Dining Around Charleston: Melvin’s BAR-B-Q, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Put More Pork On Your Fork

Order At Melvins

I know it may sound sacrilegious living in the south, but I am not a BBQ fan. I like it on occasion, but I would not go out of my way for it. My husband, on the other hand, really enjoys it, so off to Melvin’s BBQ we went. Plus… we had just heard that Emeril had voted Melvin’s cheeseburger the best in America, so that alone piqued my interest.

The restaurant is very simple, seats about 35-40 and has a drive thru window. The service style is one where you get in the ‘cue’ to get some ‘Que’, very similar to fast food, with slow cookin’.

Inside Melvin's

The gentleman that took our order seemed bored and uninterested. But that was ok, based on the aroma in the building we thought we had come to the right place!!

There is a very large condiment bar with the usual plastic cutlery, napkins, salt, pepper, etc. There are also several peppers – jalapenos, etc., left out for your selection. I didn’t know how long they had been there, but they seemed to have seen better days and we avoided them.

After you place your order you are given a number and when called, you pick up your dinner; very simple.

Our dinner came to just under $30.00. We ordered the BBQ ribs and pulled pork, “wet”, with two “trimmings”, and a cheeseburger. As an add-on we chose the fried Okra for $1.87.

As we waited for our meal the restaurant began to fill up. I was surprised by the varied group of people - older, younger, families with children, a lot of take-out orders and a lady in a mink. The tables stocked with things to help you enjoy your meal - a roll of paper towels and many varieties of hot sauce. Before we knew it our number was called and our food was ready.

Ribs n Que

The amount of food that we received was immense (see photo). I was very disappointed though that our food was served on Styrofoam plates and bowls. It downgraded the experience considerably. Even more disappointing was that the entrees themselves were tepid at best. Our sides of fries, collards, baked beans and okra were hot, but the main event was not. Quite tasty was the large onion ring garnish which we were later to find out was hand battered just like they did when they started in 1939, something you don’t see too often.

No. 1 Cheeseburger

The “best cheeseburger in America” was just lukewarm, but still delicious. As I requested, the burger was garnished with mustard, relish and ketchup. The 4+ inch burger was served on an oversized roll and get this… the mustard and relish was on the bottom of the bun and the ketchup on the top. I’m not sure why they did it that way, but it was very good.

The “Que” could have easily been a 10 had it not been close to cold, as was the restaurant’s temperature – please… turn up the heat on many fronts. In hindsight I should have sent my burger back to be served correctly.

As we were leaving we noticed that the drive thru window had a line of cars around the building. “Que” on wheels must be big here. After eating there, who wouldn’t want to put more “pork on your fork”?