Diners with a reservation still wait an hour to be seated among sumptuous furnishings in tones of pink and purple. Translucent gold drapes cascade from the ceiling, moderating the restaurant’s open seating plan. The pink onyx bar in the center of the restaurant circulates cocktails that trail wispy liquid nitrogen smoke and feature alcoholic slush pops as adornment.
Over-the-top presentation defines every entrée, side, dessert, and beverage. Many diners have done double-takes when the rake and hoe garden salad arrives at the table, served in a tiny wheelbarrow bowl. Servers toss the salad with a trowel and hand rake as might be used to dig about in a real garden. Lobster pop tarts are toasted at the table in an oversized retro toaster. Encrusted Samurai tuna with sizzling long beans arrives with an enormous Samurai-type sword. The great American steak comes accompanied by four-foot cutlery designed more for photo-ops than bringing food to the lips.
Even desserts serve up theatrics for customer delight. The pot pie garden features America’s most scrumptious, traditional pies disguised as ordinary flower pots. The chocolate treasure is too artsy to eat, with soft graham cracker crumb sand and 24K edible gold flake. One of the most arresting menu items of all is Marie Antoinette’s head on the table, adorned with an enormous cotton candy bouffant hairdo.
While Barton G’s food is inventive and tasty on the whole, the spectacle trumps the meal by far. Patrons come for an evening of amazement and wonder, and do not leave disappointed.