Barnyard

Found by happenstance, I am a fan! I sat at the bar and chatted a bit with the staff who was friendly, hospitable and quick with service.
The menu had so many nice things on it, I had a hard time choosing my order. Best for small plates to try more.
Randomly they have popcorn flavored ice cream which was so delicious. I can’t wait to go back.

Fantastic brunch. I highly recommend the black pudding. The décor is a bit theme-​park-​ish

Good place to hangout for a beer with friends. They have some american, finish and Iceland beer. Service is good. Portions are really small and taste is so so, it seems overpriced. Bottom line, come for drink with friends, but not for eating.

Great atmosphere, a very rustic and rural setting.
Food is simple but well made. Drinks to match!
Good service, a very pleasant staff.
Fair prices.
I’d recommend going here for a nice casual night out!

I had a pretty terrible time when I went here, I had heard good things so was looking forward to it.
We were seated just by the corner of the bar at the front there was a party at the table by the window, they finished during my meal and all went to the bar area where my table is. They started leaning on my table and elbowing me constantly during my meal and the staff didnt seem to care or do anything when i asked if he could get them to move.
As for the food it was all a bit of a let down small portions basic flavours and the service was terrible I asked for water three times it never came, the popcorn bourbon milkshake was horrible dont get that.
For what was supposed to be a great place to eat it was one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve ever had.

Barnyard has a really cute ambiance (you actually feel like you are in a barn!) and the food was tasty. We tried almost everything on the brunch menu: smoked salmon, avocado toast, watermelon, granary toast, waffles, and mushroom toast. The smoked salmon with asparagus was really nice and light, although it was only served with two tiny portions of bread that were not really enough. The portions are generally a bit small for the price but everything feels very fresh and healthy. It doesn’t hurt that the waiters are really cute! ;)

I went to the Barnyard for brunch. The décor and atmosphere is really nice. They have made a lot of effort for the atmosphere to match the name (in a good way). My general comment is that the food is good and tasty but nothing special. The main downside of brunch here is that the dishes are really small. The value for money isn’t good at all. I was really disappointed with the portions.
Watermelon: I really like the idea of having watermelon on the menu. It is really refreshing in the summer. However, it was half a slice of watermelon for 1£.
WARM ACORN FLOUR WAFFLES, MAPLE SYRUP & SMOKED BUTTER (£6): There were two little waffles. The waffles were tasty. The butter had a really interesting taste. I had never had ‘smoked’ butter before. However, I didn’t think that it suited the dish.
AVOCADO ON TOAST, LOVAGE AND MINT (£4): Also very small portion. It was good but nothing I can’t make by myself at home.
Mushroom, poached egg and bread (£10). This was again really small portion and not filling but it was really tasty!
The staff was friendly but service was ok. I ordered coffee and it didn’t come with a spoon so I can put sugar. I had to ask 3 times for a glass of water.
I wouldn’t recommend this place for brunch.

I swung by here at TimeOut’s recommendation for the takeaway of popcorn ice cream with smoked fudge for £3.50. Man oh man how DELICIOUS. The ice cream totally tastes like rich, buttery popcorn and the smokiness is on point. I still think the serving size was a bit small for the price but that’s a quibble.

Absolutely delicious — from the food to the cocktails. The interior is great too — wood everywhere without the pretentious vibe

Food was decent, staff friendly, though the restaurant’s concept is a bit lost on me.
So there were three of us — a Greek, a Pole and an American — colleagues all (there’s a joke in there somewhere), knocking back a few old fashions on the outside porch. Debate ensued as to whether the Barnyard is positioned as British contemporary or American Southern, and if the latter is it Tennessee or Texas?
We’ve seen the red flannels and tasted the cornbread. I’m 64% sure it’s themed on Canadian lumberjacks stuck in Kentucky.

Came on a sunday brunch. Walked in without reservation and only managed to get seated at the counter.
The service was friendly, the place nicely decorated, relaxed atmosphere.
I enjoyed my order, though I was served a dish I did not order by mistake — it was served in the same bowl and the waiter got confused!
Portions were a bit small for a brunch, which was ok for me but my boyfriend had to order a second dish.
I would probably try one more time for dinner, but would definitely recommend booking.

A very good place to eat. Suckling pig is great and the chicken wings are very delicious. The best side is the charred broccolis. Shandies are a tad sweet but very nice.
Service is very friendly and accommodating. Décor is very much like a barn and very well done.
Menu can be made slightly less confusing given the small portions require a couple of orders.

I took a few days to cool off from this let down, and with a level head I can honestly say «Meh. I’ve experienced better». Mark Bittmans glowing NY Times review led me to check this place out, but the only good thing I found here was the service and the front of house staff. The food is boring, gimmicky and overpriced.
The restaurant I experienced the other night offers a menu that is a poor copy of what was being done at much better in places in New York and San Francisco a couple years ago at similar price points. It all came across as a cynical attempt to cash in on food trends and to offer up no brainers that are sure to sell.
The food?
— Chicken wings were bland. How do you have bland paprika?
— Sausage roll was horribly dry, and the mustard pickles seemed like they came from a Tesco jar.
— One of the salads was so sweet it was near inedible.
— The medium rare chicken — while I get it (I’ve had chicken sashimi for gods sake) — should not be casually handed over to a pregnant member of our table without warning or explanation, even if you are super confident in the husbandry of your animals.
— And the popcorn ice-​cream, again, was way to sweet.
A small bit of good. The cornbread was great. The gingerbread milkshake and my nettle shandy were also good. And again, the staff and front of house are all really professional.
That said, it’s ultimately about the food. And at this price point you have to deliver. London is one of the most happening food cities on the planet right now. There are much better meals to be had in this town.
ps.
I have a perverse respect for this place. They got me to spend £4 ($ 6.48 USD at todays rate) on an ear of not very good corn.
For the four of us that night, we spent a total of £16 ($ 25.93 USD), on 4 cobs of not particularly good corn. In fact, I would describe myself as a bit of a corn aficionado, and I would pay this price for a super-​delicious piece of organic, heirloom corn, that’s only in season for a few weeks, and is perfectly prepared– grilled would be the way to go, maybe Mexican or Thai style.
This however is a boiled ear of boring commodity corn– available anywhere in London — served in a mug with a screw at the end (wow! how whimsical /​sarcasm). Seriously, run as fast as possible from places like this.

A place to see and be seen, this place
1. Does not live up to the hype
2. Has a long waits
3. Only so so food for someone of such esteemed cooking (in his other restaurant of course)
BUT has
1. Great service
2. Nice ambience
We get in really early on a Friday because of the reviews around wait times later in th evening. Sitting down, my friend and I are eager to catch up after being told at Dabbous that there are no tables for the evening. I mean, it’s like Fat Duck and Hinds Head no? No. Is the right answer.
The food was decent, the milkshakes… well, disappointing.
We had the Bavette Steak, Sausage Roll, Asparagus and Duck Egg, Cabbage, and Broccoli. All of the dishes were to a good but not great standard. The duck egg was great, soft boiled, but only a half a duck egg was on the plate with about 4 pieces of asparagus. While nicely plated, seemed a bit short on the serving size. Additionally, for £14, a 4 oz serving of Bavette seems a bit meagre. Especially since I know Bavette seems to be coming into fashion (Vinoteca does a great dish for £2 extra).
I think the dish I enjoyed the most was the charred broccoli. It had great flavour, and the sauce really complimented everything we were having. Whilst we had a great time catching up, the food experience did not meet expectations. Happy to not return.

My second visit to Dabbous’ sister restaurant Barnyard was unfortunately far less pleasurable than the first. Luke-​warm food, air con on full blast, music too loud for conversation (I felt this was more volume than an acoustic problem), and overly smoked sides, complete with foreign objects on plates and bizarre customer service.
Our wait for a table was handled well, but once seated we asked for the air con to be turned down to which we were warned it would get really hot really quickly, but soon realised no change in temperature was happening and our already not-​piping hot food was quickly cooling. My previous visit left me with a love of their expertly charred broccoli, which this time was far too smoky, overpowering all other taste. We also considered it cheeky for the asparagus, soft boiled duck egg, chervil and sunflower seeds dish to offer up only half a duck egg.
The rest of the food from the new menu (fries, potato salad, chicory, chicken wings — still thankfully a gem of the menu) was great although the warm horseradish buttermilk, and cauliflower cheese were missed. However, a small fly crawled off my plate at one point, next a small, dark hair was found amongst the asparagus (we hoped the culprit was merely from the beard of our waiter, which is bad enough and in future I will always complain about hairs in food), but then a large salt-​crystal-​sized piece of clear plastic found it’s way into my friends mouth. After recently cracking a tooth & more cautious of mouthfuls luckily she hadn’t swallowed this.
As we were not asked if everything was ok by our waiter at any point through our meal and would’ve been more or less happy to let cool food, bugs and erroneous hairs go this was too much. When General Manager Charlie did come over after our waiter removed the offending item with a frankly disrespectful «I’ll see what I can do for you love», we were shocked to be challenged after an initial apology. Did we tell our waiter about the hair? Could it have been one of ours? No plastic is used in the kitchen so we’re trying to work out ourselves where this came from. And bizarrely, what did we want him to do about it?
To complete the awkwardness when we suggested something was taken off the bill, usually as the mains were the issue this would be a first offering in this situation, Charlie suggested an ultimatum of money off and not coming back at all, or coming back for a second complimentary meal for the same value so that they could get it right. But it was either or.
We would’ve been happy to give Barnyard a chance to look after us — as they should any customer — and get it right, and actually we were still keen to stay for pudding but after we agreed to take Charlie’s email to arrange a return visit our full bill was swiftly brought over and we were left to it again. The whole way we were dealt with made us decide that actually no, we had no interest in returning and that we wanted to leave immediately.
Taking the bill to Charlie to renegotiate we were again made to feel awkward and somehow at fault, or worse, just looking for a free meal, when he again presented to us an ultimatum and asking how much we thought he should take off. Considering the compensatory offer was a second meal of the same value we suggested this bill be wiped all together, allowing us to return without pressure if we should ever want to in the future. This was reluctantly accepted after another uncomfortable pause. We left honestly confused by this bizarre approach to unhappy customers. Barnyard this time has left quite a bad taste in my mouth.

I’m not sure why this is listed as a dessert place because it’s definitely open for brunch on the weekend. Barnyard is a tiny spot off Oxford Street, decorated like a, well, a barn, with various details to complete the rustic feel like having milkshakes served in milk bottles.
The servers were attentive and hilarious. I liked the plates that we ordered (avocado toast, tomato toast, waffles, and yoghurt with honey) and they were surprisingly filling. I kind of wish we had just gotten the Sunday Roast and split it though, seems like that would have been much more better value (I die a little bit on the inside when I pay for simple pieces of avocado on toast).
Their standout menu item is probably their shandies. Lots of quirky, cute cocktails in surprisingly large portions (you’d be surprised how much that little cup can hold). At £7 they’re certainly not cheap, but they are tasty.
I don’t know if I’d go back for brunch. It was a little expensive for what we ordered. I’d be willing to give them a shot for lunch or dinner during the week though.

Working on Charlotte Street, I have the pleasure of being surrounded by more food and drink options than my stomach (and liver) can handle. Two of these include Ollie Dabbous’ ventures — Dabbous and the newest, more lowkey, hipster homie, Barnyard.
Following a trip to Dabbous just the Friday before, my colleages and I decided to have our team meeting at Barnyard to do a comparison check. We arrived, four of us, around 12:30PM on a Wednesday. Usually the after-​work crowd can be seen (and heard) when passing down Charlotte Street, but I was rather pleasantly surprised by the space and less crowded inside during this time of day.
Service: Not bad — the waiters explained to us the concept of the restaurant (order 2 – 3 and can share), but didn’t go too into any of the selections unless prompted. That being said the host and staff were much more friendly than the sister restaurant (Dabbous)
Food: Though you are told to order about 2 – 3 dishes per person, I found that one of the larger mains and a side was more than enough food for one person. As most of the dishes are quite rich, more than this would have actually have been too much. At first glance of the menu, nothing really popped out at me as too delicious-​sounding. Luckily one of my colleagues had been once before and was able to give some recommendations. Due to this I settled on the roast beef on toast with horseradish buttermilk — seriously delicious. For a side I went for the chicory salad — though good, this definitely could have been shared as it was quite a lot of the same taste — I found myself rather envious of my colleagues choice in corn on the cob. A couple of us at the table ordered the short ribs and was admittedly surprised by how little food was brought over for its 14 quid price tag. The chicken and bun appeared to be a better value for the money and with the side enough food for one as well. Though everything brought out was yummy and good quality, you can find just as quality affordable dining options in the immediate area. I think one other point that brings me to harp on this value was when asked to have their house lemonade (3.50) without ice, the waiter brought over a cup half the size of the original lemonade (pinching pennies?). Glad to have tried this but probably won’t be back unless with a larger group.
Ambiance: Definitely a cooler vibe than the sister Dabbous restaurant. Both have some acoustic issues that can make it difficult for you to hear your fellow diners.

Food: My friend and I ordered the sausage roll, short rib, wings, corn on the cob, chips and salad. Everything we ordered was delicious and flavorful.
Drinks: We ordered two of their shandies — the country house and hedgerow — which both were awesome and addicting.
Price: 61.00 GBP for two people which I thought was reasonable.
Ambiance: As soon as we walked into Barnyard, the vibe was much more laid back than Dabbous (sister restaurant) and the host was very friendly.
Service: We sat at the bar and the bartenders were very attentive to our needs.
Would I go back? Definitely. Be prepared to wait for a table because they don’t take reservations and the restaurant is small. We decided to eat at the bar and not wait for a table.

Barnyard is part of the new trend of down-​home, southern cooking done in an upscale, quality way. And I mean quality.
Let’s get the big details out of the way. This is the new spot from Ollie Dabbous, who’s self-​named other restaurant is lovingly known as the hardest spot to get a reservation in London.
Now. Barnyard takes no reservations, you show up and add your name to the list (another trend happening throughout London). Not great, because this spot is tiny, to the list is packed. And I mean packed.
We arrived right after work at 5:45 and there were about 3 people ahead of us. Easy, not a long wait at all. When we were sat at 6pm though, the wait was half an hour long. By 6:30, an hour. By 7pm, it was two to three hours long for a table for two. Holy hell. You can sit at the bar if there is space, but there won’t be, it’s hard for the waiters to get around, much less room for you to hang around.
What I’m saying it, come early. And then, come hungry.
The menu is simple enough — one sided sheet of paper (with drinks on the other side) separated into five sections: beef, chicken, pork. veggies and sides and puddings. The items are damn reasonable, much more than I thought, coming in at £3 to £6 a pop (some of them, that are bigger, like the short ribs are £9 but they’re an outlier.) We were told to order about three things per person, but ended up ordering a little more.
So now, what you really care about, the food. We ordered a ton, so here’s how it went:
HOMEMADE SAUSAGE ROLL WITH PICCALILLI — Amazing. Truly amazing. Light flaky pun, perfectly cooked sausage, delicious piccalilli. Easily a standout of the night.
CRISPY CHICKEN WINGS WITH SMOKED PAPRIKA, GARLIC & LEMON — Yum, another great item. Crispy outside, tender inside meat, well seasoned, delicious. Plus, it said it came with four wings and they brought us five. Awesome. The only thing it could have used was a nice dipping sauce (a classic ranch if they’re going to truly do southern cooking).
CHICKEN IN A BUN — Eh. Basic cooked chicken, basic bun, nothing more or less special than what you could get anywhere else.
BUBBLE & SQUEAK WITH BLACK PUDDING, APPLE CHUTNEY & A FRIED EGG — Yum, great mix of flavours here all topped with a giant fried egg. If you like bubble and squeak (which I know is not for everyone), this is an excellent choice.
CORN ON THE COB WITH SALTED BUTTER & MEADOWSWEET — Perfect. Seriously, sweet, hot, salty, comes on a metal stick and cooked to perfection. All say it again. Perfect.
FRENCH FRIES — Bleh. What’s the deal Ollie? Everything else was so great and original and beautiful, and these fries come out and they’re… boring. Small, thin fries in a cup with a side of ketchup, and then went cold almost immediately. Blah.
CORNBREAD — I love. Love. Love cornbread and this was awesome. Four thick pieces that comes in a paper bag with bits of sweet corn mixed into the bread. Get this as a side, you will not regret it.
We also tried a few drinks. I got the HEDGEROW SHANDY, which was pink grapefruit, tonic, sloe gin and Wyld Wood Cider and it was refreshing and sweet (but not too sweet) and would be perfect for a summer day. We also tried the MILKSHAKES, which come in old school milk bottles with straws (awesome). I got the TAHITIAN VANILLA which was ok, a little sweeter would have been nice. But we also got the POPCORN, which was delicious.
For seven items and two drinks per person, the end total was just above £50. Works for me.
The staff is a little bit flaky. As I said, it’s hard for more of them to get around, and they tend to stay in the back area away from the crowd and the bar. We waited so long, the guy who took names at the door actually ended up taking our order and running it quickly to the kitchen. Strange. They also forgot one of our items that we ordered. I’m sure this will get better with time as they get used to the space.
I really enjoyed my meal here and would come back again any time. Next time though, I plan in a nap after. If my bed was there as soon as I was done eating, it would have been the perfect southern meal.

My friend Sharon persuaded me to try our luck for dinner at Barnyard, the new venture from Ollie Dabbous, chef patron of his eponymous Michelin starred restaurant with the legendary year ‘s waiting list
However, Barnyard is a very different creature and it highlights its rustic theme with stark décor, down to paint spots on the floor and bare pipes for taps in the bathroom. The restaurant feel small and there are some structural issues, particularly with the acoustics making the music a tad too loud for comfortable conversation and a front door which struggled to stay shut, making the front seating area tonight feel polar at times
Sharon was quoted a waiting time of 2 – 3 hours when she arrived and she snagged a couple of seats at the bar. We tried the homemade lemonade as well as blueberry pancake and popcorn milkshakes, which could have done with being just a touch sweeter
We were pleasantly surprised to get a table after an hour. The menu style is small plates of comfort food. We went for the suckling pig, barbecued ribeye, crispy chicken wings, bubble & squeak with black pudding and fried egg, chips and cauliflower cheese
The best dish of the night was the flavoursome and tender shortrib and the chicken wings were finger licking good. I liked the crispy skin of the suckling pig and the meat was tender but the accompanying celeriac with caraway was a little dry. The bubble and squeak was a slightly odd combo. The chips were OK but the cauliflower cheese was unpleasant and short on cheese — we noticed the couple on the table next to us didn’t finish theirs either
The desserts were more even in quality. Popcorn ice cream was finished off with nice smoked fudge sauce. However, the star was a apple and cloudberry crumble served with clotted cream. The lemon posset was smooth and creamy
We decided on a score of 3.5 stars and decided trhat the final factor would be the bill. A total of £72 was quite pricey, we felt and as we couldn’t return, we rounded down to 3 stars