Best hamburgers for hundreds of miles at least. Southern Living magazine says it has the best pimento cheese burger in the land in its December 2009 issue (S.C. section). Ruth's has been a regular landmark in Hartsville since the 1940s. According to my friend Zelda Mozingo Mahn who grew up just down the street during that time, It started out as a grocery store with a sawdust floor. It has been owned and operated by Angela Hooker Stokes' family since 1945. Hot dogs were served out the back window starting in 1948. The drive inn is named fro Angela's grandmother, which everyone called "Mama Ruth". Zelda was Angela's mother's (Bobbie) best friend who graduated in the Hartsville High School class of 1949. Its was a regular hangout for teenagers since those times through my high school years in the 1960s and 1970s and onward. Angela was practically raised in it. It has been a popular breakfast place too that my parents enjoyed. It still the best.

Really good burgers and fries. Southern iced tea. A little pricey. No longer smokey.