Farm Boy's Barbeque

Address: 525 Columbia Ave., Chapin, SC 29036

Phone: 803-345-7600

Web site: www.farmboysbbq.com

Cards: all

Hours of operation: Thursday – Saturday 11:00am – 8:00pm

"If you like it sweet this is the place for you."

Farm Boy’s Barbeque managed to get the top vote from several of our couple of hundred Judges when we polled them and asked them to list their top three barbeque houses in South Carolina.

Those judges, obviously, like it sweet because that is the overriding aspect of all of Farm Boy’s – sweet. They are in the mustard based area of Newberry County but their sauce is more akin to the Orangeburg Sweet sauce that one finds mostly in the area below Lexington County.

Plus, their vegetables are sweet, their hushpuppies are sweet, their hash is sweet, their desserts are really sweet and their tea is that 40 weight Southern sweet iced tea. (They do have non-sweet available, thank goodness.)

Our judges who voted them number one aren’t the only ones who like Farm Boy’s, it seems. When I pulled into the parking lot to get photos it was only 4:15 on a Saturday yet there were over 30 cars already in the back parking lot and three cars at the drive-up window. Farm Boy’s was doing a booming business. But then, they’ve always done a booming business.

They used to be in downtown Chapin in a white cinderblock restaurant that was always packed. So they built a new, much larger place out of town on Columbia Avenue about four blocks from I-26. Now they can handle some of the much larger crowds they attract.

Their new restaurant is built with all the modern conveniences, including the electronic drive up window mentioned above (how about that for an up-town barbeque house?) and customers are greeted with a big salad bar on the inside too.

Their buffet is large with all the usual home cooked goodies and some extra ones too. You help yourself and there is plenty to choose from. If you are in a hurry, Farm Boys does a big take-out business and has two reserved parking places for take-out only.

Whatever they are doing there, sugar added or no, they certainly have a large following.