Wine Dine and Play: Mojo Old City BBQ

Old City, new BBQ

Saint Augustine, Florida, USA

Dined in December 2016

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

Saint Augustine (Spanish: San Agustín) is the oldest European City in the new world, going back over 500 years to 1565, discovered by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. I highly recommend a visit there no matter if you live in the United states or other part of the world. Not only is it filled with history, but brewery’s, distilleries, and great restaurants from Spanish cuisine to American barbecue. Speaking of barbecue, my wife and I arrived from our drive, took a city of lights tour, and were hungry, so we stopped into Mojo’s for some of that barbecue.

Follow Wine, Dine, and Play:

Main review:

Mojo’s has six locations from Jacksonville, Gainesville, Lakewood, Fleming Island, to Avondale, and refers to blues song lyrics describing a good luck feeling or vibe. Owned by Todd Lineberry, with twenty years of restaurant management experience their goal is to offer an experience to the area that answered the local obsession with real good barbecue, and equally matched his own passion for the Southern classic cooking method.

The Front of House manager for this location was named Tommy, and prior to working with Mojo, worked at Colombia Restaurant in Sarasota, Ybor city, and in Saint Augustine location as the Sous Chef. Showing great customer service he sat down with us on two occasions to chat about food and other things. I’m thankful for that because that was more than our server did by a long shot. We were lucky we got our food, since I had to get up and get are own straws, salt, and pepper from another table, and the waiters stand backup.

My wife started off with a cocktail called the Staci’s Huckleberry Mojito with 44 North Huckleberry vodka, mint, lemon, sparkling wine, while I had Woodford Reserve. We both started with some pulled pork quesadillas with a house made BBQ sauce, and jack cheese. Not bad flavor, even though it took twenty minutes to arrive. I would have understood, if the restaurant was busy, but the patio where we sat was half full and the inside dining room was less than half full. Granted it was near 9pm at night and the dinner rush was over, service really just sucked.

Other starters of interest include fried pickles, Carolina vinegar sauce sliders, and fried green tomatoes. We moved on and shared an entree from the BBQ portion of the menu of beef brisket. You could also order spareribs, hot links, pork shoulder, and other classic favorites.

The section came with Texas toast and choice of two side items from collard greens, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, and black eyed peas. We chose the green beans, and my wife being a lover and connoisseur of mac and cheese, it was a must to try. Based on the first bight, we should have gotten the potatoes.

You could also order a variety of sandwiches from the menu from Rueben's to mahi. The Southern Platters section included ribeye steaks, fried chicken, salmon, and BBQ shrimp with accompanying sides. For other beverages you could order local brewed ales from Ancient City Brewery call the Ponce’s Pale ale, Galleon’s golden ale, and few other Florida favorites from outside the city.

Dessert:

The main highlighted dessert from their list was a homemade banana pudding with a cheerwine float, along with a few other specials. We were both completely fool however, and bypassed for the evening.

Other Noteworthy Barbecue and Southern Favorites:

Miller’s Ale House in Brandon, Florida

Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans, Louisiana

Hank’s Seafood in Charleston, South Carolina

The Lobby Bar and Bistro in Atlanta, Georgia

The Gumbo Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana

Final notes and observations:

The food besides the mac and cheese was good American Comfort Southern Cuisine, but a bad taste was left because of the lack of service from the server who will not be named in this review unless the management of Mojo’s requests it from me, and even then I would be reluctant, because I don’t want anyone to loose their job, but training needs to be done. As I mentioned earlier, tommy saved the experience with his personnel kindness. He will go far with them if they get their service act together.

Over all from this experience taking the six factors I use on Wine, Dine, and Play to produce my rating, I give Mojo’s a 1 out of 5 stars, meaning that they meet the standards for the average dining experience of most restaurants. The six factors used to get this rating include reviewing of their wine selections; overall customer service from host, bar, service, and management; the restaurant ambiance, noise level, lighting, and bathroom quality; plate presentation, which includes garnish, color, and art; quality of the food, where it is produced, and how it is prepared; and finally the “wow” factor. Did the restaurant wow me in any way not listed in the five factors above? Some restaurants do, but most do not.

Overall Star rating by Wine, Dine, & Play:
Ambiance:	5 of 10
Quality of the Food:	5 of 10
Plate Presentation:	4 of 10
Customer Service:	2 of 10
Wow Factor:	1 of 10
Wine Selection:	N/A

Other Saint Augustine reviews on Wine, Dine, and Play:

The Floridian (review coming soon)

Food Prices

(excluding, alcohol, taxes & gratuity)

$£€¥ - Under 50.00

$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00

$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00

$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00

$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00

**Currencies chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur’s**

My food bill:	Currency:	Price chart:
$35.00	United States Dollar (USD)	$
$47.00	Australian Dollar (AUS)	$
£29.00	Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)	£
$46.00	Canadian Dollar (CAN)	$
¥242.00	Chinese Yuan (CNY)	¥¥¥
€33.00	European Union (EUR)	€

Currency rates as of January 2017

Alcohol Prices:

$26.00

Mojo Old City BBQ:

5 Cordova Street

Saint Augustine, Florida

32084

Contact Information:

Maître d or host:	+1 904 342 5264
Restaurant website:	Mojo Old City BBQ
Serving hours: Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00)	Sun-Wed 11:00 am - 10:00 pm Thurs 11:00 am - 11:00 pm Fri-Sat 115:00 pm - 2:00 am
Email or webpage contact:	Contact Mojo’s
Social Media & Accolades:	Facebook link
	Twitter @MOJO_BBQ
	Pinterest
	Instagram

Review basics:

5 stars	is Extraordinary
4 Stars	is Outstanding
3 Stars	Exceeded Expectations
2 Stars	is Above the Average
1 Star	is an Average Dining Experience
No Star Rating	The Restaurant is Basic, Poor, or Appalling

Overall Star Rating:	1 of 5 Stars: An Average Dining Experience
Corkage fee’s:	The Restaurant does not list any corkage fee’s however, most American restaurants charge $25.00 per bottle
Restaurant style:	Casual
Reservations:	Not Required, But Recommended Walk-Ins: Accepted, but not guaranteed
Child policy:	The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette. Hire a Babysitter!
Dress code:	Casual attire
Cuisine style:	Contemporary, Modern, Lounge, American, Southern, BBQ, & Vegetarian
Experiences:	Lounge, Business parties,, Hot spot, Great bar, Great outdoor dining, Good for special occasions, Rustic, Tourist grabber, and a Neighborhood gem.
Payments:	Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
Parking:	Street Parking
Wifi	The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
Noise level:	Medium
Smoking:	Nonsmoking restaurant, but a smoking patio
Patio:	Yes

****

The worlds best restaurants, based on the

Wine, Dine, and Play’s Favorites

That have been visited and reviewed on this site…

Alinea American-Global Molecular Menu Chicago, Illinois, USA	Tetsuya’s Eclectic French-Asian Tasting Menu Sydney, Australia	The Test Kitchen Modern Eclectic African Cuisine Woodstock, South Africa
Aubergine Innovative East Meets West Menu Cape Town, South Africa	Qui Restaurant Modern Upscale Global Plates (Now Called Kuneho by Paul Qui) Austin, Texas, USA	Restaurant Le Gabriel Classic French Gastronomique Bordeaux, France
Vue de Monde Elegant Fine Australian Dining Melbourne, Australia	Constantia Uitsig La Colombe Chic Country-Style Vineyard Restaurant Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa	Grill 225 Ornate Top 10 American Chophouse Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Leopard Hills Lodge Safari + Upscale African Cuisine Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa	La TABLE de Joël Robuchon Haute French Cuisine Paris, France	Brick and Mortar Rustic New American Fare Saint Petersburg, Florida USA
Quay Quintessential Modern Australian Cuisine Sydney, Australia	Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud Impeccably Acclaimed French Cuisine Dublin, Ireland	The French Laundry French-American Fine Dining Yountville, Napa, California, USA
At.mosphere High Rise Fine Global Dining, Highest Restaurant In The World Dubai, UAE	The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français Contemporary, African-Inspired Tasting Journey Franschhoek, South Africa	Commanders Palace Upscale Creole Fare New Orlean’s, Louisiana, USA
Attica Inventive Eclectic Tasting Menus Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia	5A5 Steak Lounge High End Japanese Steakhouse San Francisco, California, USA	Rioja Creative Mediterranean Cuisine Denver, Colorado, USA
Mr. Todiwala’s Kitchen Vibrant Pan-Indian Cuisine Slough, United Kingdom	Zuma Hip Asian-Fusion Dubai, UAE	Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire Posh French Cuisine Festival City, Dubai, UAE
McCrady’s Inspired Farm-to-Table Dining Charleston, South Carolina, USA	Cook'n' With Gas Bistro High-End New Zealand Fare & Bistro Christchurch, New Zealand	Berns Steakhouse Tampa, Florida

Reviewed by:

Sean Overpeck (CFE)

Picture below was taken at the Cradle Of

Human Kind, South Africa in 2013

About Sean:

I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta, Georgia prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra. Since that time, over 250 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide. There are articles on exotic world locations such as Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; ethnic country cuisines such as Afghan, and Peruvian; tasting tours of world cities like Charleston, Cape Town, and Dubai; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with much more to see and write about.

Who is John Galt?

“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,

But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)