- We are here at Barton G in Los Angeles,
and Joe, what's Barton G known for?
- Barton G is famous for the way they present their food.
The dishes, the desserts,
even some of the drinks have
these elaborate props and setups
that they bring to the table.
It's very Instagrammable.
It looks really cool,
but I have to wonder how good it actually tastes.
- Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest,
I have not heard great things about the food here,
but it looks really fun.
The entire kitchen's basically a toy room,
- And I feel that
with all this emphasis on the presentation,
they might be trying to overcompensate for something,
possibly how the food tastes?
Sydney: Yeah, I mean,
when you're serving stuff in these giant vessels
and everyone's focused on what the photo looks like,
I think it's probably pretty easy
to overlook how the food tastes.
Joe: Well, one thing's for sure,
we're gonna get to play with some fun props
and see some cool dishes,
so I'm excited. DO you wanna go check it out?
Sydney: Let's go.
I mean there's...
Atilla: Giant forks, swords, knives, lures.
Barton G aims to shock and awe its guests
in a culinary theater of sorts,
so we're always presenting over-the-top dishes,
whimsical creations,
not just your average, you know,
white-plate dinner.
Really pushing the boundaries of imagination.
Barton G is the OG in over-the-top dishes,
precursing Instagram probably by at least a decade.
Sydney: OK, we get it.
It's basically dinner theater.
But let's see if it's delicious
or if it's just another Instagram dud.
First up, lobster mac 'n' cheese.
It's made with a heart-stopping amount of cheese.
And lobster.
And it wouldn't be West Hollywood
without adding a healthy dollop of black truffle.
And of course, they top it with more cheese.
You really can't say this place isn't decadent.
While the chef cooked,
Joe and I decided to check out
all the dinnerware in the back of the house.
Joe: So I gotta eat like,
under the thing? Like I'm...
- Protect yourself from food spitters.
- Yeah, but if someone was taking it off,
was like, "No, we're taking the plate away.
You gotta wear it for the whole meal."
Joe: Let's eat!
Sydney: And of course you know,
there's even more lobster.
This time, it's going into lobster Pop-Tarts.
They're made with phyllo dough
that is drenched in butter.
And cheese, again?
Yes.
This place has some interesting stuff.
- This would be a first,
possibly eating out of a...
- Is it going to fit over your big head?
- Let's find out.
Oh! Oh, like a glove.
Dude, this is like super heavy.
- You could, like,
do a little bit of, like,
cleaning as well.
- Yeah.
I don't understand how, like, they serve in...
- No, they serve food in that?
- Yeah, that's what I thought, right?
- No, I think you wear it while you eat.
- An actual lure
that's used to catch sharks.
You can see right there it does have the points.
They have little plastic guys on it.
- This is what you eat off of
when your dad didn't play catch with you
but you want your dining partner to do it.
- Just crying, just eating.
- I just wanted to play catch, Pop,
a game of catch.
- I mean, this is like the Carrot Top of restaurants.
- Yeah, it honestly kind of is,
and the bat's sticky.
- Yeah.
What do we got here?
- What do you, how do you even put food in this?
- I think it goes up?
Oh it's a...
What?
- Ohhhh!
- Oh, like the UFO's landing on the table.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joe: Ahhhh.
- OK, that's kinda cool actually.
I'm into that.
- OK, so these guys are definitely winning
at presentation.
- Yeah, and I have to say,
I'm a lot more excited to eat
after being in this kitchen.
It's almost like being in FAO Schwarz.
I feel like FAO Schwarz had a lot
of stuff like this.
- Do like "American Gothic."
Sydney: The Great American Steak dish
is served with a boneless ribeye
and bone-marrow butter.
And the Sabrina Sundae comes in a giant martini glass
overloaded with ice cream, brownies,
hot fudge, whipped cream,
and sprinkles.
Joe: Imagine coming in here when you were a kid.
You'd just be like,
"I wanna go to the restaurant where they give you swords."
I would just be running around like,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"
- I probably would not be, honestly.
Sydney: OK, enough goofing around,
it's time to see if this outrageous food
is actually any good.
Oh, my God.
OK, cool, great.
Oh, don't forget the Pop-Tarts,
yes, yes.
Lovely, lovely.
- Does this toaster work?
- I mean, this looks delicious. - Yes.
- Oh, yes please, my utensils. - Yeah.
All right.
Those might slow you down a little bit
while trying to cut it. - Yeah, I'll hold it
while you cut it.
- Yeah, now we're talking.
We got mac 'n' cheese
in a giant mousetrap.
Waiter: Watch your fingers.
- Eeee.
Everything looks very delicious.
- Yeah.
- I think I'm gonna try
some of this mac 'n' cheese.
- Yeah, let me get rid
of this thing. - Think I can get in there?
Wanna try it?
- Do it.
- Yeah, it's pretty good!
I recommend the smaller fork.
- It's pretty fun.
They also give you regular-sized forks and knives.
- Who wants this when you can have this?
For real though...
- This is really good. - This is delicious.
- Yeah, this is really tasty.
There are giant chunks of lobster in there too.
I am impressed. Color me impressed!
You know the truffles, like,
I mean, I hate to use the word "umami"
because it's so overused,
but that's like what really comes to mind.
It's like truffley, mushroomy deliciousness,
and it tastes luxurious and rich.
- Definitely.
- Teamwork.
- I think we're gonna have to request a giant steak knife.
Yo, get me one of those swords!
And done!
- Wow, good job! - Yeah these are great!
- Amazing!
- Let's cut back in
and do the time lapse of... - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- And done!
- Yeah, OK, I like that.
I have to say, gotta give them credit,
like, that's the color I like my steak.
Joe: Yeah, this is cooked perfectly.
Wow! - Mmmm!
- It's excellent!
- It stands on its own.
It doesn't need this, but it
definitely doesn't hurt either.
- Why not, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Sydney: The sauce is awesome.
It's cooked perfectly.
This bone-marrow butter is on another level.
- I thought it was gonna be, like,
also like eating out of these contraptions
was gonna be a lot, like, more awkward?
I mean, it's definitely just a presentational thing.
It doesn't really affect the actual process of eating it.
- What scenario do you imagine yourself, like,
coming here and ordering like,
you know, something with this sort of presentation?
- Probably like a special occasion,
like a birthday or anniversary.
- Yeah, I think birthday.
I feel like anniversary would be a little,
like, "Hey, honey, here's a giant fork.
Let's eat this together."
But I think birthday is a little bit more lighthearted.
- Can I make a note that delete the note
that I made to take my wife here for anniversary?
Scratch that.
- If you took Mo here for your anniversary...
- It would be our last anniversary.
- D---, dude.
- Oh wow.
- That's decadent.
Oh man.
- I love that.
- I love it so much. I love that there are,
like, this place is lobster city.
There's so much lobster at Barton G's.
That's amazing.
- That's the best Pop-Tart.
- Here we go.
Yes!
- Now we're talking, yooo!
Sydney: What're we doing.
What're we, idiots?
- Stop it.
Your giant shovel.
- Thank you.
- All right.
You know what I like about this?
It's like these utensils are so heavy,
it's kinda like a workout.
Mmmmm. - Mmmmm.
- That is very good.
- I think you need the little spoon to help you along.
- Yeah, this is very efficient.
- Mmmmm! - That's so good.
Sydney: This is the kinda day
where I love my job
so, so much.
How're you feeling about work?
- Great!
Yeah, this would also, like, really, like,
hit the spot after a long day.
- This would hit the spot after a long day?
- With a couple of your buddies,
just kinda kickin' it, have some ice cream.
- Yeah. - Right?
- Hey, man, I've had such a rough day,
you know what I need?
An ice-cream sundae.
- Meet me at B.G.
- Apparently
what I'm learning today
is bigger is always better.
Like, all of these things have been so delicious.
- Yeah, I feel great.
- Good job, and I'm so full, I wanna die.
- Yeah, I gotta lay down.
Look at this big spoon!