Armadillo Willy's BBQ — Restaurant in San Mateo

2025 update. This is the last remaining Armadillo Willy's location out of four. Tonight's meal was an El Jefe sandwich (pulled pork, brisket, sausage and slaw) $19.50. This was OK. Their family packs are much better. They recently got rid of their flavored mineral water machine. Service was fine for a order at the cashier type of restaurant.

Original review: The restaurant was empty at 6pm on a Wednesday night. My food came out quick. We got the Texas BBQ ribs w/potato salad and garlic fries $28 + side of brisket $5.40 and baby back ribs w/cajun fries and house salad $30.50 + side of brisket $5.40. The Texas ribs were ok. Slightly burnt and smoky. It didn't fall off the bone but still retained some moisture. The baby back ribs were a little bit better with the meat almost falling off the bone. The highlight for us were the garlic fries! So good. I should have gotten rid of the other sides and went with all garlic fries. As for the brisket, it was OK and needed BBQ sauce. We should have asked for more fattier pieces. Service is as expected for a self serve, pay at the cashier...

It's been a while since I have Southern food. Not usually a "go to" place for me, but am down to try food like this. This restaurant happens to be inspired by other southern foods from Texas. Looks like that they decided to bring the food here to Bay Area with its several locations.

I have to say. The place is very nice and reminds me the times that I go to Fuddruckers, which is closed at Union City. It replicates the theme of southern places in the US and the business has been running for over 40 years. Good thing that it survived the pandemic. They seem to even play southern music too.

The food here is really good. I decided to additionally try the Texas toast. Really tastes different than normal ones. The chicken thighs are good with appropriate seasonings especially the fries. Also like how the fountain machines are set up especially when they have like special flavors you can add onto your drinks like Vanilla and Cherry.

This restaurant gives you an opportunity to try foods that are mostly inspired by Texan food. Gives you a taste of how the food tastes like...

All the goodness went down the drain. Visited twice during in 2021, both times were just sad. First was a takeout, my son's kids meal- pulled pork sandwich was rancid. Took us a while to realized as he was taking far too long to eat it. So we thought he might not be hungry, and offered to finish it for him instead. To our horror, the pulled pork was rancid, once you get your mouth up close, the smell just burn your nose!!!! Next was a dine in, as we used to love the place so much(my review 3 years ago, according to Google was FIVE stars). We order ribs and burgers. Ribs still taste wonderful, but portion is much smaller. Now the problem is the burger, the patty was so THIN that it's almost none existent. We had to literally peel off the bun to marvel at it. And it's BURNT, thus dry! As we were leaving the restaurant (we tipped the usual) we looked each other in the eyes and I said," I don't think we should come back again." My husband nodded in agreement. And you can tell he was sad, as he...