The Barley Merchant Taproom & Kitchen — Restaurant in Township of Langley

Have been to The Barley Merchant at least 20 times now and lately leave more disappointed than I was the previous time. Not too sure why I keep returning. Probably because it’s one of the few places in Walnut Grove for late night food. After this last visit I don’t think I’ll return for anything more than an afternoon flight or a glass of cider - which they have a nice ample selection of. Not all are hits but there’s certainly something for everyone. This last visit on the night June 30 was exceptionally bad and left both my guest and I wondering aloud the entire 2 hours we were there why we bother coming anymore. It no longer seems safe to go after the dinner rush as staff no longer care about service, continuity, or quality and only about getting off in time to have a drink at the bar. We were greeted by our waitress who was friendly enough but made multiple comments about how it was “so slow and she couldn’t wait to get out of there” - sorry to keep ya girl! 🙃 We started off with an order of house spicy wings and pickled cucumbers. Cucumbers were fine enough for price point. I’m sure the wings would have been fine had they actually been sauced - instead they were just drizzled with chipotle mayo. At first I thought it was just a really bland sauce because they were so wet - turns out it was just grease. So much grease. Incredibly disappointing given the price. I understand what wings cost now a days - but that means the onus falls on the restaurant and it’s staff to ensure quality. We would have asked for a remake had we seen our waitress somewhere on the mostly empty floor being it was 10:30pm; As it was we had to flag someone else down for napkins, side plates, and cutlery. Another oversight. When she came around to collect our dishes we mentioned the wings and she laughed it off being “a bummer” with no effort to correct or sympathize saying “usually our wing sauce is pretty good” - we would’ve liked to know! Next we each tried a cup of soup. Both nice portion sizes. The clam&corn seafood chowder was nice, thick, and chunky with a good amount of crisp bacon and clams on top albeit oddly almost overpoweringly sweet(like the juice from a can of corn was used). The tomatillo soup tasted nice but came cold. Took a few moments to flag down our server to have it heated up but it came back barely lukewarm. For entrees we each had the Steak Frites and shared a Chorizo Gnocchi. Gnocchi seemed small and was quite dry, the flavor was nice. However the steak frites… WOW! Yikes! Advertised as a popular fan favourite “back and levelled up after a hiatus from the menu”. Frankly it should stay on hiatus. 😬 $30 for a hunk of salty meat on some of the worst somehow burnt tasting but still soggy bread with a side of bland and even soggier fries. Not even a touch of greens on the side for some color. Not only did they both come out barely warm, we could hear the kitchen guy complain about having to cook a steak “this late” from our booth across the service station. Awkward. Even the london fog crème brûlée that is loved so much seemed lacking in flavor this time. Didn’t have an opportunity to mention our disappointment over the steaks or dessert as our server had brought our checks and asked us to settle up while we were eating because she was off shift. Sad to say neither one of us were really that surprised by any of this having been a few times after 9pm & having similar experiences. What’s the point of staying open later into the evening if all care and attention are thrown out the window. Over all - not a bad place to grab a flight(there in an incredible and ever changing tap rotation worthy of props) or a late night cocktail, but leave your expectations at the door. Service is inattentive, simple FOH expectations are not met, and the cleanliness leaves something to be desired(sticky table/very dusty behind the booths) however I’ll no longer recommend it to friends or family. Worth noting that every beer, cider, & spirit is sourced from BC - a nice touch, but FOH & the menu need a serious overhaul....

Been here once before on Halloween last month and it was absolutely fricking amazing!! This time huge huge huge let down! My mom ordered the beet & pear salad that had absolutely no pears in it whatsoever and barely any dressing at all. There was way more lettuce and very little beets then anything. She asked for more dressing and got it but it didn't matter at that point and was the first let down. She also recieved some kind of weird bread that was like eating a salt lick and had to be returned only to have a burnt dry bread in its replacement 👎👎👎👎👎👎

I ordered the Roasted Heirloom Spaghetti I which I had before (it wasn't made properly at all the kitchen made up their own version of this dish which consisted of pasta,chicken and tasteless Alfredo sauce or some form of a white sauce with no seasoning). When I asked the waiter if they actually had all the ingredients this time to make the dish since I told him what happened last time he said we can't guarantee anything on a busy Saturday night and you can't make a custom order. I wasn't asking to make a custom order I was asking if all the ingredients as listed in the menu where going to be in the dish he said I can't ask cus I'll just be given a generic answer. So I ordered it with the hopes it'll work out. It sure did not deliver! It was super spicy, the flavours were weird and I ended up getting sick later from it when I got home. The way in which this dish is described didn't in anyway reflect what I got! MASSIVE LET DOWN NO 2! Will not be ordering this dish again if I ever decide to go back!

Then for dessert we ordered upon recommendation the new chai creme brulee. I don't know what that was but it sure wasn't any creme brulee that I've eaten before! Way to much star anise and cardamom it was so so so gross! My goodness! The consistency of it was really odd to and wasn't like I said a typical creme brulee by any means. Let down no 3 !

My dad's food which was the Malaysian Laksa Curry he said was mediocre but he wasn't a fan either.

All in all I can't say I'll be returning back to the Barley Merchant any time soon except for the flights of beer/cider cus those are absolutely delicious and you can't mess those up! Unless you choose a drink that's not to your flavour profile. Other than that the food was definitely a miss for me and my family the other night and I won't be back. Sorry...

I got my whole family excited to try this place for my Birthday. The food menu, cocktails and great reviews lured me in. Appys were cold as soon as they hit the table. Beer cheese had a funky flavour which maybe is what was intended but for our table wasn't good. Dirty fries were heavily seasoned and had a flavour I really enjoyed but unfortunately we're cold from the first bite and we got all the add ons on the side so they couldn't have been the culprit. Crispy veggies had a nice crunch on the outside but there were not nearly enough king oyster mushrooms and the cauliflower had a weird mushy texture that just dissolved in your mouth when bitten. The sauce pairing flavours were confusing and we couldn't pin point what exactly they were so had to go back to read the menu. They were neither spicy nor garlicky. Mains we had pulled pork, veggie burger, meatballs and one of the beef burgers. My house made veggie burger was something I anticipated but was sadly a let down. Thin burger without much flavour. I had the beet and pear side salad which was soaked in a watery dressing that reeked of raw onion and had one candied pumpkin seed and a tiny chunk of feta cheese. Really not good. Meatball dish came with 3 tiny meatballs in a skillet swimming in sauce and bread you could chip your teeth on. Not worth more than $5.00 really. Pulled pork bun was not toasted enough and left soggy on a flooded plate. The napkin under the side Caesar salad bowl was soaked from all the liquid. Very poorly executed. I was told the beef burger was okay. No dessert for us and I stopped taking pictures after the great Appy let down. Two people at the table had flights and quite enjoyed them so maybe this place is just...