Bruce W.
Yelp
I believe I found my favorite BBQ joint in Texas.
Seriously, y'all, you've done something right over there at County Line on the Lake.
The food is great. The drinks are great. The prices are fair for what you're getting (and considering that we live in 2024 inflation hell).
Y'all didn't have a three-hour line out your door, and you're not on a busy highway, and you weren't out of all your meat, and you mostly had families in attendance and weren't full of smelly hipsters in $300 fake 90's jeans trying to look just like the parents they complain so much about - so, what I'm getting at is that you've curated a nice family environment, and you know how to operate a restaurant well and keep up with demand (unlike so many trendy hipster bbq joints in your local competitor pool). That's a MAJOR win in my book. Who wants to eat nothing but smoked chicken after waiting for three hours because the hipsters in front of you in line ordered all the good red meet to post about it to TikTok and Instagram? I know I sure don't, so I gravitate to restaurants like y'all's, and you're as good as it gets for ambiance and overall customer experience.
Speaking of experience, the view on the patio is incredible. There isn't another bbq joint in town that competes on that front, IMO. Hard to beat quiet and remote-feeling waterfront views in the shade of tall trees when you're enjoying your BBQ. The inside of your restaurant is great, too -- cool decor for a bbq joint. Just an all-around fun vibe inside and out.
The yard area was fun for my son to run off his meal. Wish y'all could squeeze in a small playground somewhere in all that wide open outdoor space, but I'm not gonna dock any stars for your choice not to have one. That's alright alright alright. It'd be a lot cooler if you did, though. My son would be begging me to go back all the time, and y'all would be a nice respite from my overly repetitive family play visits to Hat Creek. Please rescue me - install a playground, I need variety. Families like ours will be frequenting your establishment more, because it's hard to find good restaurant play areas for kids in this post-Corona Light world.
Despite the missing playground, y'all's customer service is great. Food service is unbeatable. In fact - after ordering, our food came out incredibly quickly (and everything was in stock, btw, on a late afternoon on a weekend, which is almost unheard of for Austin BBQ). Though, TBH, I regretted buying an appetizer because I barely had time for a bite of it before my meal showed up. But that may be a fluke in when and how we ordered. Not sure. Not docking stars for it. I'll update this if it becomes consistent in my many inevitable return trips. Not like fast service is a bad thing...
Speaking of fast. I'll return as fast as I can because I loved the BBQ. My little family ordered a variety of menu items when we went for my birthday. (No free birthday desert though? Boo... I wanna live out my inner child while embarrassed servers awkwardly sing for me). On my birthday, I tried a little bit of everything, and every single bite I had was incredible. The taste was amazing. The meat was moist, and not dry like so many of the hipster joints that try to convince us their meat is the best without actually delivering. Y'all delivered. Your meat is moister than most.
This place wins best overall BBQ joint in the Austin area, in my book. I couldn't recommend it enough. I'm going to be back often.
Now, get a toddler-friendly outdoor playground installed and my family will be back WAY more often (like, at least weekly-often).