Coffee Shops of Amsterdam: Barney’s

All the best coffeeshops in Amsterdam, rated according to what Lilly Likes.

Today, we wanted to talk about Barney’s. When you know Amsterdam like we do, you begin to notice that certain brands pop up time and time again. Barney’s is one of them. They do a top-notch job of creating a consumer community, and they do this by having four different venues for three different things.

You can catch a meal at Barney’s Uptown or the Farm, you can enjoy an indoor or outdoor ice cold beer at Barney’s Lounge, or have a smoke and a chill at their multi-award winning coffeeshop. It was only a matter of time before this ambitious attraction got some Lilly Likes coverage.

Lilly Likes have already covered the cat cafes, which have less smoke and decisively more pussies. We have also checked in to the Museum Vrolick for our daily dose of weird. Come join us. There’s a whole wall of skulls.

Anyway, back to Barney’s. What’s the score on this delectable A-dam delight? We put it under the microscope to find out…

Atmosphere and Vibe

Barney’s started life as an eatery, rather than as a true coffee shop. The original founders were determined to offer a customer-service focused restaurant with hearty food, but they sold in 1992. It was this new owner that introduced a variety of high-quality herbal strains into an already bustling meal-and-consumer-based business.

The building you will find Barney’s in is on the 500 year old Haarlemmerstraat, which is only a few minutes’ walk from Central Station. The age of the building doesn’t match the inside, extensive renovations have seen the innards futuristic while the outside of the building still belongs in the past. It’s a nice mix, particularly if you are very high.

It has a dreamy, borderline sci-fi feel to it. There are Volcano brand vapes for all to use. They have an extensive menu and they aren’t pushy to buy. The weed is plentiful and there are loads of options. Overall vibe? One of happiness. We particularly like that you can buy pocket microscopes to look at the weed with. The staff might let you try it out in-store.

The cons of the vibe in Barney’s? It’s a little busy and business-like. It comes from being part of a growing brand and having to sacrifice a little of your personality towards your success. Like a person, it is hard for a coffee shop to stay friendly when it is crowded by people all day.

All-in-all Barney’s has a good balance of friendly and busy. It also has a bar and somewhere to eat within a stone’s throw. We say 4.5 out of 5 for atmosphere and vibe. They can afford to lose the half mark because their branding is magnificent.

Munchies and Drinks

One delightful thing about this place is that you can nip down the street for a full on party or a three course meal with the same chain. This means they have a whole range of food, drink, and tasty treats, across their four outlets. It also means you can get heavy drunk, if that’s your bag.

What can you expect on the (food) menu at Barney’s Coffeeshop? A vast selection of both hot and cold drinks made fresh for you, burgers for the starving and reputedly they have the best breakfast in Amsterdam. Oh yes, one of the special features of this place is that they open from 7/8 am in the morning… so when you have partied so late it is early, you can fall into Barney’s for a smoke to finish it all off.

We gave them a 4 out of 5 for food. It’s not an afterthought, it’s just that they have such a huge range in their other locations that there would be no point making their coffeeshop their top food outlet. That would just be bad business.

Products/Edibles (420)

Two words: Tangerine Dream. People come from all over the world to have a toke on this stuff. It’s just about as orangey as a weed can get. If you like your bud fruity, come to Barney’s. One caution is that it is a little on the pricey side. Most of the Central, big-brand coffee shops are a little on the tourist-trap side and Barney’s is no exception… but that doesn’t make it any less cool.

They have all sorts of hashish – probably one of the bulkiest hashish menus in Amsterdam. When it comes to marijuana, they offer two types. Their own NL grown stuff or their imported Cali weeds. It’s actually pretty special on account of them having the Indica cup winner of 2011 (Blue Cheese), the Cannabis Cup winner from 2010 is the Tangerine, the Canna cup winner of 2011 (Liberty Haze) and the winner of 2014 – the Cookies Kush. Put it all together and you have a stunning variety that makes us lick our lips.

Worth mentioning is that you can also buy weed at the Farm, and at the Lounge. They all have different menus and we have focused on the coffee shop. They also offer different types of space cakes, some mixed doobies with tobacco, and some pures.

We gave them a 4.5 out of 5 for product/edibles. They are entirely 420 friendly but they lose a half a mark because their prices are as high as their clientele.

Café Merchandise

Barney’s range has no shortage of merchandise to take home with you. Again, it’s a little on the pricey side, but they do have an online shop, so you don’t need to pay for the flight, as well. They have a whole range of clothing, male and female apparel, hats, and hoodies. You can also get a custom Barney’s portable microscope to take from shop to shop to check out the crystals.

They do nice weed jars and grinders, both of which sport their cool high as hell smiling sun on the front. Their plastic grinders tart at 2€ so there’s no way you can’t afford Barney’s merch. We give them a 5 out of 5 for this because we just couldn’t not.

Lilly Likes Verdict

Here at Lilly Likes we love a good coffeeshop – and Barney’s has the whole array of chain food/apparel/420 products. There’s very little they could do to improve, although lowering their in-store prices and perhaps getting more seating in their coffeeshop is just about our only advice.

Don’t forget to stop by the HQ and check out our awesome Amsterdam deals. There are attractions aplenty in our fine city. We never get tired of talking about them, although we do get the occasional sore throat. It’s not the ‘rona, we promise.

Overall, Barney’s scored an 18 out of 20. That’s up there with the biggest, baddest, and best coffeeshops of Amsterdam. It’s your loss if you don’t check it out.