Of the several barbecue options I researched when I knew I was going to be spending some time on Amelia Island, State Line looked the most intriguing and potentially promising. It had a good percentage of great reviews online, but also a higher than normal amount of 1 and 2 star ratings. I knew I needed to try it for myself to see what could cause such a variation.
They were closed on my first attempt, or so I thought. Later I found out that they don't open until noon, and I may have been a bit early. In any case, I returned on another occasion to the gas station parking lot that they share and walked toward the OPEN sign, masked up. They are big on masks, at least at the time of my visit. The first line on their website is "WEAR YOUR MASK and STAY BACK!" For whatever reason, they are taking things extra seriously- which is fine with me. Maybe the owner or an employee is high risk. I don't know and I won't judge. But this is definitely not typical for the area, as you will see in my next story.
I was the only customer a little after noon on a weekday. The gentleman behind the counter, who I took to be the owner, greeted me and put on his own mask before approaching. I asked for a pulled pork sandwich and added a side of potato salad (sides do not come with a sandwich) and a bottled drink which is the only kind they serve.
After I paid, he proceeded to assemble my sandwich from the foil-wrapped meat in a ...crock-pot? Looking further, I saw another slow cooker on the table to the right. With barbecue, low and slow is the way to go- but you can't make barbecue in a slow cooker. It might be good, but it wouldn't be barbecue. What I eventually surmised is that the slow cookers were being used to keep the meat warm. This, however, led to the question of what he did cook with, and how long ago it had been cooked. For now, I watched as he doused the meat in a vinegar sauce, wrapped the sandwich and scooped my potato salad from a gigantic plastic bin that came out of a refrigerator.
I grabbed a bottle of sweet tea from the cooler, thanked the proprietor and returned to my truck, as they are take out only. From my seat in the shade, I prepared to find out once and for all what they were selling here.
At first glance, it looked exceptional. The pork was in tender, big chunks which had been pulled apart, meaning that it was cooked to the right temperature to not have to be chopped. Currently though, it barely qualified as warm. I had seen a couple reviews from guests who said they were served a cold sandwich- and responses from the owner saying they had never served a cold sandwich. To be fair, it wasn't cold, but it would only be a minor exaggeration to make that claim. It definitely wasn't hot, for just being made.
To make matters worse, it had a distinct reheated taste to it. It was not like the meat was bad, but if you have ever reheated pork you know that it's never quite the same as when it's first cooked. Some reviewers had also commented that theirs was "sour" which could have been referring to what I noticed, or to the vinegar sauce which was sprinkled on the meat. I have no complaints about the sauce. In fact, I have to give this credit as being one of the best vinegar sauces I've had. I was happy that another cup of it was included, because
unfortunately that was the only way I could get the meat down.Similarly, the potato salad was a great recipe. Sadly, it seemed like it had been in the refrigerator for quite a while, and possibly had been frozen at some point. This didn't detract from it quite as much as the meat, but it just wasn't quite what it could have been.
I am sad to report that this is one of the few times I can remember that I have not been able to finish a sandwich. It was large, as I would expect for the price, but eventually I just reached the point where the taste I was getting was not a fair trade for the calories I was consuming.
So here's my conclusion. The owner is someone who without a doubt knows how to make good barbecue. I would suspect that if I had visited on a day when the food was fresh I would have rated it much higher- hence all the good reviews. It seems though that due to a lack of business, or for whatever reason, they are cooking ahead of time in large quantities and serving that food for at least a couple days. So anyone who visits on an "off day" would be likely to rate it much lower. I hate to see this happen to anyone, especially to someone obviously talented in the barbecue realm. Hopefully business will return, or they can make some other adjustments to improve the consistency of their food.
OVERALL: 2 OF 5
PRICE:$$
In the short time I waited for my food, I heard a lot of small talk about who was renting what apartment and whose kids were trying out for the baseball team- the kind of stuff average people talk about over a decent lunch on a Friday afternoon. Most patrons were not masked, but I got the feeling no one would be looked down on for wearing one either.
