Football Frenzy #7 Barney's Beanery

Barney's Beanery

99 East Colorado Blvd.

Pasadena, CA 91105

I know football season has been going on for awhile now, but we have not really gone anywhere new to watch the games. We have been lazy on Sundays, going to friends houses to watch, or maybe the real reason we have not done a football post this year yet is because my team has already thrown in the towel, and it is really painful to watch how bad they are. This particular Sunday we could not be lazy though. We were up in Pasadena for an event, so we took this opportunity to try one of the local favorites in the area to watch football, Barney's Beanery.

Barney's is older than dirt. The restaurant has been around since 1920, making this a local legend. It opened as a restaurant on historic Route 66, serving road weary travelers. Since that time Barney's has had a very colorful history. Janis Joplin had her last drink here, before her death, Jim Morrison got kicked out of the bar after urinating on it, and Quentin Tarantino wrote much of the movie, Pulp Fiction in one of his favorite booths.

Barney's Beanery now has five locations, all in LA county. I had never been to a Barney's before. The Pasadena location has a festive vibe to it, even early on this particular Sunday. Colored lights are all over, license plates hang everywhere, and the walls look like they could double for a garage sale with all of the stuff hanging on them. The best part of the decor though, were the TVs that were on every table. These could be tuned to any game that you wanted to watch, you could also flip channels as often as you would like. One of the best setups we have come across for watching football, but what about the food?

Starting off the eating festivities is Katie's choice, the French Toast with bacon and eggs. This breakfast platter  did little to win Katie's heart. She called this breakfast plate, "average, and nothing special". The French toast was a little too soggy for her, and the bacon was on the fatty side.

I went south of the border for my breakfast selection, the Machaca and Eggs. Three eggs mixed with shredded beef, onions, peppers, and cilantro, then topped with cheese sounds like a winning combination, but this plate was bland. Even the refried beans were pretty plain tasting. This dish was helped by hot sauce, but not enough to make it more than mediocre.

After our breakfast, we also ordered the Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Chicken Wings. These were served with a cucumber salad. The sauce had a good flavor, but the wings were lacking in the meat department. The price for these wings were a little on the high side. We got about ten wings, and that put the price per wing at just over a dollar a wing, not such a great deal.

I liked the atmosphere at Barney's Beanery way better than the food. The menu here is overwhelmingly big, so we might not have gotten the right things off of it. I should have skipped the breakfast, and maybe gone for their famous chili, or a burger. Barney's was not very boisterous for football, maybe that was because everyone had their own TVs at their own table. The place filled up rather quickly, so make sure you get here early enough to get a seat. The service was attentive, which can sometimes be a challenge during the three hour game. True to form my team lost while I was watching the game here, but I will not hold that against Barney's.

Out of five dinosaurs, (because who really can not hear the name Barney, and not think of that big purple guy?), five being best to zero being worst, Barney's Beanery gets 2 dinosaurs.

For more information on Barney's click here: http://barneysbeanery.com/index.php