Willie’s Taste of Soul Bar-B-Que

Had the brisket on my first visit! It fell apart and melted in my mouth. BBQ sauce was excellent. Tastes like good ol’ home cooking in Texas! I would recommend this joint to anyone that likes barbecue. It’s quite simple and the food has its own, unique flavor… nothing like you’d get at a corporation.
Well done, nuff said.

This place is authentic as they come. If your expecting a 5 star dinning experience with tuxedoed servers and candle lit tables, then this place may not be for you. If you want ridiculously good southern barbeque this is the best place in Seattle.
I am used to Texas bbq and this place isn’t exactly like that. I think it has a more southern Louisiana style.
I got the brisket my first visit and it was mind blowing. I was not used to all the sauce but it wasn’t strong and complimented the flavor of the meat. If you want cheap meat with powerful sauce I think something like Buffalo Wild Wings would work better. I got Mac n Cheese and it was hands down the best I have ever had. Potato Salad was our other choice and it was very good as well.
I have also tried the Jerk Chicken, which was the most tender and juicy chicken I can remember.
The plates are under 20 and definitely big enough for two with big portions. I rarely write reviews but this bbq exceeds expectations.

This was not a good experience for me. I have had the food before and loved it but not t, his time.. When I got there, they were catering an event. I picked up my order of rib tips & red beans and rice& went to the house on Ferdinand? The rib tips were more tips
than rib. The meat that was left was too hard to swallow.
I was really disappointed, because Willies taste of soul is one of the unique places in Seattle.
However with them was positive, so I wanted to contact them directly. I emailed them and received no response.
At this point, I don’t know if I’ll go back to Willies Tos .
That’s too bad, cause I was looking forward to getting some fried turkey, and chitterlings (chitlins) for Thanksgiving.

First time coming here and it was ok. I got the catfish dinner with Mac n cheese and potato salad. Also a piece of chicken and 7 up cake.
The catfish is good and not greasy always a plus. It also doesn’t have the fishy taste some other places in the area has. Double plus. I wish the sauce was more unique.
The potato salad was good, no complaints there. I didn’t care for the Mac n cheese at all. I can’t really explain what it was that didn’t do it for me.
The chicken had a good flavor, I’m not sure what spice they used but it added a nice change to your usual fried chicken, just a tad salty.
Being that I don’t think I ever had 7up cake I can’t judge too much what it should taste like. It was good in my opinion.
I take homemade any day but if I don’t feel like cooking I can come here and be satisfied. A lot of people said the owner is grumpy but he was nice to me. A little pricey but so what.

Avoid this place or you will get sick. After eating at this place 3 times I thought the food was below average. The food was not fresh, seemed to be microwaved and lacked flavor. I really wanted to like this restaurant, but enough is enough! I was in a hurry so I figured I would stop by and get a hotdog and a order of greens. I noticed the place was empty for it being 5:00pm. I paid for the food and got in my car, opened the brown paper bag and the smell of spoiled meat hit me like a Mike Tyson punch in the face. My gag reflex kicked in and I did everything to avoid vomiting from the smell. Superman’s weakness is kryptonite, mine is spoiled meat.
He had to know the hotdog was spoiled and he served it anyway. I never will step foot in that place again.

To start this is authentic and genuine. It’s nothing fancy on the inside but the BBQ here is legit second to mine. I graduated from the culinary Institute of America and for the BBQ I would go back anytime. They have a little spot of something truly special. I’ve read reviews of the beans as bad but I don’t go out for beans. A you want ribs then go here. You want well trimmed and cooked brisket go here. If your in the mood for beans stay home and think about your life choices.

Willie’s is a one man working diner. So be patient and just sit down. Don’t complain because when the good food comes out, you’ll be smiling.
We ordered the combo of 4 meats, 2 side dishes (it’s potato salad and bbq beans), with cornbread. The 4 meats come smoked perfectly — chicken, brisket, pork ribs, and sausage.
Chicken was divine, brisket was tender, ribs were delicious, sausage was flavorful. My friend and I were able to eat a full amount and still have leftovers to go. My favorite was the cornbread, next time we will order an extra one!

Fantastic food, great & friendly service. Gumbo, brisket, BBQ chicken, fried chicken, sausage links, pig’s feet — it’s all delicious and you can tell Willie makes everything with care. Sides are bomb — especially the mac & cheese, and 2 sides + cornbread are included in the dinners. Plus HUGE portions, you’ll probably have leftovers that taste even better the next day. This small local business deserves your support — do yourself a favor and check out Willie’s right away.

Full disclosure — I went with a Living Social coupon. While the coupon said valid for dine-​in only, it didn’t mention that if you wanted the fried chicken or fried okra, you would have to use the full value of the coupon before you could order those items — seriously, someone thinks that this is good business?
I ordered a two-​meat combo — baby back ribs and brisket, greens and beans. My companion ordered the two-​meat with bbq chicken and brisket. I do have to give a compliment because the meat was smoked well. Unfortunately, that is the only compliment I can give. The bbq sauce was ordinary and bland And while the collard greens were cooked well, my first bite included a heavy dose of salt from someone not stirring after seasoning – that amount of salt has a tendency to blow-​out your taste buds for the rest of the meal.. And the beans were adequate (my companion loved them and his chicken) but not any that I would go out of my way for.
And maybe the reason I got 3 small ribs and 3 small pieces of brisket was the fact that I used the coupon. I can only hope otherwise, this is a very expensive for what you get. And even with the coupon, I felt it was overpriced. Possibly explains why no one was there on a Saturday night — or maybe because the tv was blaring quite loud, a UFC fight — not quite what I normally associate with dining pleasure.
I know Seattle has good BBQ – unfortunately, it’s not here.

The Bar-​B-​Que sauce is good as are the side dishes. The meat is not good. The chicken and pork ribs were dry. The food was recently warmed up but not enough. The meat was luke warm. The corn bread was also dry. We will not go back.

HO-​RRI-​BLE. Would not recommend AT ALL! The owner is incredibly rude and tried to charge me $ 2 more than the actual price! The food was very obviously microwaved and very dry. I am honestly not sure how he is still in business. When I walked in, him and another man were watching a football game at an extremely loud volume, and took an incredibly long time to help us. Don’t wast your time (or money).

Being from TX, I’m a bit picky when it comes to barbecue. This is totally a one-​man-​show. Prices are VERY high. Beef ribs were good, but hot links were not. Sauce was «meh». Just not my style. Good cornbread. Sides (greens & macaroni) were nothing to write home about.

WILLIE’S TASTE OF BAIT AND SWITCH MARKETING
TL/​DR: Seemingly racist owner who does not honor Groupons, Living Socials, and
certificates
Willie is horrible at customer service and I’m not sure how he is still in business. It was a Saturday night at 8:15 when I went here and no one was in the restaurant and a game was blaring. I would say this should have been my first sign not to try to eat here, but I would say I really should have gone to Unilocal first before even making the drive here.
I had a
certificate to use which I presented when I was ready to order, and Willie refused to honor it. He was abrupt with me and I felt like I was being racially profiled. He said, «we don’t do deals.» I told him it was my understanding
would not be selling me a certificate if he didn’t have a partnership with them. «Who told you that?» he said angrily. He then picked up the phone as it was ringing and ignored me. What was I to do?
I voted with my feet and left. Reading through the reviews after I left confirmed that other patrons have felt racially profiled as well, and that he has not honored their certificates or he alters the terms after they show them, saying things that are not on the certificates like they can’t be used on Sundays. He also appears from the reviews to offer subpar food after certificates are presented, and does things like microwave old bbq to serve to patrons who dare use certificates they brought. Watch out if you see a deal come up for here in your Amazon local like I did in the last week, I’m sure he won’t honor that either.
I contacted
and they said I can transfer the certificates’ value to another business which I will plan on doing. Simply Soulful has some of the best reviews in the city and I bet they would be glad to take my money.

This is a wonderful place to eat, I had their catfish and it was excellent! Then I finished it up with one of their sweet potatoes pies!
Money well spent!

Bleck, bleck, and more BLECK!
Came here on a Monday night with the fam, and ordered the brisket/​baby back ribs dinner combo, and a ½ jerk chicken. It was easily one of the worst meals I’ve had in years. I know they have a Sunday buffet, so perhaps we were getting some of the leftovers? I don’t know what the heck happened, but the meat was dry as a bone. The chicken, the ribs, the brisket — all of it. How do you dry out brisket?!?
When the plates came out, we looked at each other and knew that they had both been microwaved. The sauces around the edges had that crusty, bubbly look that sauces get after you’ve nuked them.
We’ve been here 3 times total. The first two times (years earlier), we thought it was alright. This third meal is going to stick in my mind a long time. I don’t think I’d eat here again even if somebody was treating me.
I don’t even need to go into the service, ambiance, value, etc. The food alone is enough for me to advise a PASS on Willie’s.

So I stopped in at willies for the first time last week and I ordered the Jamaican Jerk Chicken, can I just say when the chicken came out I felt that it was warmed up and after eating it later that day I had diarrhea.
Also tried the ribs and it wasn’t fresh off the grill but heated up. I tried the pineapple coconut cake I took one bite and to spit it out because it was rotten
Not sure how they’re getting away with serving old nasty bad food. I think the health inspector needs to pay this place a visit because it is not right.
STAY AWAY IF YOU DON’T WANT THE RUNS.

Just stumbled upon this place, enjoyed the food and the area it is in makes for some damn fine people watching.
Mac Cheese was probably best thing i had but brisket was good to.

I’ve seen this place so many times and I finally was able to give it a try.
I don’t know if I have anything bad to say about the place, maybe just the lighting issue. It was a good experience and most importantly it was run by a small business owner.
I am a brisket freak so I had to order the dinner size brisket for lunch. And I finished it. During the day it’s 5 dollars off so spending an extra dollar or two was well worth it.
The brisket had good flavor. I don’t really care for drenched with bbq meat, but I was ok with it here. The bbq was mildly bitter, a different flavor profile than your usual sweet and tangy.
I will say the best thing were the greens. Oh my, those were the best greens I have ever eaten anywhere. They were cooked just right.
The restaurant is a bit dark but maybe it’s setting the mood? I dunno maybe a skylight would help.

I coach select baseball in the valley/​Columbia city neighborhood, so finding places to eat before or after our games have always been a mission for my assistant coach and I. We stopped by Willie’s for the first time this winter around 6pm. The restaurant was completely empty and it looked like the man was packing up for the night, but the spit was open for a couple more hours so we decided to order. We both got ribs to dine in.
After ordering and sitting down at the table with our drinks, I hear the reminiscent sound of a microwave opening. Eh probably warming up the sides we ordered. Wrong. This guy nuked our entire order of ribs. Just like the rest of Seattle and our passive aggressive ways, we thanked him for a great meal and left. Yeah not a great meal. 2*‘s for the effort.

After reading so many recent one-​star reviews, I approached Willie’s Taste of Soul BBQ with a certain amount of trepidation. I did have a Groupon that expired in a week, so in we went.
Happily, I did not experience the rudeness and grumpy service other Unilocalers have mentioned. In my case, the lady running the counter was very pleasant, which is especially commendable since it appeared that she was quite literally the only employee in the shop.
I ordered the 4-​meat dinner combo for later, and when I saw they had fried chicken, I decided to try a 2-​piece snack pack while I waited. The chicken was a bit dark on the outside, which made me wonder if it was overcooked. Surprisingly, the meat inside was very moist and succulent. My only critique is that I thought the chicken and the coating were a bit aggressively seasoned, and rather salty. If they can dial that back a little bit, I think Ezell’s had better start worrying.
The BBQ combo came with hot links, brisket, chicken and a couple of pork ribs. All in all, they weren’t bad, but I do think they were again a bit salty. The texture of some of the meats (ribs & brisket), and the fact the pit out back was cold led me to conclude that these had been in the fridge for a while, and had been pulled out and warmed up. The BBQ beans were quite good, but the greens were — wait for it — a bit salty. The BBQ sauce is, sadly, unremarkable. Better sauce has been had at Auburn’s Longhorn, and West Seattle’s Seattle Hog Heaven (formerly Jones BBQ).
As mentioned by other Unilocalers, parking is a bit of an issue. They have a small parking lot, but it was partially blocked by a company truck, and the only egress from the lot is through a back alley with terribly deep potholes. Not a problem for SUVs, but a real challenge for this boy’s sports car.
I’m giving two stars because, as the definition spells out, ‘I’ve experienced better’. It is hard to find good BBQ in Seattle. Back in the day, WToSBBQ was a leading player, but they seem to have lost their groove at the moment. To be brutally honest, I had better BBQ last week at Seattle’s Hog Heaven in West Seattle. This is not to say they can’t get it back. With the closing of the much-​loved Catfish Corner in the CD, Willie’s could easily win a share of that establishment’s loyal clientele of soul food fans. WToSBBQ does have an encouraging menu that includes a lot of soul food staples (catfish, yams, etc.) but I’m not crazy about going back until my body works though all that salt and my blood pressure goes back down.
I do agree with Unilocaler Bubba X.‘s take on Groupons. As I’ve mentioned before in my review of Shilla Korean restaurant, restaurants that offer Groupons tend to be (a) new establishments trying to get exposure, or (b) places that are essentially on life support and are desperately trying to get a few last customers. I would advise anyone contemplating purchasing a Groupon to check the recent Unilocal reviews first.
As BBQ joints go, WToSBBQ isn’t a disaster, but they do have a ways to go to get their groove back, and there are better BBQ places. While I cannot recommend them, I won’t tell you not to go.

As others have mentioned in previous reviews — Willie has a bad attitude and it’s not welcoming what so ever. As far fetched as you may think it sounds, I assume his unwelcoming attitude was due to me showing up with my Asian boyfriend. Interesting how he was very upbeat and nice to all the other black women in there, yet for some reason I was talked to like I was wasting his time and dumb when I asked where my cup was for my drink.
The mac and cheese here is actually mac and grease. Absolutely disgusting. The cornbread was stale, as well. Add the potato salad to the list of food that isn’t worth eating and was left unfinished. The links also tasted like they were old and just re-​heated. We got the 4-​meat BBQ plate. For $ 21.95, I felt pretty ripped off. He added $ 2.95 to my order for no reason, as well. I looked at my receipt and it said, «Extra item.» Nothing was extra. I ordered the meal, the drink, and that was it. I didn’t feel like dealing with him, so I left the $ 2.95. There’s your tip, pal.
Not a good experience at all. I would never come back, nor recommend this place to anyone.