Barbette

“My partner and I celebrated our intimate wedding dinner at Barbette's private Trapeze space and could not have been happier with the experience. We have always loved the food and atmosphere at Barbette and felt confident our guests would feel the same. (You simply cannot beat Barbette french fries.) But more than that, the service and atmosphere elevated the evening to one of the most meaningful of my life. The staff were a rare mix of professional and communicative, but also friendly and easygoing. Our server Clara was hustling all night for our group of 17 but was also so funny and fun to work with. Our family and friends were so surprised to realize this gem of a space had always been right under their nose. Thank you so much, Barbette team, for making our wedding celebration so special!”

“We scheduled this dinner for after our participation in this year's Luminary Loppet on nearby Lake of the Isles (look it up online if you're not familiar; it's a beautiful event--see photos). After walking the illuminated loop on the lake, we walked over to Barbette and had a wonderful time. It was great to see the restaurant so busy! The ambience was very nice and reminded us of restaurants in Europe. For our meals we had the steak frites and the seafood pasta. My wife said that her steak frites was perfect; she didn't share much with me, so I only had some of the fries (perfect fries). My seafood pasta was also great. I was impressed with the amount of seafood in it, there was no skimping on the star of the show. Salmon, shrimp, and a large array of mussels ringing half of the plate. I should have taken a photo, the presentation was lovely. Combined with a bottle of nice French wine for only $50, we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening for a very reasonable price. Highly recommended.”

“Food is great. Ordered oysters (very fresh and juicy, especially the west ones), Cobb salad (I like the meat, avocado and goat cheese), short ribs (very tender), and crème brulee (wonderful texture 🤩).”

“Came in at 3:38 for the brunch menu (served until 4) — we were given the dinner menu. Understandable, but when the Brunch menu was requested we were irritably told it was available for 5 more minutes. We rushed to order. My partner is gluten and dairy free (medical), we mentioned as such. She ordered a soup, clarified that it was allergen free. It arrived with bread on the side and we were told, "Well some people ask for gluten free and then order a beer." Okay, I get that for some people it's just a trend, but you really can't make that assumption especially when your site advertises, "many gluten-free and vegetarian options." My partner had carefully asked even about menu items that don't typically have gluten or dairy and was given a passive aggressive "of course not" tone, so this was a particularly upsetting response. The Roasted Ferndale Turkey & Herb Chevre sandwich was really phenomenal. Best sandwich I've had in a good long while. The fries were fries; the saffron aioli seemed like it probably came from a tub. The lentil soup was passable. It's not featured on the site, but they have a REALLY outstanding selection of mocktails that I appreciated as a non-drinker. Spanish music was playing for the duration of our meal. I get there's a lot of shared culture between Spain and France, but I did think it was funny and not particularly fitting considering that...you know...plenty of French music does exist. The wall art was lovely, I like that they sell paintings on site.”

“Absolutely everything about this place was terrible. While the food and drinks were disappointing, it was the service that prompted me to write this review. We waited 25 minutes after being seated to have a server come to our table for drink orders. At first we thought she was just busy, and it wouldn't be a big deal. But then she was cold, short, and would barely make eye contact with us. She never checked on us once throughout our entire dinner. She said she would pick up the dishes from our appetizer (it was a small table) when our dinner came, but never did. We went from feeling ignored to truly unwelcome and uncomfortable because of her behavior towards us. Regarding the food - the Manhattan was watered down, and the $14 mocktail was nothing more than lemonade in a pint glass. The food was luke warm and unimpressive. The bathroom cleanliness was at the level of a gas station. All in all, we spent over $100 on dinner for two and we just couldn't wait to get out of there.”