The Barn

Excellent burgers! Management seems to be on top of things too!

First time here. The Sunny Side Up burger was pretty good. The egg could’ve used another minute as some the whites were still raw. The bottomless fries was nice, however we had to wait a few minutes too many for them, (my wife finished her lunch before they arrived.) Overall the atmosphere was good and the cleanliness was excellent. We will try again soon. Cheers!

Great place to grab a quick bite to eat and a few drinks. Highly recommend the blt pizza and the buffalo chicken salad. So good!!! Drink and food prices are extremely reasonable for the quality. Service is wonderful. We’ve never waited for a table, and food/​drinks come at perfect timing. We go there often, and always have a consistent experience. Thanks!

The burgers and burritos are pretty good. I do wish you got more for your money with the burritos, like you would at Qdoba.

I’ve lived in fenton for two months now and this is the only bar that actually knows my name. Love playing volleyball here!

The aesthetic of the place is kind of weird. Seems like strange place for a surf shack pole barn. Amazing transformation from the concrete windowless box that it used to be, don’t get me wrong, but the layout seems like a lot of wasted space.
My food was pretty good, like I’d order it again for sure, a veggie pizza with pesto, I did have to ask 3 times for an iced tea and two more for a refill. It was frustrating mostly because it was just as hot, if not hotter inside than it was outside. The burrito bar area was creating a lot of steam that wasn’t really helping the temperature. Climate control left something to be desired. Fun atmosphere though. Would probably go back on a day that wasn’t 95 degrees.

Found this place on accident but it was a great place to watch sports. They have t.v.‘s all around the bar and the restaurant. There are plenty of low and high tables throughout the place. Everything is wheelchair accessible, nice big bathrooms as well. I got the mama’s noodles (mac & cheese) yesterday and just thought it was ok. However we also split the nachos and they were great. I’ve had the salads (they are really big) before and was very happy with that choice. Monday’s is $ 1 domestic beer bottles night and this kept my husband happy :-) They are not cheap by any means, kind of more on the expensive side. I had a very good waitress both times I went although I had read other Unilocalers had issues with waitstaff; we didn’t have that problem. Food came up really fast; I think we were eating within twenty minutes.

At the Barn Fenton for a late lunch with a MiNBC deal. They have lots of drink specials. Ordered a BarBQ chicken and classic flatbread pizza. The décor is rustic, service quick. Parking lot and bathrooms clean. This is a sports bar with multiple tvs throughout. Quick service and the location is easily accessible off US23.

I’ve been to The Barn a number of times now and have never been disappointed.
Their burgers are the best in the area, they have a good selection of beers, even if they don’t always have a written beer list, and the service is always better than average and seems to be getting better with time.
A couple of visits ago my wife ordered a burger with bacon which when it came to the table was missing the bacon. She mentioned this to our server just so she wasn’t charged for it, and you would have thought they served her a burger with broken glass. That is to say not only was it handled, the server, asst manager and manager all made sure it was right and offered a free dessert.
I love this place and hope that it sticks around for a long time.

Full disclosure: I ate at The Barn a few months ago. During our meal, we made it pretty clear we weren’t happy to our server, and there was no apparent interest from them in changing that. By the time I thought about asking for a manager, none of else felt good, and we just wanted to leave. «Oh well,» I thought, «I can contact them online.» At the time, they had no means for me to do so. I decided to leave bad enough alone, and I swore myself to never eating there again.
Fast forward to today, and the reason I decided to write this review. Since eating there, The Barn has become an inside joke. When discussing where to go and eat amongst those close to me, someone often goes for easy laughs (and disgusted looks) by bringing up The Barn. Besides that, the location is incredible. Highly visible, centrally located, its easy to consider and go to. If only we wanted to eat there.
I could forgive the weird Californian theme (no, this barn named burger joint is not cattle related, its a «surf» barn… in the middle of Michigan), the weird food that comes with it (a Midwestern eatery that has no ranch dressing, just a spicy «Californian» ranch… if only they would tell you that in the menu), and the amount of money the spent on moving a shack more than half ways across the country (seriously).
I could forgive the bad food: the overstuffed and undercooked burgers, the pizzas served on dirty looking wood planks, the «more is more» approach to seasoning. After all, its not like we ate that much of it. Not one of my group ate even half of our entrees, and no I’m not exaggerating. If anything, I’m being overly generous. The Barn somehow managed to create a menu that was both overcomplicated and lacking in choice. When I saw the menu, I thought, «wow, a few good simple items, this should be really good,» but when I saw the food, I felt like a pull string Gordon Ramsay doll. «Keep it simple, keep it simple, keep it simple.» The heartbreaking thing is, they had wonderful ingredients. They just had bad recipes (and worse execution).
Did I already say I could forgive the bad food? I did? OK, and I meant it. After all, that can be fixed. What I can’t forgive was the attitude. Despite being newly opened, the server treated our complaints like something they’ve heard twenty times too many that day. There was no offers to fix anything, just the «that’s how we do it» rhetoric that convinced me that, yes, that is how they do it. Perhaps its the servers’ fault…
No. The management clearly didn’t create an environment where servers took complaints seriously, where they were empowered to take action. Even if we did just have one exceptionally bad server (unlikely, they were friendly and seemed more frustrated than we were), where was the management? They weren’t talking to the customers, that’s for sure. Maybe they just didn’t think there could be anything wrong with their food. The entire operations felt like someone’s hobby. There seemed to be more focused on the surf stuff than their was on the food.
Too bad they didn’t name the place «The Burger,» and put their passion into what they serve.

I was unsure of what to expect when I first went here. I’d heard mixed reviews (although in all fairness it was from when they first opened). I’m happy to report that the food was great! I’ve had a burger both times I went, and everything about it was delicious (roll, vegetables, burger). The fries were also fantastic. One of my dining companions substituted steamed veggies and they looked great as well. I’d recommend their burgers and will surely eat their again!