Back A Yard on Willow Rd. Menlo Park

It has been several years since I’ve eaten at Back A Yard in Menlo Park. Recently a friend heard about their oxtails & wanted to try it so off we went for lunch the other day. We shared a plate of those oxtails & curried goat, with rice & beans & plantains. This was beyond delicious! Both meats were cooked to perfect tenderness with complex gravy/sauce. It was so good I got another order to go for dear husbands dinner! Including tax & tip $20. We will be back soon

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There’s one in downtown San Jose too.

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We recently had a couple of meals from Back A Yard. Hadn’t visited for years and totally forgot also how yummy it was.

For the first meal, we had the curried goat. The curried goat was really good. Styled differently from the style found in India, but the Indian influence was definitely there. The sauce was nuanced, subtle and very delicious.

We also had the jerk chicken. Expertly marinated and cooked. The plaintain was good too.

For the second meal, we repeated the jerk chicken. And we had the ackee and salted codfish. First time I tried Jamaica’s national dish, and had ackee, the fruit from Jamaica. They soaked the codfish really thorough to the point where the codfish was actually only very mildly salted. The ackee was boiled. Its certainly a very interesting dish, and a nice one too, though I prefer the curried goat and the jerk chicken dishes.

Delicious. Will be back more often.

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@sck, We were on the same wave length! My friend Kathy & I picked up lunch from Back A Yard on Willow Rd. in Menlo Park yesterday! Our favorite is 1/2 curried goat & 1/2 oxtail with double rice & skip the plantains. The most delicious dish, so flavorful & meats are so tender. One of our favorite places & favorite meals!

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I should also add that a Back A Yard meal is tremendous value too. Its not that easy to find better dishes at $15 these days.

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Great reminder. It’s very close to my house, and I got a to-go plate a few months ago, and was also wow’ed. As good as ever maybe more so. And with a bunch of SJ locations? Like 3 or 4 by the map?

My only “problem” is the freaking plantains. They are INSANELY YUMMY and entirely drenched in calories. Last time I had a lunch there I saw the blip on my scale for days. If I could figure out how to order something that either I could decide to not eat, or had lesser calories, I’d do that. Maybe I can get the meat a la carte or just hold the plaintains. but they are SO GOOD.

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