Barley + Vine Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Lakeville

I woke up with delicious food on my breath from a new place in town, Barley + Vine. So I guess you could say I had beer and wine on my breath! I also had some steak, fish, lobster bisque, brussels sprouts, scallops and ice cream on my breath as well. Don't worry, I brushed my teeth before I left the house!

Alright, I need to pull myself together, stop singing Love and Theft and get down to the nitty gritty and tell you all about our recent visit to Barley + Vine. Ownership is young, inspired to serve only the best food to enjoy and using unique flavors and ingredients with their plates. This combination makes for a great recipe and I'm already a fan of some of their other establishments. In case you're wondering, those would be, Woolley's Steakhouse (best steak in the T.C. area), Cien Taco (some of the best Mexican you'll find) and Tamarack Tap Room (Some of the very best burgers, sandwiches, salads, wings and beer selection you'll find in the T.C. area).

My wife and I decided to stop here for dinner on Valentine's Day and have a family dinner (good tradition to start as a family). We pondered ordering off the evening's V-Day special menu vs. traditional menu items and it was hard to pass on the selections off the special menu so we went for it.

We both went for the lobster bisque, chose both main courses (gotta sample both of them!) and a bottle of sparkling to wash it all down. But first, we started with some cooked brussels sprouts with pecorino, bacon and caramelized onions. Wife insisted, while I'm not a fan, to compare them to ones that I did actually enjoy at Cedar + Stone inside the Marriott Hotel - MOA. Only one ingredient missing to make Barley + Vine's just as delicious - Brown. Sugar! That's just me, but if you like sprouts no matter how they're prepared, I'm guessing these will hit the spot for you.

We of course had to have some adult beverages to start our evening with the sprouts we ordered. My wife went with a glass of house riesling while I of course went with a cold brew. Plenty of great craft beer choices and I selected an outstanding Belgian Triple Malt by a brewery out of Quebec, CA - Unibroue. Awesome! That's all I need to say about that...

As we enjoyed our beginnings, quickly arriving at our table was our Lobster Bisque and Scallop. A butter basted scallop atop a tarragon creme and fried leek - Very good! I really enjoyed the flavor combo the chef created. I would have loved to have some chunks of lobster with my bisque (like we get at Dixie's On Grand), but that's ok because it was still delicious and nothing was left in either of our bowls! Our little buddy even enjoyed the soup and scallop. Yes, he is spoiled if you're wondering!

Before you we could finish our first courses, our main courses were hitting our tables. It looked like we were ordering everything on the menu, but things were just coming out a tad too quickly (no biggy really). My wife went for the Sea Bass, which was actually a surprise to me when it wasn't salmon (one of her favorites) and after a couple of bites, wasn't having it. I however was digging it. Needless to say we switched plates (we'll get to the steak soon enough). The fish was cooked perfectly, very flaky and the blood orange gastrique and spiced tuile was awesome. What I would change about this dish (if it went on the menu since this was a special selection for the evening) would be the addition of a whipped carrot concoction.

On to the red meat... I actually thought the Au Poive Ribeye had a very unique, different, but tasty flavor to it. I thought the bearnaise and cheddar hashcake that accompanied their ribeye was very tasty as well.I asked for it to come out medium, but was a little more on the well done side. Not going to keep me from going back for some of the other plates on the menu that caught our eye. Of course like the fish, I would change it a little bit and what I would change with this dish, would be the addition of maybe a whipped mash - garlic or sweet in nature. Even though we switched plates, my wife still wasn't doing...

One star-For Musicians We went to see at location. As We Follow a few local musicians that Play here We have visited Barley and Vine on many occasions however this was all before Covid outbreak so to be fare, We have not visited within past 12 months so hopefully things have improved however there has been no Change in management nor Chefs to my knowledge. Being retired from the Restaurant Industry I do consider myself having a higher tolerance for for less than Stellar food and Service however I have found Barley and Vine consistently sub par and low quality as well as unoriginal food (most of the "Higher quality" items on menu Ive Seen in the Frozen section at Restaurant depot) and matched with high Prices and consistently Slow Service, even when restaurant Slow and empty. Despite this, We had still returned to support the local musicians. The Final Visit, despite the terrible experiences was a reported as a "New Menu test Item Tasting Event" as described to me In which one purchased tickets for the "event" and ticket included Beer and Wine also. Price tag was 30.00 or 35.00? /Ticket,/person. Well the highlighted "Food" Items consisted of Beet colored Hard boiled eggs, a Flat bread Pizza, and my favorite Pretzel with gourmet Cheese sauce. The Hard boiled egg? ok, these were Special because they were Red?! other than that, they were hard boiled eggs. period, Flat bread Pizza, These consisted of Small Bite Sized pieces which was the only palatable item offered however one had to get up there quick as the small amounts served were gone quickly as the total amount put out per Service was about same amount One could purchase as a whole pie from Aldis for about 4 Bucks and quality of each the was the same. The Greatest Insult was the Pretzel and gourmet Cheese sauce, the Pretzels offered were literally so stale one could chip a Tooth. I'm Not Kidding. The Cheese sauce tasted the same as that warmed canned Cheese I was served so many years ago when my Kids were in Sports and the Schedule found us out of own at Dinner time and forced to eat the Chips and Cheese from the hosting School Snack Bar when We couldn't bare to eat even a Hotdog as they looked like Beef Jerky as they'd been spinning too long on the hotdog Roller. The Beer and Wine Tasting- There were a couple tables Where you were Given a sample of Beer or Glass of wine, however These were served Literally in those tiny 3 oz cups, filled just 2/3 full so one left Hungry as well as Thirsty from this event. To the owners, No Response is necessary as I did talk to the manager actually that night (only the second time in my Lifetime I have EVER complained about food or service) and have not visited and will never do so again, (We simply Pay Pal/Tip the musicians directly since Covid) So no...

The bar selection is INCREDIBLE. Every beer/wine/cocktail you could ever hope for. Perfectly curated as well...not just some obscenely long list of various unheard of drinks. I had a Surly Coffee Bender and London Pride. Both were served at the perfect temperature. Not too cold so you lose the flavor but not too warm that it's hard to drink. My wife had 2 glassses of white wine. She really liked the cocktail menu and mentioned that it would be perfect for Happy Hour. We had the Tenderloin Bites for appetizer (cooked perfectly with some cheese fondue sauce that was amazing) and my wife had Salmon which she said she enjoyed tremendously. I had Beer Braised Short Ribs. These were served on what I must say honestly was the best mashed potatoes I've honestly ever had. The blend between the butter, potato and spice was amazing and so creamy! I'm not sure what they used to cream up the potatoes...but it was absolutely spectacular. The Short Ribs were equally amazing. The beer braising combined with what I would have to think is either a butter or really good olive oil gives the short ribs this very sweet buttery flavor. The texture was also quite enjoyable with the beef coming out shredded. I wasn't sure at first that I was going to like it but when it was mixed with the mashed potatoes it made perfect sense why the beef was shredded. I would most certainly order that same meal again. There were also rose pedals that were adorned all about. The waitress, who was extremely polite and kind and did a great job with her service, mentioned that it was all real roses and cost around $100. 2 things to be aware of. 1) our meal certainly wasn't cheap...it came out to be around $100. Keep in mind that we had a total of 4 drinks, one appetizer and 2 meals so I wasn't expecting it to be lower but you're not going to get out of there for under $40-50. 2) Due to the acoustics of the room (something they obviously can't control) it's very easy to overhear other people's conversations. I was extremely upset/frustrated by the couple who was sitting next to me very loudly complaining about their food/service when literally everyone (waitress/manager/chef) came out to try to make these people happy. Perhaps that's why people have been giving this place a bad review...they're just not used to actual good food being prepared as well as it...