I’m a Barbie Girl

in a Barbie World. Life is plastic it’s fun— oh heeeey. So my bestfriend from my time in the city who I didn’t see for a good 5 years cause, Mama-ing and infant, then Covid, I’ve now seen 3 times in the last 8 months which is pretty darn good considering I no longer live or work in the city. The most recent was to check out the Barbie Cafe. It’s traveling around the country doing a pop up cafe in various sites for months at a time. I saw it in New York City while another was in Chicago at the same time. The two look vastly different in terms of experience but still both very Barbie and very pink. I will be speaking about my experience in New York. Note that the New York Barbie Cafe is closed, but there are other popup Barbie Cafe’s coming to various cities around the world (as I heard there’s one in Seoul!)

1. You need to book in advance. Typically I was seeing nothing for the current week (whenever you look at it’s at the minimum the following week when you’ll be able to score a reservation.) It also looks like it’s easier to get a single bar stool reservation than a table.
2. You need to pay in advance. Sort of. So you are required to pick you entree at time of booking and prices appear to fluctuate with the busier times being more expansive. Basically every adult entree was $44. Okay so $88 for two people in the city doesn’t sound bad. Except the two entrees were a cheeseburger with friends and a club salad with broccoli. It’s not like you’re getting chicken with two sides and bread to start or something. However, the starters, desserts, and drinks are ordered on site and paid for separately. Though they are listed on the site along with the entrees, so there was some confusion for me. Kids meals were all $25. So after fees it was $101 to make the reservation for my NYC best friend and I.

3. Once it’s your day to go, dress in your very best Barbie or very best Ken and head downtown. The Cafe is right on Fulton Street 2 blocks from the water. If you aren’t sure where it is but you’ve gotten yourself to Fulton Street just head in the direction of the water and trust me, you will know when you get there. The pink and “photo ops” spill out of the Malibu Barbie Cafe and can be clearly seen while walking by.

You are to arrive 10 minutes before your reservation then you are told to walk out a different set of glass doors than the ones you entered through. There, it is a hallway leading to who knows where and then doors to the outside world. It’s not air conditioned in there, so if you’ve got a full face of makeup like Barbie you may want to bring a personal hand held fan so you don’t end up looking like weird Barbie by the time they seat you.

Once seated your server comes over to take drink orders and see if you want anything to go with your entrees that you chose ahead of time when booking. The drinks were good, I of course got a mocktail while my friend got a cocktail. we got the spinach and artichoke dip to start and it was good. I got the club sandwich with a side of broccoli and he got a burger with fries. They were good but worth $45 a piece? No, but I suppose you’re paying more for the experience than the food itself. After our meals we ordered a dessert. It looked a little sad, but still tasted fine.

Once we were done eating we took to all the photo spots both inside and outside the cafe. We were one of the last seatings for the night so the cafe wasn’t too busy which made taking photos easier. Staff members were helpful with taking photos when asked.

All in all I had a good time, but the company helps a lot with that.

Would I go again? Probably not. Do I regret going? Not really. From the preorder to the food on the day the total with tip was about $200.