FFC Week 5: The Barn
FFC Week 5: The Barn in Sherrill, IA
This week we traveled to the 2018 Fish Fry Challenge Winner. We were very excited to see if it would live up to its 'winner' reputation.
I had called the Barn earlier in the week to make reservations as we would have a group of 7. I made the reservation for 6pm. We arrived to the Barn a few minutes before 6pm. The server said our table would be ready in a about 10 minutes, so we went to the bar to grab a drink & wait. We did have our little guy with us, so we hoped the wait wouldn't be too much longer than expected.
We were called to our table at about 6:15pm. The back dining room was packed, and our table did not fit our large group, and a highchair, but we had to make it work, so we packed ourselves in. After being seated at our table our server came fairly quickly and the majority of our table were there for the buffet.
As we'd been here before, we knew what to expect on the buffet. The Barn's Friday night special is a seafood buffet, for $16.99. The buffet consisted of the following items: fried pollock, fried catfish, baked cod, fried jumbo shrimp (yes, jumbo!), shrimp scampi (with noodles), mac & cheese, baked potato, potato wedges, soup, full salad bar with tons of toppings. The salad bar also had macaroni salad, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. and...apple crisp with whip cream for dessert!!
I started my first trip of the buffet with the salad bar. The salad bar was so big, and had a lot of options for what to put on your lettuce. I got a lettuce salad with french dressing, cheese and croutons. I also got a small plate of pasta salad, coleslaw, and potato salad. The lettuce salad was really good, and the croutons tasted like they could have been homemade. Our little guy even grabbed quite a few from my plate and enjoyed them. The pasta salad was once again not much to brag about. It didn't have much flavor. The coleslaw was the 'chopped-up' type of coleslaw which isn't my favorite, and it needed some pepper. The potato salad was very good though. I also had grabbed some potato wedges and gave them to my little guy, which he absolutely loved, and I snuck one and they were very good.
On my next trip to the buffet, I went for the fish. I chose a piece of each of the fish, and some shrimp. And a big dollop of tartar sauce to accent my fish. For the fish, the pollock and catfish were both fried, and the cod was baked. The catfish was was lightly breaded, but didn't have much taste to it. And the piece I had when I cut in to it appeared a little 'mushy'. When paired with the fantastic tartar sauce, it didn't taste too bad, but I was disappointed as last year it was very good. The pollock was very tough and I only took a couple of bites and decided to not go further. The baked cod probably had the most flavor to it, but was a little dry, so when paired with the tartar sauce, it was a good combo.
The jumbo shrimp was seriously bigger than I remember from last year, so that was impressive. The fried shrimp was very good. They had a little bit too much fried batter, in my opinion, but were very good. And they stood out the most from the buffet. I did grab a little bit of the shrimp scampi and pasta to try it and I did really enjoy this food item as I love garlic and it had the perfect amount of garlic and the shrimp was very good.
At this point in the evening, I felt I had finished all I could eat. But of course I didn't want to leave without trying the apple crisp desert! The dessert was phenomenal! It was warm and with the whip cream on top it really was a great end to the meal.
Service/environment: Our server was fairly attentive to our table. She came fairly often to check our table, but it took her a while to finally see that we needed plates removed from our overcrowded table. The dining room area, like I mentioned before, was busy the entire time we were there for dinner. And it was hard having a child in a high chair as it was blocking the main isle a little bit.
With a price of $16.99 for a seafood buffet with a full salad bar, and dessert, overall it was great deal for those that appreciate a buffet with seafood. I will say though that I felt the items were all a little 'over-fried' and a little too greasy.
Overall, we had a great group for eating dinner, and the Barn delivered with having quite a few items on a seafood buffet for a reasonable dollar amount. However, I was not as impressed this year as I was last year. I could really tell a difference from last year to this year, and what I think it was is the flavoring of the fish and how fried the food items were.
So this year I am giving The Barn a 7 out of 10. Even though I'm giving it a lower rate than others, I still highly recommend this buffet as the establishment is very nice, the service is good, and the overall food options on the buffet are good. And of course, there's apple crisp for dessert!
I had called the Barn earlier in the week to make reservations as we would have a group of 7. I made the reservation for 6pm. We arrived to the Barn a few minutes before 6pm. The server said our table would be ready in a about 10 minutes, so we went to the bar to grab a drink & wait. We did have our little guy with us, so we hoped the wait wouldn't be too much longer than expected.
We were called to our table at about 6:15pm. The back dining room was packed, and our table did not fit our large group, and a highchair, but we had to make it work, so we packed ourselves in. After being seated at our table our server came fairly quickly and the majority of our table were there for the buffet.
As we'd been here before, we knew what to expect on the buffet. The Barn's Friday night special is a seafood buffet, for $16.99. The buffet consisted of the following items: fried pollock, fried catfish, baked cod, fried jumbo shrimp (yes, jumbo!), shrimp scampi (with noodles), mac & cheese, baked potato, potato wedges, soup, full salad bar with tons of toppings. The salad bar also had macaroni salad, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. and...apple crisp with whip cream for dessert!!
I started my first trip of the buffet with the salad bar. The salad bar was so big, and had a lot of options for what to put on your lettuce. I got a lettuce salad with french dressing, cheese and croutons. I also got a small plate of pasta salad, coleslaw, and potato salad. The lettuce salad was really good, and the croutons tasted like they could have been homemade. Our little guy even grabbed quite a few from my plate and enjoyed them. The pasta salad was once again not much to brag about. It didn't have much flavor. The coleslaw was the 'chopped-up' type of coleslaw which isn't my favorite, and it needed some pepper. The potato salad was very good though. I also had grabbed some potato wedges and gave them to my little guy, which he absolutely loved, and I snuck one and they were very good.
On my next trip to the buffet, I went for the fish. I chose a piece of each of the fish, and some shrimp. And a big dollop of tartar sauce to accent my fish. For the fish, the pollock and catfish were both fried, and the cod was baked. The catfish was was lightly breaded, but didn't have much taste to it. And the piece I had when I cut in to it appeared a little 'mushy'. When paired with the fantastic tartar sauce, it didn't taste too bad, but I was disappointed as last year it was very good. The pollock was very tough and I only took a couple of bites and decided to not go further. The baked cod probably had the most flavor to it, but was a little dry, so when paired with the tartar sauce, it was a good combo.
The jumbo shrimp was seriously bigger than I remember from last year, so that was impressive. The fried shrimp was very good. They had a little bit too much fried batter, in my opinion, but were very good. And they stood out the most from the buffet. I did grab a little bit of the shrimp scampi and pasta to try it and I did really enjoy this food item as I love garlic and it had the perfect amount of garlic and the shrimp was very good.
At this point in the evening, I felt I had finished all I could eat. But of course I didn't want to leave without trying the apple crisp desert! The dessert was phenomenal! It was warm and with the whip cream on top it really was a great end to the meal.
Service/environment: Our server was fairly attentive to our table. She came fairly often to check our table, but it took her a while to finally see that we needed plates removed from our overcrowded table. The dining room area, like I mentioned before, was busy the entire time we were there for dinner. And it was hard having a child in a high chair as it was blocking the main isle a little bit.
With a price of $16.99 for a seafood buffet with a full salad bar, and dessert, overall it was great deal for those that appreciate a buffet with seafood. I will say though that I felt the items were all a little 'over-fried' and a little too greasy.
Overall, we had a great group for eating dinner, and the Barn delivered with having quite a few items on a seafood buffet for a reasonable dollar amount. However, I was not as impressed this year as I was last year. I could really tell a difference from last year to this year, and what I think it was is the flavoring of the fish and how fried the food items were.
So this year I am giving The Barn a 7 out of 10. Even though I'm giving it a lower rate than others, I still highly recommend this buffet as the establishment is very nice, the service is good, and the overall food options on the buffet are good. And of course, there's apple crisp for dessert!
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