State Line Bar & Grille

Bristol is a small little town with a huge selection of unique food joints. Walking by the State Line Bar you get a good impression of the place, it's clean, sports blaring on the TV and populated by locals, however this watering hole needs a total remodeling of the menu.

The menu is very "mixed" stepping away from traditional pub grub in favor for a "Tex-Mex" selection, that's not bad, but it's not what I was expecting. One of the main staples of the joint was something called "PBR Beans" which comes with nearly every entree. Word to the wise, don't eat them, they are essentially black beans  soaked with Pabst Blue Ribbion. I have no idea who thought that was a great blend of tastes, and I know these things are subjective, but they are wrong for liking this. It not only destroyed my tastebuds, but left a bad taste. I suppose tankering it down with a decent brew could work, but I don't like getting drunk just to make food taste good.

Aside the Southwest chow-chow, my dish was nothing to write home about. The flour tortilla pork quesidilla was properly cooked, but everything lacked flavor. Pork which I expected to be marinated tasted very bland and the side order of rice was cold and over-zest with lime. I pretty much left hungry.

On a positive note, the atmosphere was appropriate for the bar scene, however skip the menu.

We went here to kill time before the NASCAR race last month because we got to the track super early and had no one to tailgate with.  Plus, it was our first time in the area so we wanted to see what it had to offer.  Chose this place because it seemed like a bit of a dive, which is up our alley (just 'cause we're highfalootin' city folks don't mean we don't like to get down with the country folk).  We grabbed a table and were mostly ignored. The server was not very friendly. It was extremely loud in there between all the TV's and the convo.  We ended up getting two orders of tenders, one batch in dirty teriyaki style (think spicy teriyaki style) and a whisky bbq one (also a little spicy) as well as an order of chips with white cheddar sauce.  The food, once it arrived, was very, very tasty. We made it out of there for like $35 which included several beers and tip.  The price was right, location was right, aesthetics were right, but service left a lot to be desired.  I don't think we'll return when/if we go back.

I can only comment on drinks.  The beer was cold and the bartenders didnt have much to say.  I guess I shouldn't complain because I"m still shocked to see that Bristol actually has some bars but they have a lot to learn.