Stopped by for lunch on our way back down to LA. Highly recommend this place for good bbq. The spicy bbq sauce is especially good and peppery. We had the tri-tip sandwich with a side of coleslaw. The fries also have a great flavor and texture. read more

Willow Ranch - Tri-tip sandwich with spicy bbq sauce and I threw my side of coleslaw in there. - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

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

This place is a treat. I mean really. Hours on I5 needs the nice respite Willow offers. I've been regularly stopping at Harris Ranch, but gave up on them after multiple problems with the food. Finding Willow was a happy accident, since there's no sign about them on I5; I got off for a different place and then saw the sign. Boy am I a lucky and happy traveler. Better food; much cheaper price. $14 for very good smoked brisket, very nice baked potato (skin and all), salad, tasty meat/beans chili, and corn that tasted like... fresh, crunchy corn. Yum. And a deal! The danger with brisket is too dry or too much fat; this hit the balance nicely; sauce adds rather than dominates. The danger with baked potato is the old, gummy ones (like at Harris...). Yuck. This one was perfect. Service was friendly but a bit haphazard. Worth mentioning, but not worth worrying about. Thanksgiving 2013 followup... Still yum for the bbq, but not the hamburger. Outbound I didn't feel like getting a big meal and figured a good bbq place would be safe for hamburger. Wrong. Worse than fast-good. whadda shock! Meat had no flavor and sauce didn't save it. Return trip went with ribs, corn and baked potato. Big yum. Not quite fabulous, to be honest, but darn good. BBack ribs had very much meat, smoked well. Sauce bordered on cloying, but it also had personality. (Couldn't have been too bad, since I sopped it up with the roll... Potato wasn't quite as fresh and its skin wasn't quite as crisp as I would have liked, but it was a very, very long way from suffering. And the small cob of corn still has the right kind of crunch. Service remains a bit iffy on the details, but overall the tone of the place reads "local friendly spot." And in the middle of a holiday Interstate, that's a delight. read more

We went there on our way out of town during the holidays. This is a good go to restaurant as the food is very yummy. But we had a very bad experience. Our server was very unhelpful to serve us. I am very limited on my portion size and I don't eat a large portion. Usually I will try and order a la carte if possible, but it limits me to one item (boring) which a child's menu is a perfect portion for me. I usually only ask when nothing is small enough, but breakfast, since it is the only meal that isn't a good one to take away, and we were traveling, I asked to order off it. It was an absolutely NO!!! And the last time we were in the last gal that waited on us said sure!! What the heck? She was not having it, no way, so we just ordered coffee and went to McDonalds. I'm sorry but that was just a loss of a sale I told her I'd even pay full price, I just didn't want to waste that much food and she was so rude. We won't be back. To me a sale is a sale. My husband and the other couple were going to eat full breakfast entree's but I was told no on a child's portion. Hmmm Sorry I'm not a cheapskate I just don't like to buy a bunch of food I won't eat, and hubby gets tired of me picking off his plate. Some of us can't eat full size portions. Their food is great, service not so much!!! read more

The BBQ sauce they make here is awesome; it is sweet, vinegary and has herbs and spices that give the sauce a little something extra while the sauce itself is not hot. The rest of the food? Not so much. The shredded pork sandwich was a little bit dry and it wasn't smoked. Service could have been just a bit faster. Perhaps I ordered something that wasn't a signature dish. I'll be back to try something new, because sooner or later, I'll need to buy more sauce. read more

Great place to eat if you're staying in the hotels nearby and want to forego fast food. Rolling into town at 9:30pm, we didn't see many other places to eat. Having come just before closing, the place was pretty empty and thus the waitress was able to give us a lot of attention. Great service! The restaurant in general is not bad. Definitely dated, but about what I expected for Buttonwillow.The food was pretty satisfying. In the interest of weight reduction and lap times don't come here because the plates are huge! lol. Actually we loved that. So much food for the price. I had the Fried Chicken plate and that was quite a meal! Dinner roll was pretty boring though. We agreed that it seemed awfully familiar to the rolls we used to get in our Elementary School cafeterias. The cashier was nice enough to split our check [5 ways]. If I ever find myself in Buttonwillow I'll surely consider dropping by here again. p.s. They have tons of pies, and you'll be surprised by the waitress' ability to recite the entire list. read more

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

This was the perfect pit stop for our trip up north. Tri tip sandwich was delicious! The staff was incredibly friendly as well. 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

Tried on a whim. Loved the BBQ sauce. Great meat in a soft bun. Barely sweet coleslaw & nice crispy fries. I was hoping to stop on our way back home to buy some of their BBQ sauce but the freeway was closed so had to take an alternate way home . 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

See all

Great fast good BBQ, would come back if around and looking for place to eat something tasty along a roadtrip!

Cute old fashion place. Ordered the fluffy and plump chicken breast strips (3) came with soup, corn on the cob, baked potato w sour cream n chives, n a side of BBQ sauce or ranch dressing. Waitresses very nice and accommodating. Gave us a big size gulp container of soda to go. Price for all $9.99 read more

Willow Ranch - Photo by Dee - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

We stopped by right after our camping trip at carizzo plains. Pros: -Nice interiors. -Ample parking space. -Surprised to see that the restaurant has an artic entry although it is in the somewhat hottest place in California. -Though it is a barbeque place and I am a vegetarian. It had quite a lot of vegetarian options like garden burger, rice pilaf, vegetable soup etc. -Just off of freeway. Cons: -Took a lot of time for taking the order and getting the food. In fact we were making fun of such a long time and was talking about how long would it take for them to get the check. Will definitely stop by when we visit nearby places. read more

Good old American diner food with pleasant services and atmosphere... No complaints here. It's cop central though haha AVOID if you are wanted! read more

See all

I've been coming here for years. Steadily the place has gone downhill. Today was the worst service and food I've had in any restaurants. Don't even bother coming here you'll waste your time and money. read more

Willow Ranch - Great place to stop after a long drive. - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

I like this place. Great service, good food. We always stop by if we are in the area. One thing that I did like was a uninvited friends (i.e. flies) keep circling. I wished they do something about that. If not for that, I would give them 5 stars. 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

This place rocks. Got the deep pit b-b-que sandwich with home made potato salad. It's amazing. And ordered the sweetened ice tea -- i don't know what they put in there (could it be sugar?) -- but it goes SO well w/ b-b-que. The staff here is so friendly -- love this place. read more

Great service very nice people. Food was very authentic so delicious. The look was my favorite they've kept it traditional. All in all good experience will definitely stop in if ever in the area. read more

Willow Ranch - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

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

We always stop here while travelling from Los Angeles to Northern California. Me and my fiance have some history here due to our long trips back and forth from LA to UC Santa Cruz (where we met!). Sentiments aside, we have been coming here for years and plan to continue doing so. The BBQ is quite good and I've started buying their own brand of BBQ sauce; nice, sweet, tangy and spicy -- great on pretty much everything meaty! We usually get some sort of combo BBQ plate and split, the portions are very large. Need iced tea for your entire trip? Just order one to go and you'll see, haha! read more

We always eat here on our way to socal. Great menu and tasty too.. you won't be disappointed!!! read more

Next time I'll stop at Subway. We were looking for a place off of the freeway to meet a friend for lunch, and based on the reviews of this place, and not really wanting to go to a chain restaurant if we could avoid it, we went here. Let me say, right off the bat, don't be fooled by the website! These people have some GOOD people running their website. All the food looks good and you get the impression that the restaurant is a lot nicer than it really is. One thing I noticed right away was that the place was HOT. I could tell that the air conditioners were on, but we were still pretty uncomfortable just sitting at the table, and the real test was that my baby was also squirming around and uncomfortable because of the temperature. Strike one. After reading rave reviews of the brisket, I made sure that was one thing my husband and I would order to try. Unfortunately, they were out of brisket. And beef ribs. And Tri tip. Strike two. We ended up ordering the two item combo anyway with deep pit beef (which we had also read pretty good reviews about) and the pork ribs, along with a chef salad just to get some veggies in. My husband thought that the beef was pretty good, but I found it to be on the salty side, and neither of us liked the ribs. They weren't tender at all and tasted pretty bland. The salad was made with the kind of processed lunch meat my mom used to put in my sandwiches, and that isn't a good thing. Strike three. Sorry Willow Ranch BBQ, you're out. read more

Ate here twice, once on the way south and once on the way north. Was traveling with a party of 12, including a wide variety of dietary needs. So I did my research and narrowed it down to 2 places. But after eating here on the way south the vote was overwhelming to go back on the way north. The menu is varied so the vegan and the meat-a-holic both had good choices. The place has enough local history and enough kitsch to be an interested break in the monotany of I-5. Now it's not gourmet food and it's not as fast as a drive-thru, but Buttonwillow is a good stop in the I-5 drive and this place offers lots of options and they even have a gas station in their parking lot so no need to drive around to gas up before hitting the road. read more

I drove past this place and decided to stop by for lunch. I was surprised at how good the food was and how friendly the service was. Thoroughly enjoyed their burgers. It has the right amount of fat in it. Basically another typical American diner place but you'll be surprise at how easy it is to mess up something like a burger. I would definitely like to come back again, more so for the quaintness of the place than the food. read more

Perfect stop on our way from LA to Oakland, right off of I-5 (Buttonwillow exit). Small, cosy diner-type space, comfy booths, friendly staff. We got the BBQ tri-tip sandwich and a roast beef (warm and well-done, don't expect rosy, rare cold slices) sandwich, which were both good. The coleslaw was kind of warm and sweet, a little disappointing. The onion rings were great. Nice selection of beers to choose from. I spied some pretty yummy looking ribs at a nearby table. I appreciated that the place was quiet. A nice little resting stop on a loooong journey. read more

Better than Anderson's Pea Soup and cheaper than Harris Ranch. Willow Ranch isn't close to the best BBQ in America, but it's as good as anything in California. They do make a damn good brisket. Buttonwillow might just trump overcrowded Santa Nella as my new "fluids in, fluids out" spot on the I-5. read more

On our way back to Orange County from Yosemite...we searched Yelp for a dinner spot before we hit the grapevine. This place rocks the BBQ! We ordered Brisket and Tri-tip dinners and were surprised by the quality and flavor of the food. The brisket was the hands down winner but the tri-tip was a close second. Plus, plenty of sides including "chili beans" which are really good. read more

This resturant us a must stop at if your looking for a good dinner. I had the fried Pickles they were perfect. Also ordered the brisket dinner. So tender you could cut it with a fork. Came with soup or salad, I had the chicken enchiladas soup "Delish" read more

Willow Ranch - Beef brisket dinner. So tender melt in your mouth heavenly goodness. - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

First time visit here. We were down the street at the racetrack for the weekend, so we came by to try some bbq. Now, being in the bay area, we have some great spots. I was hoping this too would be one. The smell was fantastic on the way in. Looking good. We ordered wings and some chicken strips to start. Both were well prepared and had a little heat. Not 'hot' as advertised, but good. I ordered a combo meal, to try both the baby back ribs and the brisket. The brisket (sliced) was perfectly made. Great flavor and juicy. I didn't get much bbq sauce, luck of the draw I guess, as others had plenty. The brisket had more fat on it than my liking (like a full fork full could be fat) however no choice for lean or fatty when ordering. I would order the brisket again and ask for a more lean serving. The baby back ribs were a bit of a loss. While they were large (serving and physically) and meaty, they were chewy and undercooked. Perhaps made too fast and didn't have time to loosen up. Again, lots of fat on the ribs too. More than usual. I would not order the ribs again, as 3 of us had them and they all looked the same. (A friend had beef ribs and to our surprise they were over cooked.) I had a salad, very good one. I ordered fries, they were nothing special and the serving was very small. I would do a baked potato or a large serving of the beans, as the little one you get with the meal was excellent. On a plus, large drink cups made the night as it was a hot and tiring day on the track, we were all thirsty. I think we would go again, but I would avoid the ribs and hope the tri-tip was a winner. read more

We stopped here on our way south from Cambria. If you're ever in the area you have to stop! I had the pulled brisket, pulled pork and pulled chicken sliders. They were excellent and the BBQ sauce was perfect, not too sweet or vinegary. My husband had the brisket sandwich which was tender and had just the right amount of fat. He finished off his meal with the homemade banana cream pie, it was another winner. read more

Went there for dinner on our way to LA. The server was super friendly and honest about what he thinks about the food. We had the beef flank and chef's salad. The flank was the best we had for a long time. read more

The food here is so good!!!! This is a really good bbq place to try. The atmosphere is really nice and everyone was really friendly (probably because it's a small town) Overall really good place, only reason why they didn't get 4 stars is because the waitress seemed to have forgot about us and we had to go out of our way to ask for something read more

Willow Ranch - Mando size beer - Barbeque Near Me - Buttonwillow, California

Had an amazing and delicious Valentines Dinner at Willow Ranch Tonight with my Husband of 35 years! Food was great! Big portions and dessert was delicious! Waitress was very hospitable and Manager came up and greeted us and ask how dinner was! She was pleasant! Food has always been Yummy every time we go! Breakfast is So good to! read more

LOVE THIS PLACE!!! One of the best kept secrets in Kern County... The food is always good, beer is cold and the staff are always friendly! And they have REAL SWEAT TEA, not fountain tea! Large parking lot with room for trailers in back and on the street! On street parking is on a low traffic side street (Lagoon Dr)in front of the restaurant. Kid friendly atmosphere where it is not unusual to see multi generational gatherings enjoying a family outing! Historical pictures (near register) add a connection to the local folks and gives some insight to local families and business... Always leave this place full and happy! Well worth the short drive from Bakersfield and right off of Interstate 5 at Hwy 58 behind the Shell station... I highly recommend stopping there if you are traveling on the 5 freeway! You will not be disappointed! read more

Stopped in for dinner after a day at the track, probably some of the best BBQ brisket, tri-tip and pulled pork I've had in California. The portions are great and quality. Don't waste your time with the sides, just jump right into the main course. This is definitely a staple on a race weekend. read more

Plowboy sandwich - amazing Pit beef sandwich - meh Staff - friendly Prices - responsible Would come again read more

We had brisket and pulled chicken. Both were very tender and delicious! The chicken enchilada soup and cole slaw were awesome as well. The staff was friendly and knew many customers by name. It was a pleasant atmosphere and reasonable prices. We will be sure to visit again next time we go down to SoCal. read more

Good. I mean GOOD. Lots of what you order and impressive. Even the State Police showed up to eat here.