Broken Barrel

The prickly pear Moscow mule was excellent. I visited Broken Barrel with a few foodies. We tried several dishes on the menu and spoke with Chef Hilda about her experience bringing the restaurant to The Woodlands. It's an excellent location. It has great patio seating. The food is unique. You definitely won't be able to find some of the menu items at other local restaurants. My favorite was the Zucchini Salad. It was light and refreshing. It wasn't heavy. For my low carb lowers there's some great low carb dishes. They are available for lunch dinner brunch and happy hour. The menu items aren't extremely expensive. I always recommend people try happy hours because they can try foods for less cost. The staff was pleasant and accommodating. It was clean. I've also had a few friends visit, and they all loved the experience. You can also order the Zucchini bread to go! It's so good. You can eat it for breakfast with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

All in all, I had a wonderful time here. From the atmosphere to the food to the excellent service. Kai spent most of his time assuring we enjoyed our food and we had everything that we needed. He made some wonderful suggestions and we ended up ordering the following: Avocado toast Potatoes and chorizo Octopus Shrimp fried rice Smores casserole The avocado toast had so much flavor. Topped with pine nuts and cherry tomatoes, they infused the flavors with this Chile oil that gives it the right amount of heat. The toast was toasted nicely and was cut up into slices making it easier to eat. That was Exquisite. Not your basic avocado toast. It was pricey for this one piece. 4/5 The potatoes and chorizo was nice. Wishing it was crispy, the flavors played well here. The chorizo was potent and the aoli was a hit or miss. A bit thicker than how I'd like it, but gave the dish a creaminess. I would try a different item next time I come in because after a while, these do taste a little one dimensional. If you had a table of 3 or 4, the portion would be perfect as a snack. 3/5 The octopus was okay. Charred nicely but overcooked in my opinion. As if I were chewing on a laffy taffy. I would prefer it to be tender and the char was over powering as I kept eating it. You get two tentacles. The carrot hummus was surprisingly delicious. The lightly dressed greens were nice, but needed more seasoning. It was mixed in with olive oil of some sort. The charred cherry tomatoes didn't pair well with this in my opinion, maybe I'd prefer apples or something sweet to even out the dish. 3/5 The shrimp fried rice was not your traditional fried rice. I would know. The rice was not soft, the soy sauce wasn't as potent, the flavors reminded me of Cajun rice or even Spanish rice. The shrimp were cooked nicely but needed some texture. I wouldn't recommend it if you like hibachi rice lol 3/5 If you're gonna get dessert get the s'mores casserole. Brings you back to childhood when you were next to the fire roasting those marshmallows. It was just a perfect bite to end the night. A little sweet, but very delicious 5/5 The restaurant is like a tapas style but the portion size fits Texans very well. Everything is shareable. The pricing point is much. With those 5 dishes, I would say I spent 100 without tip. You are paying for quality of their fresh items. Get Kai as your server, he is wonderful. Very attentive and funny. I'd do date night here as it is very quiet and the ambience is relaxed.

Lunch meeting today a Broken Barrell. This is a good place if you are in the Woodlands for lunch. The grilled octupus was really soft and tender it comes with grilled tomatoes which were a highlight of the plates as well. For the dessert, s'more casserole, a classic in the making, only wish it could have a little bit more Graham Cookie, the chocolate was just a little over powering.

Loved it here!! I stopped in for lunch after the rush, so it was perfectly quiet and view was really lovely. Simon was my waiter and let me tell you, I will GLADLY wait for his section of its packed next time I go in. He was SUPER attentive and very knowledgeable of all of their menus..I ordered the octopus and soup of the day. Birth delicious! My gin & tonic was also delightful. Thank you so much, Simon! I'll definitely be back 🙂🙂

I ordered the Duck Quesadilla. It was too salty for my taste. It was just salty and sour from the cheese and the pickled onions. That was it. I couldn't really taste the duck, it could've been a pulled pork, i won't be able to tell the different. I tried the french toast. Taste wise good, but it was too soggy. Service and view are great, but I usually based my review heavily on the food.

This was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had in quite some time. I went with six coworkers and we basically ordered a ton of plates and shared everything. We are all major foodies too. We started during happy hour (5 plates) continued into dinner (5 more plates) and dessert (3 plates). It was amazing. I had a sangria (which was perfect) and after we split the food 7 ways (which the server did and made it so easy to split the check) my check was $39. And that includes gratuity for a large party. There were so many diverse flavors, the service was incredible and the view is gorgeous. The chef came over and chatted with us too. She was really nice and clearly passionate about her work. She even sent us a seasonal dessert to try! If you are looking a cheap meal with tons of food, this probably isn’t the place. But if you want great flavors, a wonderful view, friendly and knowledgeable service and an experience that has you saying “Man, that was the best meal I’ve had in weeks,” then definitely head here.

This was a great dining experience. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful lake view. Our waitress, Caitlynn, was adorable and efficient. We had the fried olives, which were so savory. At her reccomendation I had the Pork. It was tender and sweet. My husband had the duck, which was full of smoky, bursting flavors. We are from Baton Rouge, and this restaurant could hold it's own there. That's saying a lot.