eat at joes!

From the very first time I ever ate there, I have been a huge fan of Joe's BBQ. There is no better barbecue in the valley- it's simply the best! If you've never been, I highly recommend you give it a try. Since I am such a fan, you can imagine how excited I was my sister mentioned to me that they were having a customer appreciation day and serving FREE food.

Each year, on the first Wednesday of May, Joe's opens it's doors and serves a free meal to everyone that walks through the door. It includes a free bbq sandwich (your choice of beef or pork), two homemade side dishes, and a drink. What a deal!

So Nathan and I met up with little sister Jessica and the pip-squeaks and headed down to Joe's in Gilbert. We knew there would be a long line- so we came prepared with water and sunblock.
This is what the line looked like when we got there:

So we got in line and waited....

Mel demonstrating how to "shake your booty" while standing in line.

Nathan, being totally optimistic about how long the line is.

Self portrait (We had to find something to do for entertainment!)

Bethany wanted to take pictures too. - This picture reminds of some home videos that Nathan showed me from when he was little. It seemed like his little head was always popping up in the camera saying "I wanna see!!!"

Beth- texting.

The girls took turns sitting in the stroller. After a while, we adults wished that we had a stroller to sit in too.

This is our view from the line after about 15-20 minutes.

Can you find Jessica, Nathan, and Mel?

A quick snapshot of the happy couple!

Of course there would come a time when both kids wanted to sit in the stroller. This pose didn't last long. Just after I snapped this picture, Mel started to push Beth off her lap. Bethany didn't mind though- she's a little wanderer.

Finally! A wall to sit on!

Mommy and the girls relaxin'

The end is in sight! The line view after about 45 minutes.

*Yawn* Are we there yet?

Bethany was getting bored and decided that she needed something to read. Oh look! A free newspaper!

Bethany also made friends with the family that was standing in line behind us. She kept family hopping!

After about an hour we were finally at a place where I could take a picture of the sign. We could smell the deliciousness now more than ever!

A few minutes later we were walking through the front door. The air conditioning felt so nice and we were getting free dinner. They also handed us a coupon from Joe's Farm Grill (another one of Joe's AMAZING restaurants!) for a buy one get one free breakfast. Yum!


When we got to the front of the line, it was glorious! Just like they said- a free sandwich, two side dishes (pork and beans and cole slaw) and a free drink (pepsi or diet pepsi). After standing in line for almost an hour, the food tasted even more delicious than I remembered.

According to their feed on twitter, Joe served up 6,184 free meals- using 4500 pounds of meat, 1800 quarts of homemade sides, and ran out of bakery fresh buns after using up 500 dozen!

Personally, I think it was worth the wait, and a fun experience. And my nieces did pretty fabulous, having to wait in that line so long without any toys or anything to keep the distracted. It was fun spending time with my hubby and sister and enjoying a delicious meal out together- free of charge. I'll probably hit it up next year too. You should too! We can all go together- it'll be fun!!

EAT AT JOES!