Willie Jewell's Old School Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Tallahassee

So I stopped at Willie Jewels BBQ for lunch today I will run through my experience. I entered and was almost instantly greeted by a young lady at the order counter. She cheerfully took my order as I fumbled through the menu as it was my first time at WJ'sBBQ. I decided on the smoked wings a side of Brunswick stew and some of the Grape Lemonade. The tital of the order came to just over 22 dollars not including a tip. I had a seat at the bar after getting my drink. A short time later I had my lunch in front of me it looked pretty tasty. Unfortunately in my opinion it was not, the wings were very very dry and quite bland. I tried them in the Hickory BBQ Sauce, the mustard base sauce and the sweet and unfortunately it did not help much. I turned my attention to the stew...again I was disappointed it didn't taste like Brunswick stew at all but more like a soup. No classic Brunswick stew twang, no peppery bite...again the word I will use is bland. Now my drink was pretty good definateltly a fan if the Grape juice lemonade, so much so I had 3 glasses full. The quantity of food was pretty good ( it was a 22 dollar wing meal) but the wings were good sized as was the side of stew. The quality of the food was good it tasted fresh and arrived hot (all be it bland as unsalted butter) The staff was apparently having issues with the soda dispenser drain, I was privy because who I assumed was the shift manager and two young ladies of the staff had a conversation about it directly in front of me at the bar. Apparently some other patrons of the establishment dumped sauces down the drain and it caused a clog...??? The staff was super nice to one another as they discussed the issue, I smiled and shook my head as I consumed my meal. I am not sure exactly how long I was there I'd say 45 minutes roughly, I was asked only once by a staff member if everything was ok. My reply was yes....(The food was edible and fresh as I said just no taste in my opinion and the wings very dry) Incidentally according to the staff I did get the last wings for the day so.... At anyrate I finished my meal and left. My take away ......I was full but not satisfied due to the food being bland. I was a little crumpled about the cost 22 plus dollars for wings, a side and drink, and self service...I did tip 3 dollars not sure why as I pretty well served myself, but the staff was super friendly and pleasant so the tip is no biggy.... just saying self serve guys.... Finally I am not totally put off by the experience and I will most likely try WJ'sBBQ again, I may have just hit it on a bad day, unfortunately when I do return I am afraid I won't be expecting too much, maybe i'll...

This place has continued to go down hill since it opened. It use to be that only their brisket was very dry. You could also never go after 3 because everything was dried out and nothing fresh. Now even when I go at peak lunch time the chicken, brisket and ribs are so dry and hard you can barely eat it. A true test of any restaurant is that fact that it is never full even during peak hours. You never have to worry about getting a table.

Fast forward now to 2025. Things have gotten even worse. It's funny that the owner talked below about if I get the brisket to go it would dry out...lol. At what point in my review did I ever say I got it to go? In fact I talked about eating in the mostly empty dining room. Here is the issue with this business. When it first opened the owners were always there like any new owner does. A couple years later and they would never be seen there. The owner can't know what they are serving at 2p or 3 pm because the owner is never there. You can talk about how great all your food is but you are never there to see what gets served so you just assume that your business is serving the food that you entered into your contest. Last Sunday my family and I gave it a try again. There are only 3 or 4 things on the kids menu and one of them is peanut butter and jelly. It seems every time we go there they tell us they are out of PB and jelly. Weird....huh. Well guess what. We ordered PB and Jelly and once again were told they didn't have it that day. The brisket was once again dark and dry.

I understand as the owner you want to defend your place but the best thing you can do to save your franchise it to get back into the store and get involved so you know what the cooks are actually giving to customers. I was there all the time when you opened and you and/or your husband were always there. That lasted only a year or so and when you guys stopped being there and being seen by customers, your store started going downhill. The lack of customers speak for itself. Every BBQ place in Tallahassee is slammed at lunch and dinner except yours....for a reason. Maybe listen to what the customers are telling you instead of going into defense mode and maybe you can save it. I would love for you guys to make a comeback as I love BBQ. This is only...

I've started this review several times and deleted it because I'm not really sure what to write. There wasn't anything terribly wrong with my meal here, but I feel like there are better places to get BBQ in town. The food was decent. Personally I felt that their sauces were a bit too vinegary for my taste but it wasn't so vinegary that I couldn't eat it. The meat (pulled pork) was a little fatty but still well within what I'd call normal for BBQ. Flavor was good as were the sides, the Mac and cheese was especially good.

The service is a hybrid table/counter service where you order at the counter, get drinks, sit down, and someone brings your food out to you. I do not object to this method but did feel like service was quite slow when we ate here. My wife and I ordered the 1/2 chicken and pulled pork with a couple of sides each. Neither of us ordered anything that would need to be prepared fresh (fries, corn fritters, etc..). The restaurant wasn't terribly busy, there was no line when we came in and maybe 3-4 tables of people sitting. It took 15-20 mins for our food to come out. That seems like an awfully long time compared to 4Rivers, Mission, Sonny's, etc...

Overall, I'd give this place 4 stars if it weren't for the slow service. I'm sure there are some who think this is the best BBQ in town but, for me, it's just middle of the road.

Edit: I edited my review after reading the owners response. After talking to my wife about it I realized that I wasn't giving the food the credit it deserved so I bumped it up a star. This still wouldn't be my first choice for BBQ but I also wouldn't be mad...