In the 1940s, Glen Bullock started selling his barbecue door-to-door. Years later, he would join forces with his wife Lillian, a skilled cook and baker, to open the original Bullock’s Bar-B-Cue. Their restaurant is a well-loved, family-owned and operated fixture in Durham serving family-style all-you-can-eat barbecue pork and fried chicken. Pair your barbecue with coleslaw, string beans, fries or hushpuppies. (Also, the restaurant is cash only, so make sure to bring those bills!)
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Hours:
Monday: Closed Tuesday: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM Wednesday: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM Thursday: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM Friday: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM Saturday: 11:30 AM – 8:00 PM Sunday: Closed
We enjoyed our meal here. It was nice to have hushpuppies brought to the table when we were seated and we had wonderful service. The food was good, especially the fried shrimp.
M S
Feb 14, 2026
5
Husband has been coming here since he was a college kid. I canNOT imagine a more perfect place for a bunch of hungry college boys 🤣 when I was at WF he brought this over and now we bring our kids when we come back in town once a year. They’re obsessed and won’t stop talking about bullocks until we come back haha. It’s always our first stop after we land. We order family style and it’s the best. The service is also amazing - they make you feel like you’re family.
Tim Dotson
Feb 10, 2026
5
The first place I ate when I moved to Durham in 2005 was Bullock’s. I took the grandsons there for lunch today and had the same Family Style AYCE of chopped pork, fried chicken, coleslaw, fries, green beans, hush puppies, and world class Brunswick stew that I enjoyed 21 years ago. It tasted the same, the restaurant is unchanged, and the crowds are still showing up.
The hostess, server, and cashier fawned over the little boys, who decided to eat only the admittedly delicious mac and cheese. The ladies insisted on packing up the bowls full of leftovers for me to take home and brought the boys a fresh refill of the mac and cheese for the road. They were busy, but made us feel like we were the only customers they were attending to (one of the little guys declared them to be “lovely.”)
I would choose the leftovers I just reheated over what most restaurants serve fresh, plus I still was smiling thinking about how well we were treated, how reasonable the price was, and how comforting it is that Bullock’s has not chased trends, un-Southerned itself, cut corners, or dialed back on good old country service. It has been around for almost 85 years for good reason.
Ken Graves
Nov 16, 2025
5
A little confusing with how and where to park. Lines for takeout makes it difficult to get seated. The food! Absolutely wonderful! Ribs perfectly cooked with sauce and lots of meat! Thick tasty chicken! Brisket yum! Plenty of sides. World's best banana pudding!!!
Tom MacNabb
Jul 31, 2025
3
It’s popular, I was there at opening and the tables filled quickly. I ordered the ribs and they were tender but seemed to have been in a steam tray or something so they lacked that grilled quality.
William Ball
Jul 22, 2025
5
Made a trip to Durham for some business. Haven't been there in eons. Planned to hit lunch at THE BBQ institution, Bullocks! Didn't disappoint. Just as I remembered. Good food, friendly atmosphere and the best service. Well, won't let me post photo I took during meal. Combo 8 is pulled pork, fried chicken, coleslaw, Brunswick stew.
Ask to be seated with Fran. She is the best server!
Jeannette Borne
Jun 8, 2025
4
The atmosphere is really decent and the food is fabulous. Everything is well cooked will maintain and delicious. Everything is seasoned to perfection and I have no complaints about the food whatsoever. However the service of the cashier was horrible. Upon me checking out the young lady asked if I "would like to pay with cash or check" and in normal fashion I asked "you do not accept credit cards"? To me this was a normal question considering that 99% of businesses nowadays credit cards. And you are very rarely going to see someone except the check so I thought maybe swapped her words by accident. That wasn't the problem the problem was how she responded. When I asked her response was "didn't you hear what I said?" As someone who's working in customer service literally all my life I would never in a million years respond to a customer like that. That attitude is not appropriate for customer service and can completely change the experience for a customer from a five-star experience to a 1. The only reason it didn't for me is because I know that I've had employees that work for me where their attitude needed to be checked. I hope something is done about the attitude because I would hate for you to lose business based on attitude and not the quality of your food.
Bruce Szmajda
Jun 7, 2025
5
Get off I 85 for great barbecue! We split the large plate w collards (Fri-Sat), baked beans and hush puppies and still took some away with us .
Anthony King
Jun 6, 2025
5
Bullock's provided fried chicken, coleslaw, chopped bbq May 31st at my family reunion cookout in Durham. Food provided was extension the family cooked. Bullock food was outstanding, my son picked up the food at restaurant. My son said service was excellent. Made Saturday a memorable day!!
