you meant to.

That mix of barbecue and country cooking is still a big part of the Pee Dee tradition, even as newer barbecue restaurants have moved toward brisket, trays, and meat-by-the-pound service.

However, you might not choose Cain’s if you’re mainly interested in the fire-and-smoke side of barbecue. Elliott’s puts the cooking method front and center. Cain’s is more about the buffet and the food Florence families have been eating for generations.

You’ll want to visit D’z BBQ because it feels like the sort of place you hope to find when you’re driving a back road and catch a whiff of smoke.

Head east from Florence on Old Marion Highway toward Mars Bluff and D’z sits right there beside the road, with a food-truck setup, smoke in the air, and none of the polish of a downtown restaurant. That’s the charm.

Pulled pork and ribs are the obvious starting points, though brisket is on the menu, too. I’d lean toward the pork or ribs on a first visit. They just fit the place better.

D’z is also handy because it doesn’t follow the limited late-week schedule you’ll find at several of Florence’s older barbecue houses. If the craving hits on the wrong day for Cain’s or Woodstone, there’s a good chance D’z is still open.

There isn’t some grand backstory you need to know before eating here, and that’s fine. D’z makes the list because it’s a good roadside barbecue stop, plain and simple.

However, you might not choose D’z if you want table service, cocktails, or a long buffet line. This one is about the meat, the smoke, and pulling off the road for something good.

You’ll want to visit Wholly Smokin’ because it’s the easiest place on this list to get good barbecue and still make an evening of it downtown.

The restaurant grew out of Bill Travis’s interest in smoking meat and competing in barbecue contests. Wholly Smokin’ opened in 2012, moved downtown a couple of years later, and stayed in the family after Travis died in 2017.

The menu has plenty of range. Pulled pork, brisket, burnt ends, ribs, chicken, and chicken bog all show up, and the sampler plates are a good move if you don’t want to settle on one thing. There’s also a full bar, outdoor seating, and weekend brunch.

That makes Wholly Smokin’ an easy choice when you’re eating with a group. The barbecue fan can get brisket and ribs, somebody else can order something different, and nobody has to worry about getting there before the buffet starts winding down.

However, you might not choose Wholly Smokin’ if you’re looking specifically for old-school Pee Dee barbecue. Elliott’s, Cain’s, and the rural spots farther down this guide tell that story more clearly. Wholly Smokin’ is the better fit when you want barbecue, drinks, and a regular sit-down restaurant.

You’ll want to visit Woodstone BBQ and Seafood because it solves a very South Carolina problem: what if half the table wants barbecue and the other half wants fried seafood?

At Woodstone, nobody has to give in.

The buffet covers barbecue pork, ribs, barbecue chicken, chicken bog, liver hash, rice and red gravy, then keeps going with fried shrimp, flounder, catfish, fried chicken, vegetables, casseroles, and desserts. This is not the place to arrive after telling yourself you’ll “just have a little barbecue.”

Woodstone is a good example of how barbecue has long fit into a bigger spread around Florence. The pork matters, but so do the sides, the seafood, the fried chicken, and whatever else you talked yourself into on the second trip through the line.

The restaurant serves late in the week, plus Sunday lunch, which fits the old barbecue-house rhythm you still find around this part of South Carolina.

However, you might not choose Woodstone if smoked meat is the only thing you care about. Elliott’s or D’z keeps the focus tighter. Woodstone is for the person who wants barbecue, catfish, chicken bog, and maybe a piece of cobbler before heading home.