Barney’s Bar B Q

There are only a few good BBQ places in the St Louis area. This is not one of them.

Why a 5 star… I don’t want to see them close. The 5 is simply for a higher overall rating. The five star is SOLELY for the uniqueness and charm. This a neat little place that actually gives the sterile, franchise heavy West County dining experience some depth.
The food… two star? This isn’t a BBQ place, it is a grilled meat place. I actually kind of liked the ribs. They are spare ribs grilled on the Weber like my Dad made us growing up. Chewy and a tab bit of char. Chicken looked decent, and it was if you like baked chicken. No BBQ or smoke flavor, but moist. The pork steak was good, but no different than cooked at home on the gas grill. Their sauce was also severely lacking for us.
We also had a hamburger, beef sandwich, pork sandwich and hot dog. DO NOT expect anything special!
The sides… curly fries, decent food service fries. The rest of the sides are generic and below average in my book.
Will I go there again… maybe for a rack of ribs to take home. Would I recommend trying… yes, for the experience and to help keeping a summer tradition going.

Let me start out by saying this place is nasty… My friend and I were in the area and when we passed by it smelled so good that we stopped on the way back… I got the pork he got the beef sandwich… It is sliced up deli style… the bottom bun is so soggy couldn’t pick it up but I don’t eat wet bread anyways… The meat was very dry and bland… Void of any smoky flavor. They also don’t offer you any kind of BBQ sauce maybe to drowned out the nasty meat… I’m from the south and I like all style of barbecue… I don’t even classify that as BBQ… Now let’s talk about that disgusting coleslaw what is that stuff even made from its not vinegar based its not mayo based I would swear it was made by snails it was so slimy and gross and some weird green color!

Very good place to relax in the sun and enjoy some fresh quality BBQ
Not to mention the hospitality is top shelf
5 for sure

We are Still searching for the best BBQ in Saint Louis and it was recommended to me to try Barneys. They are only open Memorial Day till Labor Day Friday-​Sunday. We came here and again ordered every protein they sell and every side. The style is open pit and didn’t disappoint. They make their own charcoal no propane gas here.
You order at a window of a garage where it appears a family plus some college students attend to your order. They are open air so seating is outside, the place does have some charm to it on to the food.
The open pit ribs might rank as the best ribs in St. Louis, really. We loved that char flavor and if we stopped there it would rank a 5 star experience. Along with the Ribs with ordered the second best item, the pork steak sandwich which was worthy of 5 stars too. However the rest of the proteins brought the experience down a bit. We also ordered the brisket and pork sandwich, Both were prepared open pit style and to cook them through I guess they get a bit dried out. To make matters worse they than slice the meat very thin on a meat slicer rather than pull it. The thin slices are exposed to oxygen so they were a bit dry with not much smoke flavor to speak of. The chicken was moist and delicious but didn’t have the appropriate spice, it almost could be oven roasted. The features are a result of open pit style. Everything was serve with white wonder bread style too. buns and loaves.
The BBQ sauce was a bit weird, a runny vinegar mix more like a French dip sauce instead of a BBQ sauce. When used it did make the brisket and pork moist. The sides were pretty good but nothing outstanding. Mustard was used in the potato salad and cole slaw. All in all this place had the best ribs and excellent pork steak so if you stick to these items expect a 5 star experience.
I did read all the reviews and frankly the negative reviews are also a bit correct. Slow service, dry items and the such but its worth the wait for the open pit down home experience.

Old school BBQ with small pork sandwich with pickle on it and simple white bun. The service was SLOW and hardly anyone was there.
One person liked the nostalgic aspect. I will not stop by again.

We were excited about the smoke smell filling the air while ordering but underwhelmed once the food arrived. We ordered a bit of all the meats and basically, except for the texture, it all tasted the same. Bland. The potato salad and bean sides were just basic fare, nothing special about them. I recommend Pappys downtown instead for some of the best BBQ in St. Louis.

Stopped for first time and was not disappointed Food was outstanding and employees were helpful. Plan on making more trips back to try most of the items on menu

Many of the reviews for Barney’s BBQ don’t give it justice but I can honestly say that my family has been going for years and we are always going back.
This particular visit was their last Saturday of the season. We were able to snag their last slab of ribs to go, along with an order of their beans. We were not disappointed when we ate into both later that night.
If you’re lucky, and its a gorgeous summer day/​night, sit outside and you can smell their BBQ smoke a mile away as you enjoy your meal. Located in the heart of West County, they always have a smile on their faces and they are ready to serve.
Can’t wait until they open again!

I have always loved their ribs but decided to try their shredded beef sandwich. Tasteless brisket that was chopped up rather than shredded. Texturally not very appealing. Somehow, even though there was enough juice to soak the bottom bun to a paste, the meat still tasted dry. I actually couldn’t eat it.
I would give this sandwich one star. The curly fries were very good four stars. And the baked beans are always a treat four stars
The service was friendly.
There was no line and I had to wait for 25 minutes to get my food — one star.

My husband said the ribs are the best he has had in STL. He smokes and grills his own all the time and he was impressed with these but said he wished they had more sauce. Also he got some of the pork. It isn’t pulled pork, it is kind of sliced thin and then sort of minced. My husband reported that he was impressed with the cooking style, the texture and quality of the pork was quite good. However, he thought it would have been much improved with sauce. I can’t comment on the meat as I’m a veg. So I will comment on the sides. The cole slaw was icky. It seemed old and slimy, and it was vinegar based. Kind of like sour kraut with a vinegar dressing. I didn’t care for it. The potato salad tasted like what you’d buy at Dierbergs, mustard style and thick. It was just okay, not great. I didn’t eat the beans because they had meat in them. I did taste one, and the beans were mushy. Not great. The building itself is pretty cool, and there is an area in the back with «indoor» seating by the firepit, kind of grandma’s back porch sort of feel. There are also quite a few picnic tables outside to sit at, though we took ours to go. Oh, and. the curly fries were quite good. We probably won’t go back, if we do it would just be for the ribs.

I read a bad review on urbanspoon, and another here on Unilocal,so I went to Schnucks instead, but Schnucks only BBQ’s on Friday and today is Saturday… I also live very near, so was hoping it would be good but was not expecting that.
So in order to decide if I like or don’t like I ordered ½ slab of ribs, ½ chicken, and sides of potato salad, beans, and slaw. I liked the ribs and chicken and the spice/​rub they used. The meat was not covered in sauce, and not too salty, but very tasty. The slaw could have been more fresh, but the recipe was tasty. Beans and potato salad were fresh and good.
The employees seemed like high school or college kids (friendly enough), and once before I got a burger there to go and they forgot my fries, so I would guess that on any given day your experience may be better or worse than ours. But I have to say that the food today was very good, and both my wife and I are very picky and have eaten some of the best BBQ in the midwest.

Barney’s has been in business since 1963 and we have lived in the St Louis area since 1994. It is only 6 miles from home and we had never gotten around to stopping in. We finally made our visit on a Saturday for lunch. They are only open in the summer months and then only Friday through Sunday. You can eat outside on picnic tables in the 95 degree St Louis heat and humidity or you can take it home. We opted for the latter because Ms T is a delicate flower that might wilt.
I feel a little bit bad about writing this review. I was hoping to write a great one. I will start with the ribs which are pretty good, so it is 3 stars for the ribs and the ribs alone. They are big meaty spare ribs, with solid smoke that will stay on your fingers even after you lick them. The seasoning on the outside is not intrusive, yet provides just enough salt to make them enjoyable, while retaining the full flavor of the pork. I was pleased to see they were not slathered in a heavy, sweet sauce. We ordered a half slab and they must have made a mistake because we had a huge pile of ribs in our carton and made three meals out of them. If you expect ribs to «fall off the bone» these are not for you. They are al dente. You have to chew the meat. It came off the bone reasonably cleanly, but they are not going to melt in your mouth. I would like them a bit more tender, but they were good enough to order again.
Now for the not-​so-​good. We also ordered a pork plate and a beef plate with two sides each, so we could sample. When we opened the Styrofoam cartons at home, I said, «Oh, the meat is sliced.» I’m pretty sure both pork and beef are sliced thin on a deli slicer. This is simply not barbecue, not in any definition of the word, no matter what region of the country you prefer. It may have had a little smoke, but not much. The real issue was that it was more or less like oven roasted meat. They provided a huge pile of each. We ate half of the pork and almost none of the beef and threw the rest away. It is what I would expect to get at a fire department barbecue fund raiser in northern Iowa, where there is no BBQ tradition and people think that dumping some Cookie’s sauce on roast meat makes it barbecue. (I can say that because that is where I am from) The meat was not cooked properly or chopped properly and the sauce was awful. The sauce was like some very diluted French or Russian dressing. To make it worse, both meats tasted as if they were cooked 1 – 2 days ahead. I won’t dwell on the sides (slaw, beans and potato salad). I would not order them again.
I would suggest that you try the ribs if you prefer them a little firm. Just get ribs and make the sides your self. I wish I had better news but there it is.