The Broken Barrel Tavern — Restaurant in Palm Bay

I came to this place after looking at reviews and decided to give it a shot.

At first glance when walking in, it’s very dark. Has a massive bar right in the middle with pool tables off to the right. I was able to seat myself, so I grabbed a table next to what I can only image would be the stage for when they have performers.

I was greeted shortly after sitting and ordered my food. I ordered the pulled chicken platter with bbq beans and chip cut French fries. I also ordered a beer, that was brought to me shortly after ordering. The food didn’t take long to come out either.

The beer was cold and crisp. 5/5

The chicken was an amazing portion size. I’d say it’s big enough for about 2 sandwiches. It was extremely moist, you could tell they took their time cooking it. The only downside to it was the flavor. It was just lacking some seasoning. And the habanero honey bbq sauce they gave me didn’t really coat it because of how runny the sauce was. Overall the chicken was a 4/5.

The toast was delicious, perfectly crisp and buttered. 5/5

The bbq beans were the show stealer. You can tell these aren’t canned. These were packed full of flavor, had some pork in there, not too sweet, smoky, and when put on the chicken, made the chicken a 5. These beans were it. 5/5

The chip cut French fries honestly looked like chips. But they were thicker. And some were crispy, some weren’t. The ones that weren’t tasted just like French fries. It was a pleasant surprise. Add in the season salt on top, these were really good. 5/5

I noticed as I was waiting for my food, and more so when I was eating, that the restaurant wasn’t very cool. I’m not sure what the temperature was set at, but by time I got my check, I was more than just a little warm. I had sweat beading up on my head and arms. Maybe it would be better at night when a performer is on stage and they have the place cooler for them. Add in the lighting and unfortunately the atmosphere of the place gets a 3/5.

Overall a fantastic little place. I’m glad I stopped and I will definitely come back my next time through here and try...

Decided to give all-you-can-eat ribs a try. Was not impressed. The fried pickles were soggy. The onion petals were greasy. The onion soup tasted weird as if there was something extra that was way too much in it sitting all day. The jalapeno cornbread is basically dry as hell Jiffy with a slight jalapeno taste. The ribs were over seasoned to the point that it overpowered everything. The first batch was okay but the second batch was so greasy that it made me sick and not to mention that the woman that brought us out or second order when is rude and seem to have a very bad attitude. The beans were basic with what seemed to be too much barbecue sauce with bits and pieces of meat trimmings. Ordered my margaritas with no salt or sugar and still got salt in them. The Long Island what is probably the top three of the worst Long Island's I have had in Brevard County. This literally felt like a glorified Applebee's. Service wise I felt we were on attended considering we requested to be seated away from people and had to ask twice to be seated somewhere else, the waiter never brought me my water that I requested, and waited till the end to remove all of the dirty dishes from our table which left us with no room to do anyting as it was. Not to mention kept leaving us while taking our order to attend to another table and coming back to apologize as if we were nobodies. First experience was turn into our first and only time we will ever be at this place. Definitely do not see what the hype is about because it is definitely...

First time there. I took a seat at the bar that had a total of 4 people sitting there. A few patrons seated at the tables.

I told the bartender (only one there at the time) it was my first visit and would like a beer and I was hungry. He seemed very occupied at the time, I have no idea why. He brought me the beer menu but no food menu. I ordered a draft. I mentioned I was wanting to eat and he finally brought me a menu.

Then it starts. I waited for 20 plus minutes to get my beer refilled much less asking what I wanted to eat. The bartender was running all over the place and disappeared once for 10 minutes. I sat there looking straight at him and he just blew me off. Never asked what I wanted, no refill, no nothing. He appeared TOO BUSY doing something besides waiting on us.

I put down $7 cash for my beer that cost $5.70 to test him. He came up and took the money and said "are you leaving?" is said yes. No words more said from this moron except "Can I keep the change?" I said yes, maybe you can go back to people and bar tending training. You sure did not earn it! I told him I was not happy and guess what, he acted that he did not care, did not even explain nor apologize. What an arrogance. All in all, he acted other task were more important than taking care of customers period. Worst bartender I have ever met.

I never had the chance to eat and will NOT be back to this...