It's time to make you hungry, Massachusetts! Especially if you're a fan of good old-fashioned down-home BBQ. Slow roasted or smoked, turning that chicken and pork into tasty and tender pieces of meat.

And, whatever is on the menu, you can absolutely consider me definitely on board. Barbecued Chicken. Pulled Pork. Hickory Style Beef Ribs. Smoked Brisket. BBQ Pork Butt. Burnt Ends. Yum!

Throw in some potato salad, coleslaw, corn bread, baked beans, and mac and cheese and you can say I'm good to go! Yessir, I am deadly serious (as most people are when it comes to the subject of BBQ)!

I've had the good fortune to live all over the country and while I may agree that Massachusetts might not be the first state that comes to mind when talking about delicious, succulent, finger-licking BBQ, I've had plenty of fantastic BBQ meals in the Bay State.

Having said that, even I was not prepared for this little statistic. According to a recent ranking by LawnStarter, Massachusetts has 4 destinations that are tied at #1 for WORST BBQ in the USA.

WBEC FM logo
Get our free mobile app

LawnStarter looked at the 500 biggest U.S. cities and ranked them across 5 categories and 20 key metrics including consumer ratings, number of barbecue festivals, and competition awards.

The Commonwealth has four cities tied at #1 with 17 other cities for worst barbecue cities in the country. That, to me at least, is simply astonishing. But before we delve further into that, what say we look at the BEST BBQ cities in America.

LawnStarter's Top 10 Best Barbecue Cities:

  1. Kansas City, Missouri
  2. Memphis, Tennessee
  3. Houston, Texas
  4. Kansas City, KS
  5. Los Angeles, California
  6. St. Louis, Missouri
  7. Austin, Texas
  8. San Antonio, Texas
  9. Chicago, Illinois
  10. New York, New York

Congratulations to all those cities in the top 10 and extra special kudos to Missouri and Texas for having multiple cities in the top 10! Now let's find out which 4 Massachusetts towns were part of that 21-way tie for last place:

  1. New Bedford
  2. Brockton
  3. Quincy
  4. Lawrence

We have GOT to do better than that, am I right? Low placings on the list just means that there is not enough barbecue available in those towns, that's all. Let's make it happen, BBQ lovers! By the way, the highest Massachusetts city on the list is Worcester at #78.

Take a look at the full rankings when you have a minute by visiting LawnStarter's website here.

Gallery — Every Movie Theater Candy, Ranked:

LOOK: 15 Discontinued McDonald's Menu Items

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

Gallery Credit: Angela Underwood

50 Most Popular Chain Restaurants in America

YouGov investigated the most popular dining brands in the country, and Stacker compiled the list to give readers context on the findings. Read on to look through America's vast and divergent variety of restaurants—maybe you'll even find a favorite or two.

Gallery Credit: Paul Feinstein

More From WBEC FM