8 Of The Best Barbecue Spots In And Around Grand Rapids, Michigan Locals Keep Recommending

A former A&W stand now serves smoked brisket and burnt ends in Grand Rapids, and honestly, that alone had me.

A fast-food stand turned smokehouse? I was already sold on that detail.

And apparently, there’s more to appreciate. One barbecue spot nearby makes over 60 homemade sausage recipes.

Its crew even chops its own wood for the pits. Another serves turkey knuckles and hot water cornbread right alongside its ribs.

Well, my standards just got a little higher.

West Michigan clearly takes smoke seriously, with tiny counters and food trucks guarding short lunch windows.

A few of them close before you’d even call it a late lunch. Which one earns your very first napkin?

1. Two Scotts Barbecue

A former A&W stand switched careers in 2015 and started smoking meat instead. Two founders, both named Scott, opened it, which settles the name question fast.

That little building on Leonard Street now serves a distinctive take on Michigan barbecue, built around dry rubs, hardwood smoke, and inventive sandwiches.

The St. Louis spare ribs spend time over applewood, while brisket, pulled pork, and smoked chicken give the counter plenty of variety.

Try the Sloppy Scott when ordinary sandwiches sound too sensible. Burnt ends, sautéed onions, and coleslaw fill a brioche bun.

The Southern Belle combines sliced brisket with pimento cheese, pickled collard greens, and hot honey. Even the vegetarian Flower Trip gets attention, pairing crispy cauliflower with slaw and pickles.

Sides are hardly an afterthought. Homemade tater tots, pimento mac and cheese, smoked mushrooms, collard greens, and brisket chili make it tempting to build an entire meal around the extras.

Rotating draft cream sodas add a nostalgic nod to the building’s earlier life, too, especially on a sunny afternoon.

The restaurant stands at 536 Leonard St NW, Grand Rapids, with counter ordering and a compact dining area.

Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday are lunch-focused, while Friday service continues into the evening. Sunday and Monday are rest days.

If your sandwich involves burnt ends and a stack of napkins, you’ve probably made the right choice.

2. The Pit Stop

Two weekdays are not a lot of chances to grab lunch, so treat this one like a mission.

The Pit Stop offers takeout on Thursdays and Fridays, and the barbecue can sell out before the afternoon is over.

Its regular takeout window runs from 11 AM to 3 PM. Behind that brief schedule is a catering operation that prepares smoked meats and homemade sides for gatherings throughout the Grand Rapids area.

Texas-style brisket leads the menu, joined by pulled pork, smoked chicken, and a sweet Italian sausage with a little heat.

Thursday brings smoked corned beef and double-smoked morsels called Micknuggits; smoked turkey breast appears on Fridays. Availability depends on the day’s cooking.

The wraps are worth a closer look. Green Menace combines pork with chili, cilantro cream sauce, and barbecue sauce inside a griddled tortilla.

Face Slapper packs smoky beans, macaroni and cheese, sausage, peppers, and onions together. Platters generally include two sides and a corn cake.

The catering side runs over 600 events a year, which explains how a two-day storefront keeps a smoker busy the rest of the week.

The shop sits in a strip mall near Pal’s Diner in Cascade, with no indoor seating and a couple of picnic tables out front.

You’ll find the takeout counter at 6479 28th St SE, Grand Rapids. This is primarily a carryout stop, so plan to take the meal elsewhere or use the limited outdoor seating when available.

Ordering earlier gives you more room to choose among the day’s specialties. A Thursday calendar reminder suddenly sounds remarkably sensible when slow-smoked brisket and freshly made corn cakes are involved.

3. Mission BBQ

Patches from fire and police departments cover the walls, and the brisket backs up the patriotic look.

MISSION BBQ builds its dining room around tributes to service members and first responders, with uniforms, photographs, and department insignia displayed throughout.

The location at 2190 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, opened in August 2019, taking over a former burger restaurant. Its counter-service format keeps the focus on barbecue, while the open dining area leaves room for families and groups.

Oak-smoked Texas-inspired brisket anchors the menu. Pulled pork, smoked turkey, pulled chicken, sausage, and ribs give you different directions to explore, and smoked half chickens provide another hearty option.

The meat comes in sandwiches or plates. A children’s menu and catering options make family meals and group orders straightforward.

Sauces draw from several regional traditions, so you can pair a sweeter variety with brisket or choose a sharper, tangier finish for pork. Macaroni and cheese, brisket baked beans, slaw, and seasoned greens round out the meal.

The East Beltline setting sits near the Knapp Street shopping area. Service runs daily, generally beginning at 11 AM, with Sunday starting a little later and ending earlier.

Every day at noon, service pauses for about two minutes while the National Anthem plays and everyone in the dining room stands. The tradition dates to the chain’s first day in 2011, which is why timing a visit around lunch gives you more than a meal.

Among Michigan barbecue stops, its distinctive decor is part of the experience. Take a moment to admire the memorabilia before returning to the important business of choosing your sauce.

4. Southern Smoke LLC

Turkey knuckles might not be on your barbecue bingo card, but they should be. Here, they come barbecued or with gravy, and they’re one of the house standouts.

Southern Smoke mixes barbecue with soul food, building its menu around familiar Sunday-dinner dishes.

Rather than focusing exclusively on smoked brisket, this kitchen offers rib tips, pork chops, chicken, catfish, meatloaf, and generous helpings of traditional sides.

The turkey knuckles are especially unusual. Choose the barbecue preparation for a sweet, savory coating or the gravy version for a more comforting plate.

Rib tips bring another barbecue option, while catfish and smothered pork chops invite a different approach.

Meals are generally served with a choice of two sides. Macaroni and cheese, candied yams, dressing, greens, green beans, cabbage, and mashed potatoes make that decision surprisingly difficult.

Hot water cornbread gives the meal a distinctly Southern touch, and sweet potato pie or peach cobbler can finish it.

The dining counter at 4023 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, uses a casual, cafeteria-style arrangement, with hot dishes and sides on display. Choose your favorite combinations for a Southern meal.

Service is concentrated from Thursday through Sunday, beginning around noon. Weekday openings earlier in the week are not part of the usual schedule.

Come for the barbecue turkey knuckles. You may discover that choosing the sides takes longer than choosing your entrée.

5. City Barbeque

Eighteen hours is a long time to wait for anything, unless that thing is brisket. City Barbeque smokes its beef brisket for up to 18 hours and carves it to order.

The restaurant at 3050 28th St SE, Kentwood, is part of a barbecue company that began in Ohio in 1999. Its approach mixes hickory-smoked meats, homemade sides, and counter service, with each restaurant doing its smoking on site.

Pulled pork, smoked turkey, sausage, pulled chicken, and St. Louis-cut ribs give brisket some competition.

Can’t choose? A sampler combines several meats with sides, while the Not a Sloppy Joe sandwich brings pulled pork, rib meat, and brisket together with chipotle peach sauce, pickles, and crispy onions.

There’s plenty happening outside the smoker, too. Corn pudding, baked beans with brisket, hush puppies, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread fill the side menu. Banana pudding and peach cobbler cover dessert.

That stretch of 28th Street makes the restaurant convenient for shopping trips around Grand Rapids. It’s also a relatively new arrival to Michigan, with this particular location opening in 2026.

The dining room accommodates everyday meals, and takeout, delivery, and catering provide other ways to order. Service begins in the late morning throughout the week.

Start with the brisket if you’re curious about that long smoking time. The aroma might make eighteen hours sound entirely reasonable.

6. The Grilling Company

Sixty-plus sausage recipes is either a hobby that got out of hand or a true calling. At this Comstock Park spot, it’s clearly the second one.

The Grilling Company began as a family catering business before opening its takeout shop in 2015. Its pit-style approach relies on wood-fired smokers, with meats prepared in equipment designed for the operation.

Sausage is just the beginning. Brisket, burnt ends, pork ribs, pulled chicken, turkey breast, and pulled pork all appear on the everyday menu.

Sausage varieties rotate, with combinations such as pineapple teriyaki pork, beef and cheddar, and chicken Asiago among the possibilities.

The shop at 4640 W River Dr NE, Comstock Park, has a fresh market alongside its barbecue counter, where you can browse meats, smoked sausages, sauces, rubs, and local specialty foods.

The setup is takeout only, with refrigerators and shelves replacing a traditional dining room.

For sides, the menu includes cheesy potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese, smoky beans, creamy coleslaw, broccoli salad, and sweet cornbread. Meat combinations come with a choice of sides, making it easy to sample favorites.

The smokehouse sits a short trip north of Grand Rapids. Doors generally open Tuesday through Saturday from late morning to early evening.

The real fun is finding out which sausage flavor is in the case today. That could become a surprisingly enjoyable weekly assignment.

7. Sweet Racks Smokin’ Butts BBQ

With a name like Sweet Racks Smokin’ Butts, you know nobody here takes themselves too seriously. The barbecue, however, comes from years of competition cooking.

The business started participating in barbecue contests in 2009 and ran a food truck before opening its restaurant at 2996 28th St SW, Grandville. Its menu mixes smoked meat with loaded dishes.

Chopped brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage, ribs, and chicken provide the foundation. The Dorachos take things in a different direction, using crunchy flavored chips beneath barbecue, cheese, and toppings.

Loaded macaroni and cheese brings brisket or pork into another generously assembled meal.

For something simpler, the Piglet is a pulled pork sandwich with pickles and barbecue sauce. The Lord of Swine adds coleslaw and onions on a brioche bun.

Cornbread, potato salad, smoked beans, and garlic mashed potatoes fill out the side choices.

The storefront is inside Oakestown Mall, where counter ordering makes a sit-down lunch or quick takeout equally possible. There’s room to linger over a platter or take your meal along.

The mobile operation still appears at events and roadside stops, while catering is available for private gatherings. Restaurant hours generally extend through dinner Tuesday to Saturday, with a shorter Sunday schedule.

It’s a particularly fun Michigan stop when a plain pulled pork sandwich sounds too predictable. The Dorachos may have other plans for your lunch.

8. Johnny B’s Barbeque

A sundae usually means ice cream, but here it means barbecue in a cup. The BBQ Sundae layers baked beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and pulled pork into one memorable meal.

Johnny B’s Barbeque serves takeout inside Hudsonville Lanes at 5775 Balsam Dr, Hudsonville, a bowling center west of Grand Rapids. Barbecue and a few bowling frames make a curious pairing.

The signature pulled pork appears in sandwiches, sliders, nachos, and the Mac & Meat bowl. That last dish tops macaroni and cheese with pork and barbecue sauce.

A Hawaiian-style sandwich adds pineapple and slaw, while the Bama version combines slaw, pickles, and Alabama white sauce.

Can’t choose between those flavors? Three Little Pigs includes three sliders, each dressed differently. Chicken comes in quarter and half portions, and the sides include potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, and cornbread.

Takeout is offered throughout the year, and the business also prepares food for catered gatherings. Its group menus combine chicken or pulled pork with sides, making the same flavors available beyond the bowling center.

Lunch hours on Monday and Tuesday end at 2 PM. Wednesday through Friday service is listed until 7 PM, subject to food availability, while Saturday catering can still be arranged.

The Sundae may be the only cup here that makes you reach for a fork instead of a spoon.