Big Bubbas Bad BBQ is a food concession that appears at some of the country’s largest State Fairs, Nascar Races, and Livestock Shows since 1996. We have eaten their food several times over the years and found it to be pretty good.

Decor, Vibe - Huge smoker with tons of meat cooking. Long lines most of the time. Lots of families chowing down on fair grub.

Menu Pictures

Website menu

Picks:

Pork Spare Ribs ($7.50) were great. Lots of tender meat and very good BBQ sauce. Messy but delicious. Forget about the dinner with sides, get pure ribs.

Corn on the Cob was fresh and cooked well.

OK:
Tri Tip dinner was average, had to slosh on the BBQ sauce to make it reasonable.

Pans:
None

Big Bubbas Bad BBQ serves up a quick fixing of good BBQ. Look for them at the next county fair. The ribs are on par with Memphis Minnes.
They have restaurant locations in Paso Robles, Visalia, Atascadero, and Merced, but reviews on Yelp do not look good.

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Memphis Minnie’s is one of the best barbecue places in San Francisco. It is located in the colorful lower Haight district.
They specialize in slowly smoking meats from 4 to 18 hours over white oak logs. They have BBQ plates, sandwiches, burgers, and even catfish.

All things Pig

Lard is good

Decor, Vibe - Lots of pig paraphernalia on the walls, pretty basic tables. Mostly locals in their 20’s and 30’s were eating.

Menu Pictures

Sake and BBQ!

Picks:

3 kinds of BBQ Sauce

Two way Combo ($14.95) with St. Louis style smoked pork ribs and Texas Big Beef Ribs. We preferred the pork ribs, they were tender and flavorful even without sauce. BBQ Sauce was very good, tangy and zesty. The mustard sauce was very strong.
The beef ribs were big but a little dry. Our 2 sides were Deep South Sweet Potatoes and Pit Smoked Beans. The Sweet Potatoes were not too sweet, which was just fine. The beans tasted ok.

OK:
None

Pans:
None

We got to go food, which came pretty quickly. This food is a cut above places like Armadillo Willy’s. This is a great place to go for BBQ in the city.

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Armadillo Willys is a local BBQ restaurant with 9 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was started in 1988 and offers ‘real Texas barbecue’ cooked over a wood fire.
We were in the area and decided to give it another try so we could more fairly gauge other BBQ restaurants. We visited the Foster City location.
They have a pretty extensive menu with salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, and BBQ.

Decor, Vibe - Big colorful murals on the wall, along with flat screen TVs showing sports. Lots of families and groups eating here.

Famous BBQ Sauce

Menu Pictures

Web site menu

Picks:
None
OK:

The 3-Way Combo (Texas BBQ Ribs, 1/4 Chicken, & Meat Choice) ($18.95) came with Beef Brisket and 2 sides (Green Salad and Willy’s Chili Beans) It was a good sized platter with a fair amount of each item.
The ribs were fine but did not taste like high quality beef. Had to eat them with BBQ sauce to make them acceptable.
The brisket and chicken were pretty dry, necessitating drowing them in BBQ sauce. The salad was average, but the pinto beans tasted lukewarm and not very good. The Texas toast was good, wish there was more.

Kids BBQ Texas Ribs ($4.95) comes with 3 ribs, fries, and a soda. Pretty good deal. Same ribs the adults get.

Pans:
None

Not much service, you have to get your silverware, drinks, and the food yourself. The food is slightly better than average. It wouldn’t be hard to find a better BBQ place, try Memphis Mini’s in San Francisco or Everett and Jones in Oakland.
As we emerged from Armadillo Willys, we realized that our clothes now smelled like we’d been to a BBQ joint. AAA members get a discount, so flash your card.

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