I went to Armadillo Willy's tonight. The line was long and when I brought my food to the table, I could not believe my eyes... I stared at the plate and took this picture. Inside of my head I was thinking： I am going to be hungry after, and I have just paid $12.89 for 1/4 chicken and a drink. They told me the price went up because they are now using larger chickens. The entire 1/4 chicken looked much smaller than the little side salad which only had some lettuce, one cherry tomatoes and a spoon of chopped onion. The chicken was a bit bloody inside but with the price I paid, I ate everything, even the skin and the fat. Please take a look at the picture yourself, trust me, the chicken looked much smaller than in the picture. read more

Armadillo Willy's BBQ - $10.50 1/4 dark chicken. Bloody inside. - American Near Me - Sunnyvale, California

This is my first time using yelp, but I felt compelled to write a review. I ate here a few days ago, and the service was sub-par. I waited at the register for multiple minutes and there was a worker staring at me, but not assisting me. Then she finally came over to take my order and she was very rude and did not make a good first impression of the restaurant (I believe her name was Alma). I also overheard her talking about previous customers in a harsh manner. Even though the service was not great, the food was delicious and arrived fast. read more

Ordered a Carolina Pork Salad and some baby back ribs. Salad was decent. Good portions and fresh. Unfortunately this place says its Texas BBQ. Not with those ribs! I needed water to get it down is was so dry. They tried to smother it in BBQ sauce to hide that it was at least a day old. No flavor either. If this is Texas BBQ, it was because they had it pony expressed in! Save some time and get a bag of beef jerky, it will have more moisture than these ribs! read more

So tonight my familt wanted something different and we've been here before no issues but tonight was a different story altogether. Let's start with the good, the food was good at least some of it was the ribs were good the burger was good. The sides on the hand were a different story the coleslaw was and corn salads were both flat with no real flavor. Then the pricing is where the issues comes in these three things came in around 90 dollars yes you read that right. The reason this came in so high was because the cashier who I must seemed genuinely disinterested in being there, decided to charge for two extra sides that came to $8.5. For when we began order we stated that we wanted two small rib with plates with coleslaw, the cashier thinking we wanted the regular rib plates so she is asking what two sides we want, the cashier instead of letting us know what other side options there are causing confusion between my grandparents because he saying he just wants a small plate with coleslaw. So now the cashier is trying to get us to get another side so we wind up with two corn salads and coleslaw. Then when the cashier figured out we wanted a small plate they failed to mention that we would be now charged for the additional sides that we did not want in the first place. So in summary decent food, but not worth the price for the poor customer service. Also cashiers need to be more attentive, and engaging with guests, be good for them to learn the menu, so as of this poor customer service experience I will not be returning to this location. read more

I ordered some food here a few weeks ago and it was pretty gross. The chicken sandwich was super dry and the beans were pretty nasty too. The only that was good was the corn bread muffin. read more

Had the juicy brisket, excellent as always but what the heck happened to the beans lately? They used to be the best in town, now they take bland to a whole new level! The team is friendly, the place is neat and clean, the food is prepped quickly, all good, but the beans, my favorite BBQ side, were once again a disappointment of Biblical proportions. They must have changed the recipe, because they didn't use to be that way. Sorry, guys, if I want bland beans, I'll open up a can of Van Camp's. read more

Great food, great service, good parking, good food for kids. My family enjoys coming here. The prices are good, the selection of the small plate or a regular plate. A small plate is more than enough for an adult. AAA discount! read more

Armadillo Willy's BBQ - Boneless barbeque chicken with texas style corn. - American Near Me - Sunnyvale, California

I enjoyed the baby back ribs. They were tender, moist and smokey. I had the potato salad side dish. I really enjoyed the pickled red onions after every bite of my potato salad. The service was great! Be prepared to smell like a bbq when you leave because they bbq inside the restaurant. Everything was great! read more

I had the pleasure of having jenn help me today. She's is the sweetest lady and she made my dinner great. She gave me information on where to locate high chairs and even came over and checked on everything while we were eating. She has great customer service!! read more

Amazing tri tip sandwich! Their tri tip is perfectly done, a bit red on the inside (perfect!), very flavorful and the bread is a delicious garlic bread. I recommend adding on avocado, cheese, and vegetables (onion, tomato, and lettuce). There is unlimited BBQ sauce and three options: honey chipotle, regular, and jalapeño. Highly recommend their tri tip sandwich and I definitely plan to come back again! read more

The baby back ribs are below average, not bad, but no where near delicious. They are dry, probably cooked this morning (it's 7:30 on a Friday night right now), and cool in temperature. Blah! read more

A good rule of thumb is that you won't find good, consistent barbecue at a chain. Armadillo Willy's is no exception. I've eaten here many times over the years, since tye sponsor kids' sports teams and host school fundraiser. I have never been impressed--the meat is usually undersmoked and dry, and the sides are bland. Today I had a pulled pork sandwich, ribs, and beans. The pulled pork was actually the best entree I've had there -- nice and smoky, and moist enough that it's enjoyable with a heaping of sauce. The bun was fresh and fluffy, too The ribs convinced me that AW's hasn't ha a huge turnaround because they were tough, dry, and generally lacking in flavor. This is the standard fare I've come to expect from them. I don't know what happened to their pulled pork today that made it so great, but it didn't carry over to the other meat. The beans? Terrible. Of course. read more

7/29/15 (update): Just a quick one since I tried a new item and my beloved fries are no more. I've been warned that this place has consistency issues, and I am starting to see this... 1. Cajun Fries $2.95: So let's start with the side item. My last fries here were frickin' amazing. I gave them 9/10! Well, it looks like I must have gotten super lucky that time cause today's sucked hard. The fries were really soggy. Only the spices kept them interesting. But no spice in the world could save these. So...... inconsistency brewing?... we'll see. 3/10 2. Ultimate Hickory Burger $9.95: Well, I ordered this knowing I usually don't like BBQ sauce in burgers. I figured this being an actual BBQ place it would be good. Well, the burger itself really was damn good--I asked for the meat "medium" and that's what they gave me. It was thick and juicy. Lots of good cheese and various other burger toppings. Yeah, so, there's a ton of that sauce. Definitely way too much for me--it totally covered up the yummy burger. Anyway, trying to be unbiased, I'd say I'm pretty sure their other burgers would be awesome, but the sauce is just too much on this. The drowning of the sauce also made the onion rings soggy. Guess soggy was the word of the day. 6/10. Hopefully next time will be better... Still 4/5 for now #american #bbq #brisket #fries #americanbbq read more

Armadillo Willy's is a staple BBQ restaurant that I visit when I'm up north. Their food is super good but don't eat here too often because your pant size will triple in size. Some of the items include good old fashioned ribs, which are what they're known for. They have burgers and one of them that is tasty is the bacon cheeseburger. Don't order more than one as your heart will thank you later. If you're thinking that ribs cost a lot at other places, you're probably right. Here it is pretty cheap. The portions are decent for what you're paying and you can order sides with your ribs. Their sweet potato fries are pretty good to eat too. It all depends on what you're feeling. Try the food here. It's quite good for a fast BBQ place. read more

3 stars only because my food was amazing but my fiance food really tore her up she believes the meat was bad. Me myself I for know but I had a burger and she had pulled pork it was out first time and it wasn't as amazing for her and being the husband I had to deal with that lol. But my burger was juicy bacon was bomb and cheese was tasty had great veggies. I may eat again alone but as a date with the lady that is a no no no no. read more

My luck with barbecue in California has not been great. The House of Soul Food was the House of Drowned, Undercooked Meat. And while I have to try Backayard, its hours and mine usually do not coincide. Edit - while I assumed this was a large chain, this is in fact a local chain of 8 locations, similar in nature to Ike's, so no need to fret over local only support. Well, I understand why we and a number of other groups come here for Saturday lunch. decent food, decent prices, and pay at the counter so you don't have to deal with 20 minutes of figuring out who ordered what and who has cash. I ordered the brisket sandwich, and got the combo with sweet potato fries and a drink. This didn't get sent to me immediately, which I was a bit shocked about. They spent their time and effort getting me fresh meat, which showed in the flavor. -Brisket: I recommend getting juicy, as this is the fattier, more flavorful slices of meat, and it had a good amount of bark to it. Tender, with just that right amount of crunch. -Fries: Decent enough. Give you a lot, and couldn't finish mine. Fortunately had another person at the table willing to oblige -Drink: This place has no sweet tea. Had the brisket not been that good, this alone could have garnished a single star. ITS BARBECUE! You drink sweet tea with barbecue. I don't understand why California doesn't like sweet tea, but this kills a lot of restaurants for me. Maybe I'll start a revolution... Also, the local pug meet up meets here. I got to pet pugs, so that also (kind of) makes up for the deplorable lack of sweet tea. So again, delicious food, affordable prices, and pugs make this a destination. read more

I should have been honest when my friend said "Do you like Armadillo Willy's?", but I didn't want to be The Difficult Guy so I said, sure... even though the previous several meals I'd gotten there were all thoroughly mediocre. Maybe this one would be different. That's like going to see SAW 8 and thinking "Maybe this one will be different!" I got something different this time - BBQ chicken, because how do you screw that up? The pulled pork I'd gotten before had been overly fatty and lukewarm, but a nice boneless slow cooked chicken breast? That had to be good, right? I also got two sides, garlic parmesan fries and some baked beans. The beans were pretty decent. Nothing amazing, just good standard no-frills baked beans. So far so good. The fries had enough garlic on them to kill off an entire family of vampires....living in Romania. But hey, better too much than not enough, right? At least until later when you smell like Milpitas on a hot day. The chicken... was again, just barely even warm. And the BBQ sauce was, to my lack to surprise, very standard, like you'd expect to come out of a black and white labeled bottle or a Dharma Initiative food storage facility. The chicken was okay, but truthfully the flavor was about as enticing as a Hooters staffed by octogenarians. My compatriots seemed fine with their food, though I'm pretty sure my friend would eat napkins if they had sauce on them. Sorry, Armadillo Willy's but 5 strikes and you're out. Texas Roadhouse may be a nightmare to get into most nights, but their sweet rolls are better than pretty much everything on your menu, and they're free. I can squeeze old BBQ packets out onto KFC and get a more satisfying result. Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice.........won't get fooled again. read more

little thursday drizzles...wet and cool...comfort in meat and beers...baby back rib platter with two cornbreads...a tri-tip salad tossed in balsamic vinegar...pitcher of sierra nevada...balanced meal for two...paid at the counter....change over $forty in exchange for a plastic device...beer delivered to the table...awaiting buzzing and lighting...a signal that food is ready...small platter of ribs...extra sauce available at the pump...finding the ribs too dry this evening...warmed too long?...armadillo willy's lacking in consistency from past experiences...mention that the cornbread is one of the best had...warm, moist and perfect...thin clean slicing of tri-tip over a simple tossed salad...thin flavorless beef chew...wanting warmed fresh cooked tri-trip for better experience...gulp of beer and some meat...mission accomplished.. read more

Armadillo Willy's BBQ - baby back ribs platter with cornbread & tri-tip salad... - American Near Me - Sunnyvale, California

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Friends,,, Relief is on it's way from this over priced under flavored and completely tasteless leather that they call Texas BBQ. Sunnyvale will soon have a new BBQ spot on Mary street near Fremont, not sure when it is opening however I tried one of their other locations and hands down it blows this garbage away. Just to make sure my opinion was not the same as it was two years ago my son and I tried it again last Monday night during MNF and to no surprise I could not choke down the food. I ordered the "Moist Brisket" sandwich, my son ordered the rib platter and a root beer float, nothing more, bill was $38. I tried everything to eat this "MOIST" brisket that could have plugged a removed hail in my Denali's tire, however I decided for the money I would try and get something a bit more moist. When I took it back to the five guys standing around the back counter they all scattered like I was some sort of health inspector and began to yell for the manager who looked to not be a day out of junior high school. When I explained to her that the boot on the bun was just not getting the job done, she began to tell me that the "MOIST" brisket had been out for over two hours and that the cashier should have told me when I ordered. Hmm, Maybe you should train your staff to properly serve your guests and we would be properly informed. They exchanged the brisket for pork which my son could actually eat since his ribs were so over cooked the meat would not come away from the bones. Needless to say, I have always wondered how this place stays open, its never busy and the two times I have tried to eat there this is what I have ended up with. Dickeys BBQ cannot get here fast enough. They serve REAL southern Sweet tea, you can get your own pickle's and onions, they are not locked up behind the counter like they are the last in the country and the BBQ is FREAKING good!!! I am from the Midwest, lived in Texas, Missouri and Louisiana, I know what BBQ should and should not taste like. Save your money and pass this place on by. Armadillo Willy's, YOU WIN ON WHAT BBQ SHOULD NOT taste like... read more

Used to go to the one in Foster City when I was doing some surveys for a company in the area. This one isn't quite as 'fresh from the pit' tasting as that branch but the stuff is properly smoked (with smoke ring) unlike the other local chain BBQ chains (Kinders, Dickey's, Applebee's, Chili's, etc which is just sugar and ketchup). If the vaunted Everett & Jones, Emil Villa, Memphis Minnies, and O-Town hole-in-the-walls and the like are 5 or 5 pluses, and the Southern import chains like Dickey's and Kinders are 3's, and the craptastic US-wide chains that won't give you the runs but taste like sugared cardboard are 2's - then this place is a solid 4. The chicken (which can be dry at other bbq's) is actually very good and moist here and the Texas Ribs were good and moist and fatty but the brisket (which is fantastic at the Foster City branch) was a little dry at this one. There are also some great megasized ToGo deals! I do miss the outdoor seating of other branches though :( read more

My pulled pork sandwich was so dry and the sauce was not flavorful at all. I've eaten all through the south and this needs a lot of work

This place is ok if you need a BBQ fix and can't find anything else. Brisket , pork roast, toast and cornbread are a good way to fill the craving. This location is weird where you order at the counter and they give you a buzzing coaster to tell you your order's ready. Kind of like a big BBQ cafeteria or something. Again nothing special but not bad either. read more

When my parents were in town at the beginning of the month, my dad decided that he wanted to try out this chain BBQ joint. How did he hear about it? Radio advertising, so good job, Armadillo WIlly's! Anyway, we went for dinner on a Friday night, and it's the type of place where you order at the counter, then grab any open table, then they buzz you and you pick up your meal. I ordered the pulled pork, sweet potato fries, and potato salad. I thought the pulled pork was decent, but it was really no comparison to some that I had in Texas in February or even at a friend's house last month. The sweet potato fries were really good, rivaling my favorite ones that I usually get at The Counter. And the potato salad had too much mayo, so was not really a fan. Overall, the place was clean and well-lit with friendly staff. I'm not sure I'd seek out another meal here, but I'd join others if they wanted to go. read more

This is the best rib place in town. I use to work for this place many years ago, I have been buying their food every since. The one in Mountain view can not even compare to the SV restaurant .The one on san antoino rd do not know how to cook the meat properly. Over cooked,to tough consistently bad service. And bad cooks concerning quality of cooked meat .If you want superd,tender.perfectly cooked meat!? Go to the sunnyvale store. Nice friendly staff, Fast professional service,and great food. What more could you hope for. I recommend the ribs! Absolutely love their food especially their ribs. If you have not eaten here !? your missing out. I give this place! 5 stars,and a thumbs up! Their #1.(THE BEST!) Try and see for yourself. You will be very pleased. read more

This review is for POOR Customer Service...DO NOT come here if you are on a tight time schedule for lunch. We arrived about 7 minutes before they opened usually it is not a problem but today Jeanette seemed to be in charge of the new cashier. When the new girl came up about 5 minutes to 11 and asked us if she could help us, here came Jeanette fingering her to come here (right in front of us) and told her not to help us. We stated we only had 30 minutes left for lunch and she told us it would be really quick. After standing there in front of the cashier our order was finally taken. 11:17 we finally received our food with minutes to eat. With this kind of customer service at lunch time i will never come back to this location! read more

We did catering for 40 people, food, customer service and delivery service was amazing. Will be ordering more often.

Tried this place again during the Friday early special: Buy 1 get 1 half off entree from 4-6pm. Ribs were very tender! I think last time we might have got a bad batch since we went close to closing but boy did it taste different this time. I ordered the Chipotle-Honey ribs and my boyfriend had the ribs & chicken. The sides were good too. We got corn muffin, tater tots, garlic Parmesan fries, and beans. YUM... It was super filling and we didn't even finish all of it! Glad, I had a chance to come here again because with the special, it was totally worth it! read more

We got takeout through doordash. All around, it was a very solid meal (and keep in mind, I'm from Texas). No, it won't compete with Franklin's in Austin, for example, but I challenge you to find better here in the peninsula. We ordered the Belly Buster Family Pack and shared among 4 adults. It was so much food, we have enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It looks like they were running out of brisket b/c they didn't give us very much, but they threw in some extra ribs to compensate. The brisket was good, great bark, the TX BBQ ribs were great, and I loved the baby-back ribs (cooked to perfection- just before "fall-off-the-bone-but-dried out" that you tend to get at crappy steakhouses. The cornbread was very good, nice and moist, and the accompanying cinnamon butter was amazing. The beans had great meaty chunks in them, and the salad had cornbread croutons which were a creative touch. If you're craving TX BBQ and are stuck in NorCal, do yourself a favor and try out A-Willy's. EDIT: After I wrote this review, the founder, John Berwald, reached out to me and sent me an extremely thoughtful message. It's great to know that he is so passionate about BBQ and continually working to improve his methods. As an amateur barbequer, I can appreciate the skill that goes into making such great food. Thanks, John! read more

Eating here is like eating at a BBQ and your waistline is gonna kill you later. Their meat is what you expect it to be. Greasy, fatty, tender and delicious. And probably really bad for your health but who cares right? Their bbq ribs are pretty good. Very tender, flavorful and leaves you feeling in a food coma. The plates are a decent size with meals ranging from $8-13 depending on what you get. I can't eat here everyday because my heart would never forgive me but if you're in the mood for a good hearty American bbq, you can't really go wrong with this place. read more

This is NOT BBQ! My step-dad used to work at a Texas style BBQ joint so I know my pulled pork and brisket. I had the Memphis style pulled pork which was bland and almost water like. I thought I cold throw some of their Jalapeno BBQ sauce to make it better. Bad idea... The BBQ sauce was watery and was not even spicy. I liked the Texas toast though. My GF has the brisket which was dry and had no taste what so ever. Her corn bread muffin tasted like Play-doe, not that i know what Play-doe taste like, but it probably tasted like the muffin. Only reason this place got another star is they had Fat Tire beer on tap, service was friendly, and the food came out fast. You would have to knock me out with one of their briskets to make me go here again. read more

Pretty mediocre at this location, I much prefer the AW on De Anza. I had the bacon burger and fries. Fries were still dripping in grease, meaning their temperature settings weren't up to par. There was even an uncooked fry that must have come from another hopper. The burger was over cooked. I don't mind a well done burger, but if you're going to ask me how I want it done, you should shoot for that. The bun was...disappointing, there not much more to say. The burger was laden with mustard. read more

I went with a large group from work and it is the ideal place for this kind of gatherings, team buildings, etc. We had some visitors from Brazil and they are used to their 'churrasco' so vegetarian or Indian or Thai or anything that was not pure meat and more meat was not even considered. We all shared all types of (bigggg) dishes in the menu and I was very satisfied with the flavor and quality of the meat. What I found was a little bit messy is that we made a reservation but then we arrived there and it seems that was never considered. However, they acted promptly and we got a big nice table for around 15 people and considering this, the service was not too slow. Prepare to eat a lot and to share if you care about your diet. read more

Pay no attention to the "fake" review below me (Ronald N.): 1st time 5 star review Armadillo Willy's is the McDonald's of BBQ. Actually, it's worse!! Go to Andy's in this area. They catered a construction lunch and it was awesome. Update 1/3/08: If you don't want to be called out for a "fake" review, then don't make one... read more

Pretty good BBQ joint, as far as the food goes. However, the wait time is AWFUL. 35 minutes for a burger and side of slaw on a weekend evening with the restaurant 4/5th empty. Do not bother coming here if hungry and expect food to be served within a reasonable amount of time! read more

The place is great as far as food goes, highly recommend the Mac and cheese (add a little bbq sauce and it's amazing) and the corn bread muffin with the cinnamon butter. However, cleanliness isn't that great. From the moment I arrived to the moment I left (approx 30mins) there wasn't a single customer after me and the two tables that were occupied already had their food. Yet more than half of the tables had yet to be cleared/cleaned. Nor did a single staff member come of to even check on the dinning room during my visit. But, there were three employees at the register. Would recommend coming here, however you might have better luck finding a table when they are busy. read more

I've been here before and it was much better. Last night the burrito was sort of slimy. Thecold slaw was weak and not spicy and had only about 6 peanut halves in it. The cornbread muffin was doey(?). The ribs were OK. I'll try a different Willy's in the future. I've had much better here and at other willy's. Did you have a new cook last night? Get rid of him. read more

We came over for a family gathering, the place was super clean! we order 2 family packs and we had so much food left over so over all the quantity of the food was amazing, this place is probably the best bbq places I've ever been to, the sides were big and the staff was so nice!! read more

The founder of Armadillo Willy's, John Berwald, himself sent me a message after reading my review, in which he apologized for my negative experience and clarified some things as well. You know, a lot of business owners could learn from him. He was very friendly and legitimately sorry about my experience and wanted to reach out to make things right. Well, I decided to meet him halfway and I stopped by here for lunch yesterday. To begin with, the cashier, John (not the founder), was very friendly and had a genuine smile on his face (not common to find these days). I got the half-rack like last time with a side of Texas toast and a side of garlic fries. I ordered my food to-go and it took about 15 minutes. As I waited, I noticed that the restaurant was relatively crowded and it seems like a popular place amongst Silicon Valley workers. The food itself was actually a lot better than before. The ribs were more moist than last time, and the Texas toast and garlic fries were satisfying just like last time. Overall, a much better experience. 5 stars all the way read more

I brief background before going into the review. I've been up here for a little over 2 days, this is my second time in Cupertino. The first being 3 years ago, back then i remember wanting to try Armadillo Willy's, but for some reason never got the chance. I changed that today, i have my own car this time and can pretty much do what i want. (it just sucks this time that i'm paying for it as opposed to my job). (insert long story about eye-exam and sports authority here) and across the parking lot was Armadillo Willy's BBQ. And i was hungry, left over chicken strips from Tony Roma's for breakfast made me want something amazing. As i walked toward Willy's i could smell the awesome, and when i opened the door, i took a deep breath and just savored that Barbecue smell. If this place wasn't great, at least i enjoyed the smell. I took a few minutes to look at the menu, as i'm trying to keep my vacationing self on a bit of a budget. A few people passed me by while i was looking and a line formed behind me, i mentioned that it was my first time and they offered some suggestions as to what was really great. I decided to go with the Smokehouse BBQ melt with the meat recommended by the guy behind the counter, substituted fries, and a lemonade. As i was waiting i decided to read some of the newspaper articles they had on the walls. Which helped me to get an idea of what made Texas barbecue different than others. according to this new york times article, in texas, the sauce is on the side, and it's not the primary component of the meal, the meat, and how it's prepared is. Which i'm kinda glad i read that because when i got my sandwich the spicy BBQ sauce was on the side. The sandwich comes served on "Texas Toast" which i'm going to take to mean a thick piece of bread buttered and grilled, the meat inside was tender and had great flavor even before i started adding the sauce. They had two types of their own sauce, i went with the spicy, though both are available at the table. I would give this place 4.5 stars if i could because i don't yet know if i like it as much as Phil's in San Diego, but i would definitely come here again... and would be a regular if they had one back home. the people were friendly the food was great. If you're ever in an area that has an Armadillo Willy's i highly recommend you check them out. read more

This Armadillo Willy's location uses counter service instead of a service staff, which makes it a kind of sit-down fast-food place. There are some nights when I just don't want to have to wait around for waiters to pay attention to me -- on those nights, I'm more than happy to get my own food when the buzzer goes off, and to refill my own drink exactly when I feel like it. I know their main focus is barbecue, but I actually go here more often for burgers, which are thick, and way better than fast food versions. Sometimes the grill chef can get a bit heavy-handed with the burger seasoning (salt city!), but that's intermittent. Tip: You can get a side of fries with your burger instead of one of the standard sides (beans, slaw, rice, corn muffin, Texas toast) for a buck or so more. Saves you having to get the ginormous basket of fries for just one or two people. read more