Jay Bee's - Statesville, NC

Posted By Michael Stern on July 27, 2007 9:35 AM

Foot-long hot dogs topped with mustard, onions, chili, and slaw … beautiful, giant-size hamburgers dressed to the hilt with cheese fries and battered onion rings on the side … hand-chopped barbecue sandwiches decorated with slaw: Put these menu items together with a brash, drive-through (and dine-in) operation, and you have a truly all-American eatery. Jay Bee’s feels like fast food squared, and yet signs throughout the sprawling establishment warn that because everything is made to order, some items will require a wait.

In this place, a “wait” means about three minutes before your number is called over the loud speaker system, meaning your tray is ready to be toted to a table inside or on the patio out back (known as Jay-Bee’s Outback). At peak mealtimes, the big wait is the long line of cars at the drive-through window, where Iredell County natives come to buy a quick dashboard lunch or a party meal for twelve people.

Hot dog highlights range from the wonderfully simple foot-long with cheese (and, of course, chili and slaw) to such specialties as the Prairie Dog with dark-hued barbecue sauce, cheese, and onions and the “Northerners’ Fancy” Kraut Dog with sauerkraut and mustard. There are all-beef dogs which, although delicious, seem out-of-context here in pork country, and ninety-nine cent corn dogs for kids.

Although Jay-Bee’s pride is hot dogs, hamburgers are very impressive. Available in quarter-pound or half-pound configurations, they are hand-formed from daily-ground beef and sizzled to appealing succulence, particularly good when dressed with a heap of sauteed onions.

The beverage menu ranges from sweet tea and milk shakes to Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew; and if you dine inside, a refill of any soda is free. One quart size drinks – yes, thirty-two ounces – are available at the drive-through window.

Overall Rating

fully dressed foot-long

prairie dog

"Ole Fashion" burger

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Posted By Tom Lewis on November 19, 2011 9:18 AM

What a great foot-long hot dog: chili, mustard, onions, slaw, ketchup, and a few shakes of hot sauce! Fries are fresh and hot without a hint of grease. Nice thick shakes with an ample amount of chocolate. If you love good hot dogs, this is the place.

Overall Rating

fully dressed foot-long

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Posted By Doris on May 12, 2011 10:14 PM

The meal was excellent; the service was great! Definitely worth the stop.

Overall Rating

fully dressed foot-long

"Ole Fashion" burger

onion rings

Jay Bee's Chips

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Posted By Bruce Green on August 18, 2010 12:41 AM

We stopped in at Jay Bee's on a Saturday in July on our way to South Carolina for a week of vacation. I had Jay Bee's targeted for lunch.

I ordered the half-pound burger "all the way" with slaw and chili. My wife ordered the third-pound cheeseburger and my daughter got the brat. The brat was the highlight of the meal: nice snap and cooked perfectly. My wife's burger was served with the cheese unmelted and she said it tasted very ordinary.

I was excited when the person behind the microphone (inside the store) told me it would take around 15 minutes to prepare my burger. I envisioned a hand-made patty covered with chili and slaw. What I got was, it seemed, a third-pound Sysco patty with a quick splash of chili and a decent amount of slaw. The burger had "snap" to it and that's not what I was looking for. I received my burger in six minutes and I would have gladly waited 15 minutes for the real thing. As I looked around the restaurant I noticed 75% of the folks had ordered the foot long or other tube meat. It made sense. Pass on the burgers.

Overall Rating

Smoked Sausage

"Ole Fashion" burger

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