BarleyBean

I had to wait 45 minutes for my breakfast sandwich and when I got it it was cold and soggy. I was there with 3 of my other friends and the people got all of our orders wrong or forgot to make them until we asked.

I haven’t gotten a chance to check this place out as I (and my date) arrived there this morning just to discover a sign saying that it’s closed starting today December 22^nd until January 4^th.
I just wish that Unilocal would reflect it instead of showing it as open.
I’m making this post to save you a drive :-)
I do look forward checking this place out after Jan. 4^th when it opens for business as I’m impressed by all the good reviews and pretty photos. See you BarleyCoffee next year ;-)
Ps. That was my 1^st date with this guy so it was a «funny» start to arrive at a place that’s closed. The date went well though… We ended up grabbing a cup of coffee to go at the nearest Starbucks and going for a romantic walk at Red Bud Island.

Mediocre food and terrible service. Be prepared to wait for 30 min for a sandwich and still be treated poorly. I keep trying this place again thinking it will get better but it never does

Not too impressed. Service was slow and they got part of the two drink order wrong. I think Lola makes better latte and mocha.

The staff were really friendly to me. I asked about what kind of Kombucha they have and she gave me little samples of each of them.
The coffee is really good here. As an Aussie city coffee snob i was pleasantly surprised with the cappuccino.
I havent tried their food but i intend to next time i need a quick bite to eat near campus.

Coffeehouse/​convenient store in a small space is a way to describe BarleyBean. Located in that huge mini mall on Rio Grande and 24^th Street. I only had an iced coffee but they have a nice selection of sandwiches, smoothies and coffee. BarleyBean also sell some alcohol. They only had a few tables and chairs outside and some inside. Service was good and I definitely recommend coming here for snacks, getting caffeinated or if you need some groceries.

A cute shop with a wide variety of things. They have beer, coffee, smoothies, kombucha served on the spot or to take home in growlers (except for the smoothies of course).
Their food menu is split into breakfast (served all day) and salads/​wraps/​paninis. For example, I can order the Greek Chicken entrée as either a salad, wrap or panini. I prefer their paninis. The bread is buttery and soft, and pretty delicious. The ingredients are okay, pretty simple for the most part and not too spectacular.
My favorite paninis have been —
1) pesto presto (turkey)
2) Greek chicken
I’ve tried the hot & spicy and it was just okay. The flavors reminded me of queso.
It’s a nice spot to study so I would recommend this place if you just wanted a place where you could grab some good food and study at the same time. It’s not super big, so not very good for study groups, but a pair is fine.

I’ve been into BarleyBean quite a few times due to the fact I dislike Starbucks and it was the only decent coffee shop around campus. Usually I am satisfied with my service but today was different. I walked in and stood at the cash register for 10 minutes before anyone emerged from the kitchen. After i was greeted by a girl who looked like she could care less about working here. I asked her if she had cameras in the back so they could see if anyone came in and instead of answering me she pushed the bell towards me, which was hidden behind a sign, and tells me to ring the bell next time. Frustrated I pay and sit down to a dirty table (there is one big seating table and this was the dirty one). You would think if they are this slow someone would come out to clean instead of hang around in the back. Also, the man who came in after me received his drink BEFORE I did. Pretty displeased with my visit. I have gotten BETTER customer service at Starbucks… and being someone who works in the customer service industry (I work at a country club) I know how customers should be treated and the level employees should be at in making their customers happy… ugh. Once top choice for coffee around campus is now my last. Maybe I’ll end up trying it again, but if I see the lady who was here today again I will just walk out. Bad Customer service is the best way to lose customers, no matter how your coffee taste.
Update– went In again Tuesday 9÷29÷15 and was pleased with my visit. I ordered a vanilla latte for here and was disappointed when I got it in a to go cup (I think it changes the taste of the late when placed in the to go cup hot). I went up and asked them to pour it in a cup for here and the gentlemen said it would ruin that latte but he could make me a new one if I liked. I told him no it’s ok because it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. I went to sit down and 5 minutes later he brings me a vanilla latte in a cup for here! I was taken back by this and was happy because he said he wanted to make sure I was happy with my visit! This EXPERIENCE definitely out-​weighs my last one (p.s. Didn’t see the girl from last time. I am very happy about that lol)

Great café selections and a robust lunch menu. Between the robust menu options and the great service you definitely can’t go wrong at the Barley Bean no matter the time of day.

The best coffee in the States! Coming from Australia i found it so hard to find good coffee… then i wandering into Barley Bean and it was a match made in coffee heaven!
Went there atleast twice a day and it’s the place i miss the most! Also food is amazing and so is their pistachio macaroon!

Kombucha on tap AND affigato? (The first is a fermented tea sweetened with organic fruit juice. If anything it reminds me of light beer, but it sits real well and aids digestion. The former is typically gelato topped with espresso shots, although Barley Bean typically uses frozen yogurt. Interesting, eh?)
As far as the kombucha, it’s good but I like it a little stronger. This one is very tart and sweet, and not very acidic/​fuzzy… Maybe there’s less strands of good-​for-​you bacteria? (Yogurt has bacteria, remember y’all.)
These items are harder to find than yo typical mocha or latte. Especially in west campus lol. They also have a small health foods grocery store.
I’ve always received great service, and the atmosphere is pretty on point for studying. Bathrooms were clean and private.

I’m between 2 – 3 stars on this place. The décor at this place is really nice but it takes forever to get your food. I’ve been here since it opened for about 7 times and got food each time. It takes me at LEAST 30 min to get a panini or a breakfast croissant… even when there’s only 1 other person who ordered. or sometimes no one else is in line. One time I got a combo, and 30 min later I got my croissant and they forgot my smoothie and soup…
This isn’t the place if you’re in a rush. But, their sunset smoothie is my go to drink. Also, it’s kinda pricy for a tiny panini, I’d just go to Fricano’s Deli a street down if you want something filling.

I’ve been here a couple times to study and as a study spot, its great! There’s a good amount of outlets and natural lighting. Not as many seats as other coffee shops, but every time I went I’ve never had trouble finding myself a spot.
The drinks/​food are a different story… and I’m glad I used my Hooked app whenever I come because a lot of things were overpriced when it isn’t really that great either. I’ve tried about everything but their beer, smoothies, and some of their espresso coffees. The green juice I had was meh, its not supposed to taste good, but it was not cold. It was warm and that was a turn off for me. My following visit I got their spicy chicken panini and it was good, but didn’t really fill me up for lunch. And on my most recent visit, I got their matcha latte and did not taste any sort of matcha at all. It was just simply horrible and was not worth my money.
I’m still going to come back because its a great study spot, but I still need to find something thats actually worth my money here.

Coffee? Check. Smoothies? Check. Food? Check. Wi-​Fi? Check. This is a perfect recipe for a great place to study.
When I said coffee, I mean they have all the usual concoctions plus cold brew on tap. I had a mocha and it was chocolately and thick! My only complaint is that it wasn’t quite as hot as I like it.
When I said smoothies, I don’t mean the typical strawberry banana kind. It’s the extensive menu that you can even customize. Kale, blueberry, passion fruit, pinch of hemp, with a splash of soy… pretty sure they could do it.
When I said food, it’s breakfast and lunch. Sandwiches, eggs, waffles, salads, wraps, and paninis. The husband had eggs on toast. It was super tasty especially with the salsa. It’s more of an breakfast egg salad sandwich. It’s not open faced like I thought. They also have a small grocery section as well.
There’s limited seating but the seating that they have is great. It has a great look with warm wood. With the wifi, you’ll probably find me there working there more often :) So maybe I should say, don’t go or at least save me a seat.

Ok, so the vibe of the whole place when you walk in is not only clean, but obviously green (the floor is a concrete made out of soy & glass!) and there’s lots of cool attention grabbing décor… like bikes hanging from the ceiling.
Almost all of their products are organic &/​or specialty items so the grocery section is nicely stacked with lots of healthy and hard to find goodies. & beer, can’t forget the beer.
Speaking of beer, they have growlers for sale which, once purchased, you can basically refill with anything that they serve! Not only beer but kombucha, cold brew coffee, whatever!
They have «cold coffee on tap» a.k.a the best cuvée iced coffee ever! Great espresso and a nice variety of teas ranging from regular black to tropical green, and coffee cherry tea! any of which they will make for you iced or juice infused if you’d like.
Dirty chai is amazing when it’s hot. Had a mishap with the iced version, not sure what happened there. But Mo (the owner, I’m assuming) made me a hot one and it’s great!
There’s more smoothies than anything else on the menu… so obviously they’re good at that. Great consistency & you get 1 free add on to any of them.
Onto the food!
From the case:
Bagels are solid. Jalapeño cheddar is my favorite, and is a good choice for those of us who like jalapeño but don’t want our bagels to taste like nothing but jalapeños. Croissants are just ok, usually already on the dry side so when they warm them up for you they get a little hard.
From the menu:
The fruit parfait, oatmeal and Texas Waffle are all yummy, quick and filling choices for anyone looking to grab breakfast on the go (all under $ 5) and all come with super fresh berries!
The have other breakfast sandwiches that I’m not too fond of, but the other panini style sandwiches are good, and so are the wraps! I recommend the «pesto, presto!»
Unless you order a bunch, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get out of here paying less than $ 10! Great prices, and they’re open until midnight!

When asked for an iced breve, the baristas at the counter were really confused. This isn’t a takeaway from the coffee shop, but I do think baristas should take some time outside of work to familiarize themselves a little more or a little faster. Two baristas, and they both looked a bit too lost.
I don’t have a lot to say, to be honest. It’s good enough and close enough for a daily dose of coffee. The best coffee? No. The worst coffee? No. Kind of just the in-​between and satisfying enough to fill your coffee needs.
Although a tip for anyone who works here – please put a little less vanilla syrup. For customers, maybe ask for it light? If I can see it sit at the bottom of my iced breve even after shaking it up and taste all that extra sugar, then it’s too much. Even my vanilla latte was a little too… vanilla syrupy.
Also, the iced breve was about $ 5 for 12oz. It was kind of pricy for such a tiny cup.

I really love this place. They make one hell of a cup of coffee and its a great place to study. With food choices ranging from breakfast sandwiches to salads, wraps and paninis, you are sure to find something here that you like.
After you finish your study sesh, 6-​packs as well as draft beer is available. You can even buy a growler to take draft beer to go. They have a rotating selection and about ten craft beers, some local, and reasonable prices. Overall, this place is a hit with me and I hope it stays around for a long time.

I discovered BarleyBean through a lunchtime deal on Hooked and made the three-​block trek from the Drag to check it out. The first thing I noticed was how well designed everything is. They have a fantastic logo and have done a great job with the interior decoration of their coffee shop + café + market. It’s seriously quite impressive for what appears to be a first attempt at a business. My biggest complaint is that seating is extremely limited since the market area takes up a lot of space. There probably isn’t seating for more than a half-​dozen people inside. I do wonder if they’re over-​reaching a little by trying to do so many things at once.
The offer I claimed was an entrée + chips + soda for $ 6.50, which was an insanely good deal. Unfortunately, I think the current Hooked deal has been rolled back some. I got the Pesto Presto Panini, which was quite tasty. It was a little on the small side but the large bag of chips more than made up the difference. Fountain drinks are Maine Root Soda, so be warned mainstream soda drinkers!

Yeah… ok.
I’ll start off with saying that the décor of this place was pretty nice and tidy. «Hipster» was the first thing that came to mind when I walked in here. and that thought continued to linger around while I was browsing the menu. The ingredients… well, the ingredient combinations are strange, to say the least.
I ordered a «clean energy» power smoothie. What I didn’t knwo was that Clean Energy was another name for Tasteless Garbage. I almost want to call it a clusterfuck of a smoothie but it wasn’t quite there yet because it was still edible.ish. As I’m drinking it I can taste the whey (free add-​in, I don’t know why it was free, but they said I could choose one so I chose whey protein), hemp milk, and… almonds? I can tell you that these weren’t the only ingredients listed for this smoothie though. I know matcha was ingredient but I can tell you can BARELY tell it’s there, and for some people, the matcha taste can be hidden or merged with the almond+hemp milk taste.
Proportions guys. If I knew you were going to douse my smoothie in whey, I wouldn’t have chosen to add it in.
So in the end I got a whey protein+hemp milk+almond smoothie. By the way, hemp milk tastes like almond milk for those of you that never had it before.
This order was also 7.14 with tax, and it wasn’t filled to the brim, FYI.
This order also took forever. I believe they’re still new but they had like 3 people at the front and only one person was working on the smoothies? What?
Anyways, I heard their sandwiches are good, so I guess ya’ll should try that out instead?
3/​10, wouldn’t come again.

Ok so first I’m going to start with what’s great. and what’s bizarre about the brand new coffeehouse/​smoothie place/​grocery store/​bar/​lunch spot.
The space is really small but it looks fabulous. They have a great selection of healthy drinks, energy bars, frozen dinners, nifty 6 packs, and all sorts of other neat items you can grab quickly on your way to class. Moving past the grocery side you see their pastry case. Placement is a bit weird but the pastries inside look great. I tried one of their donuts in the evening. I bet they’re awesome fresh but I didn’t expect that at 6pm.
Seating was interesting. Kinda weird. The community table is great and the high chairs… awesome. They rock/​bounce. ha.
So! Onto the drinks. My friend ordered the Fat Chimp smoothie. Honestly… really delicious, which wasn’t surprising based on the fact that ¾ of their menu space was dedicated to smoothies. The consistency was fabulous and if enjoying it in store you get it in a real glass! Oh and you get the first add-​in free :)
Ok so why the 3 star review? Honestly, their chai tea was unforgivable… I’m not sure if they make it from scratch or use a very bizarre brand… but well… upon first sipping it I was immediately disgusted but I couldn’t place the weird spice they had put in there… sip sip sip… what does it taste like… OMG IT TASTES LIKE A POLISH SAUSAGE. No joke. That is exactly what the chai tea latte tasted like. So weird! Even my friend tasted it and said the same bizarre thing.
So yeah, the smoothies are fabulous, their grocery bit has a great selection of good for you foods, the seating is nice but weird, and they have sausage flavored chai tea lattes. I’ll report back when I try a coffee or sandwich!