Barlows Restaurant — Restaurant in Liberty Lake

The restaurant looks nice from the outside and was nice inside as well. We went there because of commercial seen on local tv advertising “special house made meals.” Wanted to try Wednesday night special of “house smoked brisket.” If this brisket was “house smoked” I’m a monkey’s uncle. It was a spot on clone of commercially made, previously cooked and frozen brisket. The accompanying mashed potatoes (max of maybe 1/2 cup with powdered brown gravy mix) were watered down instant potatoes with 4 broccoli pieces and 3 very thin slices of carrot. Really?!! The portion of said brisket was 4 slices, maybe ok but the cheapest sides were basically non existent. All for the amazingly low price if $26 a plate! Damn pathetic. And to top it off my wife and I are basically average sized people shoved into a booth so small the table was pushing into both our stomachs. I’m 6’ 235, hardly a huge fatty and wife is proportioned better than I. This was a cheap version of Denny’s masquerading as a local nice restaurant. Salad was mediocre at best. There should have at least been some “fresh baked” bread with salad/meal. The service by waitress was fine even though she had a really hard time articulating the special etc. She then provided TMI about her day’s chores…One domestic 16oz beer, one gin/tonic, 2 “specials” and one brownie supreme dessert, one coffee with 20% tip, =$100, ok, I get that. The prices for drinks were reasonable. The coffee was hardly warm and weak as heck. I’m sure it was from an airpot made hours before. The brownie supreme was a supreme letdown. Brownie was the thinnest one I’ve ever seen. About 3/8” with 1/4” peanut cream on top. Tasted ok. Should’ve mentioned the peanut butter in description for those with peanut allergies. Won’t ever patronize this place again. Sorry. Try actually “making” some food for the special. I’m betting owners will be all butthurt and try and defend this pathetic excuse for a meal, but what I’ve described here is accurate. Let me be clear, food tasted ok, but the tiny amount of mashed potatoes and 4 pieces of broccoli and 3 tiny thin slices of carrot was ridiculous. Look at other reviews and pay close attention to pics of prime rib special. Those pics of prime rib slices are obviously previously cooked. They sure as heck don’t look like any slices of fresh prime rib I’ve ever seen or had. One final thought, if my brisket was smoked/cooked in house, it had been days before and just reheated. Overall, I...

For the first time ever I am taking the time to write a negative review. The family and I decided to visit Barlows tonight the menu online looked good and thought we would like a nicer more upscale experience this evening. We arrived there at 7pm and were seated in an acceptable amount of time thought the place looks very nice and quiet not busy at all and sat down. After going over the menu I noticed the prices had increased on the menu from what was online and food that was online was not on the menu. So asked about the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo dish and was informed that while she still has a button for the dish she was not allowed to use it because it was pulled from the menu. She could make a ton of modifications to the Cajun version $23 but the $19.50 one from the website was not allowed. (False Advertising/Bait and Switch?)

Then after we ordered our food which was about 7:15 we waited and waited and waited some more for the waitress to bring out a straw for a drink and asked about it for a 3rd time it was finally brought. But this was simple issue and could be overlooked by 8:20pm we had not been served our food and was told that they had a large banquet party and their food was not done so ours could not be started. This is very poor planning and if you have a banquet room you dont forget the people in the general seating area this is poor business practice.

I dont think there were even 5 other tables occupied in the entire place (other than the banquet room). I dont normally take the time comment on my visits you either have to have stellar service or this...

I can honestly say that between all the waiting for food, straws, order taking etc. it is one of the top 10 worst restaurant experiences in my 41 years. I hope that management takes the time to read these reviews and makes some changes. Barlows has a very nice atmosphere and a ton of potential but as for me I will not...

My wife and I had a good overall experience. Our waiter Calvin was courteous and professional. When we told him we were not in a hurry he came at the appropriate times to check on us. We had the steamed clams and coconut shrimp appetizers. The steamed clams were excellent and were served with small pieces of roasted bread to dip in the broth. Clams were all clean (no sand in any of them). The shrimp were good but the dipping sauce was only so so, but it came in a separate dish so no big deal. For the main course I had the Cajun Fettuccine which had a decent amount of heat and the sauce was very good. I dipped some of the wife's fries in the sauce and would recommend this as an item to be added to the appetizer menu. The wife had a burger which she said was good. They only had one IPA beer on tap but it was a decent one. I would recommend a couple more micro brew or local ones to be added. The portion size and price was good. Overall experience was very good. Would have been 5 stars except the view of the gas station that was so close may be a detractor for some. I tried to get seated in the bar but it was closed due to the bar tender being late. If you sit in the bar your view is of the outdoor patio which may be preferred by some. There were some other interesting items on the menu that I would like to try so I will be...