Barneys Gourmet Hamburgers — Restaurant in Berkeley

Update Jan 22.

Today I had the bad idea to give Barney's take out another chance because I was in the area. I was not expecting much and still it disappointed me. First, It seems impossible to request a Burger with no pickles online(choose your favourite app, it's impossible). Their pickles have strong smell and taste. Even if you remove them, you won't have a free pickles experience.

After ordering online, I arrived to the premises and asked the person behind the desk for my order. He looked lost, asked me for some time and then asked for my name again. Then got back to me saying "a few moments". In those "few moments"(over 15 minutes), I saw many people arriving after me, getting their orders and leaving. During the wait, nobody made contact with me and I started to doubt that my order was being prepared. Eventually I was handed a bag and a they said "sorry". Given the wait, I thought the food would be hot, however it was cold.

In addition to all these(in my opinion) unacceptable issues, the so-called gourmet burger was bland. It feels like they just wanted to cover everything in sauce to give it some flavour. At this stage I don't know whether I've been extremely unlucky or this is personal. I really wanted to give a positive update to this review, but I ended up wasting my time, my money and I ended up with a cold burger and an unpleasant experience. If you did it this far, do yourself a favour and go somewhere else. The fact that it doesn't seem to be possible to provide feedback to this restaurant evinces their lack of care.

Oct 21 Since my last review, I've ordered take out from Barney's a couple of times. Mostly because my partner enjoys it. I still think that some items in the menu are awesome. However, I suggest you to avoid take out like the plague. In my experience there's a 50% chances of something wrong with the order (for example BBQ chicken with no BBQ sauce twice! An extra burger in my bag). I understand that errors happen but that often! I can't help but thinking that they don't care.

I've also noticed that the temperature of the items are always different which is not ideal. I also tried the burgers several times and the preparation is not consistent ( the first time I had a delicious burger, the second time it was completely overcook and bland).

In summary, I would recommend going there in person, so you can ask for the missing items and ask for a meal with the right temperature and cooked point. Otherwise don't bother.

Old review

Good quantity of ingredients, great flavor but....

I've been to Barney's 3 times between the end of March and now. I have picked up my order every time. The first time everything was nice but a bit cold, so I decided to try it again. The second time I arrived a bit earlier, to realised, once inside of my car that they gave me the wrong order. I ended up with cold food again. Today, I tried a third time and even though it was a bit warmer (the items in the menu had different temperatures), I found a big piece of what I think was plastic inside my burger. I'm sure the staff have been trying to do their best, however I can't believe that I'm the only one with such a bad luck. This is a great place for burgers, but I will have second thoughts next time I consider this place...

My partner and I have been going here once a week for several months. We went to Solano Avenue, Berkeley store close to 5 pm which is later than usual. We have noticed that the management is iffy and fairly indifferent to customers. When you walk in the left side of restaurant is the only place you can really sit to eat. There are smaller tables with chairs and benches against wall and in the back are 3 larger tables with benches both sides, of closed in type booths. The right side of restaurant has really no seating. On the way to bathroom are a few high tables with chairs you have to climb up on. The tables along the right wall and window have no customer seating, and a sign says "Door Dash". It was empty. Yesterday the tables where you can sit were almost entirely taken, except for the 3 empty booths towards the back. They were empty. I went to the counter and said, "Can you help us find seating?" Can we take one of the booths? The person behind the counter looked around and said "No those booths are only for 3 people". They have an outside seating area, but it is Berkeley, and it was cold and windy. She didn't have any other suggestions, and seemed fairly indifferent, like it was our problem. I asked to speak to the manager. She said the manager was gone. We again asked about the empty booths. I said we would only be 30 minutes, could they make an exception. It was early for dinner crowd. Suddenly the manager came breezing out. The first thing she said was, "I'm not going to argue with you! The rules are the rules. There are no exceptions to this." Wow. I mentioned that we only wanted to have a table and eat. I said we had been coming often. She didn't care. She basically just wanted us to leave. Wow! All the information says, friendly place, family type restaurant, etc. We find it NOT A FRIENDLY PLACE, with indifferent management, and unacceptable seating arrangement. There was no attempt to accommodate us or help us at all. INDIFFERENCE BORDERING ON RUDENESS. Medium cooked burgers are always RAW. You have to ask for well done. WE DO NOT...

Staff was extremely rude to me and my family with two very young kids -- at 530 pm.

Even though there were almost no people eating at the restaurant, they were completely ignoring the few people who were there (likely preparing online orders). After waiting patiently outside and finally seeing a table that got seated while we were waiting get their food before we'd even gotten a menu, I had the audacity to go in and check on merely getting the menu I'd been told we'd receive when they say us - without frustration or unkind words even though by this time our children were getting very antsy - . The waitress snapped that they were busy and she'd get to us later. I gently suggested perhaps she calm down a little and was snapped at again in front of other staff and the few diners actually there - saying "don't tell me to calm down".

After our meal, we waited after we were clearly done at the end of our meal for more than another ten minutes or so, I saw another couple remark on how rudely they'd been treated as they left without eating. Curious, I asked what had happened - and was told that, like us the staff didn't seem to care about their in person diners - they had evidently not so much as looked up from their electronic devices or said anything to the older couple while they waited just a few feet away.

I attempted to ask to speak to a manager, and was told "they're busy". I waited a few minutes and asked a different person, and was told "the manager won't be here until Tuesday - why don't you come back then." I pointed out that someone else had suggested he was there but busy, and the guy floundered uncomfortably but didn't apologize or offer to check to see if I could speak to him.

We left.

This place used to be a nice, family friendly place and I'm just astounded at how they're treating their customers. I understand being busy - but all you need is a little courtesy - a "welcome, we're a bit busy now but we promise we'll get to you".

Evidently that's too much to ask. I doubt we'll be returning, and it seems like we're not...