Billy Jack's BBQ — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Visited again Friday May 2nd, still excellent. I still recommend the pork chop special.

We visited Friday Feb 28th 2025

Finally made it to Billy Jacks and it did not disappoint. I'll preface this by saying, I wasn't in the mood for BBQ, so I was set to try some of their other menu options. While I give 5 stars across the board above, I have some cons (room for improvement) to list below alongside the pros. The food here is like BBQ meets Southern Soul food.

Pros:

easy concept, counter ordering then grab a table. Plenty of seating indoor and outdoor on a Friday night yet still fairly busy. the menu is pretty big with lots of choices, some great specials. Delicious sides and drinks. food we tried and liked or loved: fried porkchop special (perfect cook, seasoning and breading), rice with tomatoes and okra (old South style ), Mac n cheese, beans, collards, cornbread muffins (moist while sweet and savory), pastrami sandwich (our 15 month old boy's dinner), smoked chicken, cocktails from the bar. Candied yams were okay, probably too soupy and sweet for us, but we got them for our 15 month old boy and it worked out well. service was friendly. The girl bussing the tables worked hard and was so nice, volunteered to bring us several things. Counter staff was friendly too.

Cons or could use improvement:

food we tried and did not like: the Brunswick stew was not good, super oily and greasy (bought for our baby), while we liked the chicken, it was too spicy to feed our baby boy (and we had asked about the spice level of multiple things at the counter so this was a missed opportunity), also the 1/4 chicken was breast and wing and we weren't offered a choice of dark meat or we would have taken it (not sure if not offered), we didn't like their BBQ sauces but we were only going to use for the chicken, and the peach cobbler was disappointing - like someone put white cake mix in with sugared peaches - would not get the cobbler again. could offer a small milk gravy with the pork chop for those that prefer it, even though imo the chop was perfect. I picked mine up to eat it and didn't care to bother with the fork and knife. wish the seafood portion of the menu had options for grilled, it was all fried. That limited what we could get for our son. I saw some confusion of people not knowing if the place was sit down and order or order at the counter, even when people talked to the staff they seemed to miss that some people thought it was a counter service.

The positives far outweigh the negatives and didn't even rise to the level of deducting a star. But there is room for improvement on the cons. We'll be back soon, and hopefully I'll be in the mood to try other...

The space:

It’s a really great location! On the water, water front, outdoor seating and all indoor seating have views of the river and passerby vessels.

The interior is smaller than I expected and I’d imagine it could be a bit of an issue at peak times. But, as the weather cools, outdoor seating will help alleviate that.

The food:

The brisket was cooked well, had a great smoke ring and was tender, albeit slightly dry. It didn’t present much of a smoke flavor though or any flavor for that matter. The same could be said for the ribs of which I received what seemed to be the end pieces as out of two ribs, they formed one rib worth of meat.

I didn’t use bbq sauce because I feel great bbq shouldn’t need it, the sauce should complement the meat.

I could’ve very well received some of the first cuts of the day and end pieces are usually as I described them, so a slight benefit of the doubt is given.

Now, I also got the wings and they were fantastic! I should’ve gotten a double order of them but they’re a little pricey ($10) for just six. Compared to $11-14 for twelve wings at most other establishments.

My lady had the Brunswick stew and she says it was fantastic.

Our little one didn’t care for the mac/cheese but she also liked the wings.

The banana pudding had the artificial banana flavor and nobody ate much of that.

The staff:

Wonderful! We were greeted with a smile, checked on regularly as we dined to include providing refills and clearing plates.

We ventured all the way from Mandarin, took the ferry across and got there soon after opening and glad we did because it was PACKED real fast.

Being that it’s a bit of a drive for us and nothing certainly stood out for us, we’re not considering becoming regulars but overall, we enjoyed our experience and would visit again if we were out that way, but would certainly order different items and hope for better results with the...

My wife has been telling me about Billy Jacks for a bit now so since we were coming home from the beach we stopped in. Very open atmosphere with a great view of the St Johns. We ordered the Brisket sandwich, fried shrimp basket, the fried chicken special, hoecakes, and the old fashioned.

The old fashioned is exactly as I would expect, which is nice, cool, sipping cocktail. Well done. Love the buffalo trace choice.

We are Osteens fans so we like our shrimp a certain way. Although its not the same technique or batter, this shrimp was really good, almost better than Osteens. Crispy and well seasoned. The coleslaw that came with it was on point.

The fried chicken, although a little small, was seasoned beautifully and had the right crunch and texture. Beats the colonels on Pope Yes everyday. The mash had a smoky flavor, and I love that. The creamed peas were hardy, tasted great, and felt like velvet in your mouth.

I left the Brisket for last because I, myself, am a brisketteer. I have bar that brisket has to "meat" because the majority just don't. The brisket was cut off the flat and had a consistent bark. It was moist and smokey. It lacked the same thing the majority of briskets I taste lack, SALT. This is not to say it wasn't good because it was, but salt punches up that beef flavor so much more. I did catch a little salt off the tiny amount of fat cap I was served and that was the best bite.

I did try the variety of sauces Billy Jacks offered and I am a sweet and smoky person. However, my favorite was the datil sauce, and so much so that I purchased a bottle.

Overall great place. My wife and I agree, and we will be back even if we aren't going...