BarFry

With the mixed reviews that Barfry received a few months back, I was hesitant to try it. The idea of a fully fried meal was as enticing as it was terrifying and so the mediocre reviews completely put me on edge. Nevertheless, I’m not one to turn away from shrimp tempura and oyster po’boys, especially when they can be eaten in one sitting, so of course it was only a matter of time before I ventured into the establishment.

My buddy with whom I ate is an excellent dining partner, as he’s never afraid to try the weird things and likes to order in rounds of food. After perusing of the menu and being informed of a wide array of specials, we choose a varied first round of food.

Cape Cod fluke sashimi with a chive-based dressing covering it was a light and refreshing way to dive into a fry-laden meal. Eight pieces of thick white fish went down easily—and too fast in my opinion, as I thought it was a highlight of the meal.

Our oyster po’boy arrived with oysters oozing out every which way of the sandwich, which itself was too burdensome for me to eat without deconstructing it. My guest had no problem; however, and no part went to waste save the bread from my half, which was too large and too hard for me to eat with the gooey bivalves.

A selection of fried items finished our first set of food. Shrimp tempura was my choice; chicken fried steak was my buddy’s. And we preferred our choices, respectively. Tempura pumpkin and shisito peppers were the veggie accompaniments, made much better when dipped into any of the four interesting dipping sauces. I liked the jalapeño-soy and sweet miso while my comrade applied the chili-citrus to everything and dabbled with the wasabi remoulade.

Our second round of tempura was small, but we felt like we couldn’t leave without trying the shitake mushrooms and the scallops, both of which I ended up eating the majority.

My partner was underwhelmed by the ice creams—we chose chamomile, bay leaf, and black sesame. But I’ve never had a bad experience with ice cream.