coachrowsey

www.beacondrivein.com
This place has been in business since 1946 & everyone in the area know of it. The wife & I drove down today. Her first time my second or third. Chili-Cheese aplenty. I made one big mistake & I should've known better I also ordered a perch sandwich. Well 4 huge pieces of fish on the bun. Well folks guess what my dinner was tonight
This would be a great place for a FT lunch. If you are ever in this area got to check it out.

milepig

OMG - the Beacon. Its been probably 25 years since I've been there. Yum.

For the uninitiated, you walk in the door and are confronted with a mob of people. You sort of get in the middle of the crowd and eventually work your way toward the front and find yourself at a counter. At some random point a very large intimidating man (they are ALL large and indimidating) points a finger in your face and says "YOU". You'd better be ready to order at that moment or you'll be passed by.

So, the basic plan is to order whatever you want "aplenty", which means you get your sandwich on a plate, covered with french fries that are in turn covered with onion rings (hunks, actually). You slide down to the next station (literally, the floor is just a wee bit greasy) and grab yourself a giant cup of tooth-achingly sweet tea, and then move on to pay.

You consume your 10,000 or so calories, and then waddle out of the place cluthing your stomach thinking "what did I just do", but then you're back a few days later doing it all over again. Pure magic!

At one record-breaking day Mrs. Milepig and I watched a couple (cumulative weigh ~800 pounds) each with TWO Aplentys and extra fries on the side. We watched in sheer horror as they consumed every single morsel, and then went back for seconds on the tea.

But, I digress. It is the sort of place where you need to take a good shower afterwards since you just feel sort of, well, greasy after your excursion.

I want one - NOW!!!

coachrowsey

The blind guy is still there yelling "chili cheese aplenty". It's still pretty much like you remember & time for another trip down. Like you said you swear you will never eat again then a day or two ready to do it all over. This would be a great place for a FT lunch one Sat.

mbru

I went to the Beacon on Coach's recommendation while in Spartanburg for work. As coach and mp have said you get "aplenty" of food. Got the chili cheeseburger aplenty for $8.10. There was more than $8.10 of meat, potatoes and onions in there. I couldn't even eat half of what I had.

It is kind of intimidating at first and when you hear your order being yelled out you think "that didn't sound anything like a cheeseburger at all". But when the box (yes a box for take out) comes everything is like you ordered.

I second Coach's recommendation as the Beacon would be a great and inexpensive lunch. Just come hungry.

coachrowsey

Where is this moved to ?

coachrowsey

www.beacondrivein.com


I could've swore this was on here but for the life of me I can't find it.

Just got back from there & I'm stuffed. Chili Cheese APLENTY. Everyone needs to go there at least once in a lifetime^

skchin

I thought you said bacon.

BamaVol

I think I've been there. Is this a mile or so away from the downtown Marriott or is that some other place?

gj83

I dunno. The experience was much better than the food. My hamburger was very blah.

milepig

There was a thread, I posted on it at some point (the search feature is useless at this point).

I added many a pound during the years we lived within striking distance of the Beacon. There's just something about walking up to a counter and being point to by a Biiiiig man who shouts "YOU" - and you'd better be ready. The Chili Cheese aplenty was by artery blocker of choice, washed down with a tooth-achingly sweet Iced Tea.

cblaisd

There was indeed a thread, but as with the current thread and per the Dining Buzz sticky, it was moved to the appropriate geographic forum. I then merged the op's two threads together.

cblaisd
Senior Moderator.

xichang08

Born and raised in Spartanburg and just happened on this old thread.

Oh the memories of the Beacon!!

We were in Spartanburg over Thanksgiving and Christmas 2015 and nothing seems to have changed.

ibrandsguest

I recall stopping there on a high school trip in the '80s. [Off-topic text edited by Moderator.]