Wow! I'm the first reviewer of this place! I'm shocked!…read more
For the tl;dr crowd: this is your typical country convenience store with a wide assortment of goods and products with your standard convenience store mark-up. Nothing special other than this is the closet store I've got in my neck of the woods.
Now, the long version.....
Okay, so, this place pretty much has a captive audience: residents in and around Webberville, the small working class village betwixt Austin and Bastrop on FM 969, and the truck drivers that work out of the two gravel mining operations on either side of town.
It's more than a convenience store -- it's a gas station, a restaurant (take-out only), a bar (carry-out only), a coffee shop (if you like straight up black coffee, though it's freshly-ground whole bean!), and a meeting place for neighbors who seldom see each other save random run-ins here.
Breakfast tacos and coffee are my go-to items here, couple times a week. I can walk in, nod, and they'll have my order ready by the time I walk up to the counter with my coffee (nice thing too is they have dairy creamer in the little plastic containers, along with the powdered non-dairy crap).
They also have the convenience store pizza (Hunt Brothers?) which works okay in a pinch, but you get what you pay for. They serve the typical ranchero tacos, beef and chicken fajita tacos (with a nice homemade green salsa that brings out a fair amount of sweat), chicken wings, fried chicken, fried burritos, sausage wraps, and other standard convenience store fare.
The food is nothing really to write home about, and I'm unclear when they stop fixing food, because there is usually nothing under the heating lamps when I walk in on my way home from work, which seems like the perfect time to move a ton of food to the post-work crowd. They will cook burgers and heat up pizza if you call in though.
Tips for tacos -- get there early in the mornings (between 545am-630am) and they'll make them right there for you, with cheese and salsa. Otherwise, you get them wrapped up and under the heat lamp, but they don't stick around too long. Weekends are best for the rancheros and fajitas, but get them before 11am or the tortillas are soggy -- still good, but they can be quite goopy.
There are several shelves and displays of Mexican foodstuffs from Bimbo, catering to the target audience -- sweets, chips, various candies, dried nuts and fruits.
By the bottles of sodas and other drinks, you can get eggs, Elgin sausage links, butter, vegetables and potatoes of varying freshness, milk, etc, suitably marked up for your convenience. Sometimes it's nice to have that option -- cheaper than running all the way into Bastrop or Austin for that 1/2 gallon of milk and dozen eggs.
Enough about the food, huh?
Ice. I get my ice here. They have the small bags, and the big bags. I get a small bag for my fridge, and it sets me up for a couple weeks. Nothing exciting.
They have a fair selection of beer -- imports, craft, and your typical Bud and MGD, which can be found iced down by the front counter, along with pre-made michelada cups, which I haven't tried yet.
You've got your herbal viagra of different potencies and brands, 5 Hour Energy and related knock-offs, your various knives, watches, and colored contacts (COLORED CONTACTS at a convenience store?! YES!), an unhealthy assortment of tobacco products (including rolling papers and flavored cigars for all you potheads). You can also get dice and play cards, and a number of Spanish-language cds. You can even get saint candles and rosaries (made in China, go figure).
By the coffee and ice cream (lotta Blue Bell, yo!) there's also a big rack of caps with which you can express your various ethnic pride. By the front door you can get all sorts of cell phone accessories.
For the fishermen headed to the river, you can get all your gear, including fishing poles and bait.
If you want lotto tickets, this is your place as well -- ton of scratch-offs and pick-yer-number lotto tickets.
A shame they don't have pay-at-the-pump gas, but you can pump first and pay later if they recognize you. For reference, they've got 2 regular pumps and one diesel, but sometimes one of the regulars is empty. The best place about this place though IS the gas, which is a good dime to fifteen cents cheaper than the other two gas stations between Webberville and Austin, so good on these guys for keeping it real in the 'Ville.
Also for reference, hours of operation are 530am-11pm, but sometimes it's 545am if they're running late, which also pushes back production of tacos and coffee, but you can at least watch local news while you wait. Note that there is a $4 minimum on credit card purchases.
And if you happen to forget your wallet, which I've done a couple times, they'll trust you to come back and pay later. Presumably, because they know I live out there.
