Barleycorn's Cold Spring — Restaurant in Cold Spring

This is sad for me to write because my family has been going to Mother’s Day brunch at barleycorns for over 10 years but after this year’s experience we won’t be back. We arrived early before our reservation time of 11:15am and waited at the bar. We ordered drinks and those were delicious however we waited more than a half hour after our scheduled reservation time. The bartender also had us cash out and wouldn’t allow us to transfer the bar tab to our table which is fine. She’s gotta make money too. I used to serve and bartend so I get it. No big deal. Then we were taken to our table which was occupied already by another group. The manager looked so frazzled and unprepared for the situation. She handled it pretty poorly and basically left it to us to explain to those guests that the table was meant for our group. Unacceptable and honestly a super immature response. They did move as they seemed just as confused as we were. Meanwhile, several tables are open and clear in other areas of the restaurant with people still waiting. The next issue, the food. It was subpar, a lot of it cold, and what looked like McRibs? On the buffet table. So gross. It was not up to the typical delicious barleycorns buffet food that we’ve come back to every year. What happened to the fried chicken? The chocolate fountain? They were also consistently out of plates for the buffet table which I understand can happen but it was every time we went up to the buffet. All in all it just seemed so poorly run and not at all the same level of service or quality of food that kept us coming back every year. Our server was nice and seemed to be trying but we didn’t see her much. I’m sad to say we’ll be finding another place for brunch next year. This was the Cold Spring location. I feel like they could benefit from a more seasoned...

UPDATE Have been here several times since the original review and the wings have definitely been much better! I would definitely recommend them to get some Doc style wings and some of their delicious sauce! Only thing I’d still ding them on is that they charge $.75 for a cup of sauce to go with the wings and only half fill the little cup! Sauce should come with the wings and not cost extra!! They were still delicious though!!

ORIGINAL POST I have always tried to stop here when I’m back home visiting but unfortunately they have had a change of ownership/leadership and it hasn’t been for the better!! I used to LOVE their Doc style wings but what I got this time was nothing like what they used to be! The fact that they still advertise these tiny wings as “JUMBO” and charge $1.80 per tiny wing is completely unacceptable. To make it worse, they are supposed to be Doc style but as you can see from the picture, they are clearly not coated well and didn’t have hardly any flavor. When I mentioned it to the on duty night manager, he said what do I want them to do, the box is labeled jumbo?!?! They did give me a few extra wings, to “make up for it” but this shouldn’t be the norm. They need to go back to weighing them so you get a consistent amount for all the money you pay. Another issue was, I asked for a small sample of a few flavors so I can see if I liked them, I didn’t like them, but the waitress brought cups of each and I told her I just wanted to try them but she said that’s ok. When I got the bill, I was charged $0.50 for each of those tastes, which were all discarded, minus the little dab I tasted. Unfortunately, this is the last time I will be coming here on my visits, I’ll just have to find a new wing spot. I would not recommend them under current...

It makes me sad to leave only 1 star, as Barleycorn's has been a family favorite pretty much my entire life, especially this location. We've been coming to the Mother's Day brunch for the last 8 years or so. We can't help but notice a decline in food quality and service over the last couple years, but especially this year. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it seems to have started to decline around the time the restaurant was sold.

This year though, the food was not good. Items were noticeably different altogether from Barleycorn's staples - chicken tenders weren't the same kind of chicken tenders, Mac and cheese looked and tasted different, and several in our party of 10+ compared it to cafeteria quality. No chocolate fountain and fruits, fried chicken, and other fun brunch items we’ve seen many years before.

We were sat 20+ minutes after our reservation time in the back room that used to be a basketball court, split up into two different tables. Another group was sitting at a table that we were told was ours, yet no staff were back there to help clarify, leaving us to talk out who was sitting where with strangers. It was so loud in there that we couldn't hear much conversation. There was a table in the main restaurant that would have fit our party and I just assumed it was going to be used for another big party, but it was empty the entire time we were there.

The two times I went to get food they were out of plates and I had to wait for plates after already waiting in a long line for food.

A few years ago, this would have been 5/5 stars. Something's changed for sure. We sadly won’t be back for...