Best Barbecue Joint In VA 2025 True To Its Roots: Southern Living

WILLIAMSBURG, VA — Southern barbecue lovers have named the regional "kings of the grill."

The readers of Southern Living have voted Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que in Williamsburg as Virginia's 2025 Best Barbecue Joint, the magazine announced this month.

Southern Living hosted a survey that included at least 10,000 voters making their selections from July 10-Aug. 21 last year.

Being served a taste of victory, Pierce's Pitt was named among 16 of the South's best barbecue eateries that were decided by readers.

"The results have been fairly consistent in recent few years, with a familiar cast of old favorites tending to bubble to the top. There are always a few surprises in the mix, though, and the top picks for 2025 are quite reflective of the current state of barbecue in the South," Southern Living writer Robert F. Moss wrote in his report.

"For starters, there’s a blend of old and new. Roughly half the joints in this year’s list are more than 50 years old, and the other half were founded in the 21st century. Only one opened during the fallow years of the 1980s and '90s."

Pierce's first established roots in 1971 in Virginia, becoming a self-proclaimed tradition in the southern state. It was founded by Julius C. "Doc" Pierce, who was originally from Flat Creek, Tennessee, according to the company website.

"Now, wherever there's good times, good laughs and good eatin', Pierce's is often part of it. Whether it's in our restaurant, at a party or event we've catered, or when someone has bar-b-qued at home using 'Doc' Pierce's Original Bar-B-Que Sauce. It's more than great food, it's a great tradition! A tradition that all our customers enjoy. In fact, we like to think it's made Virginia a better place to live in and visit," read the company website.

Its menu boasts Brunswick stew, barbecue chicken and pork dinners, smoked St. Louis-style ribs, the "Super Doc" pulled pork sandwich, burgers and hot dogs.

See what Southern Living says about Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que:

"With bright orange and yellow tables and a counter-service format, Pierce’s Pitt looks like a modern fast-food restaurant. Out back in the metal-walled cookhouse, though, they’re still cooking ribs, chicken and beef on cinderblock pits just like Julius 'Doc' Pierce did when he began selling barbecue sandwiches from a roadside stand in 1971. They’re still dressing the pork in Doc’s original sauce, too, a sweet and tangy blend of tomato and vinegar."

Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que: 447 E. Rochambeau Drive, (757) 565-2955

See Southern Living's full ranking online.