Barrel & Bones Craft Bar and Smokehouse — Restaurant in The Colony

I like Barrel and Bones, so it pains me to write a bad review of them, but this should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone wishing to go to the restaurant. I would highly recommend you go anywhere else for bourbon or bbq after this experience.

I went to The Colony location on Thursday, March 5 at around 4pm – after first going to their Carrollton location, which was closed due to a corporate party, so I had driven an extra 25ish minutes because I really like the place…. My friend and I were intending on having a few drinks and early dinner.

I love their bourbon selection, and as someone who works in the industry, understands rarity, etc. I asked the bartender. Corday (sp?) how much a pour of Weller 12 was, and she replied $8.75. “Oh that’s a great price!” I replied… to which she paused and said she needed to check to see if that was the correct price. She went to the manager and came back to tell me the price had been raised to $10. Her checking on the price and the price being raised was based solely on my reaction to the initial price – no other reason. It had clearly been put in the system at that other price and had sat on a shelf for at least a significant time before I arrived.

I was caught off guard by the raising of a price solely due to my reaction, and raised my concern in a calm manner with both Corday (sp?) and the manager – who eventually, and reluctantly gave me the lower price - but then charged me $1 for my ice for the first time that I have ever been charged for ice on any of my 8-10 times I’ve visited both locations. I was at their Carrollton location the day before and there was no up-charge for ice - this was clearly done as a punitive measure.

From that point forward, Corday also gave my friend and I the cold shoulder and it was clear we were no longer welcome at the establishment.

Imagine going to a clothing store, finding a shirt for $20… then at the register, when you tell the clerk that ‘you think it’s a great price,’ the clerk goes to the manager and gets the price raised… That’s what happened here.

My friend and I would not order another drink or food after that round, because a) Corday clearly was angry and at that point intentionally ignoring us and b) we couldn’t trust that what we ordered wouldn’t trigger another price increase.

This was insulting and one of the weirdest/worst customer experiences I’ve ever had. I can no longer trust...

On Sunday after a LONG day for both of us, my husband and I wanted BBQ for dinner. I came across Barrel and Bones and wanted to give them a try. After trying over an hour to get someone on the phone to ask what time the kitchen closed, no luck. My husband decided to place the order online. After all of that, we get a confirmation that our food wasn't going to ready until the next day. Now we are frustrated and angry cause we could've used what they charged us somewhere else. Needless to say my husband wasn't having it. We drove there to get a refund. Upon entering the host/bartender didn't even greet us. The 1st thing out of his mouth was "if you're here to eat, the kitchen is closed". 1st, I hope he doesn't lead with that all night to incoming guests. 2nd if we hadn't already paid for the food we ordered we would never step foot back in there. Just for the rude welcoming we received. My husband went to explain to Mr Rudeness the situation, just to be told.he needed to get management to help us out. 🙄 The manager quickly came out, listened to our delima and eventhough the kitchen had JUST closed for the night, he made sure we got EVERYTHING we ordered (except the okra, fryers were already off). We sat and had a drink while we waited on our order and this young man made sure our visit wasn't a complete bust. He is the ONLY reason we will come back. As a native Texan, I've been trying to understand the culture of whiskey here and why it's LOVED and this place seems like a place I can find some whiskeys and bourbon I can enjoy. I didn't get the manager's name, but we will definitely look for him on our next visit. He is a jewel and I hope he gets recognized for going above and beyond for...

They knew we were coming and yet they really weren't prepared. After taking our orders the waitress came back to tell us that they were out of brisket the night before. It probably took a good half hour or better before they started bringing out food, and even still at our table one person got served food a good 5-10 min before the rest of the table. The smoked chicken sandwich was dry and unimpressive. The chicken was neither chopped nor pulled it was more like it had been through a food processor. It had a good smoky flavor to it, but you could've taken any processed meat and added a drop or two of smoky flavor it it and it would've been the same. No celery, mayo, seasonings or anything to make it special. It came on Texas toast. Texas toast is not sandwich bread, and the texas toast was toasted and dry, they should've applied mayo or something wet to the bread and def added lettuce to the sandwich. It came with some pickled onions and a couple of stingy slices of thin, limp pickled cucumbers (although not pickled enough to be pickles). My husband brought home most of his food uneaten, where it went in the trash. It was a hot afternoon so coming inside to get cooled off was welcome - they were really good about keeping us in beverages while we waited for food. The waitress was nice and pleasant and way overworked. It seemed as though they were very short-staffed. This was our first visit here and it will be our last as well. There are way many options and lots of competition for food and drink to have to settle. And this place felt...