Barrel + Rye — Restaurant in Geneva Township

We have been to Barrel and Rye on three previous occasions and loved everything about our experiences. Food, drinks and service were top notch. We introduced our friends to this place and they all love it. We live 30 minutes away in a town with many good options similar to Barrel and Rye so it speaks for itself that we choose to frequent this restaurant. Tonight we experienced an anomaly, I hope. We made a reservation for a dinner birthday celebration for my son. On the online reservation special occasions are requested so I noted the birthday. So, we arrive 20 minutes early and tell the hostess we had reservations. We are promptly seated. During service I get a message that Barrel and Rye canceled our reservation. I told our server and we all laughed. We ordered an appetizer and it was wonderful. We then ordered two Brie burgers and one crab cake sandwich. The burgers were to be medium and medium-well. The person delivering the food had no idea which burger belonged to whom. We thought we figured it out but in the end realized that neither burger was cooked correctly and both were over done. The crab cake sandwich came next. It looked like a potato pancake and was dry and overcooked. We should have sent at least the burgers back but they opted to make the best of it. After all was said and done we were very disappointed that we didn’t ask for new meals, especially because it was a birthday celebration. And of course, after paying the bill we realized no one at Barrel and Rye mentioned anything about birthday wishes. Overall atypical of our prior experiences but it may be a while before making the 60 minute round trip to...

I called ahead for me and my friends around 6:15 in the evening and was told it would be about a 45 minute wait; they took our name down. I left my house at 6:15 to head on over (about a 25 minute drive on most days). Unfortunately the road conditions were awful and I had to contend with snow and icy conditions. Around 6:25 I received a call that our table was ready... I was still about 20 minutes away at that point. I asked if they could save our table since we weren't going to be there until closer to 7 and the man (Dan) said "ok, will do". I got to Barrel + Rye at 6:50ish and our table had been given to the couple in front of us since there was only a "10 minute" time frame that they could save your table for. I was furious. I was originally told there was a 45 minute wait for the table when I called ahead and then 10 minutes later I was told we had a table while neither my friends or I would be able to get to in the 10 minute time frame we had... See the frustrations? So my friends and I waited an extra 40 minutes for the next table to open. Unfortunately Barrel + Rye has no room for standing and we ended up waiting next to the bathrooms which was awkward. Long story short we get to our table, our server was super sweet and gave us a free appetizer of the curds. Despite our frustrations with the table situation, the food was phenomenal. My friends and I also shared a plate of Duck Fried Rice & A House Board. We also each got a Bubbles & Brandy drink--so refreshing! I will definitely be back... Let's just hope by then they change their call-ahead to...

My wife and I were recently in the area and we both had wanted to try out Barrel and Rye while we were here. A great bistro with a nice selection of food and alcohol on hand.

We came in for lunch on a Sunday and were promptly seated by a very friendly server. The wait staff was also nice, personable, and extremely knowledgeable about the menu.

For food we went with a variety of 'sharables' deciding that the small plate option was the way to go. We had the curds, chicharron, the house Charcuterie, and an order of the root vegetable au gratin w/toasted rosemary breadcrumbs. While not sold on the chicharron (which we were both looking forward to the most) my wife fell in love with the curds and my favorite was the root vegetables. Honestly, I wasn't even looking forward to them that much (I didn't think I was in the mood for root veggies even though I generally tend to love them) and I was blown away. I honestly could have eaten the entire order myself and was tempted to put in a second order if I wasn't already so stuffed! (Seriously I wish they had a second location closer just so I could sneak in for these on occasion! SO GOOD!)

For drinks my wife tried one of the Valentine's Day specials while I went with an All Inclusive which was actually one of the better versions I've had so far. She switched to a cider, I ordered a second, and we were so full we had to pass on any dessert options.

Next time we're in Geneva (usually about once a year) we'll...