Best BBQ in Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia — updated September 15, 2026
Three Lynchburg smokehouses, ranked by how settled their reputations are, from a Timberlake Road standby with hundreds of reviews to a downtown Main Street spot still building its record.
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Lynchburg's barbecue is split between Timberlake Road, where two of the city's most-reviewed smokehouses sit several miles apart on the same stretch, and downtown Main Street. The gap in evidence between them is wide: the Timberlake places have accumulated hundreds of ratings each, while the downtown entry is still working with a smaller sample. Here are three, ordered by how proven each one is.
1. County Smoak
The strongest combination of score and volume in Lynchburg barbecue: 4.8 across 824 reviews, which is enough ratings that the number is unlikely to move much. That puts it ahead of everything else in town on both counts at once, rather than trading a high average for a thin sample. It sits at 7423 Timberlake Rd, on the commercial run southeast of the city, so plan on driving. Barbecue kitchens generally sell what they smoked that morning and stop when it runs out, so an earlier visit is the safer bet.
2. Blue Ridge BBQ & Catering
A 4.5 rating across 757 reviews, which is a settled figure rather than a promising one. The average is lower than County Smoak's, but the sample is nearly as large, so this is a known quantity: several hundred people have had a consistent enough experience to hold the score steady. It is further out Timberlake Road, at 21700, past the County Smoak address, and the name signals the other half of the business. Catering operations tend to run on volume, so call ahead if you are ordering for a group.
3. Smoke Hub
The downtown option, at 809 Main St, and the only one on this list you can reach on foot from the central blocks. Its 4.7 rating is the second highest here, but it rests on 142 reviews, a fraction of what the Timberlake Road smokehouses have banked. Treat that as promising rather than proven: the early returns are strong, but the number has room to move in either direction. Worth a stop if you are already downtown and do not want to make the drive south.
What we left off
MISSION BBQ on Wards Rd was cut. It rates well locally, at 4.6 from 603 reviews, but it is a national chain and this guide covers independent Lynchburg operations only. JD's Cafe on Boonsboro Road was also set aside: it is listed as a cafe, and we had nothing on hand confirming it belongs in a barbecue roundup, so we would rather leave it out than describe it wrongly.