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

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

Willow Ranch is in Buttonwillow, a small town where racers gather. My daughter and I stopped by on a Sunday afternoon on our drive down to LA. She had the NY Steak and I had the Chef's salad. The steak was good. The Chef's salad was average, but bountiful. 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

Herd on outta this reastaurant and go somwehere else, l'il doggies. in my greedy, "I'm eating on the road hence I can throw all my regular dining rules out the window" anticipation, I tried too hard and failed miserably. Or rather, Willow Ranch hardly tried and failed anyway- I just had too much faith. So why only one star? After a long day of running around at Buttonwillow racetrack being my boyfriend's faithful pit chief, I want meat and beer. QUICK. It took them over 5 minutes to get us seated- no biggie, unless you saw how ridiculous it was- any of them could have seated us. They had ample servers and the restaurant was about 80% full. It took another 20-25 minutes to get ANYONE to notice us. We were thirsty, wanted tall frosty mugs of domestic beer, just wanted some acknowledgement. The table next to us and behind us had their orders taken, beverages, salad, then entrees brought to them. We still sat in the dark, literally because the lamp overhead wasn't lit, without anyone that worked there showing signs that we even had a pulse to reckon with. After trying to hold boyfriend back from talking to someone, I finally acquiesced and he stood, waiting some MORE at the cash register, just to talk to someone to say we've been waiting almost half an hour without a hello. Needless to say, the service sucked big sheep balls (they're huge, take my word for it). A guy explained our server was 'too busy' to take our order so he took it for us. There was further confusion as to who and when our drinks and food were being brought to us as we sat for another 15 minutes without anything, not even water, being brought to us.* Note- just because they took your order, doesn't mean they're going to bring it to you.* Finally our beverages came, and they explained our food was ready to come to the table. I hate it when food comes rushing out at me, and this is exactly what happened. Our salads arrived drenched in dressing like someone was performing dressing bukkake. Awful. The rest of our meal followed immediately and was tossed at us, the check was dropped on our table immediately following the food with "no hurry, but we just wanted to leave it here" even though the place wasn't closing for another hour or more. WHAT THE FUCK? The food- are you sure you really want to read more? boyfriend had the bbq beef sandwich, which was supposed to come 'smothered' in BBQ sauce. the sandwich wasn't bad- but the sauce was served in a little plastic cup next to the sandwich. So much for smothering. My ribs were tough, gristly, awfully charred in some places to the point of bitterness. the tomato-based BBQ sauce certainly wasn't enough to save it by any stretch of the imagination. The bbq beans were no where near bbq but actually chili, the top of my dinner roll had blackened bits stuck to the oily sheen, which I suspect they placed on the grill to warm up but what difference does it make when it gets to our table at room temp? It looked like the cook scraped the top of the roll on the bottom of his shoe- nasty. The corn on the cob was previously frozen then boiled beyond recognition- boyfriend commented that it looked pre-eaten due to the broken kernels covering half of the ear. They luckily didn't charge us for one of the three beers we had- they wouldn't want me to open my pandora's box of wrath on them for the awful service AND meal we received. There was no redeeming this experience and we attempted to drown our sorrows with beer from the gas station next door while watching anime on Adult Swim in our motel room. I don't know what their deal was- the fact that I'm not white, the fact that we were an interracial couple, the fact that they don't favor minorities. I saw another table with a few Asian guys most likely in town for the same reason, and they were here before we were. When we were halfway through our meal, I saw our suspected server take their order. I wanted to tell them to eat at the TA Travel Center's restaurant, Country Choice or Country Pride or whatever it was called. This place must stay in business soley from unsuspecting travellers that see the word "ranch" and think it's ok. Please. Do yourself a favor and eat elsewhere- you'll be sorry you didn't take my advice, especially if you're a minority. read more

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

We didn't find many good places to stop while on I-5 on a road trip, and so my husband thought that I was CRAZY for wanting to stop here in the middle of no where, so he opted out of eating here, and later kinda wished that he hadn't. This place was surprisingly really good. I thought that their fries were pretty good, and I REALLY enjoyed the turkey melt. I don't know if it was because we had so many other bad places on I-5 or what, but this place hit the spot. This is a good place to stop at if you're in the area, I'd definitely recommend it over most of the places to stop at in the area. read more

Out in the middle of almost nowhere...and there is this restaurant that serves good comfort food. Steak with potatoes, country fried steak, pies etc. I have been to Willow Ranch for countless number of times. Not because I always travel between Nor Cal and So Cal, but there is a nearby race track which I frequent. At the end of an exhaustive day. this is the place to chill. A decent ribeye steak with soup/salad and two sides run for $21. It's not IHOP or Dennys price but hey, Willow Ranch is one of its kind around here. The place can get crowded on weekends during dinner time. read more

My band played a show in San Francisco. The bassist and guitarist left for home a day before the rest of us. We, in the second car, got a late start. There is traffic like you can not believe and all of our tummies are growling at each other. None of us are big fans of McDonalds, Burger King, Denny's or the ubiquitous road trip restaurants. Desperate times call for desperate needs and I promise my car load that I will stop in the next small town and we'll eat anywhere that they serve food. I see a sign for the iron skillet which I remember isn't good but isn't horrible. As we are getting off the freeway, we smell barbecue. Then we see a giant barrel reading, "Willow Ranch" across it. I exclaim to my fellow travelers,"Screw the skillet. We're eating here!" It is an executive decision that has changed my NorCal back to SoCal traveling ever since. We are greeted by a cute little girl who tells us to sit anywhere we would like. Our waitress calls us, "hon" and jokes around with us a lot. We all ordered the ribs and they come with a treasure trove of side dishes. The baked beans are delicious. The coleslaw is crisp, tasty and wonderful. The baked potato hits the spot and is smothered with goodness. The ribs are not the best I have ever had but high up on the list. Now here is the interesting part. Usually eating food like that makes you want to take a nap. I am convinced that there is something in the barbecue sauce that gives you a burst of speedy energy. Everyone in my car was giddy and giggling the rest of the way home. We came up with new languages and catch phrases on this trip. Not only that but traffic seemed to inexplicably clear up. Perhaps it was the magic of the Willow Ranch? Every trip I make to Northern California comes with the knowledge that I will be stopping at the Willow Ranch on my way back home to Southern California. Now I just need to find a restaurant to stop at on the way up. Maybe in Soledad or Salinas? Let me know if you know a spot as magical as this one. read more

Not great, though not horrible either. My friend and I were heading back home from L.A., when we decided to stop off and get some food. With limited options, Willow Ranch seemed to exude the most character, which initially lead us in. Talk about dated, this is yet another place that has yet to be effected by the hands of time- totally 70s/80's style and totally old school; providing lots of character, and for that reason alone, pretty cool. We were seated fairly quickly upon entering. They have your standard diner style menu, with options that probably sound better than the real thing. I wasn't necessarily starving, so I ended up just going with a bowl of their chili. My friend went with some sort of turkey deli style sandwich. I also ordered a beer- prices are very pocket friendly. Our server was ok. Food arrived fairly quickly as well. My chili was nothing spectacularly impressive, though it was decent. My friend wasn't necessarily crazy about her sandwich. Overall, definitely not a destination point, but serves a decent convenience purpose. read more

This is the place to stop when driving from LA to Northern Cal. Split the 3 meat platter - brisket, tri tip and pork ribs. Honestly. Get a huge plate of brisket with extra BBQ sauce and share it with no one. Don't even tell anyone you are eating it till its all gone so you don't have to share. read more

One of the best BBQ places in CA!! Stopped here on the way home from SoCal and my family and I agree it's a new favorite. There was stupid good service. The food came out within five minutes! The BBQ sauce is the perfect blend of sweet and spicy. I bought a bottle to take home because I can't go without it!! I recommend the tri tip sandwich; thinly sliced meat on a fabulous fresh French roll. Shoutout to Joe for telling me about this bomb barbecue! read more

This time I had the best motherfudgin' Chocolate Cream Pie. They call it Chocolate Silk, and if you've ever eaten a silk scarf, this is even better than that. My spoon stole across the table and sampled my honeybunch's Peanut Butter Cream Pie. Also amazingly good. All of this after a moist and delicious BBQ Beef sandwich on a tender yielding bun. Uncrowded at 4pm. Just us and 2 sheriffs. read more

In a central valley wasteland of crappy chain restaurants and disgusting truck stops (Iron skillet, Flying J), there is an Oasis! Hell yes! A place to eat that's right off I-5 and is freaking great. Great BBQ, happy family, fast friendly service. 5-stars! Highly recommended as a place to stop when driving from LA to SF on I-5. read more

Four or five stars, people? Maybe in Buttonwillow...maybe only in Buttonwillow. Look, if you're heading along I-5 and in you are in the vicinity and hungry for something other than the "Every major fucking fast food place in America" that dot the San Joaquin corridor, then you might as well stop here. I did. If you've got exceedingly high hopes for a 4/5 star experience and you're used to good food (seriously, good food), then just drop those expectations in the local porta potty. However, if you're looking for a local diner with diner food, then stop here. I was here on a Friday after Xmas and the place was hopping with both "exhausted from the holiday drivers" (my tribe) and locals. I sat next to almond farmers, oil workers, and the local CHP (and from the look of a couple of them, they come here a lot...perhaps too much). The fact that locals eat here is a good sign, though obviously options are limited in the area. The food is your regular assortment of diner food. I had the Fiesta melt which was described in the menu with such zest that I had to try it. It was acceptable. Small in size, sliced roast beef with pepper jack cheese and roasted peppers. Not spicy at all. I had hoped for a bit more flavor. And size. However, the potato salad was excellent. Shocked and surprised I was! Have I ever had olives in potato salad before? I don't think so but it was good. They serve their drinks in BIG cups...no need for refills here. My pa (hey, I'm in Buttonwillow...) had the bbq pulled chicken sandwich. It looked like a bunch of chopped dense chicken to me with bbq sauce on the side, but he said it was good. (Psssstttttt...don't trust this) Service was friendly but hectic given the season. The price was very reasonable, twenty-five bucks for two. I'd probably come here again if heading north or south. It's a local diner and a place to stretch and pee. read more

Casual local BBQ for the racers right off the freeway amid a bunch of fast food chains. It's a nice option with good food and delicious sauce to take home. We got the small order of beef ribs. The coleslaw is perfect. Nice smoky beans. The best fried pickles I ever had. The breading stayed crisp, so did the skins, and they never slipped apart. The side salad was very fresh, and they have beer on tap. Definitely buy their BBQ sauce. We cooked some pork shoulder with it, a can of root beer and a packet of onion soup mix in a slow cooker for eight hours and took it to a friend's house to watch the Warriors game. Everyone loved it. read more

driving back from Disney with 2 kids who were tired. Stopped off to get gas and something to eat. Saw the willow ranch and thought why not. Let me tell that was the best decision. For being in the middle of no where off of 5 this place is the BEST place to stop and eat. Hubby ordered half rack of pork ribs, came with beans, mashed taters(real ones not the fake crap)corn , salad and bread. I got the half chicken roasted, with beans, mashed taters,corn, bread and clam chowder. I asked for extra BBQ sauce as i like it saucy, hubby ended up using it also. boys got grilled cheese. waitress was great, food came quick and hot. Mashed potatoes we real and spicy from the pepper, gravy was great. Corn a little overdone for my hubby but fine for me. Sauce was the BEST. You know its good when you see people coming in and ordering TRAYS of their potatoe salad. A must stop for trips to come read more

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

recently renovated. Before this place was simply good enough to eat at to avoid denny's and fast food. Now the service and the food has grown tremendously, and it's actually an establishment i wouldn't mind eating at time and time again. The pulled pork (dinner or sandwich) are very tasty, and most importantly their BBQ sauce is extremely good. I do believe they sell it to go as well, just might have to do that next time. 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

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

Ordered steak and eggs, with home potatoes, medium rare steak and well done potatoes. Got soggy, mushy, undercooked potatoes, and a mediumish steak, leaning toward well. So, if you want your steak over cooked and your potatoes under, come here, at least the favors were good when I salted and peppered them. read more

Much you'll read in the other reviews, I stumbled upon this place while on my Diego to the Bay pilgrimage on good 'ol highway 5. I came here looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous McDonald's (aka filthy Ron's) and Carl's Jr./Green Burritos strewn across the state. Their posted "BBQ" outside their restaurant beckoned me closer from the parking filled with diesel trucks, minivans, and the like. Inside, I came to find a honest-down-diner-from-somewhere-in-middle-America type of atmosphere. You got your booths set up throughout the place, along with the traditional long bar seating necessary for any diner. The friendly prompt service was to be expected of this type of joint, where first-timers like myself are treated with the familiarity and courtesy of a faithful regular. Given that BBQ was one of their apparent claim to fame, I opted to go for BBQ beef ribs. Although I only ordered 3 of them, the cook mistakenly served up 5. While I got the extra two at no extra charge, I was also pleased to see this meaty entree be paired up with a baked potato, baked beans, garlic toast, and side salad to start it all off. Delicious all-around, for 12 bucks, I'd say this weary roadside traveler got his money's worth. read more

I entered into this cozy little place on my way down from Sacramento going to San Diego. I must say for how hot it is outside it is very cold inside. We were greeted and seated right away and given menus. First let me just say the sodas they had were massive. I don't think anybody would ask for a refill in this place. It has to be like a 48 ounce cup or something. Me and the wife ordered their chicken tortilla soup for starters. The soup came out and tasted on point. My wife then ordered a tri tip salad and I ordered the Rib Eye. Our food came out and I was a bit skeptical because I order my meat rare and was surprised to see if they nailed it. My wife loved her salad big pieces of meat on her salad and it looked delicious. Then my steak, I cut into it and was shocked. Cooked to perfection, no A1 sauce or nothing I dove right in. I must say the prices here are very reasonable and our server was very attentive. This place may not see a lot of me, but I guarantee you when I am taking trips down to San Diego as often as I do, I will be stopping by here for lunch or dinner. It has won me with its local vibe and good eats and it can win you too if you give it a go. read more

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

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

I think if reviews are based on the relative expectations of the surrounding area, I would bump this up to 4 stars, because there is just not much to rely upon on this stretch of I-5. At least as far as I know. This place is a staple for racers at nearby Buttonwillow Raceway. The good: BBQ. The tritip sandwich was good, as was the onion rings. It was cool inside, clean. Booths are fine. Service was quite good. The average: Dinner salad had some wilted lettuce in it and the dressing was drowning the leaves. The poor: The vegetable soup was not good. Only had a few bites. So a good place for BBQ, other items seemed more risky. read more

This joint is LEGIT! I stumbled onto it while taking a Megabus from SF to LA. A place like Buttonwillow is something that I'd never thought of stopping at if it wasn't a required bus stop. Most of my fellow passengers opted for the nearby Taco Bell and country buffet (yuck!). I being the adventurous type, decided to walk across the parking lot and gas station, and I came upon this BBQ joint. I love BBQ meats, and this place is good at it. The first time I stopped here I had the pull-porked sandwich, although the pork was a bit dried, it was very flavorful and smoky, the way I like my BBQ meats, the dryness reminded me of the al pastor style pork meats you get in Mexican food, almost crispy, in a good way. As luck would have it, we stopped here again on the way back from LA to SF. I took it as a sign from God that I should indulge myself in more BBQ meats. This time I got the beef ribs. I only had 20 minutes for our stop, so I ended up taking it to go, and let me tell you, that was quiet a feast back on the bus. I chewed, tore, and ripped through those ribs like a pig lol. Beef ribs are kind of lean, and once grilled or bbq'ed it doesn't leave much on the bone, and the cooked tendons stick to the bone and can be hard to get off with your teeth. But again it was very flavorful. I also like this place cooks the meat without the sauce, it perserves the natural flavors, but that being said the house bbq sauce they have is pretty good too, just enough tang and sweetness for me. That was by far the most messy and satisfying meal I've had in a moving vehicle haha! read more

One might rightly question a Yelper's decision to choose a restaurant that has "food poisoning" in a recent review, but we had 'no choice'... Wife and I were returning to CA from a one week road trip to KS to see her parents. We decided to make the trip a bbq theme. We had some good scores along the way and count this as one of them. This was our last meal before returning to the Bay. Sorry I didn't take a photo of our brisket dinners before we devoured them. Service was so so, but the food is what we focused on. Perfectly cooked brisket in a delicious bbq sauce. Satisfying portions. We make trips to So. Cal. on occasion and will be stopping here again (for the brisket). Yum. read more

$12 for a bland burger and ice tea. No way Service was horrible, had to get my own menu and ask for drinks at he bar, it's 100 outside. Haven't left w/o tipping in a very long time Never again read more

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

We travel south once or twice a year and make a point of stopping in both directions every time. Its been 10-12 yrs now and we are never disappointed. WE all look forward to it. The BBQ and burgers are a delicious. I'd prefer more smokiness to the BBQ, but its always good, high quality meat. The food ranges from good to terrific, its family run, and its always full of folks from the community. You can avoid the post hunger horrors/regret of fast food and the long wait and high prices of Harris Ranch, by enjoying a good meal at this well run family restauarant. We feel good about supporting Willow Ranch. Can't wait to go again. read more

I was attending a race weekend at Buttonwillow, and the folks I was working with had eaten here before, so our group came here for dinner. They were quick and happy to seat a party of 8 without warning, which I greatly appreciated. Initially the service was a little disorganized, but eventually we were assigned a single individual and it got better. I ordered a salad, and the flat iron steak with mashed potatoes. It was the best steak I've had in a long, long time. Quite a surprise for being basically in the middle of no-where. The corn and mashed potatoes were good too. The salad was a little wilted, but, this was minor in the grand scheme of things. read more

I loved the ribs I got here. They serve them partly cut. You finish separating them yourself with a big ol steak knife. Kind of a cool experience. The sauce is pretty awesome. His brother has a restaurant with bar b q items in Bakersfield that has a little better sauce, but the ribs here are wayy better quality meat My buddy got the deep pit sandwich. I tried a bit. Freaking amazing, even w/o the sauce read more