Food and Drink

Line stretched down Sunset Road as new BBQ spot sold out before opening

Editor’s note: The original re-opening date has now shifted to Friday, May 8.

Bring on the brisket, and pass the cornbread. A new barbecue joint is opening this week in Charlotte.

Quick take:

🍗 New restaurant: Honey Pies BBQ & Smokehouse

📍 Location: Sunset Road

🔥 “Grand opening” event: Drew a line down the street

🥩 Result: Sold out of everything

⏰ Opening: Now set for May 8 after restock

The full details:

Honey Pies BBQ & Smokehouse is set to open Friday, May 8 in the former Bubba’s Barbecue space on Sunset Road. Bubba’s was known for traditional Eastern Carolina pork barbecue, but Honey Pies is taking the location into Texas territory.

The restaurant is smoking up plenty of brisket and enormous beef ribs — along with chicken and pork — to go with mac and cheese, baked beans, collard greens, potato salad and other Southern sides.

A large metal tray lined with butcher paper featuring a variety of BBQ dishes served in individual cardboard boats. The platter includes sliced brisket, a roasted chicken quarter, collard greens, mac and cheese, baked beans, corn, potato salad, and a square of cornbread.
Texas-style barbecue at Honey Pies BBQ & Smokehouse. Courtesy of Alison Council
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You can craft your meal with your choice of meat and one or two sides, or there’s an option to make your meal entirely out of sides.

There’s dessert on the menu, too, with sweet options including banana pudding, peach and apple cobbler, bread pudding, and pecan and sweet potato pie.

Charlotteans got a first taste at an event April 25 that was planned as a grand opening event. It drew in so many people, the restaurant ran through 100 briskets and 275 racks of ribs, plus a full smoker of chicken.

A close-up of a warm apple cobbler served in a black paper bowl with the “Honey Pies Texas BBQ” logo. The dessert features large, cinnamon-glazed apple slices and a golden biscuit topping, finished with a large scoop of melting vanilla ice cream. Red apples are visible in the blurred background.
Apple cobbler at Honey Pies BBQ & Smokehouse. Courtesy of Alison Council
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“The line was down Sunset,” owner Alison Council told CharlotteFive. “We did it Texas style — everything’s big in Texas.”

In fact, the preview event went so well that a full restock was needed to reopen the restaurant.

“I sold out of everything. I’m not gonna be able to open up until the 5th because I don’t have anything else to sell,” said Council, who also owns Queen City Meats & Butcher Shop and Brookshire Commissary Kitchen.

Plans call for the restaurant to be open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., “or until we’re sold out,” Council said, adding: “because that brisket went real quick.”

Three people wearing matching bright yellow polo shirts participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The person in the center, whose shirt is embroidered with “Ben,” holds large red ceremonial scissors with the person to his left. A third person on the right claps in celebration. All three shirts feature a logo for “Honey Pies BBQ & Seafood.”
Candy Baker, Ben Council and Honey-Pies BBQ & SmokeHouse owner Alison Council open a celebration at the restaurant with a ribbon-cutting. Courtesy of Alison Council.

Honey Pies BBQ & SmokeHouse

Location: 4400 Sunset Rd, Charlotte, NC 28216

Cuisine: Texas-style barbecue, Southern sides

Instagram: @honeypiesbbqclt

This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 6:45 AM.

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Heidi Finley
The Charlotte Observer
Heidi Finley is a writer and editor for CharlotteFive and the Charlotte Observer. Outside of work, you will most likely find her in the suburbs driving kids around, volunteering and indulging in foodie pursuits. Support my work with a digital subscription
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