Willie's Homemade Tamales & Smokehouse

Okay, this is not a rating for the ambiance, which it doesn't have at all (unless you consider one bottle of vodka, and one bottle of gin behind the bar enough decoration), but for the food.  You must try the pulled pork and the tamales if you go here!  It's worth going out of your way ---- we happened to be looking for a lunch place on our way to Peoria, and it was just way too convenient to just go by, just because of the way it looks on the outside.  Try it and you won't be disappointed.  Believe the reviews.  I left with a full stomach, a smile on my face, a picture of us in front of the place to put on facebook, and 12 homemade (frozen) tamales to take to my brother!  Unbelievable, and once again, yelp steered me to the right place.

We happened to drive past here and my wife's eyes targeted the "Homemade Tamales" sign when we were stopped at the lone four-way stop sign in this town.  She asked me to pull over and we are soooooo glad we did.

It doesn't look like much from the street (and even less from inside - be careful sitting down - the seats are upholstered but the cushions are long since deteriorated and are now non-existent).

But, enough about the decor - we are here for the food!  The tamales were a-maize-ing!!!  (Did you get the pun I dropped?)  

It was a little early for lunch (it was only 11:30am) but they were already almost out of tamales for the day and only had three bundles remaining after we were done eating.  Unfortunately, they were out of their frozen stock too, or we would have bought some 'to-go".

I find it sad and surprising that, despite the Hispanic influence in our home area of the northwest suburbs of Chicago, we cannot seem to find a tamale place that can even BEGIN to hold a candle to how good these tamales were!

We will definitely add them to our 'places to stop by' list if we're ever in the area again....

Exceptional tamales (also available frozen for take out; I always buy several dozen for myself and for shipping to a good friend who moved from the Peoria area).  They are the best I've ever eaten.  Tasty butterfly pork chops (that are large enough to almost need two buns) also are offered with grilled onions and house made barbeque sauce that has a mild spiciness.

As Bruce K. noted, the place is converted from an old gas station; it has the old decor to match.  But this lack of atmosphere seems unimportant when one compares the excellent food quality and value available here to the ordinary, higher-priced  offerings of places with nicer dining rooms.  There is a small bar in the back.  

The location is about a 30 minute drive from Peoria, but worth the trip (especially if you take some frozen tamales for later, they warm up well in the microwave!).