I was truly disappointed in this Dukes Bar-B-que. I made arrangements to meet two old high school friends there last Friday. Luckily I had cash on me. The pulled pork was good, but that's the only thing that was good. The only other things they had was rice and hash and cole slaw. Felt like a waste of money. read more

Dukes BBQ on Chestnut Rd is run by members of the Earl Dukes family. Remember Mr Earl as a neighbor of my parents who lived on the corner of the street that went to his house. Remember his starting the business and so glad his family has carried on the business that has the good ole hash and BBQ meat. I have lived out of town for many years but when I get a chance I go to Orangeburg I go to the Chestnut Street one. Ann is always so nice and is the first one you will talk to when you order "to go " BBQ or eat at the buffet. It has always been a favorite of my family. read more

I was in town for a wedding and wanted to find a good local BBQ joint. There weren't too many reviews of this place but I decided to take a chance and check it out. When in SC ya know... Wow I'm so glad I took a chance! The restaurant itself is sort of a run down hole in the wall type place but we picked up their BBQ to-go platter and brought it back to the hotel. The Mac and cheese is unreal. The sauce was perfectly sweet and definitely a mustard base (which usually I don't like-but trust me it's amazing). If you're in the area and are looking for good BBQ, try this place! read more

Dukes Bar-B-Que - BBQ goodness - Barbeque Near Me - Orangeburg, South Carolina

Have eaten here since the early 70's and it's always been great bbq. This is bbq the way we made when we butchered 4 hogs each year. Taste like bbq is supposed to. read more

Hole in the wall bbq joint but best around! Hash is amazing! Just wish they hadn't closed the Charleston location! Will be stopping by every trip to Columbia! read more

Excellent homecoming! Buffet for $11, pork bbq, fried chicken, Mac n cheese, hush puppies, out of the way place! Try the sauce on rice!

We don't pass Orangeburg without stopping. We always make sure it is while they are open. Best Hash I have found. A true SC original. We buy in bulk and take it home to enjoy it again. Both Q and Hash freeze and heat up well. read more

The folks there were nice and it is obviously a landmark restaurant in Orangeburg. Local customers continually came in to eat while we were there. We took our family of 4 and ate the least expensive meal of our trip. $25 even for 2 adults and 2 kiddos and this includes drinks. (This is a cash only place.) Based on the previous GREAT reviews, we were expecting way more. When one reviewer posted this was a "no-frills" place--boy they weren't kidding! The food was "good" but not special in any way. The buffet line is your only option for eating in. There is "hash", coleslaw, white rice, pulled pork and Sunbeam white bread. This is it people. Again, not bad food at all. There is simply no variety whatsoever. As a side note my husband ate here 25 years ago when he was in school at the Citadel. He had nostalgic memories of the food here at Dukes. (I'm thinking he must've been a very hungry cadet-which means the food here was much better than the food at the school cafeteria). We tried it all these years later and can say we've been there and done that. It really depends on what your looking for but thinking I would probably seek out a place with more of restaurant style seating and more food selection next time. The people that run it are nice and obviously have regular customers who know what they are getting when they come to eat and they are not disappointed at all. All the best to these hard working folks...clearly they have done something right to still be around all these years later! read more

Preface - We arrived about an hour before closing and don't know if our experience was a result of that timing or if this is how business is being done due to COVID now. Only the drive-through was open. There was no menu and when we got to the window, we were told that there was only one menu item - a BBQ dinner with pulled pork, rice, coleslaw, pickles and bread. We had just arrived in town and were taking the dinners back to our hotel - too tired to look for anything else so we took our chances. They turned out to be the most unappetizing dinners we've ever seen. Whatever was on top of the rice was unrecognizable and distasteful. The sauce on top of the pulled pork was a weird color and had no BBQ flavor. A big disappointment. read more

Very good BBQ I love the hash and rice it's my favorite. The only place I eat BBQ HASH have been coming here for years and I love the coleslaw too and the ladies are very nice read more

This is the greatest BBQ JOINT in South Carolina! There are many, but the "cement shed" is the place to go! I've been going there for over 20 years. The building is basically a large concrete block shed with wooden picnic benches. The eat-in menu is pretty simple - an all-you-can-eat buffet with some homemade dessert offerings and pork rinds. When I started going to Dukes the price for the buffet was $4.50 in 1989. It is now $7.00 in 2012. It is nothing fancy, but SO GOOD! You get a choice of rice and hash, pulled pork with thick mustard-based sauce, coleslaw, and pickles. Sweet tea is the drink of choice, but they will get you unsweetened if requested. They have a working soda machine as well. A loaf of white bread is on every table. That's about it. You just fill your plate, grab a cup of tea, and sit down and enjoy! Pitchers of sweet tea are at the tables. Dinnerware is Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils. It doesn't get more basic than that. You can go up to the buffet as often as you like. The record for me is 3x. I've had one friend go 5x, but he didn't last the ride home without stopping... You can fill up nicely with two plates. The place is heated in the winter, as well as cooled in the summer. I hope Dukes is at 789 Chestnut forever! When I was in graduate school at USC in Columbia, I would drive every other Saturday evening to Orangeburg for the 'cue. It was about a 40-mile one-way commute. Well worth it! I know others, including myself, that have driven over 8-hours, one-way when the urge calls. You have to love old-time South Carolina BBQ and be able to eat in a place that is very low-scale. The pulled pork never disappoints, nor the mystery meat hash that goes over the rice. It is so yummy and has such a unique taste. They cook the hogs right out back in a pit. Dukes does a brisk take out service and now has a drive-through window. Personally, I hate the drive-through window, I understand why they did it, but it takes away from the atmosphere of folks eating in, around the picnic tables - sharing fishing, hunting, Carolina football, and all sorts of great stories. It now seems that 95% of their business is the drive-through. I think it is a loss of a significant culture, but such is the world in the 21st century. For newbies: dress casual, it's an all cash transaction, they are only open Thursday to Saturdays (11:00 AM to 9:00 PM-ish), and if arriving late call ahead as they do run out of 'cue on busy days. Also, there is another Dukes in Orangeburg, which is a little bit more modern and has more selections. The Dukes family has BBQ restaurants all over South Carolina, and like the Bessinger family, there are relations between them, but some families get along and others don't! Once they ran out of 'cue and did send me over to the other Orangeburg establishment, so I guess they get along? I also know they ship 'cue down to the Dukes in Ridgeville, SC. Again, that restaurant has more selections and is outside Summerville, SC if you are down that way. read more

Hubs and I were on our way home to FL when we decided to venture off of the highway to Dukes BBQ because a previous reviewer mentioned the HASH. We must've got here a little late in the afternoon because Duke's was out of everything except for the pulled pork. And HASH. Hubs and I got 2 orders TOGO since we had to get back on the road. We waited until we got home 3 hours later to have dinner. Here are my ratings and notes: BREAD: 5 stars - We were wondering about the piece of white bread being soggy when we got home. Nope! The ladies at Duke's had thought about that a long time ago that the soft piece of white bread needed to be nice and soft and not soggy in the event one must get their BBQ to go. There was a piece of parchment paper that kept the slice of bread from getting anything on it (See photo). For that, Duke's gets 5 stars. DINING ROOM: 4 stars - The building is a cinder blocked building that has withstood time and looks a little weathered on the outside. If you were expecting a fancy sit down place, the looks are deceiving from the outside as the parking lot is nothing but rocks. There's quite a bit of drive thru traffic, which goes around the entire building. While we were there, the drive thru stayed busy. I have to agree with the previous reviewer that the drive thru is what keeps the business going. The dining room was a little worn, but very clean with red and white checkered tablecloths covering the long picnic tables. Plenty of sit down room in here for a large crowd. The service line windows looked like they needed a little bit of cleaning but it's probably from all of the inside traffic pointing to the items behind the glass -- pointing to the items you want to eat! Also, we did not see a restroom inside the building. PULLED PORK: 4 stars - pulled pork is the only thing left when we came in to order. We popped it into the microwave a minute 3 hours later when we got home. The meat was tender and the sauce on top was slightly tangy -- just how we like our Carolina BBQ sauce. HASH: no stars - We think we could have got this one separate into little pint containers, had we known about it, so that it didn't sit on top of the rice for 3 hours. I don't think I can honestly rate the hash just because it settled on top of the rice. Looked good and tasted good but we think it would have been better getting these separate if you're getting it TOGO. SWEET TEA: 1 star - The sweet tea was watered down and was more to the liking of simple syrup instead of tea. OVERALL RATING: 4 stars There is also a Duke's BBQ in Ridgeland, SC, so the next time we're heading back up I-95, we're going to stop at that one. read more

I should not tell you about this place. I should keep it a secret! It's just that good! Don't be scared your grandma and grandpa are in there. Ha they even have a drive thru. read more

Back in the 'burg recently. Went back for take out due to a family friend's love of this place, even after I told him of our last visit :-( . Just not a friendly place once again. Friend bought a bit of everything for a party. Most of the food was left at end of the party. Just not that good of bbq. Have eaten bbq all across this great country. Ended up throwing a lot away from this place. He was very disappointed as well. read more

tremendous sauce, really no-frills in a great way. Hash is delicious. Would drive 50 miles or more out of the way to eat here. And the best part is this place hasn't changed in 40 years. read more

Worst BBQ in Orangeburg. Food was mediocre. Rice was dry and food was too expensive. Service was awful. The old lady had an attitude with me after I asked for no coleslaw and to have my hash on the side. read more

By far my favorite place to eat, whenever I come home to South Carolina I always have to make a stop here to get some

The food was great and being southern we know and love our BBQ. I was really enjoying my dinner and was amazed by all the people coming in and out the door, the decor isn't anything fancy but it works. I decided to get another helping from the bar and a guy was adding fresh BBQ meat and I was happy that this batch was fresh...then he stirred the meat with his bare hand... BARE HAND NO GLOVES! Needless to say I lost my desire to eat more and honestly haven't been back since. read more

I have been to all the BBQ places around town and surrounding places. I have to say the food here is the best! I eat there at least once a week now. It took me 13 years to find it. I always passed by it. Well that will never happen again. When it comes to BBQ I am very picky(that is why it took me soo long). But that first bite...was a new love. The owners of the place are down to earth and as simple as the place. If you are ever in town make sure to stop by...you will love it. read more