BBQ & Southern · Restaurants
Third’s Barbecue
About
Third’s Barbecue operates from Santa Monica Avenue, a residential-adjacent street in the northern part of Royal Palm Beach, well away from the busier commercial corridors of Southern Boulevard and Okeechobee Boulevard that carry most of the village’s restaurant traffic. Its location on a smaller side street makes it something of a neighborhood spot rather than a highway-facing storefront, the kind of barbecue joint that residents tend to find through word of mouth rather than passing by on a main road.
The business is registered with the Florida Division of Corporations as Third’s BBQ, LLC, an active filing, which supports treating it as a genuinely operating, currently maintained restaurant. Barbecue restaurants of this scale typically build their menu around slow-smoked meats such as pulled pork, brisket, and ribs, paired with classic Southern sides like baked beans, coleslaw, and mac and cheese, often served cafeteria-style or as combination plates rather than through a formal sit-down dining room.
Because it sits off the main commercial strips, Third’s Barbecue tends to draw a more local crowd from the surrounding residential streets in northern Royal Palm Beach, an area that includes single-family neighborhoods built out over the past two decades as the village expanded northward. A barbecue spot in this kind of location functions as a neighborhood fixture, the sort of place families pick up dinner from on a weeknight rather than a destination restaurant drawing visitors from across the county.
Diners interested in visiting should call ahead to confirm current hours and the day’s available menu, since independently run barbecue restaurants often sell out of slow-smoked items before closing time and adjust their offerings accordingly. The active LLC registration on file with the state, along with its continued listing across local business directories, supports the conclusion that Third’s Barbecue remains a real, operating restaurant serving the northern residential pocket of Royal Palm Beach.
The northern part of Royal Palm Beach, where Santa Monica Avenue is located, developed largely as single-family residential subdivisions, and the village’s zoning in this area concentrates most retail and restaurant uses along the larger boulevards rather than the smaller connecting streets. A barbecue restaurant able to sustain a location off the main commercial strip typically depends on a strong local reputation built up over time, since it cannot rely on passing traffic the way a Southern Boulevard or Okeechobee Boulevard restaurant can. For residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, having a barbecue option within a short drive rather than needing to head toward the larger barbecue restaurants clustered closer to West Palm Beach adds real convenience to weeknight dinner planning.