First I'll start off with OMG! THIS PLACE HAS A BURGER CALLED THE BLACKSTONE BURGER, IT HAS; A Burger topped with corned beef, Swiss, sauerkraut, and a homage 1000 island dressing. Bow im a Chef and am a huge critic when it comes to food. My 1st bite immediately made me pull the waitress over and ask who the f*%$ made this. She got nervous and told us, but I told her it was the best burger I've had in over 10 years. The flavor is astounding. Cooked to perfection. My wife got The Corned beef Sandwich n fries, the corned beef is so tender and juicy and full of flavor. We give it a 9/10. Ty fuys for the hospitality on St. Daddy's day 2026! read more

The food I've had here on two different lunch visits was really good, but the service and attention from the wait staff, especially during lunch, needs a little work. Our group ended up waiting a long time each time we needed to speak to the server and it resulted in a lunch that took significantly longer than a weekday lunch should take. It would have been more understandable if they had been swamped but it was a pretty light day and we were one of a handful of tables at most. However, I will still give it another chance because the blackened salmon salad and spinach artichoke wrap I had on the two visits were both delicious. read more

Depends on the day you come here. Food sometimes comes out cold. Particularly the fries. Drinks, usually pretty damn good. Just depends on the day. I find them a lot more efficient when it's busier than when they are not. Overall i recommend Barleys read more

Had a Reuben and a BLT melt. Both were good. Reuben was outstanding! Service was a little slow but overall would give it a B.

This place always has a great variety of drinks to try out. If its a new beer or something they put together it is quite fun. The food as well is pretty dang good and not the usual boring menu. Staff sometimes can get busy so you need to make sure you know what you are going to want or you will end up havin to wait! haha. I usually come on off hours so it is more of a enjoyable chill experince. The building is crazy long and there are pool tables in the back. Also behind the building is public parking if you cannot find an easy spot along the street. read more

See all

I was there last week for a business lunch and it was GREAT! Matt and his crew truly DO know what they are doing. I enjoyed the a grilled chicken sandwich with the toppings of lettuce, tomato and a bit of mayo on the side with their sweet potato fries and it was just delicious! Service was terrific --- very quick and attentive --- and the restaurant is very clean and you can tell there is a LOT of care that goes into this place. Overall, this is a VERY community minded place --- you can have all kinds of functions here and it is never a problem. They make it looks so easy, but I know they work very, very hard to make it a spot that is at the top of the list of places to go! read more

Food here is really good and they have such good drinks. Would recommend the spin dip, any pizza, blt melt, grilled cheese, and definitely the haystack onion rings. I feel though that they seem to do better when they are busier, meaning that there have been multiple times where it's dead yet the food takes a long time. They have many tvs above the bar so you can usually watch whatever game you want read more

Not only a great place to stop in the summer for casual outdoor streetwise setting but cozy and great decor for inside as well. Probably one of the best French dip sandwiches in my favorite list. I breached out from my usual pizza order and was so thankful I did. DELICIOUS! Staff is always friendly, cold beer and a happy returning customer time and time again! read more

Barleys Bar - Brisket French dip with grilled onions, smoked Gouda on a grilled roll with fries and an jus. - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

Always good service and amazing food. They have the best ranch! I've tried all kinds of food at Barleys and haven't been disappointed yet!

I was charged $5 extra because I ordered my bourbon "neat", (without ice). Whether it's on ice or neat, a jigger (1.5 oz,) is the same volume. When I asked about the $5 extra charge, the girl at the bar didn't seem to know what a "jigger" was, what 1.5 oz. was, or why I could have a problem. I ended the conversation because I knew it could go nowhere, because of this person's ignorance so I just omitted the tip and left, I will never return. read more

Barley's food is consistently good, I've visited many times and had various items - love the pizza, would recommend. I like their monthly drink menu, drinks are great with lots of options. Service is hit or miss. read more

Once a year I travel to Council Bluffs for Robotics. We stop in every year at Barleys. It's a comfortable table layout with servers who are amazingly helpful. The haystack onions are my favorite but my students this year loved the pretzels, cheezus and salads. I've tried several burgers and have never been disappointed. Definitely check it out! read more

We've been to barleys many times and it's always a good time. Service is great, the environment is great. Food is usually pretty good ! Today I tried the smoke house burger with fries, it was good. Not sure how I feel about their bbq sauce though. It's more like a Heinz's 57 sauce. But usually if I get a burger I stick with the Barley burger. So I had to switch it up. My wife got the triple club sandwich with fries, and that's one of our go to's. That club sandwich is always delicious. We also tried this month's special appetizer. It was a Ruben dip and it was tasty. Would order again. I tried a new beer this go around too. I tried the Infusion, it's a vanilla bean ale. Wasn't for me, but glad I gave it a try. They always have a great selection of beers. Overall we enjoy barleys, it's a great local bar and grill. read more

See all

Barley's is our new neighborhood favorite bar. The food is a super solid. Salad bar is good. Pizza also pretty good. Service has always been good, even when they are packed. Get food from here 1-2 per week. Would recommend. read more

We haven't been to Council Bluffs much so I jumped on the idea to try somewhere new. We chose to sit outside and view the area. Our server was friendly and thorough with us. My husband chose fried gizzards as our appetizer which I'm not a huge fan of honestly. They were good but somewhat chewy in my opinion. He was pleased with them and with his Shrimp po boy. I thought my chicken quesadilla was very good (nice portion size) but a had a little too much chili powder in the seasoning. I think next time I'll try a sandwich to see how they are. I definitely want to come back and relax outside again. read more

Barleys Bar - Chicken quesadilla - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

I will admit, Barleys was not my first choice this day. I am super glad that my First choice was closed (again). I really had no idea what a cool spot this place is. The bar is huge and inviting so I bellied up and was warmly greeted with a drink list and a menu. Lots of beverage choices stare you right in the face. Tap beers galore and a great selection at that. I get very happy when a bar has beer that I prefer. The bartender said the tenderloin was a big hit so I went with that and some fries. I blinked and my food was sitting in front of me. She was spot on the tenderloin was very tasty. Both the sandwich and fries came out piping hot. Barleys is my new first choice when I want a beer, a great meal with good service. read more

Our server, Beckett, gave my homie a kids chicken tender when she EXPLICITLY asked for FOUR chicken tenders. Ironically, his parents own the joint. He also stole her diet coke. Barley's is good on paper, but so is Long John Silvers. I want a public apology. EDIT: Barley's and there staff need an evaluation immediately. Not only do they post fake reviews, they deny their customers of a simple apology. Do better Barley's. read more

The food was good and the service was good as well. Great place to come sit down for a relaxed dinner or lunch

I have mixed feelings about Barley's in that they are fairly inconsistent in regards to both food and service. The first time I ordered the French Onion soup it was great. The second time it was a bowl of broth soaked croutons. Have you ever wondered what is more well-done than well-done in terms of steak? I don't know the term for it but if I could show you the steak I received on my salad once you'd at least have a visual. However, the Gyro Salad and Fish and Chips have been consistent quality after 2 and 3 orders respectively. The service is always friendly and adequately attentive if not top notch. Sometimes it's a little slow and I wonder if our waitress got lost in between our table and the beer taps. Or like today, the waitress dropped off our check, thanked us for coming in, and walked off with our not empty beers. (I only had about a 1/4 glass left so not enough to make a fuss about but still - I'm German and Irish and she took my beer!) What IS consistently delightful is the beer selection - they have a great variety on tap and it changes often so there's usually something new try. We'll definitely keep coming back but next time I'm guarding my beer! read more

Great food and service. The Mushroom Swiss Juicy Lucy (June special) was awesome. I always enjoy the food and patio at Barley's. read more

Barleys Bar - BLT with Haystack Onion Rings - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

See all

Good food and a quiet lunch spot during the week. My chicken quesadilla was delicious!

Spinach dip was cold, sent it back andwas brought back out luke warm. Waited quite awhile for our food and when it was brought out out the fries were also luke warm but over cooked, like they sat under a heat lamp. Ordered a beer that I never got it. When we talked withe server to talk with the manager he said him and another guy were "kind of in charge". We explained everything to him and he said, ill try and do something for you, but did nothing and as he walked away he made a face and rolled his eyes. Terrible experience, considering my coworkers and i from the hospital come in here often. So disappointing! read more

July 9, 2019 Tuesday - 6:15 PM for dinner 3 Adults Atmosphere - 4 stars Food - 4 star Service - 4 star Background - I found this place via Untappd. It was close to where we were working. Atmosphere - Classic bar in a downtown area. Long and narrow nothing to fancy here. I love the repurpose of the church pews Food Drink - Untappd lead me here so I am having a few beers. I started with a nice thick beer, Surly's 2017 Darkness. As I was finishing up my meal I had Surly's 2019 Xtra-Citra. Citra is one of my favorite hops. Appetizer - We started the night with the pizza rolls, these are not your Totino's pizza rolls. More like a Chinese size egg roll but stuffed with pizza toppings. Dinner - I saw Diablo under the burger menu and stopped looking. Chorizo Beef patty, yes please. A name like Diablo I was expecting more heat. Just was not there for me. Service - Alright nothing special. Seat yourself type place and the waitress visits you after that. I told her up front that the beer was on my tab and the rest on another tab. Had to reminder at the time we asked for our checks. Future - Sure. read more

See all

Great service and great food! Small town feel with so many selections on the menu. Definitely worth a revisit!

Good food, good atmosphere and the prices are reasonable too! I recommend the Fish & Chips.

Met a girl here for a date Friday night before we went down the street for a drink. I ordered the Dagwood Philly and fries. The fries were very good and the Dagwood was delicious. The service was prompt and if I find myself back in the area, it'd be a place that I'd come back to. read more

We're here visiting from California. Council Buffs is a cute town so we decided to stop at Barleys for lunch. We waited almost an hour before our food was served. Our order was wrong, the food was cold and the service was blah. One star for the sweet dog that we pet outside read more

Loved the atmosphere and style. Service was great and so was the food. I had a philly no bun and haystack of onion rings. Best onion rings I've had in a long time. Fiancé got the pork tenderloin, his dad got the club sandwich. All really good. read more

See all

Let me start by saying, this was Saturday afternoon at 4:00. We easily found a table, and the four of us sat down. Our waitress came up I ordered a Grey Goose dirty martini with 3 olive, my husband ordered a beer and the other couple she also ordered a dirty martini, her husband order a soda. The waitress asked two/three times what we wanted and finally went to put our drink orders in. Comes back and says that they have no soda (?), what?. We waited, then the waitress came back and asked my friend oh by the way the Mac and cheese with steak bites comes with a salad did you want that? hmmm thinking we're paying for so guess I'd really like it. Our food comes within minutes of the salad arriving. We finish our meal no one checked to see if we needed another drink, or if there was something else we wanted. So we are sitting there waiting for our waitress and we don't see her anywhere (please keep in mind that she has not returned to the table to check on us AT ALL). I finally catch the eye of someone else to be told "oh she got cut and left, did you need something" yeah our check, she leaves with my card brings our check we pay, and I'm not kidding $102.00. The food was good, but the service was not! We will not be back anytime soon. read more

A nice bar to go to for lunch or dinner. Their beer selection is impressive, as is their liquor selection. A few friends and I split some pitchers of Angry Orchard, which is always amazing. It was nice and cold as it should be. I had a BLT, with extra bacon, and it was pretty good. You can't go wrong with double bacon. The fried pickles were spicy and good as well. The bar offers good, bar food at decent prices. read more

Barleys Bar - Playing some golden tee. - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

I ordered the popcorn shrimp plate and upgraded my side to the haystack onion rings. Delicious! Business is definitely gonna take off to the next level after Andrew Yang implements the Freedom Dividend! read more

Barleys Bar - Crispy fried goodness - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

Great bar food, reasonable drinks, friendly staff. Absolutely LOVE their cauliflower crust Thai chicken pizza with extra peanuts.

Barleys was great! So, I visit CB ofter since I started working for a company near the casinos. The location counts because I stay at the Courtyard, which is actually closer to Omaha than downtown CB so we end up in Old Market -- if not getting charbuff wings locally. Point being, I was solo tonight and wanted to hit a different area. Glad I did! I Yelped my way to a bright and flashy place on W Broadway with a car name that looked totally dead at 9 but Barleys looked more like the vibe I was after. The first great sign was the Dirty Bastard at the bar! If you don't know it, it's no grimy patron but a tasty scotch ale by Founders Brewing Co. Hunter (behind the bar) was cool to have a chat and give his recommendations. The "Diablo" was a chorizo blend burger with peppers and a cheese I didn't recognize with demon in the name -- say no more. I ordered it without even adding the guac or jalapenos that were available and it rocked. The other cool surprise was the onion rings, cut thin and marinated in some buffalo mix and then hand-battered so they ended up like hefty and spicy onion straws that were a uniquely tasty pop. To top it all off, Hunter, Alicia, and Paige were a totally chill crew behind the bar. Do yourself a favor if in the area and trying to decide where to try a new place.......... Go West. read more

Barleys Bar - Diablo and onion rings -- BOTH Awesome! - American Near Me - Council Bluffs, Iowa

If the first thing you're going to preach is about covid, make sure you preach that to your bartenders and staff!! We're tired of hearing that your company isn't going to make it because of the covid. Your staff reflects your company and if they ain't holding up that's on you we want everybody to make it unless they rude and think they s*** don't stink. And yes that's what I got from this bar. Or should I say ... You're bartender. Yeah that's okay next time I'll go down the street and order some food probably better than barley's.!! Yet will be happy with the service and the food!. What a pity!! Though we would stop in for a good time and decent food! Go elsewhere Council Bluffs... Just because it's on the 100 Bock doesn't mean they hold any standards! Go next door where you'll feel comfortable and welcome. It'll be worth it! read more

Great location. Very busy, so a little longer wait than a few minutes. Prices were fair. Everything has gone up, their not exception.

My boyfriend and I passed through Council Bluffs on our way to visit family in the Quad Cities. On the recommendation of our AirBNB host, we got takeout dinner from Barleys. It was walking distance from our AirBNB in the super cute Main Street area of Council Bluffs. The food was ready quickly after our online order and it was delicious! My boyfriend got the BLT melt and I got the mac n cheese without meat (only chives and mushrooms) and we got the haystack onion rings. Everything was amazing!! The onion rings were my favorite, so crispy and perfectly seasoned and paired great with their ranch dressing. read more

Nothing like being served raw chicken (gizzards). We wanted to try something new, so we decided on Barley's based on pictures and reviews. The atmosphere was cool enough, 2 out of the 3 appetizers were good, but I had eaten 4 gizzards before realizing they were COMPLETELY RAW inside the breading. It's pretty dark in there so I wasn't sure at first then used the flashlight on my phone to check them. I had also ordered a pork tenderloin but after the gizzards my appetize was shot and it's wasn't willing to try anything else Our waiter was nice enough and apologetic, it wasn't his fault. We ate, well the people I was with ate, we paid our bill (over $70$ and left. read more

Barley's is my go to for a good craft beer on tap ( always rotating in new and delicious beers) and by far the best bar food in town! I have a few personal favorites... the supreme pizza is a must try! I always get it without mushroom and add jalapeño. Delicious left over also! The Diablo burger is probably my favorite. I always add guacamole and jalepeños ( yes I add Peppers to about everything ). Tastiest burger I've ever had and I've had a lot of burgers from around the states! I also really enjoy the Arnold, and as you might guess by now, I make it my own by adding bacon and black or green olives. We love Barley's and hope if you have not been there to stop in and enjoy the awesome tap list and menu of pub fare. read more

Friendly staff and atmosphere. Good values on the menu. Interesting combinations of bar fare on the menu, well prepared and tasty. Worth a visit with a good local vibe. read more

This is a BEAUTIFUL bar in downtown Council Bluffs. The historic building has been well-maintained and is in great condition. The bar seems to straddle the line between being a restaurant bar and being a sports bar, with restaurant style bar slightly edging it out. We were the first customers of the day, and the bartender was MIA. We sat there for about 10 minutes before she finally appeared from a back room, surprised to see us. After she served us she disappeared again. A few minutes later a woman came in who had left her card here the previous night. She looked around, checked the other room, then came back. "Is anyone working here?" she asked us. "Nope, we had to serve ourselves," my friend joked. She set off exploring and finally managed to find the bartender on her own. So I'd echo the earlier reviewer's comment about the place being understaffed. It appeared that our bartender was the only person working at all and she was having to do too many other things that kept her away from the customers. read more

See all