Barbu

Excellent place… BYOB and amazing veggie dishes. Go fo the peanut butter dessert. Amazing

I had heard a LOT of hoopla about this place before we finally made it for dinner. It pretty much lived up to all the hype ;-)
The food was natural and delicious!
I had the wild boar sausages in fresh sage sauce… so yummy!
It was a special.
My boyfriend had the rabbit-​ginger sausages with couscous and that was also interesting and delicious.
We both thought the best part was the escargot that we had as an appetizer with fresh wheat bread… i have thought about it again and again…
Anyway, the food, ambiance and service were all great.
The prices are a little high for relatively small entrees but you do not have to worry about spending lots on wine because it’s byob… only $ 5 for corkage.
I will definitely go again… maybe even my place of choice for a birthday celebration!

The cuisine is delicious, exotic and diverse in this warm environment where the owner and chef, Blue, treats you like an old friend.

I’ve been back more recently and have some concerns. The price fixe menu is gone because they «couldn’t make any money off of it» (fair enough, but still a loss), and two of the dishes we ordered were unavailable– one of which was off the specials menu, and the waiter confessed that they only ever had the ingredients to make two servings, but put it on anyway.
And the service was lackadaisacal, if pleasant. We were happy to dawdle, but if we had wanted our food at an efficient rate, we would have been upset.
The place was empty, on a Saturday night. Go while you can. I imagine it won’t be long for this world.

My husband and I loooove good food and exploring restaurants. This was a new place for us since we moved to Miami a few months ago. The atmosphere is wonderful and the music goes very well with it; it’s what pulls you inside. The staff is extremely nice and helpful. The idea behind every dish is unique and eccentric but it lacks a final touch. We were not very impressed with the frog legs being such an exquisite french delicacy. The duck dish is very good and tender but overly spiced, too much cayenne pepper and other condiments. Overall, I would recommend this place for the good ambiance but if you’re looking for iron chef quailty dishes or an orgasmic gastronomical experience, this is definitely not the place.

Loved this place! Being tucked away on a side street away from the South Beach hype is a definite positive!
We didn’t love everything we ordered but they get major props for a creative and ever-​changing menu. We had a garlic shrimp appetizer that stands out in my memory. Also consumed that night was a quail cassoulet — we didn’t particularly care for the way it was spiced, but it was cooked perfectly and we were delighted to try something «different» and inventive.
Also a bonus is the BYO policy with a $ 5 corkage. I could see going with several friends and having a wonderful evening drinking wine and sampling their menu. Just bring a sweater as it’s over-​air conditioned.

The food here is amazing! Probably some of the best I have had since in Miami. The menu is heavily French influenced, not extensive but varied and everything is done to perfection. It is innovative and the flavor combinations are very ecclectic. I had pheasant pâté with broiled cheese followed by the duck maigret. It had a guava/​tangerine sauce that was succulent. We also had the escargot which were marevelous and not the way you are usually expecting it (butter/​parsley sauce).
It is BYOB so make sure you bring your choice of libations! The only con, is the seating. We had a good table but there are some that I would not like to be seated at. However, the owner Blue makes up for any imperfections this place has.
I recommend this place to anyone

Art Basel Miami Beach is over, I am still hungover, so I will stick to the pros and cons:
Pros:
— Delicious Duck Entrée
— $ 5 corkage fee
— Really, really friendly waiting staff
— Delicious apple tart, tastes very much like a homemade dish grandma would make
— Great modern design, snug interior reminds me of my favorite NY spots. Also, good music.
Cons:
–The Pheasant appetizer smells dreadful (strong dog smell, not what one wants to smell at dinner), and tastes OK
— The Mushroom ‘casserole’ isn’t as much a casserole as a soup. Tasty, but ultimately not worth it
— They only have one small kitchen, so when the place is packed, it takes 30 minutes to get a dessert and the waiting staff will forget little things (like clearing off plates, making sure everyone has water glasses)
— Although I like the space, the couch table we sat at hurt my back… wasn’t a comfortable experience. Should install another table.
Ultimately, I will definitely come back here! Loved it, even on a packed Saturday…

When our party of 14 arrived at Barbu with wine bottles and a reservation for their $ 20 prix fixe in hand, I was quite concerned. See this photo (
) of the table at the entrance? That’s where we sat. I honestly didn’t think it was going to work out, but somehow it did.
Music was excellent — a perfect mix of the best of the 80s (honestly though, if you ask me it’s all good), including Thompson Twins, Cutting Crew, Hall & Oates and OMD. There were many singalongs and I’m sure our knowledge of lyrics to obscure 80s songs was much appreciated by the other patrons.
We brought our own wine ($ 5 corkage) and pored over the menu, which was full of inventive looking options. Sadly, I was disappointed with my food. My starter — d’anjou pear roasted in sea salt and garlic oil with melted bleu d’Auvergne cheese — was good, although it was actually a Bartlett pear, which was fine by me as it works better with blue cheese anyway.
I was dangerously excited about my main — butternut squash slow cooked with tofu, edamame, chickpeas and curried vegetables. Doesn’t that sound DELICIOUS? It wasn’t. I expected a stew with chunks of curried butternut squash, but instead I got butternut squash SOUP with chunks of edamame and vegetables. Weird, right? «Curry» was omitted — there was no flavouring whatsoever. Overall the texture and flavour combination was a bit off-​putting, especially the barely cooked edamame. For a vegetarian dish this had a lot of promise and started with great ingredients, but I was not impressed. I love butternut squash soup but not in this format.
My dessert of pure chocolate truffle cake with fresh raspberries was excellent, although only the staunchest chocolate supporters will appreciate its density and intensity.
Also, heed William B’s advice on the location — it’s a bit tricky if you’re visiting, and luckily I had read his review before heading over. The entrance is off 20^th St., just east of West Ave., not on West itself.

I’d heard about Barbu several times from Unilocaler extraordinaire Nicole and so when I was told our group dinner would be here I was excited to check it out.
Now imagine if you will the Rowdiest, Make it a karaōke bar wherever they go group you’ve ever met, now add oh about nine bottles of wine, you’re starting to understand the severity of this situation…
We arrived early on in the night and I was surprised by the seating arrangement. It seemed very nontraditional but fit in with the bohemian sensibility of this tiny bistro. The corkage fee and $ 20 prix fixe are enough to make adjustments to less than stellar seating arrangements completely bearable. Besides, the place is charming and reminds me of a space from some fabled yesteryear where lots of chain smoking, spoken word, and deep thoughtful conversations could and would have taken place.
We all placed our orders and then were told some of us had to re-​order since they didn’t have enough of the popular jerk duck leg. I allowed others to opt for new dishes and stuck with my original choice and had the escargot as the appetizer.
Towards the end of the meal a fantastic drag queen came out and we announced Peter’s birthday so we could celebrate with the necessary pomp and circumstance.
I must say our server was fantastic and he sang along to the 80s medley. Nothing like a server who can clap to George Michael’s Faith or sway to Madonna’s Like a Virgin.
Ah such a magical night with a worthy soundtrack to accompany the good times.

I need some new friends.* And by that I mean I need the sort of friends who don’t love to tell restaurant staff that it is my birthday. By my count, I’ve had 5 or 6 birthdays in the past year.
The celebration at Barbu, however, was the only time that we interrupted an extremely entertaining drag show, and had the star** sing to me in front of the entire restaurant.
Thankfully, the positive aspects of Barbu extend beyond drag queens and birthday songs. Early in the evening, they run a $ 20 prix fixe that is a pretty sweet deal. Especially since you can BYOBooze.
I started with the pheasant pâté, which I thought was more like pheasant sausage covered in melted cheese, but it tasted great so I’m not going to concern myself with semantics. The escargot and shrimp appetizers were also winners.
I chose the duck leg for my entrée, and although it was billed as «jerk,» the flavoring seemed a bit more like BBQ. Once again, it tasted fine, so I won’t split hairs. However, the truffle mashed potatoes were the best thing on the plate.
Because my friends are sharers (they get kicked to the curb if they’re not), I tasted a few other dishes as well. I was honestly glad I didn’t get the venison special; the berry reduction was overly sweet and cloying. The (mango?) chicken entrée was also a bit sweet for my taste.
The moral of this story is that I always make the best decisions. Every time. You can ask my ex-​wives, and the police.
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*Unfortunately, beggars can’t be choosers.
**Unrelated Story: Later on in the evening, I was outside with the smokers (not smoking because I would never do such a thing because my girlfriend would be angry and I would never make her angry) and the drag queen was leaving. I asked where she (he?) was going, and the answer was, «To Publix: where shopping is a pleasure.» That cracked me up.

I was immensely concerned when our party of 14 arrived at Barbu to find a couple of tiny tables crammed together along the banquet. There was no way we’d all be able to sit, much less be able to move our arms to eat. At first, the waiter refused to add another table to our group, claiming that everything else was reserved. After a few minutes of fenagling, it became obvious that we were dealing with a square peg/​round hole situation, and he let us add in a table, allowing us a teensy bit of breathing room.
So yes, Barbu is small. I don’t think I’ve seen much this teeny outside of Manhattan, but we were able to make it work, leading to one of the most fun dinners of my life. They have a prix fixe menu (appetizer and entrée for $ 20) during limited times and the value continues with the BYOB and $ 5 corkage fee. Yes, you can get quite rowdy here without a major price tag– hooray!
I selected a shrimp appetizer with lamb sausages as my entrée, and I was pleased with both. I did prefer the creaminess of the pheasant appetizer that I sampled to the spicy kick of my shrimp, but still was very happy with my meal. For dessert I sampled an apple tart and a sinfully rich chocolate cake: both tasty but not necessarily awe-​inspiring.
It may have been my companions, but this was the most fun I’ve had at a restaurant in a very long time. Every song that came over the speakers was one that begged to be sung-​along to, and sing we did! The waiter even got in on a bit of our karaōke fun, and not once did he chide us for our very robust (and very VERY loud) antics. In fact, I’m pretty sure they liked us. Well, I hope they did.
The drag show that we saw wasn’t much of a show: more like one queen prancing around a bit to one song, then taking an hour long break. It worked perfectly for us for the evening mainly ’cause we were creating our own party, so just don’t expect the show to bring the fun. Like the alcohol at Barbu, be sure to BYO party and you’ll be guaranteed a good time.

What a fantastic, unassuming bar/​restaurant Barbu is. The décor is distinctly urban with a ceiling board inscribed with snippets supporting peace on our planet. The place is small and can maybe house sixty people standing and sitting combined. As a BYOB my party of fourteen indeed brought plenty of booze. Being a rather rowdy bunch the server had no choice but to join in our banter as controlling us was never going to happen.
The food came out in good time and I was very impressed. The prawns were spiced to perfection and possibly the best I have ever had. They were truly sensational. The snails were also fabulous. The rest of my meal which was a chicken and goats cheese main was enjoyable.
I would definitely recommend Barbu.

Been to A before and looooved it. First time I went to BArbu they where about to close but they remained open just for us because we where with a friend of the owners. The food was amazing we sat at the bar and it was great. So I returned on a Saturday night months later as I live a bit far from there. We where hungry and the place was buzzling. We got sat down at a table with a tiny chopped tree stool which is fine but once we had already been waiting for our food for an hour and 45 mts. the stool is no longer cool. We kinda begged to get served and the food came out no more than a minute later. Was it just a matter of begging? The people next to us offered to buy our food just so that their equaly long wait would cease. I love rich tasting foods and that’s what we got. My poor friend could barely eat it. If you are a fussy eater beware. I loved everything. Lamb sausage, chicken, avocado and a pear dish. Delicious. BYOB. Don’t get there hungry or with less than 3 hours to spend waiting so go with fun company which luckily I had. Not sure if I can do that again in a little while.

i can’t think of anyhthing bad to say about this place except that i wish there was more of it! it’s a little on the small side, but it makes for a very cozy intimate experience which is perfect if you’re there with someone you’re cozy and intimate with. we brought our own wine to take advantage of the low corkage fee (i don’t think they have a license yet). first, we tried the pheasant pâté with cheese and truffle on top which granted has more of a sausage texture but was absolute heaven. it was so rich that we couldn’t finish it and had to take it home which promptly got eaten in the am (probably because we were dreaming about it all night). we also had the avocado appetizer which was very rich too but not as savory as the pâté. for entrees we had the jerk duck confit and the smoked chicken. amazing. the owners came and chatted with us throughout our time and they seem like very interesting and genuine people. can’t wait to go back!

I love A, their restaurant in New York, so of course I loved Barbu. The menu is pretty much the same, my favorites are pear and escargot for «tapas» and lamb and duck for «plates» though almost everything is good (and trust me, I’ve tried it all.) The owners are awesome as always, the vibe is chill, it’s totally somewhere you can have a nice dinner and hang out for a couple hours. No doubt a great addition to Miami’s dining scene.

Went to Barbu on a Saturday night. I believe the first Sat. they were open. It’s a very intimate, cozy space, with a small number of regular height tables, two high tables (not the most comfy) and a bar.
We were greeted and served by Blue, one of the owners. She explained the concept and got us everything needed, but when Marc (other owner and chef) came out, we could see that he was suited to front-​of-​house duties just as well as BOH. Very enthusiastic about the place as well as the food. Great to feel his energy!
The food was very good. Highly recommend the broiled escargots. (You’ll need more bread to soak up the sauce; all of a sudden, no-​carb diets don’t apply to this dish). Baked brie was another highlight, but the ‘pheasant pâté’ didn’t have the expected pâté texture… it felt more like ground meat than the smooothness (word?) one expects. The gulf prawns were nice (smallish portion… 4 or 5 prawns) but spicy! Also ordered the grilled avacado with soya stuffing. This one needs a little work on the flavor.
Only 2 entrée choices that night, most of us got the smoked duck breast, which was very well cooked, but super smokey.
Next time I want to try the roasted pear with bleu cheese!
Bring your own wine, only $ 5 corkage. Don’t think they have a license yet.
I’ll be back.