The Garden Restaurant Cafe at the Barnes Foundation

Disappointed by how shockingly bad the food was. Beautiful setting and kind servers. Food was very bad. Got avocado toast. I did not like anything on my plate. Brown avocado with not even salt. Bread was burnt to a crisp. Salad tasted fishy for some reason. No salt or seasoning anywhere. This place has so much potential but missed the mark on food.

Very nice fine dining experience after visiting the art exhibit. The dining area is very spacious with an open kitchen. I was surprised how quiet it was with an open kitchen. We had the choice to eat inside or out, although the garden looked nice, it was very hot out. The staff were young and very attentive and personable too. A plus, for a party of six it felt like we were constantly attended too. A variety of dishes were ordered, tuna melt was poplar and well received. Chicken Salad BLT on fresh sourdough bread, roasted cauliflower salad with a side of chicken salad, and lastly Chicken Milanese. All were excellent. For desert we shared a Lemon olive oil loaf. It was like a moist pound cake. The price was in keeping with the venue and other restaurants like The Garden Restaurant. It was a nice treat and if presented with same opportunity I would do it again.

Excellent restaurant at the museum. Perhaps the best museum restaurant in the area. Limited menu, but what they offered were quite good with high quality in food preparation and presentation. We enjoyed the salad, grilled salmon, steak and chicken salad BLT. Service was superb. Decent wine list.

Disappointing, incredibly overpriced restaurant. It was a beautiful day, but the hostess didn’t even try to offer us outdoor seating. When I asked for it, she made a face, went over to another employee, whispered something, then he too made a face. There were people already seated out there, & plenty of available tables. When I asked if it was a problem, she just ignored me. We got one menu, they had to go find another? But ok. The server finally came over. A very nice person. Very personable. She brought over room temp water in a carafe & glasses with no ice.. We ordered drinks & our food. We waited sipping our warm water. Our food came out.. Wow! So mediocre bordering on just bad. Mine looked like a school cafeteria grilled cheese with a sauce made from an envelope (just add water) My husbands burger was nothing to get excited about either. And still no drinks. I got a cocktail. My husband a coke. So we had to flag someone to ask. I see our server making my drink through the windows. So out it comes, my husband’s is a can, with a glass, again, no ice. Mine taste like grape koolaid with seltzer water. Was suppose to have tequila. I don’t believe there was any in there. And it was more like a smoothie than a cocktail. By now we were just ready to go. $65 for that awful lunch. So not worth it. Do yourself a favor, on a nice day, bring a bag lunch & walk a few blocks down to the Roden & eat in their gorgeous sculpture garden,

The food and service at the Garden Restaurant Cafe were as excellent as the art at the Barnes Foundation. The Semplice was perfectly arranged and one of the best tasting salads I had. The cheeseburger was prepared exactly how I asked for -- medium rare. Butterscotch Budino was outstanding. Lovely window views. Host, kitchen staff, and servers were all welcoming and helpful.

Food was fine. Atmosphere was more like a cafeteria than fine dining. Service was terrible. We sat for 25 mins before anyone came to take our drink order- only after I flagged them down. Food came out before drinks so again needed to ask for that. Staff was kind and apologetic but no offer to right the wrong when the bill came. Will not be a return customer.

Dropped in for a late-ish lunch during my visit to the Barnes. My friend and I ordered their falafel roll, salad with salmon, and avocado toast. Everything was good-the falafel in particular was really delicious and the fries thick and fresh. Service was super nice. The waiter kindly switched feta in the salad for (a lot of) parmesan, and was friendly without being intrusive. A happy experience!

Environment is beautiful- inside the museum with a nice garden. But the food is TERRIBLE! The burger patty is not even fresh! The bouillabaisse is clearly using frozen ingredients with quick cooking - chef and the restaurant owner please check the receipt of the dish! Clearly this is a place for a coffee not food.

Great SPOT! It's wonderful when you can sit outside but not today bc it was a little cold and rainy. I ordered the Niçoise salad which was absolutely fantastic. NOTHING like my hometown like some of the crappy restaurants in the LV. Chef Mike is wonderful. The staff was wonderful, too. The mgmt was great & overall it was a very pleasant experience.

Take a break from viewing the incredible Barns art collection for an excellent lunch at Garden Restaurant. If seating is available in the garden, take it. A very nice setting for a quiet, calm respite. The food is excellent. Very fresh and well prepared. Definitely plan to dine here while at Barns

Came here for a lunch on Saturday at the end of November. I'm sure its gorgeous in the warmer weather. The service was good but the food was very mediocre. The burger and the bun were very dry and the eggs were very spicy.

We stopped by for a bite after filling up in the amazing art at the Barnes Foundation. Wow! For a museum restaurant, The Garden is Amazing!! Or maybe this place sets a new standard for what museum restaurant spots can be. Nice menu with good diversity without being overwhelming. The location is beautiful with both indoor and outdoor seating. Our waiter Louis was great!! The food was excellent too. Plus a little bonus of homemade potato chips after you're seated. The chips had a Cajun ranch seasoning yum. We had the grilled chicken salad BLT and the Barnes Burger. Both hit the spot. Burger was perfectly medium rare as requested.

The Barnes Foundation Garden Restaurant is a gem! Beautiful setting and outstanding food and service. The Salade Nicoise was better than I have had in Nice! Hats off to the chef. The choice of greens and dressing superb. We came down from Northern Jersey, joined the museum , and will be back soon to the restaurant. Highly recommended. Locals are fortunate to have access to such a lovely restaurant. Chatted with a local proprietor at the Reading Market and she concurred.

Great food, great service, great Barnes Museum restaurant! As we were hungry, this was an unexpected delight!

If your looking for a special place for lunch I can recommend the garden. I recommend you make a reservation and that you arrive early. We arrived on time and still waited 2.0 mins to be seated. The restaurant is trendy and comfortable with a great view of the garden. Our luck this day there was a wedding in the garden that kept us entertained. The drinks were very good as was the food. A nice place add to my list of places to return.

tl;dr: beautifully designed space, indoors and out to rest your "awe-reflex" during or bookending your visit to the Barnes collection. Simple dishes, good prices, excellent views. Reservation recommended. + amuse is a cup of freshly made potato chips with Asian spices. + mine was a simple yet delicious cheeseburger with a side salad. Perfect. Now back to the collection. COMMENTARY I am a student of art. 181 Renoirs in one building is going to take some years to appreciate and study. And that's before I begin to comprehend Dr. Barnes' understanding of the period and what artists were doing and collecting and appreciating themselves at that time. But Art is Life. And I'm a human being. I greatly appreciate that architects Williams and Tsien included places to rest your "awe reflex" like the Garden Restaurant (and the coffee bar, originally downstairs but now in the lobby court). An opportunity to replenish and refresh your body with a simple yet elegant meal. FURTHER As I'm learning more about the peculiar eccentricities of Dr. Barnes and his intent for his $20+ billion art collection after his death, and his open disgust and hatred for Philadelphia art society types, I know he has rolled over many many times in his grave at how the Annenbergs and Pews have commercialized the collection, including putting a restaurant opposite. Yet I am a benefactor. And I'm so appreciative that I don't have to drive to the original gallery location in Merion. If you're interested, check out "Art of the Steal" on YouTube. Fascinating.

3.5 stars. Nice spot for lunch. The salmon was delicious, though I felt like they skimped on the portion given the price. Would it honestly have cost so much to put a few more pieces of broccolini on the plate?

We came here on a scorching hot day and found reprieve in the wonderful air conditioning and calming plants. The restaurant is a beautiful space with large windows that overlook a garden with plenty of outdoor seating (though not ideal when it's 100 outside). Our waiter was very friendly and made great recommendations for our party of 6 (we were seated immediately at noon time). We were delighted by the complimentary potato chips that came to the table. My spouse greatly enjoyed the tuna melt while I had the chicken salad BLT. All entres come with a side salad or fries. The restaurant got quite a bit busier around 1pm and our waiter understandably had a little trouble keeping up, but it was all good. The restaurant is a little hard (it's inside the barns museum) and you don't need a ticket to get into the restaurant.

This place got such good reviews, but my experience was awful! After a long day of viewing the beautiful artwork exhibited in the Barnes Foundation, my family decided to get a nice lunch. My sister and I ordered the GRILLED Salmon. Note, the salmon was NOT grilled. It was swimming in a plate of oil. I thought it was the most horrendous thing ever! Every bite you would get of the fish would be accompanied by a spoon of oil. My parents got the chicken salad sandwich and it was just "okay" considering the price point. Reconsider before eating here.

So as if the Barnes was not amazing, this restaurant was amazing as well. THe menu is well versed but limited enough so you know they are focused on delivering quality options...all with beautiful views in a beautiful space with views of the kitchen. Our experience was also great, last minute seating request without reservations and the service, too. Very attentive and we made a last minute change to our order since we saw the chicken salad BLT arrive at another table. We asked to split it since it was so large and to cancel our order of two. NO PROBLEM and a positive attitude to boot. Way to go for a museum restaurant! Very cozy atmosphere! Service and. food A+!

In case if you don't know, the Garden Restaurant inside the Barnes Foundation has been upgraded into a full restaurant in the Fall of 2017. The NEW Garden Restaurant is managed by Chef Michael Rouleau of the Starr Catering Group. You can easily see the differences between my photos and older photos -- it used to be a cafe/restaurant and it now has a professional open kitchen. This review is based on my brunch experience here today when visiting the Barnes Foundation. I know about the NEW Garden Restaurant because I was invited to a Yelp Elite dinner party here about two months ago. I finally got the chance to taste the brunch here as I visited the Barnes Foundation today. First of all, the Garden Restaurant has its name probably because of the beautiful view of the garden outside the main building. My partner and I arrived before noon, we were seated with warm service. We started with a screwdriver and a pot of hot tea.We ordered the regular brunch items -- eggs benedict and omelet -- and they were served quickly. Both dishes are simple but very difficult to be outstanding. The garden restaurant didn't let us down: the ingredients were fresh, the eggs & omelet were perfectly cooked, and the side salad was refreshing, and the breakfast potatoes were tasty without being greasy. The portion size was just right for me because I personally dislike the fact that many brunch restaurants trick people into overeating by providing large portions. I particularly like their cooking style, healthy without sacrificing deliciousness. The service was spotless, about the level as other Starr Restaurants in Philly. Surprisingly, the price is actually within regular brunch range, given it's located in a fancy museum. The only limitation of the restaurant is the small menu, where you don't have many options to choose from. However, it's probably a very smart move because this is not (probably won't be) a popular brunch restaurant that people need to wait in line. In fact, only a couple of tables were seated while we were dining, so it's cost-efficient for the restaurant to offer a few wonderful dishes rather than lots of mediocre dishes. TIP: you can actually dine here without visiting the museum. Enter the Barnes Foundation building through the main entrance, the restaurant is on the right (the museum is on the left).

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at the café the other week. We all enjoyed the Jerusalem artichoke soup. We were completely blown away by the house-made chips. They're utterly addictive. The house bread was delicious. The jumbo lump crab and avocado toast was delicious. The tempura cauliflower was good, but the sauce that accompanied it was much too heavy. Overall, however, we were pleased at how good everything was, and would definitely there again.

After a delightful time looking at art, we went to lunch and had a thoroughly wonder lunch. I had the lamb burger. Perfectly cooked and very tasty. My wife had the Chicken Schnitzel . Extremely well done. We finished with their Ginger cake. A must have if you have room for dessert.

I've been in the area for years, and never knew there was a restaurant in the Barnes foundation!! Everything about this restaurant was amazing. The drinks, our food, the ambiance - all amazing. All food was seasoned perfectly and were just the right portion sizes. I will 100% be back here for another weekend brunch!!

Liked the burrata and house made biscuit. Croque Normand, eggs benedict, and greens were also well-liked. Sorry to say menu is not huge, but each dish was done well. Peasant service by Jessica. Thankfully pretty easy for five to get in at around 1:30 pm on a Saturday.

An absolutely lovely little spot located inside the Barnes. Nice natural light coming in, that reflects perfectly off of the translucent green drink glasses. It's just a really pretty space (with outside seating in warm weather, too). The menu is great: soups, salads, small bites, sandwiches. They offer a nice brunch too. I enjoyed the short rib huevos rancheros, and i also got to sample the tortellini soup and brussel sprouts. Everything was delicious!

I loved the food here. I was shocked to see the more negative reviews. I liked being able to pick a variety of salads that are filled with fresh, tasty items. I will say the piece of salmon was quite small. The dessert was delightful. The restaurant was almost empty when we were there, so that made it a peaceful meal as well. Loved the bread and butter also.

What's driving this to 4 stars is my wife's response to the place . She loved the salmon she had . I tasted it . It was good. I had a chicken salad sandwich with bacon which was , well, a chicken salad sandwich, albeit a good one.This is The Barnes restaurant and I think strictly a lunch spot. The Barnes has always been and remains strange. There are no bathrooms accessible from the galleries which means you have to exit to fulfill your bodily needs. The same is true of the restaurant. So you're about to say , why that's no problem. Actually it is because you have to wait in line to be readmitted. The day after Thanksgiving that was about 15 minutes for us . No tragedy but kind of strange.Service here is very pleasant and prices sane. It is small - do make a reservation. Beer , wine and cocktails available.

The Garden Restaurant is located inside the Barnes Foundation so for convenience, I'd give it five stars. For selection, I'd give it two stars. There is very little to choose from. If you're looking for a sandwich, don't come here. Lunch is mostly salads and these are salads that are more like a side dish than a meal. However, you get to pick three or four salads depending on how hungry you are and how much you want to spend. I picked three and they filled the plate. They were all very good. They came around with a plate of two different breads and you got to pick one piece. The quality of the food I had was five stars. Very fresh. They had two entrees to pick from and they were in the $20 range. A little too much for lunch. Overall, I thought this was a pretty pricey restaurant for what you get but you usually pay for convenience. So two stars for price. This is not a good place to bring kids. There was not one kid in the restaurant when I went and I would not bring my child here. Even my grown ones wouldn't like it! I saw quite a few people just getting dessert so it is probably great if you just want dessert and coffee. Would be really nice to sit here and relax after visiting the Barnes as the atmosphere is really nice and there is an outdoor seating area for when it gets warmer.

After touring the Barnes Foundation museum, we decided on lunch at the Garden Restaurant. Hubby had a lamb burger with fries, I had chicken schnitzel with roasted veg, mostly baby carrots and brussel sprouts in a light broth with capers. We shared ginger cake for dessert. It is as a lovely meal, delicious fresh produce, excellent assistance from our server, Morgan, who was a real delight. The room looks out on a peaceful garden with beautiful modern tapestries hanging high on the walls. An excellent finale to a lovely museum.

Menu is definitely more creative than a typical museum restaurant. Food again is good for a museum restaurant. Wait staff was very accommodating, flexible and helpful. If you're already at the museum, a good place for a refueling stop I'd you have a busy day of touring etc.

Beautiful.... even on a snowy day. Prompt service.... but don't crawl out of bed too late because they close at 3:30! Early birds catch the Yums! Simple menu but executed well. Don't go to the museum on an an empty stomach! Grab that brunch!

Went for a team lunch. Really good food and service. Vegetables were fresh and entree contemplated. Pricy though but then you're dining at a museum. Probably the most posh meal I had in a while.

Amazing restaurant at the Barnes Foundation. This is the place to eat after visiting the museum's great art collection (filled with Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and co.). The ambience is great, with a beautiful garden outside, and the food is also very well-prepared!

Overpriced menu items, room temperature salads, portion size of chicken is too small. All steak is cooked medium well at room temperature. You are better off eating somewhere else.

Fantastic salads and breads after an afternoon at the museum. Love it! Great food, great service.

I would skip this place unless you are starving. The menu looks really promising until you actually receive the food. The charcuterie was a joke and barely got eaten. The salads are pre-made and a bit soggy. You can add a protein to your salad choice, but I wouldn't recommend as the salmon and chicken were both grossly over cooked and cold. We paid over $100 for lunch and left feeling pretty unsatisfied.