Barbee Hotel & Restaurant — Restaurant in Indiana

Barely reaching 2.0 ⭐️. I came here as a recommendation. Well, I have a bone to pick with the person who suggested this place. I came here with a co-worker and while we didn't have reservations, they sat us promptly - we got there before the dinner rush. The service was great from the host to our server... but that was it. For drinks, I ordered the Donna Summer which was a fruity cocktail and it just tasted like a blend of fruits with no alcohol. Got a second one informing my server the first one was no good so they added more alcohol but of course I got charged extra for it. For appetizer we tried the Baked Goat cheese with Marinara - this only came with 4 slices of baguette bread with some butter on it. The Goat cheese was a sprinkle over marinara sauce which definitely came from a can. I ordered the queen size ribeye and asparagus with clam chowder soup. First the soup... the worst I've ever had. Watery with probably 5-6 small pieces of clam, at most. It didn't even have potatoes. The server came back noticing it didn't have potatoes and brought another which had big chunks of a potato cut in four. The asparagus were very small and super bland. These were just steamed and put on the plate - not even a sprinkle of salt. Ribeye, though cooked as requested, was low grade. Excessive amount of fat but the broth was ok. I took the asparagus and smeared it in the Steak broth to give it some life. My co-worker said his burger was too salty. The final touch were the side-eyeing and stares I was getting from some people there. I'm Latino and the place was full of white folks; but I've never had this problem anywhere up until I visited this place. It wasn't the workers but the people dining there. It would've been a whole different outcome if I wasn't wearing my company swag. I don't tolerate racism ANYWHERE I go. I rated it 2.0 ⭐️ because of the excellent service, but considering the food, it wouldn't...

We recently visited the Barbee Hotel & Restaurant with a party of 8 and overall had a good experience, though there were a few things that kept it from being a full five stars.

The building is very old and packed with history—there are stories about famous past guests like Al Capone, which definitely adds a unique atmosphere. That said, the lighting is extremely low. It felt like we were dining in a speakeasy; you could barely see the person across the table. Ambience might be romantic for some, but it’s a little too dark for a large group trying to enjoy a dinner together.

Service was excellent—friendly, attentive, and on top of everything, especially for a party our size with a reservation.

We started with bruschetta, calamari, and goat cheese marinara dip. The bruschetta was solid with fresh tomato and toast, and the calamari had potential but was way too salty. The goat cheese dip was a miss for us—tasted exactly like the name and not in a good way. Just goat cheese in sauce, without any balance or excitement.

For entrées, we had a wide variety: ribeye (ordered medium rare with extra char—done well), lasagna, a fish sandwich, a flat iron steak (unfortunately chewy), potato skins, Caesar salad with chicken (heavily overdressed), and a filet. Everyone found something to like, though we were disappointed to hear they were out of the salmon and couldn’t make the broiled seafood platter.

Prices were reasonable, especially considering the portion sizes and historical setting.

The biggest issue—aside from the lighting—was the noise. Some nearby tables were loud enough that it was tough to carry on a conversation. If you’re hoping for a quiet meal, maybe aim for an off-peak time.

Overall, a cool spot with a lot of character, some standout items, and very good service. Just a few tweaks to the food and atmosphere would push...

We went as a group of 6 and made a reservation for 7 PM. It was busy when we arrived but when we finally got seated, it died down. We didn’t get seated until almost 7:45 and it took another 10 minutes for our waitress to greet us. Our server Dana kept coming up missing. It took almost an hour to get our appetizers and she kept blaming it on being “swamped”, we were one of maybe 7 tables in there… she even missed one of the appetizers and we had to remind her. We ordered more drinks and could see them sitting at the bar and they sat there for at least 10 minutes, again with no Dana in sight. She came out probably half an hour before our food came out and said they were all out of baked potatoes and could give us regular mashed potatoes if we liked. We agreed because only 3 of us were getting baked potatoes. When she finally brought our food out half of us had real mashed potatoes and the others were instant ( you could tell because half had the peels in them and the other didn’t, not to mention the taste too). We had asked for a refill on the pops as well and she never brought the one we asked for. She came and checked on our table once while we were eating and it was almost when we were finished. We waited until 9:30 with no Dana in sight again and went to the bar twice to ask where she was because we wanted to leave. She finally came around and we were able to pay and leave. As we were boxing the food up, a person in our group told her about the instant potatoes not being good and she replied “hmm that’s weird”. Needless to say, we were her one of two tables and the service from her was terrible. The other waitresses were busting their butts and their tables that came in after us and ordered after us left at least an hour before we did. We have never had service that bad here and were...