In the South East, they bring you sweetened (usually far too sweetened for my tastes) iced tea. This is amazingly universal.
I live in NC and have been probing the border for years.
For “nicer” restaurants, the universal sweet tea boundary seems to be precisely at the NC/VA border.
If you want it like actual Southern style, McDonald’s. Other places generally just have some sugar and lemon in the unsweetened tea and it’s never really enough to make me happy. I usually get the Lipton cuz I’m a fat fuck.
Some restaurants might even just bring you unsweetened and a bunch of sugar packets. I don’t think tea is very popular here :(
That’s good to know. I usually have to cut McDonald’s sweet tea with water, and I’d rather not support them anyway, but next time I’m on the left coast I know where to get my fix. Thanks, Kolanaki!