The Barn Burner

The Barn Burner is a Texas BBQ restaurant in Pasadena. It is one of the restaurants in the El Cholo family, different than most in that it is not Mexican food.

The Barn Burner has a varied menu full of meat. They are known for their ribs, smoked pork, and smoked beef--regular BBQ fare. The meat isn't dry but tastes better with a helping of their homemade sauce. No matter what combination you order you are sure to get a lot of meat--but you may not get a large helping of sides.

It's a funny thing about the sides. One day you go and you'll get huge 1/4 pound size sides and then the next day you go and get miniature cups. This particular visit all the sides were large except for my fries substitution of Mac and Cheese. You know how you always get a ton of fries no matter what? Apparently you don't get a ton of substitution x. Everyone else at my table however, got a ton of whatever side they had.

I am a particularly big fan of the Mac and Cheese there. It has a creamy made in a pot not an oven taste--and no breadcrumbs and that makes me happy. They also have a rather delicious creamed corn--which tastes a lot like a thick pudding with corn pieces. OK, so I kind of made that sound disgusting, but if you like creamed corn, you should try this one. The regular corn on the cob also looks pretty good and not totally overcooked like some restaurant corn. They also have a mean potato salad and their coleslaw is made with colorful purple cabbage instead of plain old green.

Last night, I tried their ABC Burger. It sort of annoys me that they don't describe their burgers on the menu at all--but I chose it based on the name alone. There was probably a pound of bacon on the Avocado, Bacon Cheeseburger. It was a very sweet thick bacon. The cheese was just plain American and the avocado was a little too ripe. I also didn't like the special sauce--which was like a super sweet thousand island dressing. So, skip the burger and go for something more BBQ centered. And, if you're a lemonade drinker don't miss it--the iced tea is also incredibly refreshing.

The service is spotty--sometimes fast and sometimes unbearably slow--just keep your eye out for your server. They also have a little arcade in the back where they recently installed an air hockey table. This along with the TV's make the restaurant's atmosphere a little extra loud.

The restaurant is kid friendly and the kids meals seem to be a good deal with an ice cream cone included and a possible balloon option. As a consequence though, there are kids running around the restaurant. This time they were playing the animated feature Barnyard on the wall projector screen and I felt like I was at Chuck E Cheese instead of a family Texas-style BBQ restaurant.

My advice is, go for the BBQ, not for the atmosphere.





The Barn Burner
1000 S Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105
Map