Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint

Nashville's whole-hog evangelist brings West Tennessee 'cue to James Island

Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint is a barbecue restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina.

Pat Martin's Nashville-born operation opened its James Island outpost in May 2019 and imported a whole-hog gospel that runs against the assembled-from-parts convention. The pits fire at 5am, and the hogs cook roughly 20 hours over coal and local hickory before the meat ever hits a plate. It is West Tennessee barbecue set down in vinegar-and-mustard country — an acclaimed out-of-state pitmaster's lone South Carolina room, cooking the slow old way on purpose.

The whole-hog pulled pork sandwich is the thesis: smoke worked all the way through meat pulled straight from the animal, not scaled from shoulders. The Redneck Taco — smoked meat piled on a cornbread hoecake — is the signature crowd-pleaser, the spare ribs bring the chew, and hickory baked beans lean sweet and deep. A full bar and five house sauces spanning tomato, mustard, vinegar-pepper, and white let the table settle its own regional argument, one plate at a time.

• Style: Memphis Style
• Price: $$
• Neighborhood: James Island
• Serving since 2019

What to order

• Whole Hog Pulled Pork Sandwich
• Redneck Taco
• Spare Ribs
• Hickory Baked Beans

How it scores — 8.8/10 overall

• Smoke: 9.0/10
• Bark: 8.7/10
• Tenderness: 8.9/10
• Consistency: 8.8/10
• Value: 8.5/10
• Atmosphere: 8.8/10

Visiting

• Address: 1622 Highland Ave, Charleston, SC 29412
• Phone: (843) 790-0838
• Website: https://www.martinsbbqjoint.com/charleston

Hours: Mon–Thu 11am–9pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm, Sun 11am–9pm (verified on 2026-08-06)

More BBQ in Charleston