Game Day BBQ sits along Main Street in Duncan, one of the small Upstate towns between Greenville and Spartanburg. Its athletic theme traces back to the start: the restaurant grew out of a barbecue catering operation run by a former high school football coach who had long wanted a place of his own. That streak still shows in the flags for Clemson, the Gamecocks, and hometown Byrnes High around the room, and the football usually on the big-screen TVs.
The kitchen smokes its meats the old-fashioned way, over nothing but hickory and oak. The menu runs through the Carolina standards, from pulled pork to brisket to plates like the Duncan Hog served with your pick of homemade sides. Brunswick stew, BBQ beans, mac and cheese, and potato salad fill out the rest, most made in house.
Reviewers keep landing on two things: generous portions for the price, with more than one describing a BBQ sandwich heaped over the bun, and food worth the drive, including a visitor who came from over the North Carolina line. With the big screens, the space for groups, and the come-as-you-are feel, it suits an afternoon spent catching a game with a few friends over a plate of barbecue.