Barbers Crossing North — Restaurant in Sterling

With an almost empty dining room. My party was seated at a table in the corner where one of the diners in my party was sitting, virtually in the hallway. Where they were not only far too close to the frigid air coming from the front door, but were also a mere 20 feet from the restrooms and directly adjacent to a hostess station/room where they were able to not only get to listen to servers complain to the hostess about various grievances, But also learn the details of what the staff had done after work the previous night.

Our Beverages arrived promptly and the server was friendly enough, But frequently responded to the needs of vaious diners with a raised voice from accross the dining room. We also found her quite inattentive to the need for beverage refills (leaving one diner with an empty glass for more than 15 min. And completely forgetting to bring a beverage for another diner in my party). She was slow to take an entree order as well as bring the bill so we could escape this dining experience.

We ordered spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer and recieved it quickly. The dip itself was very flavorful and well made as were the toasted bread rounds. Where this dish fell short were the house cooked tortilla chips that arrived slightly undercooked, heavily saturated with standing oil, and seemingly without having been salted.

Both the prime rib and loaded potato side were well cooked and flavorful.

The prime rib sandwich was of decent quality although the prime rib was clearly a reuse strategy for unsold prime rib from the previous service, and the onion rings side were quite good and possibly the high point of the meal.

The Cajun chicken sandwich is where the wheels fell off the bus so to speak. This sandwich was served on a different style roll than the prime rib sandwich for reasons that I can not decipher, and this roll was clearly purchased as a frozen product. The roll was VERY dry and beginning to stale. The portion of chicken was extremely thin but did have a big flavor. Skimpilly served with a simple sauce and cheese only, this dish could have been made better by the simple addition lettuce and tomato on it to counteract the stale, dry bread but alas, we got 4 oz of chicken on a stale roll for the value price of $16 99. The side of steak cut fries were also undercooked and soggy leaving that diner extremely underwhelmed, quite irritated, and promising to never return to this location (this was also the diner that was sitting in the hallway).

The chocolate lava cake and Creme Brule were both quite flavorfull and nostalgic.

The atmosphere was Rustic and could have been saved by either of their 2 signature fireplaces having been burning a crackling fire, rather than the illuminated light bulbs that these centerpieces were tragically relegated to hold in a underwhelming attempt to mimic the real thing.

The overall experience of this meal was that of a restaurant that was seemingly stuck in 1985 and is in desperate need of a redesign of both the decor...

I debated three stars instead of two for my impression of Barbers Crossing, because nothing was truly bad here. In fact my dining companion quite liked her fish sandwich, and my salad was fresh and delicious, and the off-school waitstaff was friendly and attentive. The problem is that in so many ways, this restaurant was not great. The decor wants to be friendly tavern but comes off dark, dingy, and badly in need of updating. The padding of the taped-together seat of my booth vanished decades ago, and the worn out carpeting and overly dark lighting left me thinking this place has been coasting for decades. I had to send a fork back for the first time in my life because it was mangled by the dishwasher through over-use and had sharp edges. Everything here just felt in need of some kind of refresh, it makes cracker barrel seem trendy. I chose the marinated chicken which was on the dry side, and generally lacking in flavor. It was served on a bed of rice pilaf which was.. fine, but really this was basic store-box rice like Near East or something, really not memorable or unique. Although the salad was good, I asked for creamy Italian and got an overly-sweet dressing if I had to guess was Wishbone Italian. Again nothing awful, and I dont expect to be blown away by the cuisine every time I eat out.. but the issue is this: Dining out these days is crazy pricey, the days of doing it multiple times a week are long over for a lot of people. Its a special thing, and you want the experience to be special somehow, and I just feel your money is better spent somewhere where the owners have a passion for their business and are not...

We live less than three miles from Barbers Crossing in Sterling. We eat out a minimum of once a week yet we’ve only been to this restaurant once and that was several years ago. I don’t remember why we haven’t gone back so at my suggestion we went there last night for dinner because they had grilled swordfish on the menu, my wife’s favorite meal. The atmosphere was great in the dining room with the fireplace. No complaints with the service (it was 5:15 PM on a Monday). The meals, however, left much to be desired. I started with lobster bisque that was served at room temperature and otherwise not very good for a bisque. First time I didn’t finish a bisque. My wife ordered the grilled swordfish. I ordered chicken tortellini Alfredo which for some strange reason was priced considerably higher than other similar meals on the menu ($5 more than the swordfish). When the meals came out, the swordfish looked fantastic. It was a bigger piece than I anticipated and looked grilled to perfection. However, other than (strangely) one little corner, it was dry and chewy, a big disappointment. My chicken tortellini was just blah. The Alfredo sauce wasn’t very good and the chicken was – you guessed it – dry. Because of the proximity to home and the atmosphere, we may try it again, probably a sandwich meal for lunch. If it’s disappointing again, we won’t forget why we’ve...