AMAZING FOOD & CUSTOMER SERVICE! I was coordinating a trip for about 50 people and had pre-ordered our food a couple months in advance. We have stopped to eat there the previous two years for our annual trip with a similar sized group and Willow Ranch is always wonderful in receiving our group. The staff is absolutely phenomenal to work with. I needed to make a menu change the day before to include a vegetarian option and they were very accommodating in providing what I needed. We ordered pulled pork sandwiches, cheeseburgers and veggie burgers with fries and drinks. All the group members were raving about the food and have requested that we continue to stop at Willow Ranch every year! The restaurant set up buffet style for us, with all condiments on the side so everyone could customize their orders. They had a special outdoor space set-up for our group on a gorgeous day. I have already arranged with the manager that we will stop by to eat there again next year, both on our departure and return trips! Can't rave enough about this place! read more

great food and service. so far, best place to stop on i-5 between LA and SF

Stumbled into this place when I stopped to charge my car... awesome BBQ, had the chicken & ribs combo, had to take half home but both were fantastic. Only ate half because a truck driver at the counter told me he'd been driving up & down hwy 5 for thirty years and this was the best place to eat on the whole stretch and their apple pie was especially good. So I saved some room & boxed half my dinner, he was right, best pie I've had in a while. Just a great roadside eatery! read more

Willow Ranch - Willow Ranch BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

Really good barbecue food! The menu is quite extensive with something for everyone. Easy access to the highway makes it a restaurant that I will bookmark for my future travels through the area. read more

Oh my goodness... this is without question one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at. We had a group of 7 and we all ordered something different. Every one of us were very happy with our food and when we shared to try each others dish we were amazed by how tasty and juicy it all was. I will forever make it a point to stop there when traveling the 5 freeway. Sooo yummy!!! read more

On 2020/09/25 I was looking forward to picking up some good BBQ for my lunch. However, I walked out after 10 minutes when both servers ignored me and instead warmly greeted and filled the order of the couple who arrived after me. I usually order big and tip generously. I will stop again in Buttonwillow, but only because I enjoyed the Indian food nearby. read more

Sweet little restaurant. Clean, nice staff and good service. Food was good ole American faire.

Decent barbecue. I don't drive I-5 much, but this seems like a great find around miles and miles of only fast food chains. It will become a regular stop for me on my LA trips. read more

I've been here twice now and the service has always been prompt and friendly. I consider myself a BBQ snob and while the beef ribs tend to be a little dryer and chewier than is optimal, they are still good. However the real star of the show is the brisket which was some of the best I've ever had, and I've had a lot- Exquisitely tender and perfectly fatty. I'll be back every time I travel between LA and Portland. read more

Ridiculous. Beef ribs, literally cut to the bone on all four in this order. Zero meat on any of the ribs in this order. I'll never eat here again. Total rip off. read more

Very slow, we are here about 1 hour, the main dish is not served yet. If you are trying to catchup the driving, it not a good choice. Anyway, the food is good. read more

Willow Ranch - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

The portion are good and big but the food is to greasy and salty but thats just my opinion

A beacon in a sea of crappy highway fast food! Fresh, huge portions, and worth every penny. The bbq sauce is amazing. And during COVID-19, they even brought right out to our car. Will always choose places like this over a chain. read more

Great Food, my wife and I drove out from Bakersfield, Heading to the Little Red Wagon for breakfast thought we would try something new (to us). I have heard and read good reviews of this place and there BBQ sauce and had to try it. I ordered the, Deep-Pit Beef Deep-pit Certified Angus Beef®shredded beef piled high on a French roll with our homemade BBQ sauce or salsa on the Side. $8.99 I tried it first without the BBQ sauce the meat was very flavorful then I and the sauce mmmm good the sauce at first was sweet but as I savored the flavors it was awesome, the sauce enhance the flavors in the meat while added some great flavors of onion. My wife order the, BBQ Certified Angus Beef®Tri-Tip Thinly sliced BBQ tri-tip piled high on a French Roll and served with your choice of our homemade BBQ sauce or salsa. $8.99 Same here we tried it first without BBQ sauce and it had the great Santa Maria Tri Tip BBQ flavor. Here comes the awesome sauce and mouth watering great flavors. The meat is of high quality, and they know there stuff on BBQing. Thanks for a great lunch Willow Ranch........ we'll be back to try something else soon....... Lets not forget the BBQ sauce, it is great we bought two bottles to take home to our son which is a BBQ sauce connoisseur. will let you know more about it later. Total bill with the two bottles of sauce and tip $35.00 for two. read more

Willow Ranch - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

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On our way home and we had planned to go to Harris Ranch but we would have gotten there right at closing. I went on Yelp and found Willow Ranch. WoW!!! The food was amazing. I never would have known that this place was right off the freeway. Everyone was super friendly. My mom and I shared the mushroom swiss burger and garlic fries. Good thing we did because just eating half was very filling. Love love love the way the fries was hot and had a slight crunch. I don't like cold soggy fries. My dad had a deli sandwich. It was piled high high high with ham. The ribs and steaks that were coming out look delish. Next time this will be the place to try out when we want some BBQ. read more

I found this place when I made a random stop for gas. I go there every time I go through the area. An extensive menu and GREAT BBQ. Service varies from very good to a bit slow but it is always friendly! read more

Best little secret in town! Worth the drive if you're a BBQ fan. Awesome ribs! Everything I've tried has been really good, And don't forget to get a bottle of sauce on the way out. read more

Awful customer service staff was rude and slow I kept having to ask for refills on my drink it was super slow when I was in there but it took forever to get my food and drink I would understand if it was busy but there was only 3 other customers in there never came over to ask how my meal was when I finally got my check after asking for it i waited 10 minuets and then walked to the front counter to pay but waited another 5 minuets there the food was very bland I wasn't impressed I'd never come back and I don't recommend anyone to come here Hmm more laid back well When I'm paying good money for a meal I spent $75 dollars I expect to get what I pay for good service that's what I'm paying for right??? If I wanted laid back I'd have a BBQ my house but now that I know you want to leave your customer alone and be laid back I'll go else where for a meal read more

Just do yourself a favor and get the Plow Boy. Definitely one of the best if not the best sandwiches I've had! read more

I went there looking for barbecue, unfortunately I went in the morning. I thought I could try anything that was on the pit, like ribs, ect. Their breakfast menu only offers traditional breakfast items, but no bbq. It wasn't busy there but took over a half hour to place my order, when my order arrived it was only a sad excuse for chicken fried steak with a small puddle of gravy in the middle, the remainder of my order came minutes later. It was made of real beef, beat- up , and breaded. It came out gamy, and chewey. Every else was fine. The overall experience added over an hour to my travel time. read more

The food here was pretty good. Got the bbq sliders and pulled pork sandwich with garlic fries. The BBQ sauce was very good! A good stop for lunch en route. However, the service is slow.. so stop here only if you have time to spare. read more

Always make this stop knowing they will have those beef ribs I love and can't always find. Great prices and always friendly service. Haven't been for breakfast but I know you can't go wrong with lunch or dinner!! read more

Heading southbound on the 5 fwy , we had passed up a cornucopia of fast food joints 19 miles back. Found this on a google search it was 7:30 on a Sunday night, they're open till 9. My vegetarian daughter had zucchini fries, awesome, and veggie sandwich, I dove into a Plow boy, bacon,pastrami and tri tip sandwich Delicious. My wife had pulled pork with homemade bbq sauce, outstanding. We then shared a peach cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream ( on the recommendation of a regular) , just sumptuous . Seating and initial service was slow, however, the food came out quickly and hot. We will stop again on our next travel trip,to try more items from their extensive selections. read more

Long day driving, ended at the truck stop next door. Steven was my server & highly recommended the brisket sandwich. It was perfect with the house bbq sauce. I will defiantly be back next time in the area. Excellent Service & Food!! read more

Chicken fried steak was delicious and the plow boy spicy but so delicious. Service and cleanliness is awesome. Will be back soon.

Who would expect such an excellent BBQ in the middle of the Central Valley (I5 corridor) next to a large truck stop. We shared a brisket sandwich and the pleasant staff split a single side order for. The half order of fries was the size of a single order elsewhere crisp, seasoned and delicious. The slaw was sweet and good. The meat was tender flavorful as was the mild sauce. Unfortunately we are only able to eat here during trips between Northern and Southern California. Wish it were closer to home. It looks like the place was recently spruced up and was very clean. However the seating needs refurbishing. read more

Holy cow. Made a gas/ lunch stop while heading up highway 5 and we couldn't believe how good the hot sandwiches were here. Great staff and great food. We will definitely come back here when on road trips. read more

Disappointing. Not sure what's with the 4 and 5 star reviews. We were really underwhelmed. Tried the two item combo brisket and tri-tip. The supposedly "smoked" brisket was not smokey at all, and the pieces we got were pretty fatty vs marbled/rendered like how it should be - I've had plenty of brisket from legit joints in Texas and I've smoked a couple briskets myself with pretty darned good results so I know what's up. The tri-tip wasnt remarkable in any way, and I've had plenty of good tri-tip. Not sure what all the hype is over portions... maybe if you get the 3 item combo or ribs? We got 2 pieces of fatty brisket and 4 slices of tri-tip. I probably could have eaten all of it myself but my hunger switch must have turned off after realizing the smoke flavor was missing. The sides were meh too... not good enough to write about. Service is OK - not particularly friendly but at least they don't ignore you. The Plow Boy sounds interesting but I'm not sure we'll be back anyway. If I had to summarize in one word in light of the high Yelp reviews: underwhelming. read more

Actually one of my favorite places to get burgers , so delicious!! Get the side of large fries you won't regret it read more

Service is great. Food is well priced and delicious. Get the tritip sandwich and veggie burger. Will be back!

VERY good bbq!! Friendly service, great selection The brisket is to die for. Which brings up my only concern - indoor dining and ppl waiting to be seated often don't wear masks. So if you go for takeout you may get exposed. Best to go off-hours. read more

You might think "A great restaurant in Buttonwillow??" But don't. Willow Ranch is AWESOME. Everything was delicious... Melt -in -your- mouth brisket and sliced beef in the Fiesta Melt sandwich, yummy homemade potato salad perfect Dill pickles, giant iced tea. This place is totally worth a day trip from the coast or down the valley! read more

We come here probably once a month. Great food! Their BBQ is top notch. For lunch I usually get the deep pit chicken salad but today I ordered the fried chicken salad. It's huge! And this is only the half size. Comes with a big piece of deep fried chicken, bacon, avocado, onion slices, tomatoes, olives, peppercinis and cheese as well as nice mixed lettuce. My husband ordered the willow burger with cheese and onion rings. Nice, good sized, meaty burger. Only down side is it was fried and not grilled. Cooked well. The restaurant it nice and clean. It can be a little warm inside sometimes but today was nice. Good place to stop in for down home food! read more

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Food was great. They did their best with service considering Covid. Portions were big and prices are fair. Highly recommend

This is a very good pit stop if you're making a long drive on the I-5. The friendly staff was quick to greet and seat us. My boyfriend and I had breakfast omelettes. He created his own with lots of cheese and kielbasa sausage and I had the Western with bbq chicken. I would recommend the bbq chicken! Because we are on a low carb diet I opted for salsa as opposed to bbq sauce and I kind of regret it now that I found out they make their own. If you are also low carb or keto they will swap out toast and potatoes for tomato slices and cottage cheese with no extra charge. Overall 4.5 stars. read more

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all legit! If this place wasn't all the way in Buttonwillow I'd be a regular here. Plus, the place is clean and service is always outstanding. They also have some great BBQ sauce and I always make sure to get two bottles to go...one regular and one spicy. Only complaint is the one time I ordered the beef ribs they were a little on the tough side and the tap line for their Michelob Amber Bock seems to be dirty. read more

A must stop while on the I-5! Food was great and our waiter was super nice! Couldn't have asked for a better first time experience. read more

Willow Ranch - Very satisfied! - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

Go here instead of Denny's!! For the love of God, please don't go to Denny's! My wife and kids and I were hungry after a long day of driving and stopped in beautiful Buttonwillow for some grub. We first went to Denny's and had to leave because it smelled like sewage. We decided to try Willow Ranch BBQ instead. I was pleasantly surprised. The restaurant was clean, the food was very good, the service was friendly and the prices were cheap. My wife really like the fried chicken. I wanted a salad and got the tri-tip salad. It was very good and quite filling. read more

We just found this hidden gem in Buttonwillow, right off Highway 5. We do the San Francisco to LA drive many times a year. We were spared the regular fight about finding a fast food restaurant that the least number of us hates. We got cheese burgers, french fries and onion rings. We called in our order and easily picked it up just as quickly as fast food. The French fries and onion rings were crisp, not soggy. The burgers were delicious and not dripping with grease. They were topped with fresh produce and there were lots of specialty burgers to choose from. Their BBQ sauce is amazing!!! They also have an outside patio for dining in during Covid. When they can fully reopen, the interior seating was comfy and quaint. My only disappointment was that we didn't find this place sooner! Great food, nice staff, fast and convenient food for hungry travelers! read more

Great family diner, a frequent stop for us on the drive back home from LA to the Bay Area.