I remember when Barnaby’s in Havertown opened years ago; they served unbelievable ribs with fruit-laced BBQ sauce, the biggest and best wings anywhere, and the restaurant’s signature buffalo chicken tail tenders. The tail tenders were made from the filet mignon of the chicken breast, as tender and moist as anything you ever had, hand breaded with buffalo sauce. They were the favorites of everyone and worth paying a little more for because they were fine. That was then and this is now!

We started our journey in the Aston location, and found the place fairly jumping on a Saturday afternoon. The ribs here were tender, but the sauce was not quite up to the Barnaby’s standard, and so off in taste, it prompted me to call the Ridley location to see if all units used the same recipe. The young lady who answered the phone said all units were the same. I beg to differ; Aston’s sauce is not the regular sauce, Ridley’s is, and there, we found the best ribs in Barnaby’s fashion, Havertown’s sauce is the best, but the ribs were over cooked, dry, and very small. For $19.99, Famous Dave’s is a much, much better deal and better product!
The wings in Aston and Ridley were just great, awesome BBQ, my favorite with a super thick, sticky sauce that ends up on your face no matter what you do. Go to Aston for all finger food. You’ll see why later. Wings at Havertown were sent out under cooked, with a burnt, black Chesapeake chicken sandwich, and over cooked chicken tail tenders that were actually chicken tail jerky; so overdone and hard, they shredded. If they were still made with tenders and not chicken breast, I’d be very surprised.
The Maryland sandwich was still enjoyed by my companion, but incredibly burnt black on one side of the chicken breast; it should not have been served.
The remedy for the under cooked wings (Salmonella? Say no more) was to unbelievably drop them back into the fryer with the BBQ sauce on them until they were burnt black too. Then add more sauce. We threw them away. Egg rolls…ah, the egg rolls. $9.99 lobster egg rolls in Aston were filled with…ready…Pollock balls and NO LOBSTER, just fake lobster and some veggies and these were the best of all the eggrolls we tried. They tasted great but the misrepresentation was a huge put off. Overall, I would suggest you don’t order the egg rolls at all; they are not worth it anyway, anyhow. Cheese steak and buffalo chicken egg rolls at Ridley had hardly any filling. Literally, as much as say, two pencils. For $7.99, there should be more filling. I sampled these two items at Havertown again, thinking maybe Ridley’s were a bad batch. Wrong! You couldn’t find the cheese steak in the ones at Havertown and the chicken was about the amount between one to two pencils – bad, very bad.
In fact, the cooking at the Havertown location was probably the worst I have ever had in a restaurant. It had “I Don’t Give a Damn” written all over it. Unfortunately, we paid for it.
Crab cakes are at best, pedestrian; definitely go somewhere else for crab cakes. Barnaby’s has fallen a little behind the times. Now, here’s why you want to go to Aston for all finger food. The men ’s rooms, in all three locations, were sparkling clean inside, as were the ladies’ rooms, except at Havertown which was covered with vomit. The girl working in Havertown seemed dumbfounded as to what to do when made aware of the vomit situation.
The restrooms at Ridley and Havertown are out of date and have no towels, just dryers and internal door handles. In both locations in the men’s room and in Ridley in the ladies’ room, patrons grabbed the door handle and left without washing their hands after doing their business. If you wash your hands, dry them with the blow dryer, how do you get out without grabbing that same handle? How does the kitchen help get out or the food servers? I know Barnaby’s cannot control the bathroom habits of their clientele, but appropriate actions should be taken to help others concerned with spread of bacteria.
The current standard is to use paper towels to dry your hands, then shut off the water with the towels, open the door with the towels, and drop the towels in a big waste basket by the door as you go. For this reason, Aston was the only acceptable place to eat because it does not have internal door handles or the doors are locked open.
One last thing; while Ridley’s food was very good except for the rolls, they use dark bowls and plates which come with grease and water stains. My salad dish was so bad, I couldn’t eat it after I noticed and qualified the grease from the previous diner, and I threw that out also.

So…Expect this…Professional, but cold, impersonal service, except Havertown, but very bad food in Havertown; could be cleaner in Ridley (dishware). The best place is Aston; it is clean and sanitary. Go to Aston for awesome wings, good ribs, and very good salads. Do not order egg rolls of any type or crab cakes. Can’t report on my old favorites, tail tenders, until I try them in Aston. I have heard raves about the chicken Chesapeake sandwich, it is said to be great when not served burnt, worth the gamble.
Take your own towels to Ridley and Havertown to escape bathrooms, but I will only eat in Aston again. Barnaby’s Aston is open seven days a week for lunch & dinner and can be reached at 610-558-1929.