Barn8 on Hermitage Farm — Restaurant in Kentucky

Oh my! What a dinner. Today went from the ridiculous to the sublime. A long train ride not getting in until 3am. 3 car rental cos not having cars I reserved. One of the truly bad restaurant meals of the last 20 years at lunch.

Then Barn 8. On a large ranch bought by a wealthy couple to prevent it being turned into yet another faceless suburban development. In a real horse barn with half a million dollars of bar, bathrooms and kitchen.

The menu was 1 page of around 12 dishes. They had 3 pages closely spaced of bourbon, rye and whiskey. They had Joseph Swann pinot noirs on the wine list. And our server, Lindsey.

We started with an Old Fashioned made with Peerless Bourbon, foraged hickory syrup, housemade orange bitters, and Angostura bitters. I had a bourbon flight: McKenna 6 year, Barrell 29, and 1792 Barn Barrel selection. The Barrel 29 was amazing! As was the 1792. The latter just overshadowed the McKenna which was fine until I tasted the next two. Lindsey helped me make the selections and put them in the proper order.

Our first plate was a bread and spread plate. 3 breads: sourdough, focaccia, and dinner rolls w/salt. The spreads were butter w/spices, an amazing red kuri squash spread (amazing!!) and the only miss, an overly spiced romesco.

Next was a superb burrata on a peach coulis w/really good country ham sliced prosciutto style.

Last was a red kiri squash spaetzle in a sauce of cultured cream, locally grown mushrooms and tiny cubes of delicata squash. Decadent yet really simple. Superb.

A chocolate budino with peanut crumble & bourbon mousse was our over the top dessert. A peerless barrel select rye accompanied.

Coffee to finish

Around $200 and so worth it. Unpretentious, delicious and souĺ reviving.

The manager, Abby and our server Lindsey made the evening better. I also spoke to the barkeep and our runner but did not get their names.

While I never would cook dishes like these, the philosophy behind the cooking was similar to my own. We NEEDED a dinner like that.

We would love to go back if we can before we leave Louisville. Located in Goshen KY 20 minutes north of our hotel. One of the best...

We went for Sunday brunch. The area is beautiful and the barn setting is unique but the food we had wasn't anything special. I had the Farmers Plate which consisted of eggs, bacon, a biscuit, home fries and a seasonal jam. I ordered the eggs over medium, which to me, meant slightly runny but they were cooked more to medium well or perhaps even well done as the yolk wasn't runny at all. The bacon was smoked and was well done. It had a bit of an acrid flavor, like the smoker hadn't been going long enough when they put it in so it wasn't very good. The biscuit was on par with something from Pillsbury. The home fries were more like fingerling potatoes season with some salt. They ranged from bite size to a bit larger. I would have expected more seasoning to enhance the flavor. With all the berries in season I would have expected a different jam other than lime peach. It had an interesting flavor, but I wouldn't ask for it again. My wife had the B.E.L.T. the bread wasn't really toasted well and was a bit soggy. She wasn't a fan of the bacon either. For a meal that cost about $70 for two people, excluding tip, I was disappointed. The food we got was maybe worth about half that. The coffee was okay, but I don't like my last gulp to have grinds and this one did. We finished with the creme brulee. The custard was good but the sorghum popcorn seemed stale and chewy. There were also a lot of kernels so we brushed it aside and just at the custard. Dinner may be different, but there weren't a lot of options and I personally would have liked to see some kind of appetizer to get started. I think they either need to up their food a bit or lower the prices. The staff was friendly and we were seated quickly. We did have a reservation. There was a musician in the bar area and he was okay, but seemed to perform sporadically, and played the same rifts repeatedly during his...

I went there as part of a group of eight in anticipation of great food. Sadly, all of us were very disappointed. The grounds are spectacular and the setting charming. We were seated in one of the stalls with a round table which provided great seating and seclusion. That was the highlight.

As far as food, we ordered a number of things on the menu and were all in agreement that the food was disappointing. Since we ordered several appetizers and entrees we had a large sampling of the options.

A few examples are: A burrata with stone fruit. The fruit was not ripe and was inedible. Since the burrata does not come with bread (an additional issue) we basically had spoonfuls of burrata. Bread costs extra. The cauliflower steak was undercooked and tasteless. The scallop appetizer was just fair. Out of four appetizers the only good one was the carrots.

The house salad was too salty and overdressed. What was billed as a salad nicose had no greens. It was potatoes with a few cherry tomatoes and sardines.

We ordered the mushroom pasta. This had no mushrooms other than one fried mushroom which was greasy and inedible.

The dessert tart was was bland with the fruit appearing to have been left out.

Although our server was knowledgeable and pleasant, the service was poorly timed with dishes arriving haphazardly. One couple’s salad arrived with the entree. Ours arrived after our entree.

The final negative ending was being charged to walk the grounds for the light installation. It seems that if you make the drive and are a restaurant patron this should be included. We paid for this with our meal so the price was included in the group gratuity.

We really wanted to love this place and I generally don’t write negative reviews. However, a restaurant with this setting and prices should deliver an exceptional food and...