Barrel & Crow

A must for locals and travelers alike...


Dear reader, as you know Bethesda is my second home. The drive and settling into one's hotel can work up a bit of an appetite, which is why Barrel & Crow is such an important neighborhood fixture.

As far as food is concerned, there are a plethora of happy hour options which will be sure to take the edge off of your hanger. Fried pickles...mushroom gnocchi...burrata...all in the "yes please" zone.

The staff in generally friendly and helpful. Lilly knows my name, and the gents know what I drink. Cheers to them.

The atmosphere is upscale without being pretentious. Not for the "party crowd"...but a welcomed respite for the working adult who needs a beverage and a bite. Don't be a stranger, yelp friends.

Just go for the crab beignets, stay for the roasted duck! I can't believe we had never been here before- a great location in downtown Bethesda on Cordell. We were easily able to make a reservation online and the happy hour was bumpin! Had a few drinks at the bar prior to being seated and then dove head first into those beignets.

I wish that they had more wines as options for happy hour- with only one white (a Gruner Vettliner) and one red (a garnacha-syrah) I just wasn't thrilled with either option. I like when places offer their normal wine by the glass list (they had a great regular wine list- I was a fan!) and just give a few bucks off. I want to drink the good stuff but get a bonus for being there between 3-6! lol. But YUM to the duck fat fries also on the HH menu.

Dinner service was lovely and we were thrilled with everything we ordered. That smoked duck breast won the award though- that blackberry ginger reduction...OMG! Our server was very sweet and attentive.

Will totally go back and looking forward to trying other things on their menu!

This spot has been on my list of places to try for a while now and I finally went the other day. Upon entering It gives me country barn vibes. It's small inside and the lights are dim. It doesn't have much seating, so I am glad I came on a less busy night.
There is a little bit of seating in front of the restaurant though.

This night I sat at the bar. The bartender was friendly and gave great suggestions. I wanted to try the Crab beignet and I was debating on getting the Salmon burger but she recommended the regular cheese burger and I'm so glad I went with that option.
The burger was BOMB.com! It is cooked to the temperature of your liking and It comes with truffle mayo and truffle butter fries. I did find they were taking a little long to bring out the entree, but I guess they were making It from scratch. It was really tasty and I had mines done Medium Well. The fries were decent as well with or without the ketchup.
As far as the crab beignet, they were my least favorite. The bartender had described It as a combo of crab cake and hush puppies and It was more on the hush puppie side. It was nice and soft, but there was nothing special about It. In my opinion It could have used more seasoning. It was 3 golf size balls on a smear of tartar sauce and some arugula as garnish.
As far as pricing, it's pretty standard for the area. The crab beignets were $13 and the burger was $19. So you are looking at a $30 - $60 meal per person.

I would definitely come back, because the people next to me got the Blackened salmon and It looked very good. Also something I thought was cool, was that they support local distillery's. I saw they had some of "Jailbreaks" beers on tap and in cans. I've went there recently and did a review for them as well.

We had a great experience here with a group. The staff were attentive and very nice. The food was excellent. Really loved the shrimp and grits!

We came here late on a Saturday afternoon, technically while happy hour was going on, but we chose the dinner menu. My son had the fresh burrata an appetizer (tasty) and hanger steak (good). My husband and I both started with the seasonal soup -- a carrot ginger which felt a bit thin. He and my mom both had the blackened salmon -- she thought it was great and he thought it lacked some flavor. I had the smoked duck breast which was fine -- the side it came with was great. The restaurant wasn't full which meant we could hear well and the hostess became our server was nice -- though maybe a bit nervous. The bathrooms were clear though it felt a bit like a rest stop bathroom -- odd given their menu and prices.

Their happy hour prices, food, and drinks are great. Ambiance is also good - I appreciate the crowd isn't too young which I like. The service, though, is so so so slow. It took us 10-15 mins to get a drink every time we placed an ordered. If they can get better on that, I would give it 5 stars again.

Came here for brunch on a Sunday afternoon. The patio out front is nice on sunny/warm days. The food was really good... solid brunch options like chicken & waffles, eggs Benedict, breakfast burrito, etc. The burger and the duck fat fries were delicious and a sizable portion. Bottomless mimosas (your choice of OJ, cranberry, grapefruit, pineapple) and bloody Mary's for $17! The only disappointment was the slow service (our waiter was balancing a lot of tables and gave good recommendations).

Went for happy hour and it was really nice. The food was pretty good, and drinks were delicious and worth it. We got the gimlet for drinks. For food, we got the salmon sliders, the brisket sliders, crab beignets, duck fat fries, fried pickles, and sweet beignets for dessert. I don't recommend going from one slider to the other - if you start with salmon and try the brisket, the brisket doesn't taste as good and vise versa. But I thought the salmon slider was great and my friend really liked the brisket ( the sliders we started with). The duck fat fries were great! They were crispy and flavorful. The crab beignets were also delicious. The fried pickles were good -pretty average. However the sweet beignets were very disappointing. They were thin, light, and hollow - not like traditional sweet beignets.

The service was good and I would definitely be back to try other things on the menu.

I expected to have a nice solo brunch experience outdoors since the weather had finally started breaking. Unfortunately, the restaurant had other plans as the staff informed me that instead of being able to dine in the sunshine, I had to squeeze into a table in the corner of the packed dining room, since they were not opening the patio that day.

A little disappointing, but not a deal breaker... Although with the number of people there, they definitely should have reconsidered.

The fried green tomatoes and seafood beignets immediately jumped out to me. The tomatoes were served with some kind of tomato aioli or some other kind of sauce that was absolutely delicious! It was a perfect compliment to the fried tomatoes.

The seafood beignets were more like fritters. Anyone who's from New Orleans, or has ever been will tell you very quickly that that is NOT a beignet. Not by a long shot. Aesthetics aside, the flavor was on point. The aioli that complimented them was another excellent addition to an already delicious dish.

As good as the food was, I think the Cava was actually the star of the show. Now I am not a Cava drinker. At. All. But this one was delightfully floral and just a little bit sweet. It's the Masia de Luz Cava Brut. If you are a champagne or prosecco drinker, you need to get a glass of this. A bottle even!

Overall, it was a really great, albeit brief, solo brunch. It was a little too crowded for me to really enjoy myself. Maybe I'll come back again when the patio is open.

Cute place for cocktails and food! I think prices are a little high, but would recommend the crab beignets and just about any cocktail