Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli — Restaurant in Sunnyvale

I had heard through the grapevine that the Armadillo Willy location in SV was returning since I grew up on Armadillo Willys in Los Altos, Sunnyvale, and Cupertino . I was super excited to see an open sign. My mom wanted to try it out, so we went to celebrate her birthday.

I had high hopes, but it quickly turned into food disappointment and anger.

My mom ordered the small brisket plate (19.99) and her side was a salad. It was more like a salad with a side of brisket. I took it back to the counter to ask how many ounces. They said 5 oz., but I call suspect. Weigh that stuff in front of customers and charge them by the pound like the legit Texas Bbq joints, if we are playing that game. I am paying for meat, not salad. My mom ordered half and half brisket -meaning some lean and some fatty). She did not get that either. Have your ppl learn the basics of BBQ and the difference between fatty and lean.

Then we get to my pastrami sandwich (18.99) because I wanted, to try the deli part. Horrible. Right away I could tell it was subpar store bought pastrami on subpar rye and subquality Swiss. It was greasy, overcooked, and gross tasting.Since my mom didn't believe me ( about the store bought part), she had to go ask to verify. At least they admitted it was bought. With a 5 figure smoker ( at minimum), why wouldn't you make your own scratch pastrami? You did state deli on the door. At least tell your guests it is store bought when they are ordering and give them an informed choice. Then there was my tater tots. Crunchy over cooked sad potatoes. I always like to try the BBQ sauces, and they had a dispenser. I dispensed some sharty looking liquid. No thank you! I tasted some BBQ sauce from my mom's plate and it was nothing to write home about. I thought the owner bought Willy's, at least that is what it said online. No Willy's BBQ sauce either. Do y'all buy your bbq sauce too?

The owner was in the building and chose to stay behind the counter instead of talk to guests. If the owner doesn't care enough to want to talk to guests about their experience I don't care enough either to talk to the owner about their gross product. Let customers decide.

If I was a fan of an establishment and wanted to recreate and honor a place, this would not be the answer. I would be embarrassed. Let it be a fond memory instead of this sad disappointment. You insult the produce and animals that sacrificed their souls to make it on a plate. Have some respect for the product. And have some respect for your guests. Do better, because if Armadillo Willys couldn't make it, this place doesn't deserve to.

Some advice, please take any mention of Armadillo Willy's off of your website as to not confuse your guests what to expect.

Needless to say, I owe my mother another birthday lunch, because this was not the day to take her here.

If you want Armadillo Willys, invest in driving to San Mateo. Don't invest your time, money, calories or fond memories on cosplay Armadillo BBQ and deli, because the NYC/ jewish deli part isn't that...

I went with a friend on a Tuesday at lunch time. I've had Armadillo Willy's BBQ several times but the new owner added deli sandwiches, so I wanted to try that. I ordered the French dip with fries and a bottled soda since their soda taps weren't operational yet. The cashier asked what kind of cheese I wanted. I didn't think french dips had cheese, but I chose swiss.

My friend ordered the pastrami sandwich. We traded half of our sandwiches so we could each try both.

At first sight, my french dip was underwhelming. It was a very narrow roll. I lifted off the top piece of bread and I saw just sliced brisket from the flat and no cheese. The meat was extremely dry, probably one of the driest and I've had BBQ from all over the country. I suspect this is how they get rid of their brisket that didn't come out juicy. The au jus was definitely needed to add back any moisture. This was a fail and far from "Real Texas BBQ".

I tried the pastrami and it too was very dry and very skimpy on the meat portion. I understand everything is expensive now, but when a restaurant is brand new, you should be a little more generous to build a customer base.

Overall, we left very disappointed. With much better BBQ places in the South Bay, I...

My salad was fine, but they were completely out of matzo ball soup, on a Saturday night (maybe like 6:15), and I had wanted to try that because you really can't get it anywhere else in Sunnyvale. We had our young kids with us and they didn't have any kids cups. My two year old had a hard time drinking out of his very tall water cup without spilling. It would have been nice if they had kids size drinks, like juice boxes. The fountain soda machine isn't even working yet. The kids liked the Mac & cheese though. I would have ordered even more Mac & cheese for them but the line to order food was extremely long by the time we sat down after ordering our food. Overall I was not that impressed but maybe I'll return for lunch sometime to try and get some matzo ball soup before...