ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – On many days, before Woodpeckers Backyard BBQ even opens its doors, customers are lined up outside.
Despite being tucked away off the beaten path at the intersection of State Road 13 and County Road 16, Woodpeckers gets plenty of traffic — and accolades.
Last year, Woodpeckers was ranked 42nd in the Top 100 Barbecue Spots nationwide, according to Yelp, a website that uses crowd-sourced restaurant reviews. Only eight BBQ spots in Florida made the list.
Woodpeckers has 4.6 stars on Yelp and it is known for “Southern-style low and slow” dishes.
Lisa Marston is the owner of Woodpeckers, and as she likes to say, head pecker at Woodpeckers.
For the last 10 years, Lisa’s restaurant has served up fresh brisket, mac and cheese, pulled pork, Datil sausage and so much more.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get. When we moved in here, we honestly thought, ‘Who is going to like us? How is it going to be? Are we going to make it?’ I’m being honest, and here it is 10 years later, it’s been great. I’m so grateful,” she said.
Customers clearly love the food and keep coming back, even though the restaurant is only open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
“My son and I fish here often. We always schedule it to come by here,” customer Roger Rich said.
“I’ve got friends all the way up to Tennessee who have heard about this place. And they say it’s comparable to Tennessee barbecue,” customer Brian Sullivan said.
And customers come from all over for all kinds of reasons.
“We hear a lot of good, a lot of baby stories. The last meal before they had the baby, then they went right into labor, so they laugh about that. The sad, but yet memorable ones, when they say, ‘We brought Grandpa here’. True stories and all my staff can attest to that, ‘and this was his last dinner’. Or they want us to do a retirement party, ‘I remember you did my party’ or ‘You did my daughter’s wedding,” Marston said.
It turns out, I have a little story of my own.
“It means something to me also because I got to take my dad food from here once. And he passed away in January, so I get what you’re saying,” I told Marston.
As for what the next 10 years holds? Lisa says no matter what happens, she and her beloved staff are going into it with open arms.
“Just keep serving the community. And as this community grows...we have new schools coming in, I mean, it’s insane. And we’re going to embrace it and go for the ride. As long as we can,” Marston said.
