Barrel and Ashes Reviews

Great food selection and super tasty... cooked to perfection a little hard to park but you can valet which is always a good option. The ribs are a must try. Also the pork sandwich is deliciously done. Good selection of beer and service is great. I will go back... I gotta try more items Enjoy!

Love this place! They let us in before they opened and seated us at the bar. Super friendly and great drinks! Old Fashioned is amazing! So is the Honey Bubble!

Great BBQ, good drinks. A bit on the pricey side, but worth it

Loosen those belt buckles, kids! This is Southern down-home cooking with a pricey twist. From hoe cakes to Frito pies, this place has every gut-busting belly bomb you could ask for, and then some. Take a look at the pictures, and you'll be hard-pressed not to find something your fatty sensibilities don't crave.

The booze menu is pretty extensive and have a great selection of cocktails, craft beers, & bitters to satisfy any alcohol connoisseur. Even the coffee lovers have something to rejoice over with a java-inspired liquor drink involving Irish whiskey, coffee liqueur, Verve coffee, whipped cream, & cinnamon. But for $12 a pop, you may just want to order regular coffee.

The food is where it's at, here. Yes, it's super heavy, but you may not find anything like it around. The uniqueness and scrumptiousness alone is worth spending your cheat day here. For the full experience I suggest bringing someone with you and sharing some of the more popular dishes.

The Best Damn Chick'n Sandwich Ya Ever had is a clear winner; super savory, made with fried chicken, pimento cheese, & a savory slaw to give it a bit of a sour kick, all served on a brioche bun. As a side, I would suggest a hoe cake- which is basically a corn pancake served on a skillet- made with maple butter & chives, or with all the fixin's. There are a couple to choose from- both sweet & savory- so it comes down to your tastes. If you're eating more, I think the regular that comes with the maple butter & chives is perfect.

Some other favorites are the smoked fried chicken, the Frito pie- which you may or may not love, depending on where you're from- and, of course, the brisket. I mean, who ever heard of down-home cooking without BBQ & brisket?

The desserts in a place like this are expected to be decadent & ridiculous. They don't disappoint. They sometimes have unique items on their menu- when I was here, it was a perfectly-balanced Pineapple Habanero ice cream- but the most popular seems to be the Banana Pudding. It's a beast of a pudding which comes in a small mason jar with some toasted marshmallow on top & real banana slices mixed in-between. It's the perfect way to end that button-bursting feast you just indulged in. But hey, at least your wallets will be lighter.

Service: Friendly, but food takes a while to come out
Hush puppies: Pretty tasty, served with plenty of maple butter
Pulled pork sandwich: bun was quite thick and bland, just an ordinary store bought sandwich bun. Also super soggy, after one bite I gave up and just used a knife and fork. Quite tasty otherwise, with a very generous portion of meat. Very nice tater tots on the side too
Tri-tip: Meh. Overpriced
Hoe cake: I could only stomach a few bites. My mom had to go to the bathroom after one because it made her feel like she was about to vomit. Maybe it's all the butter?
Braised greens: okay
Overall: some okay, some less than okay food, absolutely not worth $70

Great steaks, top notch service and wonderful environment. Highly recommend.

Outrageous food. Drinks were astronomical. Service, unparalleled.

It was a private party. Had a great time with good food and drinks! Enjoyed the craft beer, just wish they had a few more to choose from.

The brisket was absolutely wonderful. Relaxing and comfortable environment. Their bar selections are fabulous. So happy I brought the whole family for Memorial Day.

Respectable BBQ place in the Valley. About an hour wait on a Friday night, very limited area to wait for your table. Menu is set up al-la-carte so its better to come with a group and try our several items. Drinks were excellent.

Decent for L.A., but if you're from an actual BBQ-centric area, you'll not likely be overly impressed.

I wish I could give 3.5 stars. I waffled back and forth between 3 and 4 for a while - their drinks are quite good and well priced.

Food is wonderful, service terrific, I had the beef ribs, great barbecue.

Great BBQ place in Studio City. I come here every other month for brunch. All dishes I tried here are great. Service is reliably good. Decent price to value ratio too.

Food was tasty, but quite expensive and the parking situation is kind of difficult. 1$/hr with 2 hour max on street and 7$ for valet. Brisket was excellent. Ribs had good taste but were not very tender. Kale salad was quite good. Probably would of been a 4 if I was able to get some of their craft beer.

I like this place. It's not Texas BBQ... Which I hate. A lot. They do have banana pudding which I LOVE. A LOT; it's pretty good too. Definitely on my list of BBQ spots in the valley. The bar is cool. Good spot to watch a game.

As a BBQ aficionado, I can definitely say that this is some of the better legit BBQ in L.A. Not "city boy" BBQ as with some chain places that aim to be BBQ, but legit, and with some flair too! Hoecake and Frito Pie are cool and good. Sausage and brisket are really good. Baby backs are solid. Good sides too. Fun place to go with a group.

We had pulled pork, beef brisket, cole slaw, collards, pork and beans, hush puppies, hoe cake, roasted veggies, and of course, banana pudding. Wait, I forgot the craft cocktails! Not a tradition, until now! We had a Kentucky Mule, Cran-Theft-Auto, and Rum Rum Rudolph. Every bite was great, every sauce was interesting, and the place was kind of lively and exciting! We ordered too much, ate too much, took some home, and spent about $40 each including tip. You could eat very well with a couple friends for 25 or 30.

Was really good, I had the baby back ribs. They were the best part. Everything else still was really good. Awesome customer service, they bring out the fritos pie on the house. Our server was very friendly and was knowledgeable. Would come back again, many times actually lol. Overall the best BBQ in LA for sure.

Go! Go now! Outstanding food and excellent service.

Absolutely amazing food. And a great "Dark and Stormy" too.

This is not bad place. A little small to bring a group of friends for drinks and food. Great for 2 or 3 people. Food ok not amazing. The staff is super friendly.

Wonderful bbq. Portions are shareable. Sides looked great but was to fill to try them. Went at 4 p.m. to avoid the crowds

One of my top places for BBQ. Menu is similar to a restaurant in Jacksonville I liked.

Good was really good, friendly staff. Later selection of Whiskeys. They even had "Uncle Nearest" My first visit, I'll be back !!

Excellent service, especially with the special request made through Open Table, no awkwardness with trying to covertly flag a server. Fantastic food and great atmosphere.

Tasty Barbecue

Music is a little too loud for me as another reviewer stated.

Okay so, the brisket was cold. Upon bringing it to their attention they warmed it up and when it came back it was barely room temperature so I mentioned it again and when they brought it back the third time it was barely over room temperature. Another Patron heard my concern and was kind enough to reach out to me and let me know that yes indeed his was cold as well. This is my first bad review. Unfortunately it really messed up my experience and I probably won't be coming back. Which is saying a lot because I'm not very picky in my opinion. I hope this review is helpful.

I've looked through the other reviews and apparently cold delivery of brisket is a recurring theme Here.

Loved this spot! We had a great dinner and they found us a spot to sit even though we didn't make a reservation! Such a cool atmosphere and we loved our waiter! I will definitely return if I'm in the neighborhood!

Great food and drink. Pitside seating is really fun and the cooks are all very personable (not to mention talented). Tab can sneak up on you quick.

Smaller portions but enormous flavor that is surprisingly filling. Solid service. Definately returning in the near future.

Relatively small, extremely noisey, expensive menu for decent brisket but questionable side dishes. Menu mostly ala carte so choose your side dishes carefully. Service friendly and efficient.

Food was Brilliant! Service was Brilliant!

But lost a Star due to the LOUD, PAINFULLY LOUD MUSIC..

EIGHT HOURS LATER AND MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING...

Just casual enough to ensure a relaxing dinner. Food is wonderfully consistent, even when you have it delivered.

Pricey for what it is, but the food is delicious. The same plate of food in Texas would cost about $15.00, but like I said the food is delicious. Probably some of the best collard greens I've ever had as well. If it didn't cost a days pay for 2 people to eat there I would have given it 5 stars!

Oh, my gosh! Everything is remarkable. Delectable. The pickled Fresno chilis are crunchy, sweet, spicy. Make the drive to Studio City.

Great food, lots of bbq choices. Wait staff is attentive, polite, and engaging.

The food is super salty and the meat was served to us cold. Service was definitely not noteworthy. We wont be returning.

I loved this place. Service was good, BBQ was great. Thank you!

Great BBQ and cocktails. They have an impressive section of whiskey too!

Let me start by saying this is not really a traditional BBQ place. It is defiantly tailored to a more California crowd. It is rather expensive and a little bit of a hodge podge as far as their identity (meaning what region of BBQ they are emulating) I will say their smoked meats are pretty solid but their sauce is completely average which is a shame. Their Hoe cake is the best part and might be enough to have me come back. This is defiantly a more posh West coast take on traditional southern BBQ.

Loved this place! The food was incredible, the service was excellent. And the staff was very entertaining during the trivia night!

This is by the worst place for BBQ! Our server was awful from the start. Once the server took the appetizer order, we were waiting for a very very long time for our food to arrive. There was a party of 6 that came in after us had their apps n the couple behind us had their food before us, even though we arrived n were seated before any of the parties. They served all the white ppl before they served the only black couple. The cooks were very lazy, none of them cooked any food until we asked our server what happened to our apps, it seemed the server n the cooks really didn't care if we ate there or not. The Pit Plate was the most disgusting food. It was served in a baby skillet, with the three choices of meats, which were brisket (3) slices, Louisiana hot link (1/4), baby back ribs (3), small muffin (1), slices of pickle n some baked beans. All the food that was served, lacks taste, seasoning and presentation! There was no WOW factor! Travis came over took our orders. He didn't upsell the menu at all, I know it's BBQ, but good servers know how to upsell, cuz it's a better Tip for them. We ordered Pork rinds (these were pretty decent), fried pickles (drain out the old oil instead of over seasoning to cover up that stank taste), and their Collared Greens (Ooo Lord, have mercy, they put Vinegar in them Greens) and let me tell y'all on a scale of how bad those collard greens were, they were a 1, when we were driving home, we kept smelling a stinky fart, first I thought it was outside, the fart smell kept following us, then we figured it was the collard greens cooked in vinegar. We drove to a neighborhood store, I got a bottle of Ginger ale to drink to make sure I didn't have an upset stomach in the night. My partner and I had a bad experience all the way around tonight. We've visited many BBQ joints in Southern California, like Lucille's, Dickey's, Gus's BBQ. This has been crossed off the list to never return ever again. Y'all can keep your Kansas BBQ on the back burner.

If y'all want great BBQ, visit Irving Texas, go to Hard 8 BBQ ... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm lickin good !! Order the burnt ends for the brisket, St. Louis BBQ ribs, brings back great memories.

Meat quality has taken a nose dive.

I ordered a pound of brisket, rib tips, and wings. The wings were OK, the rib tips were super tough and the brisket was overcooked, dry, and just not up to the quality they used to produce.

The mac n' cheese and Brussel sprouts were good but that's not what you go to a BBQ place for.

I haven't seen the owner/chef Rory there in a while but the kitchen needs a change.

It will be a while before I come back, it's too expensive here to not get good food.

I was excited to try Barrel & Ashes with Dine LA
We have found many awesome restaurants this way.

The place is very cool & has a great vibe, I was excited the see the IPA's they had as well.

Starter was fried pickles pretty good.
Fries we ordered was amazing $8 but worth it.

by now you are thinking why is this 2 stars.

When we got the pork ribs it looked great , I even took the picture I posted . when I cut the rib I noticed the inside part was cold & top was very hot. I also don't mean Luke Warm just cold like fridge.

We told the waiter & he took it back, when we got it again I asked how do you guys prepare the ribs. I was really blown away how the outside can be hot & the inside so cold. I was given a side of attitude & told " Well they checked this one made sure it was hot. so it is how now" & to let him know if there is a problem. ( they reheated the same one)

Well the meat didn't taste good some sides was hard like rubber other so fatty that once you took a bite you took it out.

At this point if you are the waiter, wouldn't you come back, check on a customer, ask how is it now that didn't happen. The way the meat was smoked you can tell it was good but the meat was just bad. Not sure if it had to do with how it was reheated from fridge & heated up twice. It was late so maybe everyone just wanted to go home otherwise I wish they would have made a whole new one.

At this point The waiter is pretty much not coming to the table.
My water is empty for a while, I waited and waited.
I got up to get water & ask the chefs how could have this been & I have to say both guys were awesome. One explained that the rib came out of the fridge & was not heated correctly, the other said He did it wrong.
Loved how they explained instead of saying it is hot now like the waiter.
when they asked how it tasted I told them not good. Looking at the plate you can clearly see all the meat that was just not able to be eaten or taken out.

Chefs were nice enough to offer us some ribs to go etc, It is not about getting something for free for me so I didn't want it, but that offer was nice enough & I would come back to the restaurant because of the 2 chefs.

We got the check . It was just put down on the table & the waiter walked away , Really no thank you, sorry the food has issues again more attitude.

Going out to eat is an experience.
Service
Food
Atmosphere

If one of these is not good, it is like trying to drive a car with a flat tire.

Service here got big minus from the waiter.

Food 2 things we got was good & Rib I think we got was bad but would love to try them again

Atmosphere was awesome.

Great service the ladies working here were easy to talk to and brought out some great food in a timely manner...

From the UK. Food and atmosphere great would def recommend.

We enjoyed eating a Real American Meal with style and great atmosphere!

Food is wonderful, service terrific, I had the beef ribs, great barbecue

Hoe cake hoe cake hoe cake. I ate here for the first time and honestly everything is super delicious, the waiters are super chill and attentive and the whole atmosphere is super relaxed. My table decided we wanted to share since it was our first time here so we ordered the frito pie, Mac-cheese, tots with chili, hoe cake, pulled pork and brisket. I don't have any negative things to say about the food everything was so good and the one that made me literally say out loud, "are you serious?!?", was the hoe cake, my God is that thing delicious. Oh and you might also want to try the orange cream-sicle float and the blueberry crumble(I think that's what it's called)

The smoked meat is actually smoked. Collared greens were delicious. Service is great. Prices are better than boneyard, though they're smaller so you'll still want reservations.

Nice atmosphere, cool staff. Loved the hoe cake and the brisket sandwich. The chicken sandwich is pretty awesome too!

this place is a train wreck, inside a car wreck, inside a plane wreck - a tecarplan wreck. Only one valet working so you have to wait while half of Ventura screams at you. Then they don't seem to understand what a storm door is, or even a vestibule so all night long cold air blows in and then hot blows out. You begin to think you're one of the meats being prepared. Drinks are ordered. My cocktail is forgotten. I ask for my cocktail. It arrives after the food ten minutes later. The food overall is good but the experience robs you of the experience. If you ask someone what they're ordering for themselves as if it's their entree but then you deliver the food wherever you like, often on the other side of a long table, it's kind of a piss-offer. Then if you ask someone where you're drink is but they ignore you to your face - that just adds to the bad vibe of not caring. Finally, the music is on so loud that I assume this is a restaurant where people want to pretend they have a relationship without the burden of having to communicate to one another. I'm not sure how this place is going to make it.

The brisket is amazing, brunch is delicious and they make the best hot toddie for miles. Love their hash for breakfast. Just wish it was a bit more affordable.

This place is a very nice place to hang out with family and friends! Very good wings!

A-mazing. The food here is truly spectacular. The chicken sandwich, the burgers, the bottomless mimos, and best of all, the very best of all, the hoe cake. Get it, get it, just get it. Whatever else you get, get a hoe cake. Dear God, the buttery sweet, chewy crunchy goodness of a hoe cake is beyond stating. Just do it. This isn't just LA Douche Bag good, it's legitimately amazing. And Joe is the best waiter ever.

I just walked out. heard good things so i wanted to try it without the distraction or influence of camaraderie. Sunday 530pm, it was a bit over half full. After an annoying ordeal, where the hosts make u feel like finding a seat is like deciding the border of a Palastinian state, they sat me at an 8-top, with 6 other people who indicated that someone was sitting there. Unfortunately, the host had dropped me off and left before I sat down. I excused myself and returned to the host (3 feet away) and tried to fill any of the 3 hosts in on the story but they were all busy with a 2 person walk-in. After that ordeal, they sat them and decided to help me. After 10+ minutes staring at 30 empty seats and the couple that came after be brought drinks, I had enough. because the worst thing that could happen is that the food end up being worth that kind of crap.

Some of the best food I have ever had in my life.
Wish we had restaurants like this back home in Germany.

Food was good, service could have been a little more focused.
Very pricey for what is being served.

Really good whiskey and barbecue. The Johnny cake was awesome. We had the lamb special as well which is the picture.

Delicious food, in a low key atmosphere. Everything tasted amazing. Will definitely be back.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by B&A. The space is great and the dining room has a great buzz, but what's most important is the food. Obviously, their draw is their barbeque. I chose to skip the BBQ, however my girlfriend had the brisket. It was fairly dry and not up to the quality of other places like Bludso's in the Fairfax district. I went with the Best Chicken Sandwich You'll Ever Have or something like that. It was fine. Had a slaw and was a little smoky but was slightly bland. I wasn't wow'd, but I really wanted to be. I doubt I'll be back.

Delicious barbecue. Smoky and spicy but not dripping in sauce. There were 4 of us and we had 1/2 chicken, 1/2 lb brisket and 1/2 slab pork ribs. Also a side of cole slaw, a pear salad, potatoes and shells and cheese. The food had wonderful flavor. The service was great, food came very quickly and waitress came back a few times to make sure we had everything we needed. I read some of the previous reviews with complaints about seating, parking, etc. There are communal tables but we did have a 7 PM reservation and they honored it. Also, stop complaining about parking on Ventura Blvd. It is what it is. There is a valet. All the restaurants in the area that do not have parking lots have valets. Just the way it is east of Laurel Canyon in Studio City. We will definitely be back.

This is one of our special LA spots that we try to visit every trip. We time it well to miss the lunch rush and have enjoyed the service and food each time.

Great service, great food and overall excellent experience! We'll definitely be back.

This is NOT a BBQ restaurant, as much as they would want you to believe that. I'm born and raised Texan, BBQ is borderline religion to us. This is yet another sad sad 'west coast' eatery based around a culture of food the proprietors of this establishment fail to understand.

F-

Great, well rounded menu. Had the Spare Ribs and they were fantastic! Some of the best barbeque I've ever had. We got had a reservation and were seated immediately at a bar that looked right into the kitchen. Very fun to see them work! Beer, wine, and spirit selection was strong and the staff was knowledge. We will definitely be coming back.

Chef-y barbecue. Which to some means overpriced barbecue but to me means feel-better-about-the-food-somehow-since-I-paid-more-for-it. And that's sincerely a compliment.

The food really is quite good, though I've heard some criticize for a lack of smoke flavor (something I haven't noticed myself, honestly). Brunch is a fun visit, if only for the experience of taking the already heavy hoe cake (that's practically swimming in a delicious pool of butter) and throwing an egg and bacon on top.

Great BBQ and drinks. Blaine makes some seriously good cocktails.

Great Texas bbq (unfortunately) at L.A. prices. Hoe cakes are a real winner, blueberry crumble was awesome too.

The food is certainly 5 stars, but bbq is not meant to be a gourmet, fancy meal. Your not going to go broke in Texas eating bbq, can't say the same about barrel and ashes.

Good bbq usually doesn't come sauced. Seems like they where trying to hide something

Make reservations!

Great down home food. Fairly quick service even on Saturday night when the place was full. Nice server. Sit outside on a date if you want to be able to talk, if you can. Very noisy inside

Most BBQ places in LA now are pretty tasty; however, the difference with this place is that it is not only delicious but offers generous portions. A bottomless pit like myself appreciates restaurants like these. A must for guys that like to pig out on BBQ.