The Beacon Drive-In

A much quicker road trip stop than expected.

Truly delicious food in an authentic atmosphere. The building alone is an experience!

I first came here visiting my brother in college a decade ago and my dad and I have consistently to talked about it ever since.

This was horrible all around. We should have listened to the horrible yelp rating, the lack of cars in the parking lot on a Saturday night, and even the dirtiness of the restaurant should of turned us away but we were determined to try the place that was once great, and that was on dinners, drive ins and dives.

Our food was like warm to cold, nothing we ordered had any flavor at all. The burger was so cold, the cheese was still solid that was on it (my biggest pet peeve.

The feeling from the staff was that they were more annoyed we were there.

The ambiance was senior citizens galore who couldn't taste if there was flavor in the food or not.

I haven't been to the beacon since I was younger, and it's gotten worse. The food quality is mid at best. Essentially lukewarm food and a school lunch meat burger. The worst part however was the service. I hadn't been in many years and had forgotten how it worked, and much to my dismay my boyfriend and I were treated poorly because of it. We grabbed the wrong type of drink, and asked politely to have it switched. Instead, we both received a very impolite older gentleman angrily asking why we just grabbed a drink when someone else did it and he didn't say anything. We went back for refills later and asked for our drink and he still had some snappy retort towards us. That's no way to treat good customers and I will not be coming back, very disappointed this was a great memory from my childhood ruined.

What an experience. This place is truly an icon in this area. The building looks like it is six Wendy's put together. We entered and looked down the LONGGGG serving line. Jerry (I think that's right) took our order and shouted it to the back. We weren't sure what all we were supposed to tell Jerry and he didn't ask many questions so we just went with it.

You grab a tray and start the journey to the register. The next step is dessert options. Then your order is filled and placed on your tray...kinda. There were quite a few mistakes on the order before mine so that lead to yelling up and down the order line for clarification. Again, an experience to be sure.

Next is drinks. We weren't sure if you just grabbed one or ordered one. Apparently if you want tea or lemonade you just take one. Finally you pay.

There are lots of different seating areas. We settled in with our hot dogs a-plenty. We both ordered our dogs with chili and mustard but one of them had onions on them. The hot dogs were good. It's a drier chili so kinda seasoned ground beef but it had good flavor.

Let's talk about the fried things. For me, both the onion rings and fries that came with the a-plenty were super undercooked. While plentiful, they lacked any crunch and just were dripping in oil. My friend and I both remarked that we would have loved half as many fries/o-rings if they could have been cooked twice as long. Did we still each most of them? Sure. But it was a major gut bomb even though we split the order.

I'd bring someone here just so they could say they've done it.

I've seen the Beacon featured on Triple D on Television several times but haven't ever had a chance to stop in. Wednesday, coming back from Illinois, we got off of I-26 and had lunch. Weren't sure what to order, but I guess the the Chili Cheeseburger "A-Plenty" is the thing to order ( according to a regular sitting at a table nearby. So I ordered the A-Plenty and my wife just had a chili cheese burger. Basically it's a regular hamburger, cheese, chili on top (not overpowering), on a regular old bun. Then heaped on top of it is French fries and fried onions. The onions looked great. The hamburger was nothing special. Same with the bun...just a flattened old regular white bun. The chili was more like a hot-dog chili without a lot of beans, so it didn't take much away from the burger. The guy serving drinks said they had the World Famous sweet tea....the best. I don't know about that., but it was a good tea. Quite a place...place your order, and the old guy "Holler's" out your order. I guess it's a nostalgia place. They do have a ton of stuff on the menu. I doubt if I'll go back, but if I do I'll probably try some of their fish.

Location
Southwest Spartanburg
Atmosphere
Historic restaurant-established 1946
Service
Menu on the wall, service at the counter. Friendly staff.
First order food, then drinks, then pay- seating after
Seating
Outside tables, inside booths and tables-4 areas plus outside.
Food and beverage
Tea, sweet tea, lemonade. Wide variety of meats, fish, sides, sandwiches, salads. "A-plenty" is two handful's of fries and onion rings piled on top of whatever is ordered. Also saw "a-plenty" with fish and chicken fingers on top. We had the catfish-ordered 2 piece but got 3 with green beans, cole slaw-garnished with a slice of tomato and a side of okra(could've been warmer). The fish was whole fish friend- not heavily breaded-very tasty-cooked perfectly. The green beans definitely are well seasoned-so good. The coleslaw is not creamy-fyi.
Beverages-tea, sweet tea, lemonade, Tiger Woods ( aka Arnold Palmer)
Summary
Historic Spartanville establishment. Fried food, great burgers and a-plenty-fries/onion rings on the side.

This place is a very unique experience. The menu is on the wall at the entrance. There's a lot to choose from, and it doesn't all match the online menu. So beware that and don't fret. Just do your best. The guy at the beginning of the counter, they call him the caller, will barely be understandable. He'll know if you're a first-timer by how you act. He'll ask if you want it there or to go. You'll tell him your order. He'll holler out what the cooks should put on the grill. Then you'll proceed to grab a drink, tell the platers what sides you got and what you got on your sandwiches, and you'll proceed to the checkout. There you can pay with card or cash. Note that the tea is a lemony flavor you may not like if you don't like Arnold Palmers (tea and lemonade mixed). The a-plenty simply means you get a plate or fries and onion rings. A family member told me the whole plate would be covered in grease. My father and I didn't find that to be the case. It's not healthy food, but the fries and onion rings we got were pretty well-drained. The onion rings just aren't crispy, so don't expect the best onion rings you've had in your life. The burger was tender beef, and the chili is beefy with just a little seasoning. The onions on the burger are whole slices. I don't prefer that and won't get them again. I like chopped onions on all sandwiches. There's a ton of seating and a ton of parking. It's clean but not frilly and fancy. This is a post-World War II icon that you should experience if you're in Spartanburg, but know that everything will be different from most other places.

The prices have doubled and you get so much less food. John White "the original owner", would roll over in his grave. I will never go back and I've been a loyal customer since the '70s. $10 for a club sandwich with 2 pieces of bacon, store bought lunch meat, like you get at Food Lion. Very low quality restaurant compared to what it used to be. Go to Hardee's it's better.

I ordered online and the food was ready when I got there. They have the best onion rings!

I saw that this was on Triple
D. Well that means nothing. In a wonderful world nice of restaurants to choose from, this place just doesn't stack up. The guy taking orders is as impersonal as a person could be. Other staff was tolerable but not overly friendly. The burger was edible, and that's about all I can say. The onion rings were greasy, limp and borderline inedible. The fries were ok. The establishment was outdated, and overall had a dirty look to the ceiling, windows and vents. If this joint was impressive that ship sailed long ago. The sweet tea was good and I guess that's enough for them to get the one star review.