This was my first time visiting BarVista and we came for brunch. The patio is gorgeous and has a beautiful view of Big Spring Park. They have great air circulation with the outdoor fans they have. Our service was off to a slow start, but everything else was great. My Bloody Mary was fantastic. I ordered the All American Breakfast and they cooked my eggs perfectly. The grits are seasoned beautifully. They took a while to bring out my jelly. They probably need to put that on the plate before sending it up. I would definitely come back. This was very reasonably priced as well. read more

See all

Finally tried this spot for brunch. The location is great, easy parking and lovely views from the upstairs area (2nd floor). The mimosa selection is great, though the Paloma mimosa was room temperature albeit tasty and strong. The menu has some good brunch options, so I went with a croque madame, it was very tasty but a bit on the light and small side. Sure, dishes aren't cheap but you pay a bit extra for the view and location which are wonderful. Plus the drink prices were great. Had a nice brunch and will definitely be back. read more

BarVista - Paloma mimosa and a lovely view - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Huntsville, Alabama

See all

I struggled with the star rating and think BarVista is more of a 3.5. My favorite sister and I wrapped up a long visit with Sweet Momma at her Memory Care and were looking for a place to visit together and try something new on this beautiful (hot) Saturday early afternoon, 1:30 ish. I had been looking forward to this restaurant's opening and had visited pre-COVID to see if it was open and it was not at that time. They have an interior bar on the first floor and I don't know if they serve food there or not. Anyhoo, we took the stairs up to the second floor BV. It's a small bar/restaurant with relatively small 4-tops (ours wobbled and drove sister crazy!) and seating along a long "bar" facing the gorgeous view of Big Spring Park and downtown. I say bar, meaning place to eat, not an actual bar. And the view really is lovely!! I found the seating uncomfortably tight with no social distancing. No one had on masks and one of our food runners did wear gloves. But, maybe this is me, I live in Athens and struggle to keep up with various area's mask rules. They did have hand sanitizer available at a minimum by the entrance. The restroom was clean, and they kept the door open and it had plenty of soap, paper towels, etc. The bartender was not only lovely, she had a gorgeous smile and was very kind and helpful. She did not leave the bar proper and you had to get your own refills if you wanted any. The wait staff were inattentive to my wine and my sister and my water refills. No biggie, it was a short walk to the bar. I think I mentioned the Q scan didn't work on my phone so I looked at sister's phone and glanced over what was available food wise, and it was brunch, which was about to end. The menu looked good enough to stay and try a few dishes to share. We got the shrimp and grits ($21) a side salad with house made vinagrette (sp?) and the smoked salmon avocado toast. Oh, and get this, my sister is an iced-tea-a-holic and they do NOT have iced tea! (WTHeck?!?!?!?!-seriously?!?!?!?! this is a staple in the south folks!) Sadly, she settled, like I mentioned, for ice water. I mean this is a hotel, I imagine they had individual tea bags along with coffee available in the hotel rooms, like every other hotel on the planet, no? BV was very busy when we were there in terms of number of customers. Mostly there were couples enjoying the view and a mimosa or cocktail. Our food came out pretty quickly and for the most part were well plated, the avocado toast had great eye appeal - however that's where the goodness ended. We grew up eating avocados (Mom is from San Diego) and these were not ripe. Holy cow! Sister had to pick all those avocados off, and just eat the salmon, miniscule pickled red onion slices and I think, pickled jalapenos. She was disappointed in the chassis, the bread, it was not substantial and got kinda mushy/"wilted" with all the heavy toppings. A sourdough would have been a better option. The side salad was organic (like I care) and was actually really good, with the house made dressing a delightful and fresh touch. The shrimp and grits were good (Sister liked them, too - she had a couple of bites); however the andouille sausage was an afterthought. It was diced and there was maybe a teaspoon full. :( I'm accustomed to a decent ratio of shrimp to sausage when I splurge on this dish and can usually make a meal out of it but this iteration fell short. Plus a few bites in and I was eating shrimp shells (again WTHeck?!?!?!) several of the shrimp were only partially peeled, leaving me to awkwardly spit out the shells. Ugh. The staff were all cordial and good about checking on us; however, I did not want to complain or send anything back because we were exhausted after visiting sweet Momma. They don't have pinot grigio but did have a pinot gris. It was good. I have no idea of the price since I didn't get a good look at the menu. Also, I don't know about ya'll but, to me, it is HOT in AL in the summer - and this day was no exception, full sun, just after a rain shower and super humid. I was roasting in this place! They had two ~ 12 inch fans attached to the bar that did pretty much nothing regarding cooling the place. They were too high to even reach the patrons and were tiny. They really need to consider installing some decent sized ceiling fans. The noise level was not bad, and patrons began filing out before I finished my wine, so we moved to the area facing Big Spring Park for out last few minutes there, since we had an opportunity to have a front row seat with the beautiful view. The staff were placing reserved signs on most of the tables (a piece of paper in a stemmed bar glass). First time I have seen this in a hotel restaurant. The restaurant's music volume was WAY too loud right at the bar where we were seated (our backs to the bar) playing some vile rap music with really raunchy lyrics. It was a total buzz kill and really out of place for the somewhat upscale atmos read more

See all

We did Sunday brunch on patio with UAH jazz quartet providing great music .. Worthwhile visit on 2nd Sunday if WX is nice read more

See all

The service, food, and drinks suck. Should have just stayed at home. Smh. Never again

I'd like to start with the good: the view is lovely, and the staff was very kind. BUT from what they told us and how it appeared, they were very understaffed. I went for a late morning brunch with some girlfriends so its good we were there to chat, but we spent most of our time waiting. On drinks, on food, and on our checks. Due to the wait, our food was a little chilled and it took awhile to get drinks and unfortunately we got no opportunities for refills (which makes me a little sad because we would have gladly taken some!) I think this place has a lot of potential, but until they get some better management I'm unsure of how it will fare in comparison to its downtown competition. read more

Great Location! There is no longer a happy hour. I ordered a $15 glass of wine. I watched as the bartender did not know how to open it. She screwed the opener in crooked and broke thru the cork. She served my wine with floating cork. We had to switch tables because there was a yellow jacket nest in the landscaping container. They did not move the table or close the table. Instead, we had to warn people away while we were there. read more

My friend and I came to this restaurant to try and find new spots to host my girl night events and give my friends new spots to try. It started off good. The ambiance is amazing. The view of downtown is super relaxing and creates that "hip" vibe we were looking for. We ordered the bone in pork chop and that's when things went downhill. Both of our pork chops were super fatty, but mine had a bit more meat on it than my friends did so I ate mine(plus I was hungry). I cut open the rest of my pork chop and it was full of fat and undercooked. Our waitress avoided us and when she finally did come over she took my friends plate back to the chef and told me "well pork chops are fatty." She then proceeded to ask my friend if she wanted something else and let my plate sit there in front of me instead of taking my plate away. She proceed to avoid me until my friend asked for the check. I asked how my plate was going to be handled and she again said well I asked the chef and he said that pork chops are fatty. She then went to go ring out my check and proceed to talk shit about me to her manager and coworker as if I couldn't hear her. I then asked for the manager who came to my table with an attitude. I handed her the plate and just paid for my food. I do not recommend this place based on the staffs attitude alone. read more

See all

The bartender had a horrible attitude and it affected the drinks she made too. The drinks were lukewarm and tasted bad. Also the service was poor, it took forever just to receive water and we had to ask for it. The food was tasty but again lukewarm. If I were to go again it would be JUST for the scenery or a togo order if anything. read more

Ordered Salad with Salmon. It was delicious. We were sitting outdoors and there was a fire pit to keep us warm. It was a cooler night for people living in Huntsville, but not for a person who is used to this type of weather. The ambiance was mellow and peaceful. The staff was courteous and the food was delicious. I could not ask for more perfect dinner than this. Loved the restaurant's outdoor setting, the food and the staff. Thank you!!! read more

This should be a knockout experience, but it has yet to live up to that potential. Let's start with the reservation system. You submit a request days ahead and up to the time of your reservation - no "confirmation" arrives. Upon showing up you are told that the email/text confirming your request for a table (with date and time) did not actually confirm that you had a reservation. We have had this happen several times, not just once. Music is way too loud and I love music. Wait staff is hit or miss and the bartenders are always overwhelmed. Drinks are expensive and typically take 2-3 times as long to arrive as any other similarly populated venue. Food has ranged from amazing to send it back bad. We live downtown and frequent all of the competing establishments. There is no comparison with regards to the reservation process, service and consistency of food quality. Location - Check Compelling menu - Check Righteous bar offerings (minus service) - Check Management - Out to lunch and in need of a hard reset. read more

We made reservations for 6:00 pm. Arrived at 6:00 and placed a drink order. For the next 20 minutes at least four different people checked on us but none had our drinks. The drinks arrived and we placed our food order for dinner. One salmon salad, one ceviche, one order baked oysters, one salad with chicken. We waited an hour for the food and when it finally came it didn't include the ceviche and the salmon salad had shrimp, not salmon for someone with a shrimp allergy. I would say they were understaffed, but there were plenty of wait staff. One woman spent the entire time just making sure drinks had coasters. Seriously that's all she did. Maybe they should move some wait staff into the kitchen. The only positive was the baked oysters were good. read more

Go for the view (which is amazing, overlooking the natural spring that fills the beautiful tree-lined lake in the middle of downtown) and stay for the food. It's really fantastic. Good mixology creations too. Five Stars. read more

We stayed at the hotel and dined at BarVista. We had an appetizer, dinner, drinks and dessert. Our waiter was attentive, our meal and drinks were good but before we had finished our last drink we were asked if there was any way we could move from our table so someone else could have it. After spending $240 for a night in the hotel and over $150 for dinner for two, I would expect an evening out without being rushed. My 5 star rating went down to 1 due to that. I will go elsewhere in the future. I really wish the evening would have ended better. read more