Barber Bistro Happy Hour at Euro 4-9pm — Restaurant in Marietta

Quick Summary Definitely would fail the health inspection. Service was non-existent (1 server for the entire restaurant, she was even making the mimosas behind the bar), 1.5 hours into the venture and the buffet still hadn't been completely set up. Food - the buffet food wasn't good, never got my made to order items.

The Story

So 3 of us decided to check out this place after seeing the pics and reviews online for their $25 bottomless brunch on Sunday. I walked in and saw a hostess stand holding open the door. In an effort to keep a long bad experience short I will say it took me awkwardly standing there while the server walked around me to finally get seated. They initially told us the only place we could sit was the bar because every single table said reserved. I told them I had a reservation so they said to take 1 of the shared tables. Basically 3 of us squeezed at a table fit for one.

The server comes over ask if we're doing the endless brunch and we say yes. She promptly brought us our mimosas (oj w/a splash of champagne). Nothing is set up at this point. Brunch starts at 1 and it's probably 130ish. Over an hour has now passed by since our arrival and we've seen the tables around us getting food brought out to them. The bartender is running around doing prep work like setting out the premade deserts and chopping lemons. (She was also doing everything w/the same gloves on she was prepping the food like opening doors and answering the phone). The runner is bringing food from the back and the ONE server is trying to serve the entire restaurant that by this point is completely full.

When the server finally comes back to us we ask how much longer before we're able to eat? She then asks if we wanted to order premade food?! MA'AM! Why didn't you ask us this an hour ago?!?! She also says we can get food from the buffet. Not 1 person had gone to the buffet, until after we did so apparently no one knew. We place our order of the 3 premade options (shrimp and grits, fish and grits, chicken and red velvet waffles.) At this point the buffet was still barely set up. It wass some aluminum tin trays that you take to a cookout or house party. There was probably 5 or 6 things on the buffet, everything else was empty. Every last one of the 5 plates they had at the buffet were dirty as well. Even after we brought it to their attention we saw people picking stuff off their plates when they picked them up.

We get to our table to eat the little buffet items while we wait on our made to order items to arrive and the silverware and napkins are dirty. And I mean dirty dirty. One person didn't have silverware so he asked for it, but it never came. 2 people's entrees came, but mine never arrived after about 20 minutes. We asked for drink refills, lord knows how many times, and she just told us she has to take care of the other people's orders. I watched her fill up every person's cup in that restaurant and never made it back to us w/that orange juice featuring champagne bc that was no mimosa. Anyways at this point I'm beyond frustrated and when she looks at our table I just told her I was leaving and she shrugged her shoulders so I left.

This was by far one of my worst restaurant experiences ever. I had really high hopes for this place, but boy did they let me down. Oh and it's not kid friendly. But the...

Went to karaoke and crab legs Tuesdays for the first time. No one would answer the phone to take a reservation so we just decided to wing it and drive an hour to Marietta since it looked nice on Instagram. Plus it was my friends birthday. It is a VERY small place with loud BoomBox type music. There was a dj playing in the corner. I definitely think the HUGE sectional velvet type couches in the middle of the floor took up too much space for such a small venue but thats just my observation. No one greeted us when we walked in so you pretty much have to seat yourself at a booth that didn't look occupied. There isn't any security or anything and definitely no dress code. Come as you are... literally, just come in your house slippers, tank tops, basketball shorts or whatever lol. The prices are kind of expensive for the type of food you get in my opinion. I think it was like $14 for 6 lonely chicken wings and $12/$14 for a CUP of juice that was supposed to be a margarita. I don't even think there was any alcohol in it to be honest. Honest review of the crab legs bowl: disappointed. The one cluster of crab legs were hard to eat with barely any meat on the inside. The shell was covered in fried flour but the meat was dried out on the inside. I'm not sure if I was supposed to eat the seasoned flour off the crab leg or just crack it and eat the meat. Weird concept... You get a quarter piece of corn on the cobb, one baby potato and one boiled egg. All of which is covered in melted butter sprinkled with Parsley. It had absolutely no taste at all! This is compared to my experience with different flavors at places like the Juciy Crab and such. But it wasnt too bad if you get some old bay to sprinkle on it and get there before 10pm because it's only $11.00... The karaoke was fun and funny, the waitress was nice but very inattentive and food took forever seemed like. Overall it was just an ok time...

We came midweek one day for one of their happy hour game nights they had posted online. It said that everything started at 6pm. We got there a little before 6:30pm and there were 4 other patrons in the restaurant at the time (so it looked realllly empty). We usually sit at the bar, but two patrons and 1 staff member we're currently sitting there and it seemed too tight for two more. We opted to sit at the hightops next to the bar; I had to switch out my chair due to it being too wobbly. The leather on the booths and chairs were torn. It's time for a refresh on upholstery and chairs. It probably isn't as noticeable during club hours, but during the day it's an eyesore.

I asked the waitress what the current happy hours specials are and she quickly stated that there were none. I told her that the post said the opposite and mentioned the "$7 Georgia peaches." She went to the bar and the bartender said no, but lemon drops were. I let them know that posts said different, and decided to order off of the regular menu although the Georgia Peaches and .70¢ wings was part of what attracted us to check them out in the first place. Fail. 🤦🏽‍♀️ It was marketed as Game Night, and that was the only part that held true. They asked if we wanted to play something and opted for the Uno cards.

We ordered drinks and food. My guy had the lamb chops and said they were good although they were much smaller than those served at other establishments. I had the crab cakes as my entree and added yams. Both were really good.

All in all, we didn't have a horrible experience although it was apparent that there are a few things that Bar Bistro needs to work on. I'm definitely not adding that as a place I have to ever come back to again, but if it somehow ended up being a location that a friend asked me to meet them at, I wouldn't cringe. Lol. I may give them another shot...