Buddy's Bar-B-Q has been smoking pork in Knoxville since 1972, and it is the most regional chain covered on this site — about 15 restaurants, almost all in East Tennessee. The menu is short, the pricing is among the cheapest in American barbecue, and one item on it, the Hawg Back, does not exist anywhere else.
Buddy's Bar-B-Q prices at a glance
Every price quoted in this guide, collected up front. Prices vary by location and change without notice.
| Dinner | Price |
|---|---|
| Sampler Dinner | $16.99 – $18.99 |
| Smoky Wet Rib Dinner | $13.99 – $15.99 |
| Beef Brisket Dinner | $12.99 – $14.49 |
| Half Smoked Chicken Dinner | $11.49 – $12.49 |
| Pork Dinner | $10.99 – $11.99 |
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Beef Brisket Basket | $10.99 – $11.49 |
| Smoky Wing Basket (6 pc) | $10.49 – $10.99 |
| Chicken Finger Basket | $9.49 – $9.99 |
| Pork Sandwich Basket | $8.99 – $9.49 |
| Beef Brisket Sandwich | $7.49 – $7.99 |
| Pork Sandwich (Regular) | $5.49 – $6.29 |
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Hawg Back (Beef) | $9.99 – $10.99 |
| Hawg Back (Pork) | $8.99 – $9.99 |
| Smoky Wings (6 pc) | $8.49 – $8.99 |
| Hushpuppies (10 pc) | $3.99 – $4.49 |
| Pack | Price | Per person |
|---|---|---|
| Feed 5 Family Pack | $34.99 – $39.99 | ~$7.00 – $8.00 |
| Feed 10 Family Pack | $69.99 – $79.99 | ~$7.00 – $8.00 |
| Buddy's | Full Moon | Sonny's | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork sandwich | $5.49 | $6.99 | $9.29 |
| Cheapest dinner/plate | $10.99 | $10.99 | $14.99 |
| Brisket dinner | $12.99 | $21.99 | $18.99 |
| Rib dinner | $13.99 | $16.99 | $17.99 |
| Family pack, per head | ~$7.00 | — | ~$11.10 |
| Locations | ~15 | ~30 | ~100 |
| Approach | What you order | Cost (10 people) | Per head |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual dinners | 10 × Pork Dinner | $109.90 | $10.99 |
| Individual sandwiches | 10 × pork sandwich + hushpuppies | $74.85 | $7.49 |
| Feed 10 Family Pack | 1 pack | $69.99 | $7.00 |
Buddy's price ranges — and why they vary
One thing to understand before the tables: Buddy's publishes most items as a range rather than a single price, because prices differ between its Knoxville, Sevierville, Maryville and other locations. The lower figure is generally the Knoxville price and the upper figure the tourist-corridor locations near the Smokies.
Every price below is shown as that range. Expect to pay nearer the top of it in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge.
BBQ dinners
The Pork Dinner from $10.99 is the anchor of the whole menu and the cheapest full barbecue dinner of any chain covered on this site — Sonny's cheapest plate is $14.99 and Dickey's is $16.50.
The Sampler Dinner from $16.99 is the one to order on a first visit — it is the only way to try the range in one sitting.
Sandwiches and baskets
A pork sandwich from $5.49 is the cheapest barbecue sandwich at any chain on this site — cheaper even than Full Moon at $6.99 and less than half what Famous Dave's charges.
The basket format — sandwich plus sides — costs about $3.50 more than the sandwich alone, which is fair given individual sides elsewhere run $3.50 to $4.50 each.
The Hawg Back
This is Buddy's signature and it exists nowhere else. The Hawg Back is a large open-faced serving of barbecue — pork at $8.99–$9.99 or beef at $9.99–$10.99.
If you order one thing at Buddy's that you cannot order anywhere else, this is it. It is more meat than the sandwich, less formal than the dinner, and it is what regulars order.
Signature specialties
Ten hushpuppies for $3.99 is remarkable value and they are the item most people add to every order. Hushpuppies — deep-fried cornmeal batter — are a Southern staple that most national chains have dropped; City BBQ is the only other chain here that still carries them.
Family packs and catering
At roughly $7 to $8 a head, Buddy's family packs are among the cheapest group barbecue in America — comparable to City BBQ's Family Pack at about $7.50 and well below Lucille's feasts at $21 to $25.
The pricing scales cleanly: the Feed 10 pack is exactly double the Feed 5, so there is no volume discount for going larger — order whichever matches your headcount. General portion planning is in the BBQ catering guide.
Desserts and drinks
- Hot Fudge Cake ($4.99)
- Meringue Pies, per slice ($3.49)
- Gallon of Sweet Tea ($5.99)
The meringue pies are the thing to order. They are made in the Southern diner tradition — chocolate, coconut and lemon, with a tall meringue top — and almost no barbecue chain still makes them. At $3.49 a slice they are cheaper than dessert at any other chain here except City BBQ's banana pudding.
What Buddy's does not have
Being straight about the trade-off. Buddy's runs a deliberately short menu, and compared with the national chains it does not offer:
- No published by-the-pound sheet — group orders go through the family packs or the catering desk.
- No burgers, salads or a broad appetizer list.
- No dedicated vegetarian main.
- Limited geography — roughly 15 locations, nearly all in East Tennessee.
That short menu is also why the prices are what they are. A kitchen doing six things well costs less to run than one doing forty.
How Buddy's compares
On price, Buddy's wins nearly every line. Its brisket dinner at $12.99 is $6 less than Sonny's and $9 less than Full Moon's, and its family packs are the cheapest per head of any chain covered here. What you give up is menu breadth and the ability to find one outside East Tennessee.
Where Buddy's sits regionally
This is East Tennessee barbecue — hickory-smoked pork shoulder, chopped rather than pulled, with a tomato-and-vinegar sauce that sits between the sweet Kansas City style and the sharp Carolina one. It is closer to Memphis than to Texas, and the pork is the point. Order beef only if someone at the table insists.
What to order
First visit: the Sampler Dinner (from $16.99) — the only way to try the range at once. Regulars' order: a Hawg Back (from $8.99) with hushpuppies. Cheapest good meal: pork sandwich (from $5.49) plus 10 hushpuppies ($3.99), which is under ten dollars. For a group: the Feed 5 or Feed 10 family pack at about $7 a head. And take a slice of meringue pie ($3.49) — very few places still make them.
Fifty years in one city
Buddy's opened in Knoxville in 1972 and has stayed almost entirely within East Tennessee ever since. That is a deliberate choice rather than a failure to expand, and it shows in the food: a short menu, hickory smokers running in every location, and pricing set for locals rather than tourists in most of the estate.
It also explains the price ranges. The Knoxville restaurants price for people who eat there weekly; the Sevierville and Pigeon Forge locations sit in the Smokies tourist corridor and charge accordingly. Same food, up to a dollar and a half apart.
What East Tennessee barbecue actually is
Buddy's sits in a tradition most national coverage skips. East Tennessee barbecue is:
- Pork shoulder, hickory-smoked, chopped rather than pulled. The chop is finer than Carolina pulled pork and closer to Memphis.
- Sauced with a tomato-and-vinegar blend that sits between sweet Kansas City and sharp Eastern Carolina.
- Served with hushpuppies rather than white bread or corn bread.
- Finished with meringue pie, a Southern diner tradition rather than a barbecue one.
It is not Texas barbecue and it is not trying to be. Order pork; the brisket is competent and cheap but it is not what fifty years of practice went into.
Ordering for a group
The Feed 10 Family Pack at $69.99 wins, and it wins on convenience as well as price — one order rather than ten. Note there is no volume discount between the two pack sizes, so for 15 people order a Feed 10 plus a Feed 5 rather than trying to stretch one.
Calories, from Buddy's own published figures
Every number in this section is Buddy's own published calorie count for that item, not an estimate of ours. The Cal column in the full menu further down this page carries the rest of them, and leaves blank anything the chain does not publish.
| Order | Calories (published) |
|---|---|
| Pork Dinner | 290 |
| Beef Brisket Dinner | 360 |
| Pork Sandwich (regular) | 370 |
| Hushpuppies (10 pc) | 450 |
| Smoky Wet Rib Dinner | 710 |
| Hawg Back (Beef) | 980 |
| Half Smoked Chicken Dinner | 1,600 |
| Hot Fudge Cake | 230 |
The hushpuppies are still the trap, and the published figures make the case better than the old estimate did. Ten hushpuppies are 450 calories against 370 for the pork sandwich they usually accompany — the side is heavier than the main. That does not make them a bad order; they are the best-value item on the menu and the thing regulars add to everything. It does mean the cheap meal recommended above, a pork sandwich plus ten hushpuppies for under ten dollars, is an 820-calorie order rather than the light lunch the price suggests.
The dinners are the surprise. The Pork Dinner is published at 290 calories — the cheapest full barbecue dinner of any chain on this site is also, on Buddy's own numbers, the lightest thing in the dinner section, and the Beef Brisket Dinner at 360 is barely above it. That is a rare combination and it makes the chopped pork the easy recommendation on every axis at once: cheapest, most representative of what the kitchen does, and lowest of the published dinners.
The spread within one section is where you need to pay attention. The Half Smoked Chicken Dinner is 1,600 — more than five times the pork dinner it sits next to on the board, and it costs only about fifty cents more. The rib dinner is 710 and the beef Hawg Back 980. If you are managing intake for a medical reason, that chicken dinner is the one line on this menu where a fifty-cent price difference hides a 1,310-calorie one.
Buddy's publishes nothing for several items people ask about — the Sampler Dinner, the pork Hawg Back, the smoky wings, the baskets, the brisket sandwich, the family packs and the meringue pies all carry no official figure, so none is given here or in the menu below. For the pork Hawg Back in particular, the honest answer is that it sits somewhere above the pork sandwich and below the beef version at 980, and Buddy's does not narrow it further.
What to order at which location
Because pricing varies, the value calculation shifts by restaurant:
- Knoxville and Maryville: the pork sandwich at $5.49 is the standout. Add hushpuppies and you have a meal under $10.
- Sevierville and Pigeon Forge: prices sit at the top of every range, so the Feed 5 Family Pack becomes better value than individual orders even for three people.
- Anywhere: the Hawg Back is the item to try, and it is the smallest price gap between locations.
Where Buddy's falls short
- Menu breadth. No burgers, no salads, minimal sides list, no vegetarian main.
- No by-the-pound counter, so no cheap route for a very large order beyond the family packs.
- Geography. Roughly 15 locations, all in one corner of one state.
- Published information is thin — prices, hours and item availability vary by location more than the website makes clear. Call ahead.
Who Buddy's is for
It is for anyone in East Tennessee who wants very good chopped pork at a price no national chain can match, and for anyone driving to the Smokies who wants something better than the tourist-strip options. It is not a destination pit and it does not pretend to be — it is a fifty-year-old regional chain that has kept its menu short and its prices low, and both of those decisions show on the plate.
Practical notes before you go
- Check prices locally. The Knoxville restaurants and the Smokies tourist-corridor ones charge differently for identical food.
- Order pork. Fifty years of practice went into the chopped shoulder, not the brisket.
- Add hushpuppies. Ten for $3.99 is the best-value item on the menu.
- Family packs beat individual orders at every group size above about three people.
- Call ahead. Hours, prices and item availability vary by location more than the website suggests.
For someone new to Buddy's: a Hawg Back (from $8.99) with hushpuppies ($3.99) and a slice of meringue pie ($3.49). Around sixteen dollars, and all three are things you will not find at any national chain.