Barnaby's — Restaurant in Niles Township

I haven't been to a Barnabys (this one) since I was a kid. I don't remember much about that trip aside from the restaurant being dimly lit and me leaving my jacket behind after we left. We finally got around to coming back and I have to say, this was way different than I thought it was going to be. Not technically a sit down restaurant since you have to go up to the cashier to order. Drinks are ordered (and purchased) separately. So that was unusual. Also unusual while adding frustrating to the mix is that there are no menus to look at other than the actual order card found in half sheets at the cashier. Orders are called out so there's no table service here either. The man tending the bar provided better service than the man who was taking the orders and calling them out. The interior had a dated look and feel to it and was entirely wooden. (booths, paneling, walls, sectiom dividers, etc) and just as I remembered it was dimly lit too. In addition to pizza, we ordered cheesy garlic bread and fries. The garlic bread was delicious and absolutely worth it, the fries (crinkle cut) were likely microwaved and only borderline done and some of the larger ones had the grainy uncooked potato texture to them. If these were deep fried and cooked completely through, they'd probably be pretty good. Now for the Pizza, it looked good, but the story here was the edge/crust, the edge was very tough and it had this weird way of dettaching from the crust on the underside. The edge was braided and appeared to be pinched on the bottom where it would meet the crust which contributed to it seperating the way that it did. The bottom of the crust was far more enjoyable than the edge, it absorbed the tomato sauce and had cracker crust like texture but it was much thicker than normal cracker crust would be. The underside was also dusted with corn meal, which is always a solid trait for a thin crust pizza. Normally, the middle pieces are the last ones remaining, here they were the first ones gone. The edge was the culprit for that. The pizza had a nice taste overall though. Of note, There were maybe a half dozen slot machines on the south wall of the restaurant. The lingering curiosity I had with Barnabys is over. My first visit to one in the 21st century was about as mediocre as it could...

It was my first time at a Barnaby’s; I was looking forward to it and thought it would be a great experience. Soon as we walked in, dead atmosphere( no music and tvs off) The owner mean mugged us as we sat down. I looked around for a host or server. Finally a guy shows up, hands us some papers showing the menu and informed us we must walk up to the counter to order. When I walked up to the counter I noticed on the left side where the pizza prep area was that the cook was putting a fistful of cheese in his mouth with the gloves on that he was going to use to make the food. We made eye contact as he was putting the cheese in his mouth; we both made shock expressions and he walked away. I was so disappointed that it was going to be a not so good experience but proceeded to order as I had a 7 and 10 year old who were hungry. Ordered the basket of fries and a large pizza. The owner tells me a total I hand him my card and then after he swiped I see another total- credit card processing fee passed on to the customer (no where near the cash register or ordering counter is there a sign stating that you will pay processing fees unless you pay cash) The server who brought our fries and pizza wasn’t terrible but was not very serviceable to say. I still wanted to be generous and tip the server (I am a service provider and believe that you reap what you sow) I asked for a to go box and he just said oh it’s on the side as he was sitting on an open table nearby. When he noticed that I was going to give him cash he proceeded to get up and grab his tip. I know it’s hard times for all of us but we should put our best foot forward in everything we do. First and last time we patronize the...

Read some other reviews about disorganization before I made this post regarding Barnaby's. So I can see I am not reporting on an isolated incident.

So Barnaby's is great pizza but a poorly run establishment. I bought two pizza for about $45 one night a few months ago. About $45 for a supreme and a pepperoni. Expensive but who cares. The order came with olives on the supreme which I didn't order. Larry the manager I called as it was a pick up on a Saturday night. He says come in and pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday to get new pizza (mind you, after he tried to tell me he would take $3 off my next order)

I come in today to get what's owed to me and Larry isn't in. The back ups manager steps up and checks under the register amongst an assortment of scattered pieces of papers.(oh...so this is how serious Barnaby's takes complaints).

Says she won't do anything without Larry's permission. Even claims Larry has his own separate set of scattered papers. And then tells me the owners are in and they would tell me they wouldn't act without Larry's consent.

What a joke. Scattered papers. Separate lists. Owners that won't act on a upset customer. And overpriced pizza. Rather than making things right. You instead embarrass me. And have me waste my time. Should of known what I was up against when I first filed the complaint about Olives on a pizza and asking them to just remake the thing and Larry the pizza manager trying to tell me he would knock $3 dollars off my next order. And that I had to come in on less busy days if they were going to make the pizza again.

Good pizza. Terrible business model when it comes to getting...