ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Barbecue lovers rejoice: A Southeast Georgia restaurant has (once again) been recognized by Southern Living magazine.
Southern Soul Barbeque, located at 2020 Demere Road on St. Simons Island, was voted by readers as the best barbecue spot in Georgia AND the best barbecue spot in the South.
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Southern Living once again heaped on the praise like mac and cheese, writing, “the restaurant keeps getting better with each passing year.”
Southern Soul’s has been around since 2006, and the building used to be a gas station in the 1950s. The restaurant has come back from adversity after a fire destroyed the building in 2010.
“Our mission to make the best damn barbecue you’d ever had changed that day and grew into something so much bigger,” its website said.
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The restaurant became “17% cooler in 2022, when founders Harrison Sapp and Griffin Buffkin added the Channel Marker bar and stocked it with tiki favorites like Jungle Birds and Goombay Smashes,” Southern Living wrote when the restaurant was honored by the publication in 2025.
Southern Soul Barbecue is no stranger to recognition. They’ve racked up the titles over the years, including:
- “The South’s Best BBQ of 2017” by Southern Living magazine
- “The South’s Top 50 Barbecue Joints" for 2022
- Georgia’s “best hole-in-the-wall restaurant” in 2023
Of this latest honors, the restaurant wrote on social media that it “could not be any freaking prouder.”
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Southern Soul Barbecue is open Friday-Sunday from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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