Is Sam Jones BBQ Still Open? Best Thing I Ever Ate Update

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 11, Episode 6

Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food Network) featured the restaurant in its Low and Slow episode (S11E6). Sam Jones BBQ is a whole-hog barbecue restaurant at 715 West Firetower Road in Winterville, North Carolina; the business's own site describes pitmaster Sam Jones as the grandson of Pete Jones, founder of Skylight Inn BBQ in nearby Ayden. Yelp's page for the Winterville location, last updated September 2026, showed 350 photos and 399 reviews with listed hours of 11am-9pm Monday-Saturday and 11am-8:30pm Sunday. The Toast platform separately carried an active online-ordering page for the same address, and the business's own site listed a second location in Raleigh, North Carolina. No closure or ownership-change report was found for the Winterville location in the sources checked.

Food Paradise, Season 14, Episode 11

The episode (S14E11, 'Fire It Up') featured Sam Jones BBQ, a wood-fired, whole-hog barbecue restaurant serving North Carolina-style barbecue near Greenville, North Carolina. The restaurant is located in neighboring Winterville and has since grown into a small chain, with a second location in Raleigh listed on its site alongside catering and private-dining services. According to the restaurant's website (samjonesbbq.com), checked 2026-09-08, the site carries a 2026 copyright date, current Saturday and Sunday hours, and a working online-ordering link. Google Places, checked the same day, lists Sam Jones BBQ as operational at 715 W Fire Tower Rd, Winterville. No reporting on a closure or ownership change for the original location turned up in the sources reviewed, and the business's own site continues to promote it as an active restaurant and store.