Came twice to have lunch, the first day of my vacation I had a pulled pork sandwich in the restaurant, the smell of barbecue inside is inviting. Someone gave me a sample of the Friday special: beef stew, delicious. Last day of vacation, I came back and had a full rack of ribs at the drive in. It was 90F, ate outside on my car hood on the parking lot. The meat is just devine as well has the skin. I hate half, kept the rest until North Carolina where I had them cold in my hotel room, it was even better. It was the best BBQ ribs either had.
The service is great. Everyone friendly and helpful. All the food is good but they have the best bacon cheese burger.TO DIE FOR...�
Best burger around, and a giant onion ring for dessert!. This is always one of our favorite stops when we're in Charleston, we come back again and again. The restaurant has a kind of cabin or barn feel to it that you'd expect from a lot of barbecue places. I've never had a bad meal here, but what I really come back for are the burgers and the onion rings. Food is served up unpretentiously in a plastic basket and wrapped in wax paper. The burgers are thick, starting at a a third of a pound, extremely flavorful and juicy. I usually go for the bacon cheeseburger. Fries are steak cut, and pretty good, but the onion rings are another story. Melvin's is to an onion rings what Krispy Kreme is to a doughnut. These are not your lightly battered, thin and flimsy onion rings you get pretty much anywhere else, these are dipped in a thick batter and fried up into fat golden perfection. I've even hit the drive-thru a few times just to get an order of these for a snack.
One Of A Kind.. If you are from Charleston, you were raised with Bessingers Barbeque. Melvin is a Bessinger who branched off and opened his own restaurant on James Island. He still has the great BBQ recipe that makes it famous, the mustard base bbq sauce drenched meat. I prefer my bbq cooked with my option to add sauce if I would like. I like a vinegar based sauce myself, but my wife loves Melvin's. The Cheese Burger Basket is famous also. And one thing my wife and I both agree on is that they have the best onion rings in the world! It would be ashame to order Melvins and not order onion rings. All in All, its great southern food, but the price is a little high...
I don't like BBQ and I love this place. The burgers are great. Here's a tip: the kids burger is a lot cheaper and is the same basic size as the regular one.
Cheeseburgers cheeseburgers cheeseburgers! They are the best *clap clap* they are the best! When they say legendary they are legendary!
Double Cheeseburger fanatic. I love Melvin's double cheeseburgers!!! They are the most delicious creations to ever grace this wonderful world... hooray for cows!
How could you not love Melvins. Great burgers, pulled pork and sides to make you come back for more great BBQ.
BBQ is decent and the double cheeseburger is the bomb!!!!!!! Stick with th cheeseburgers.
Big Joe BBQ is a great lunch. I stopped here for a quick sandwich on my way to running some errands. I'm not a BBQ aficionado but this was simply fantastic. The Big Joe Pork Sandwich, for starters, was on a super fresh roll, filled with perfectly cooked pork, and a smattering of the yellow, mustard based sauce. The sauce was sweet and not too spicy, which I appreciate, allowing me to add my own desired hotness. The obligatory sweet tea was perfect. The restaurant was impeccably clean, down to the hot sauce bottles, which were wiped down of the previous patron's grimy fingerprints.
Best burger is town. No. The south. Really, everything here is like you died and went to heaven. The smoked turkey and beef is good too. For extra fun, hit up its sister restaurant, Bessengers, for a good time!
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We ate here on a short visit to Charleston. I wanted to have some of the barbecue that South Carolins is known for, but kept finding trendy places with pit masters from Texas. Don't get me wrong! I am from Texas and live in Atlanta, so I love some Texas barbecue. But if I'm in Rome, then I'm not going to eat pizza from New York. I wanted some Lowcountry barbecue with some mustard based sauce. Melvin's did not disappoint!
My husband and I split the 2 meat plate with pork, brisket, baked beans, fried okra, collard greens, and cornbread (I got an extra side and an extra cornbread). I had to sample all of the sauces. I really enjoyed the mustard sauce, but my husband preferred the southern red sauce. What was realyl impressive was the brisket rub. It had so much flavor, that the sauce was not necessary. It is probably some of the best brisket and rub we have ever had. I will be purchasing some of that rub in the future to use at home.
The baked beans and okra were good. I would say the okra was probably a little squishy, but comparable to many other places. I did like the pickle bar. I love pickles and pickled onions, so I did stop there a few times to pickle up.
The only real cons were minor. We had to clean our own table. They did not seem super busy, but I think that they hadn't made it out to clean a free table yet. They forgot our cornbread (why it's not pictured). I had ordered a second piece so that we both had one, but I should not have bothered. It was not very good. The collard greens had some great spice to them! The flavor was fantastic, however, they were way too salty. I love collard greens, and it is hard to get really good ones. I was a little bummed because these had such a good amount of flavor and heat, but the salt was just too heavy.
Overall, I would say this place has some of the best brisket ever. I would definitely come here again if ever in Charleston, and hopefully the collards would be perfect that time.
BBQ pork and chicken smoke is absolutely delicious! The homemade onion rings are on point. Best coleslaw in town. Cannot wait to go back.
Whew…If I didn’t know any better I would have thought my mother and grandmother was in Melvin’s kitchen whipping of the mac and cheese. Whoever whipped it up knew how to balance the cheese and pasta to make a delicious cheesy and buttery dish. The pulled chicken was tender and the greens, although a little too salt was good. I’m use to a thicker bq sauce and didn’t have an appreciation for the thin, vinegar based liquid sauce. I don’t eat pork or beef but my husband raved about the brisket being smoky and tender and pork skins(made fresh daily).
Always a great experience here! If you’re from out of town and looking to indulge in some authentic, southern barbecue then definitely give Melvin’s a try. My family and I are locals and we’ve been coming here my whole life, they’ve never missed the mark once. Super nice employees and delicious food! I was really bummed though to see that the city made y’all paint over the beautiful mural that was on the side of the building, so wack of them >:/
Melvins is my favorite BBQ joint in the country. Will, Tiffany, Logan, and Ozzy provide a customer service experience you will not get anywhere else. On top of all that they dropped the menu prices! Best place in town!
This place was great! The ribs were tender, the greens were seasoned perfectly, baked beans had just enough tang, and the portions were worth the price!
Visiting here from Ga. The Mac and cheese was magically delicious! The brisket and the chicken was very tender and flavorful as well. I also loved the variety of sauces that were available to try. If you like soft and sweet cornbread, this is definitely a good place to get it. It wasn't very busy but the atmosphere was pleasant to eat in. I would come back here without question.
So good! So so good!! Love their pulled pork sandwich ( as you can see). Big portions! Had a sweet tea and that’s not a donut but an actual onion ring! Huge! Such good food. Paper bags for doggy bags and hours later ate the rest of the sandwich- still mouth watering deliciousness.
Also- bathrooms are clean and you’ll find management (or owners?) helping out as well. Another place to recommend!
I thoroughly enjoyed dining at Melvin’s Barbecue. I had the Bug Joe pulled chicken sandwich with baked beans and an order of macaroni and cheese. It was delicious! I dined in with my family of four and everyone loved their meal. The macaroni and cheese and the lemonade were my favorites next to the chicken and baked beans. I also ordered a brownie, yet I didn’t have room to taste it yet, however my son loved his. I will definitely be back and recommend it to others.
When I say the best bar.b.que I’ve had at a restaurant I mean it !!!! The ribs SO tender and tasty I got mine without sauce and they still had a great tasting glaze or rub on them. Usually you find good bar.b.que meat but the sides aren’t good. Melvin’s sides are just as good has the meat. I will be back to Melvins every trip to Charleston. Don’t cheat yourself get the bar.b.que from Melvins
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