Ferse's Luncheonette (Gone)
Orangeburg, SC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
A lunch counter inside a five-and-dime was once an ordinary convenience, but Ferse's Luncheonette in Orangeburg preserved that combination long after most had disappeared. Customers could browse the merchandise, finish an errand, and sit down for something to eat without leaving the store. It gave the downtown business a purpose beyond shopping alone. 02-08
Ferse's traced its beginnings to 1906, when farmer T. B. Fersner Sr. founded the business. Roy Chandler purchased the struggling store in 1985 and refreshed its merchandise and luncheonette. Even a devastating fire in June 1994 failed to end the business: Chandler reopened next door, keeping the familiar name working on Russell Street.
UPDATE: Ferse's 5 & 10 and its luncheonette reportedly closed in 2015. The old storefront signs have since been removed, ending a downtown tradition that stretched back more than a century. 11-26
Stavros Grill
Burlington, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
The red hook-shaped arrow at Stavros Grill gives Burlington motorists a simple direction: turn here for something to eat. It doesn't need a giant mascot or an elaborate display to be memorable. The unusual curve gives this neighborhood restaurant a recognizable roadside marker of its own. 03-08
Breakfast and lunch have long been the attraction inside, with the straightforward atmosphere of a working neighborhood grill. The restaurant belongs to Burlington's tradition of small, independently operated diners, where familiar meals and regular customers help keep the business going. Outside, the arrow supplies the personality that a plain restaurant-name panel would lack.
UPDATE: Stavros Grill remains listed as operating on Maple Avenue in Burlington. The red arrow has been reported surviving, although its present condition and illumination have not been independently confirmed. 11-26
Bar-B-Q King
Lexington, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
The roadside sign at Bar-B-Q King offers a welcome invitation to stop for a meal in Lincolnton. The restaurant has the straightforward appearance of a place where the cooking matters more than elaborate surroundings. Pork barbecue, hand-pattied burgers, and onion rings give hungry motorists plenty of reasons to investigate. It's the sort of stop where the activity around the counter tells you more than a polished advertising campaign could. 02-08
Steve and Becky Abernethy opened the restaurant on September 1, 1971. Steve initially smoked pork shoulders elsewhere before deciding that hauling them to the restaurant each day was more trouble than necessary. His solution was to install a pit inside the dining room. That original pit was retired in 1987 but remains as a reminder of the restaurant's beginnings, while cooking moved to another smoker across the parking lot.
Bar-B-Q King
Lexington, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
The business grew from twenty-five seats to a considerably larger operation without abandoning its counter-service routine. Orders were called back to the cooks, maintaining an audible connection between customers and the kitchen. Hand-chopped pork, freshly prepared burgers, and that familiar exchange across the counter helped preserve the character of the early restaurant even as the dining room grew around it.
UPDATE: Bar-B-Q King remains open in Lincolnton, marking fifty-five years in business in 2026. The original dining-room pit survives as a reminder of its early cooking arrangements. This restaurant is separate from the unrelated former Bar-B-Q King drive-in on Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte. 11-26
Bar-B-Que Shack
Thomasville, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
The sign at Bar-B-Que Shack gets straight to the point along Randolph Street in Thomasville. It doesn't need to be an elaborate neon masterpiece to catch the attention of a hungry motorist. The promise of barbecue is often enough, especially in this part of North Carolina. 03-08
The restaurant was already appearing in regional barbecue listings by the late 1990s, establishing it as more than a recent arrival. Chopped pork, hush puppies, and familiar Southern meals fit the area's Lexington-style barbecue tradition. That style generally pairs pork shoulder with a vinegar-and-tomato-based sauce, giving visitors another regional variation to investigate.
UPDATE: Bar-B-Que Shack remains open on Randolph Street and is listed among the Country Barbeque group's restaurants. The longtime Thomasville stop continues serving customers beneath its familiar roadside sign. 11-26
Bubba's Barbecue (Gone)
Charlotte, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
Bubba's Barbecue is off I-77 in Charlotte near the northern edge of the city. It said "Eastern NC style" on the sign (whatever that means.) The people at the table next to me were from Philadelphia and made a trip just for this place! So that's one more for the Bubba collection! As is typical of these places (except Bridge's) the interior was very plain, little more than tables with plaid tablecloths with the restaurants own BBQ sauce waiting for you. This "Bubba's famous sauce" was weird in that it had vinegar in it so I mostly opted for the sweeter more normal stuff. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 03-08
Bubba's occupied the Sunset Road property from 1994, with recipes and business connections reaching back to Jackson and Spoon's Barbecue in the 1960s. The plain dining room kept the attention on the meal rather than the surroundings. Chopped pork, slaw, and the house sauce supplied the identity, while the roadside sign made the restaurant easy to find.
UPDATE: Bubba's closed for renovations in February 2025 and never reopened. Its permanent closure and sale were confirmed in January 2026, and the property subsequently became Honey Pies BBQ & Smokehouse. The Bubba's name is gone from the site, but barbecue remains part of its next chapter. 11-26
Sheetz
Raleigh, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
A Pennsylvania tradition now in North Carolina. The one place you can eat a gas station sandwich and tell people about it. Sheetz was off I-85 near Raleigh. Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 03-08
A sandwich from a filling station wasn't always something travelers planned a stop around, but Sheetz helped change that expectation. The Pennsylvania chain brought its made-to-order food counters into North Carolina during the 2000s, making a fuel stop double as a meal break. Its bright signs and busy forecourts became a newer addition to the roadside landscape, familiar to northern travelers and something different for many local customers.
Founded in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1952, Sheetz expanded into North Carolina with a Walkertown store in 2004. Raleigh followed with a restaurant-focused location in March 2005, combining convenience shopping with made-to-order meals. Touchscreen ordering helped distinguish the operation from the familiar rack of prewrapped gas-station sandwiches, letting customers choose what went into their order before the kitchen prepared it.
The concept made the business a slightly awkward fit for traditional roadside categories. Was it a filling station, a convenience store, or a restaurant? Customers could reasonably treat it as any of the three, depending on why they stopped. For Roadside Peek, the emphasis on ordering a meal earned it a place among the eateries, continuing a long tradition of roadside businesses serving both people and their automobiles.
Sheetz
Raleigh, NC Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
UPDATE: Sheetz continues operating and expanding across North Carolina, including the Raleigh area. The precise location described in the original account has not been established, so its reported proximity to I-85 remains unconfirmed. The chain nevertheless has become a familiar part of traveling the state's newer highways. 11-26
Ferse's Luncheonette (Gone)
Stavros Grill
Bar-B-Q King
Bar-B-Q King
Bar-B-Que Shack
Bubba's Barbecue (Gone)
Sheetz
Sheetz
