While in New Mexico for a wedding, I went to a rehearsal dinner at The County Line of Albuquerque. This restaurant is part of a chain that has been in business for over 25 years. I am familiar with the San Antonio, Texas locations and have eaten there several times -- and enjoyed it.
The interior of the Albuquerque location looks very similar to the interior San Antonio location. The County Line of Albuquerque is supposed to be a 40’s roadhouse (their words, not mine). I admit I don’t really know what that is, but what I do know is that whatever the decorating style is, there are a lot of tables crammed closely together, lots of raw wood, and otherwise southwest style decorations isn’t something I would chose if I was designing restaurants. However, from the outside, the Albuquerque location winds hands down as it is simply beautiful, literally just minutes from those wonderful Sandia Mountains. Sometimes, location is everything.
The food is southwestern style barbecue and is served family style. For the rehearsal dinner and our party of 50, we had big platters of chicken, beef ribs, brisket, and sausage. We also had baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, beans, and two types of bread and honey butter. For dessert, we were offered dishes of ice cream, but who could eat anything else after all of that food?
The food was good, with the exception of the chicken, which was a bit under-done. It wasn’t great though. Service at The County Line of Albuquerque was mediocre at best. You would think that a party as large as ours would have rated a dedicated waiter, but we didn’t. We shared ours with other tables.
I was glad that I didn’t have to pay the bill. I know I would have complained about the chicken and the service. However, I wasn’t on the receiving end of the bill – and the bride and groom were happy, which was the goal of the day anyway.
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