For some reason, I have become obsessed with the Buc-ee's gas station chain that is found mostly in Texas, but slowly moving north and east through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. I've watched several YouTubers video themselves going through these massive, 100+ pump gas stations and convenience stores. Two things had caught my eye. The Buc-ee's nuggets and the BBQ. But living in NC, the closest one was about 2 hours away and I'm not willing to take a half day just to try some BBQ with all the good BBQ joints near me.
Well, this past Saturday I had to drive my mother to meet my sister on her way to Myrtle Beach, SC and this was my chance. I convinced her to meet me and mom at the Buc-ee's in Florence, SC. It turns out that my sister's husband is in love with Buc-ee's and was excited to meet us there.
If you've never been to a Buc-ee's, it's crazy large. It was a Saturday at noon when we pulled in and the place was packed. I was told that this Buc-ee's has 120 gas pumps and I swear that over 100 of them had cars filling up. Inside was packed with at least 20 people in all the register lines and way more people not in line than I was expecting. Good thing there's not a pandemic going on. :mrgreen: Here's a picture I took from the back corner of the store showing how large it is:
I picked up a bag of the Buc-ee's Nuggets, a chopped brisket sandwich, a sliced brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, and a sliced turkey sandwich. Over the coarse of the days since buying these sandwiches, I eaten them all. The pulled pork sandwich was eaten in the parking lot of Buc-ee's along with a bag of chips. The other sandwiches were eaten after a 1 minute 30 second blast in the microwave. Here's my review:
The pulled pork sandwich:
By the time I got to my car with the sandwich, the buns were soggy, but not falling apart soggy. This was more due to the steam than from the BBQ sauce. I was disappointed that the flavor of the pork didn't come through in the sandwich. All I tasted was the BBQ sauce. It's a sweet midwest/Texas style sauce along the lines of a Sweet Baby Ray's or a Kraft's. I would have preferred that they didn't sauce the meat and gave you the BBQ sauce on the side. As a note, you can get extra BBQ sauce on the side. 3 out of 10.
A bag of chips:
These are the typical handmade chips that you can get at some restaurants. As such, you will find that 90% of them are nice and crisp and crunchy but the other 10% are under cooked. I think this happens if they don't stir the chips constantly as they cook. I will say that these undercooked chips still tasted good. They weren't over salted and the batch I got were warm when I first got them. 8 out of 10.
The sliced brisket sandwich:
I had a lot of hope for this sandwich even though I was eating it 3 days after I had purchased it. Unfortunately, it suffered the same issues as the pulled pork sandwich. To much sauce. I ended up pulling one or two pieces out of the sandwich and scraping off most of the sauce and decided that the brisket itself was good. It had a mild beef flavor and a good amount of smoke. If you prefer a light smoke on your brisket, then this may be to much for you. 5 out of 10.
I didn't get a picture of the chopped brisket sandwich but it suffered the same issues I had with the pulled pork. I couldn't taste the beef, just the sauce. 3 out of 10.
I also didn't get a picture of the sliced turkey sandwich. It was my favorite of the 4 sandwiches. The sauce level was light (I may have just gotten lucky on this sandwich) and the turkey had a nice pepper flavor on the bark. the sandwich I had contained one slice that was from the end as it was covered with bark. I will admit that I'm not a huge turkey sandwich fan unless it's very fresh, but this one was very good. 7 out of 10.
On a side note, I did find out that you can just get the meat without the bun and if I go back, I will check into that option if I can get them without sauce.
The last item I wanted to review was the Buc-ee's nuggets. They are "famous" for them. They are puffed corn that is coated in sugar. If you like to eat sugar, then you will love these. I hated them and after trying two, I threw the bag away. I couldn't taste any corn at all. All I tasted was sugar. 1 out of 10.
Overall, I'm glad that I didn't go out of my way just to try the food there but if I'm passing by at meal time, I can see stopping there and trying some of the other items they have. For the experience, I'd give it Buc-ee's a 6 out of 10.
Well, this past Saturday I had to drive my mother to meet my sister on her way to Myrtle Beach, SC and this was my chance. I convinced her to meet me and mom at the Buc-ee's in Florence, SC. It turns out that my sister's husband is in love with Buc-ee's and was excited to meet us there.
If you've never been to a Buc-ee's, it's crazy large. It was a Saturday at noon when we pulled in and the place was packed. I was told that this Buc-ee's has 120 gas pumps and I swear that over 100 of them had cars filling up. Inside was packed with at least 20 people in all the register lines and way more people not in line than I was expecting. Good thing there's not a pandemic going on. :mrgreen: Here's a picture I took from the back corner of the store showing how large it is:
I picked up a bag of the Buc-ee's Nuggets, a chopped brisket sandwich, a sliced brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, and a sliced turkey sandwich. Over the coarse of the days since buying these sandwiches, I eaten them all. The pulled pork sandwich was eaten in the parking lot of Buc-ee's along with a bag of chips. The other sandwiches were eaten after a 1 minute 30 second blast in the microwave. Here's my review:
The pulled pork sandwich:
By the time I got to my car with the sandwich, the buns were soggy, but not falling apart soggy. This was more due to the steam than from the BBQ sauce. I was disappointed that the flavor of the pork didn't come through in the sandwich. All I tasted was the BBQ sauce. It's a sweet midwest/Texas style sauce along the lines of a Sweet Baby Ray's or a Kraft's. I would have preferred that they didn't sauce the meat and gave you the BBQ sauce on the side. As a note, you can get extra BBQ sauce on the side. 3 out of 10.
A bag of chips:
These are the typical handmade chips that you can get at some restaurants. As such, you will find that 90% of them are nice and crisp and crunchy but the other 10% are under cooked. I think this happens if they don't stir the chips constantly as they cook. I will say that these undercooked chips still tasted good. They weren't over salted and the batch I got were warm when I first got them. 8 out of 10.
The sliced brisket sandwich:
I had a lot of hope for this sandwich even though I was eating it 3 days after I had purchased it. Unfortunately, it suffered the same issues as the pulled pork sandwich. To much sauce. I ended up pulling one or two pieces out of the sandwich and scraping off most of the sauce and decided that the brisket itself was good. It had a mild beef flavor and a good amount of smoke. If you prefer a light smoke on your brisket, then this may be to much for you. 5 out of 10.
I didn't get a picture of the chopped brisket sandwich but it suffered the same issues I had with the pulled pork. I couldn't taste the beef, just the sauce. 3 out of 10.
I also didn't get a picture of the sliced turkey sandwich. It was my favorite of the 4 sandwiches. The sauce level was light (I may have just gotten lucky on this sandwich) and the turkey had a nice pepper flavor on the bark. the sandwich I had contained one slice that was from the end as it was covered with bark. I will admit that I'm not a huge turkey sandwich fan unless it's very fresh, but this one was very good. 7 out of 10.
On a side note, I did find out that you can just get the meat without the bun and if I go back, I will check into that option if I can get them without sauce.
The last item I wanted to review was the Buc-ee's nuggets. They are "famous" for them. They are puffed corn that is coated in sugar. If you like to eat sugar, then you will love these. I hated them and after trying two, I threw the bag away. I couldn't taste any corn at all. All I tasted was sugar. 1 out of 10.
Overall, I'm glad that I didn't go out of my way just to try the food there but if I'm passing by at meal time, I can see stopping there and trying some of the other items they have. For the experience, I'd give it Buc-ee's a 6 out of 10.
