●9.1 · $140.00 · Closed
Reviews for you
Brentwood, Austin
lukeMar 3
●9.9
birthday dinner, feb 22nd, 2026.
huge shoutout to manny for sponsoring this meal. this was one of the best dining experiences I have had in austin. truly a legendary dinner.
barley swine is one of 7 restaurants in austin with a Michelin star. the concept here is a texan centric tasting menu. priced at $120; $90 during the first 30 minutes of sunday service (which is when we went). be prepared to stay a while. this is an experience and you can expect dinner to last around 2.5-3 hours.
vibe and service: decor here isn’t overly pretentious; classy yet definitely emphasizes the farm to table vibe with rustic touches and plenty of ingredient jars dispersed around. wait staff was polite and accommodating. service was excellent and exactly what I would expect at a restaurant of this caliber. the bathroom had a vertical I-beam right next to the stalls which I found pretty funny; I almost mistook it for a hipster urinal.
food:
hiramasa: tasty. had a similar dish at le calamar and I think they executed the sauce better. however still very good blend of flavors.
oyster: great oyster of good size. I like seeing what places like these do with oysters. 95% of my oyster enjoyment comes from the dressings and accouterments rather than the oyster itself. very solid.
squash: this was the sleeper hit. reading over the menu I kinda skipped over this. squash? cheese? booooo. but it was insane. def a top 3 bite of the meal. squash complemented the cheese perfectly and i’m not sure what type of cheese it was but it was perfect flavor and consistency. dishes like these are what impresses me the most about these type of spots. I would never think to combine these ingredients but it works so so well.
tilefish: the tilefish was okay. i’m not really a white fish fan and the fish didn’t really appeal to me. the prep around it was good. I liked the sauce and the crispys. but overall kinda a meh dish. mainly since I don’t like cooked white fish 🤷♂️
dumplings: these were an addition that we made. they rotate the menu monthly but this is one of their staple dishes. the very lightly cooked eggs worked very well with the dumplings. soupy inside and the dumpling itself was perfectly al dente (take notes misi). a stellar dish and very enjoyable. worth adding.
carnitas: wow wow wow. another top 3 bite of the meal. the sauce on this dish paired perfectly. the carnitas were perfectly cooked and melted in my mouth. up there with the best taco spots in austin and honestly probably clears them (granted a lot more expensive but).
beef tartare: nothing insane. I enjoyed this but mainly cause it’s been a while since i’ve had beef tartare. tostada it was on was a bit too firm for my liking (not crispy enough). good but wasn’t blown away.
beef rib: another addition. we all shared this one. a lil smaller than the beef ribs at bbq focused spots. I agreed with manny’s sentiment here: there isn’t really a reason to order this in austin. maybe in other northern cities that don’t focus on BBQ. but there are plenty of places in atx you can get a better beef rib. it’s perfectly acceptable and not bad. but compare to other dishes; there is no reason in my mind to add this on.
ribeye: prepared two ways. there was a skewer with a more fatty part which I really really enjoyed. I think it was a soy based sauce and worked well. the main ribeye was good but not insane. also prepared well; I prefer a filet but it was very enjoyable.
scallion roll: these were elite. the butter sauce had some addition minced meat hidden underneath which paired so well. super good.
olive oil cake: because of my allergy I had to get a substitution for the first dessert. the olive oil cake was very good and complemented well with the carrot ice cream. very unique. prepared well. I think the sheet cake may have been even better but I guess i’ll never know :/.
sorbet: yummy. fudge underneath worked well and made for a really good bite. whipped cream they made was also top notch.
chocolate balls: idk what these were. they were not listed on the menu and they came out right with the check. tasted like ground up oreos that had been re cooked without the cream. not a fan but won’t hold it against them for the added bonus.
overall I had a phenomenal time here and really enjoyed the culinary experience that barley swine offers. a great spot for special occasions. I think this is relatively affordable compare to the other non-bbq michelin star spots in austin so I would highly recommend checking it out. I think the only restaurant in austin I would personally rank above this is canje.
check it out!
