Best BBQ in Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina — updated August 22, 2026
Asheville's smokehouses run from downtown counters to a Hendersonville Road institution, ranked by how settled their ratings are.
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Asheville sits in a state with strong opinions about pork and vinegar, but its smoke scene is less orthodox than that suggests: downtown counters, a suburban strip-mall pit, and one kitchen running Japanese technique through a smoker. The ratings below span nearly 1,500 reviews at the top end down to a few hundred, which matters when you are deciding whose 4.5 to trust. Ranked by how well each answers the question, with review volume treated as evidence of how settled the score is.
1. Huli Sue's BBQ and Grill
The highest-rated barbecue in the city on this list, and not on a thin sample: 4.8 across 988 reviews is a rare combination in a category where volume usually drags scores toward the middle. It sits in the Grove Arcade at 1 Page Avenue, Suite 150, which puts it within walking distance of most downtown hotels and makes it an easy lunch stop rather than a drive. Downtown location and a near-1,000-review average mean it fills, so plan around the standard midday and dinner peaks.
2. 12 Bones Smokehouse
The most-reviewed barbecue on this list by a wide margin: more than 2,100 reviews holding a 4.5. That is about as proven as a rating gets in Asheville, and it reflects years of turnout rather than a good month. This location is at 2350 Hendersonville Road in Arden, south of the city proper, so budget drive time from downtown. If you are ranking by track record alone, it takes the top spot; Huli Sue's edges it on average score.
3. Bear's Smokehouse Barbecue
A 4.5 across more than 1,250 reviews puts Bear's in the same settled tier as 12 Bones, with the advantage of a South Slope address at 135 Coxe Avenue. That location means brewery foot traffic, and it is the most convenient full smokehouse for anyone spending the day downtown without a car. There is a second Bear's on Sweeten Creek Road in South Asheville, rated slightly lower on a smaller sample; the Coxe Avenue location is the one with the deeper review record.
4. Black Bear BBQ
The strongest of the smaller-sample options: 4.5 from 589 reviews, promising rather than proven, but the score has held across enough visits to take seriously. It is at 800 Fairview Road, Suite C8, in East Asheville, away from the downtown crowds and easier to park at than the Coxe Avenue and Grove Arcade options. Worth the trip if the downtown lines are long, with the caveat that its rating rests on roughly half the feedback behind the top three.
5. Little Pigs BBQ
The lowest average here at 4.3, but it comes from nearly 1,500 reviews, which makes it one of the most thoroughly tested barbecue rooms in Asheville. A settled 4.3 across that many visits is a different proposition from an unsteady one: expectations are clear and consistently met. It is at 384 McDowell Street, south of downtown near the Biltmore approach, an easy detour if you are already on that side of town rather than a destination drive from the city center.
6. Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse
Included because smoke is genuinely central to the kitchen, not as a novelty: the menu covers smoked barbecue alongside ramen, oysters, dumplings, small plates and vegan dishes, with salmon sashimi served with smoked soy. Sections are grouped as Raw, Crunchy + Munchy, Sharing is caring and Big + Bowlsy. A tasting menu runs $85 per person for between eight and ten dishes. The rating is 4.5 across 938 reviews, well established. Go here when the group wants smoke but not a tray of pork, and expect a downtown dinner room at 121 Biltmore Avenue rather than a counter.