Barbie Fever Takes Over Houston Restaurants With Pink Food and Drink Specials

Until further notice, it is Barbie’s world, and we’re just all living in it.

Based on the iconic Mattel fashion toy doll and fictional character, Barbie — the hotly-anticipated feature film from Greta Gerwig starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling — debuts in theaters around the globe this weekend, and the build-up to its release has been unlike any other. In advance of the movie’s opening weekend, Barbie fans have already begun taking to social media dressed in their hot-pink best, and festive Barbie-themed foods have started going viral, too. In Houston, restaurants, bakeries, and bars are touting specialty eats and drinks to commemorate the occasion in a big way. From boozy, hot pink refreshers to pretty-in-pink pastries that Barbie would surely approve of, here is a guide to Houston restaurants painting the town pink with Barbie food and drink specials.

8th Wonder Brewery

The East Downtown brewery is releasing a special, pinked-out edition of its rose-style sour, Montrosé. The tart, bubbly and bright beer will be available in pink cans at select retailers, including 8th Wonder and H-E-Bs, for a limited time only.

8th Wonder Brewery

Amrina

Amrina has tweaked its chef’s table tasting menu to include a playful Barbie-themed Clouds of Barbie dessert, with a set of pistachio butter-filled gold lips set atop a pistachio cake and fluffy rose espuma, and the Bartail cocktail, which gets its pink hue from pisco, grapefruit juice, and Campari.

Axelrad

This Midtown beer garden and patio bar is serving up a special Barbie Girl cocktail. Available for a limited time from July 21 to August 4, the $9 boozy pink drink is a tasty summertime refresher, crafted with vodka, passion fruit, watermelon, and lemon.

Tommy Middleton

Badolina

Known for its pastries and imaginative cake offering, this Rice Village bakery is offering its signature raspberry rose cake in Barbie pink with sparkles. The cake is available in a variety of different shapes and can be pre-ordered with 24-hour advance notice.

Blossom Hotel

From July 21 to July 23, the Blossom Hotel will debut a special Barbie cocktail menu in celebration of the movie premiere. Barbie enthusiasts can delight in a trio of pink cocktails, including the Malibu Mimosa, made with peach schnapps, raspberry puree, lychee puree, Prosecco, and pink glitter; the Margarita in Pink, a combination of strawberry, creme de Violette, fresh lime juice, triple sec, agave, and tequila with a pink sugar rim; and the“Malibu Beach Soda, made with elderflower liqueur, Malibu rum, club soda, and pink glitter served on ice. As a bonus, the hotel’s pink-accented rendezVu lobby bar serves as a picture-perfect backdrop.

Brasserie 19

Bring out your best pink outfit. This French restaurant will celebrate with a Sunday Barbie brunch extravaganza, complete with a set by DJ FXBox, and pink food and cocktail specials. From 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 30, Barbie Cosmopolitan cocktails, made with Haku vodka, Cointreau, fresh cranberry, and lime juice, and the gin-based Beyond the Pink drink, made with a homemade orange-hibiscus syrup, lemon, and Fever Tree tonic will flow, along with pink berry Madeleines, served with white chocolate sabayon.

Cafe Leonelli

The Bastion Collection’s MFAH restaurant has added a Barbie pink strawberry gelato to its signature menu at Frohzen, the cafe’s in-house ice-cream shop created by Michelin-starred pastry chef Salvatore Martone. Available all month long, the fruity Barbie Girl gelato is made fresh in-house and can be amped up with hot pink sprinkles as a topping.

Citizens of Montrose

This new Aussie cafe is honoring the Barbie movie’s Australian-born leading lady with its Margot Robbie Barbie bowl. Boasting a pop of pink, the superfood bowl is loaded with dragonfruit, orange, lemon, and agave, and topped with apple, strawberry, pineapple, coconut, and bee pollen.

CRAVE Cupcakes

In honor of this year’s summer release of the movie Baribie, Crave is adding a new, never-been-done-before cupcake to its lineup for a limited time. The Barbie-themed cupcake combines a yellow birthday cake cupcake with strawberry frosting and pink and yellow sprinkles. Houstonians can double down by paring their cupcake with the Malibu Dream Chiller, a blended strawberry frosting drink topped with whip and pink sprinkles, with both items available for the remainder of the month.

CRAVE

Fluff Bake Bar

Feast your eyes (and mouth) on this Heights bakery’s cookies. Available until sell out, the cookies come in fun Barbie-themed shapes, including the Barbie convertible car; accessories, like jackets, bows, and high-heels; and the iconic Barbie doll symbol.

Rooftop Cinema Club

Instead of a traditional movie theater, moviegoers can enjoy the new Barbie film under the night sky at Rooftop Cinema Club, the world’s first two-screen rooftop movie complex. Tickets are on sale now for showtimes between July 20 and August 9, with the option of purchasing a special that includes a Barbie-inspired pink hard seltzer.

Slowpokes

The coffee shop and breakfast restaurant chain will debut two specialty drinks in honor of Barbie and her whimsical world. Find solace from the heat with the refreshing Barbie Girl beverage. a frosted pink berry lemonade combined with coconut milk, or, for a caffeinated alternative, try the Barbie World, an iced vanilla berry latte topped with strawberry cold foam and pink sprinkles. Both are available at all Slowpokes locations through July 23.

Three Brothers Bakery

This Houston bakery is hopping on the bandwagon, serving up $60 Barbie-themed 8-inch cakes, with four-layer cakes of chocolate or white cake that are iced and filled with luscious buttercream in light or bright pink and topped with sprinkles, glitter, and a Barbie cut-out.

The Waffle Bus

Both the Heights and Montrose locations of the Waffle Bus are serving up a Barbie-themed Think Pink waffle ($10) on July 21. The breakfast pastry is dressed with sweet cream, caramel, and fresh strawberries, and finished off with pink whip and pink sugar crystals.

The Waffle Bus

Postino

All of Postino’s Houston-area locations will serve Barbie Dream Spritz from July 21 to July 30. Bubbly like Barbie, the drink is mixed with an aperitivo mazzura cappelletti, Cocchi Rosa, and sparkling rosé, and finished off with a strawberry and pink straw. In celebration of the famous doll and girl power in general, Postino will donate $1 from the sale of each Barbie Dream Spritz to Girls Who Code, an organization focused on empowering young women to pursue tech careers

Pop Fancy Dessert Bar

It’s a Barbie World for all ages at this dessert bar. Known to rotate themes, Pop Fancy has transformed its cafe into a life-sized doll house, complete with special menu items, like its Pretty in Pink slushy drink, made with prickly pear, guava, and dragon fruit; its ice cream sundaes; and its Glam Goddess avocado toast. Expect a live DJ on weekends and plenty of Instagrammable moments thanks to its pink-fueled Barbie decor, which includes a life-sized Barbie doll box and fashionable outfit displays. Though the establishment welcomes walk-ins Monday through Thursday, reservations are advised on weekends and can be booked online for free.

Tacos Dona Lena

This Spring Branch Mexican restaurant is also hopping on the all-pink-everything Barbie bandwagon, with handmade Barbie pink gorditas with matching salsa, and Chica Fresa Barbie Horchata.

Union Kitchen

Pink pancakes, pink velvet cinnamon rolls, pink smoothie bowls, and strawberry shortcake waffles are just the tipping point at Union Kitchen’s anticipated Barbie-fueled brunch. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 29, diners at any of the five locations of Union Kitchen can experience the power of Barbie, with a brunch and cocktail menu, which offers themed cocktails, specialty shots, and a sparkling Barbie mimosa bar for the 21-and-up crowd, plus mocktails and kid-friendly drinks that the whole family can enjoy. In addition to the restaurants being decked out in full pink Barbie decor, diners can also participate in giveaways and meet special guests (Could it be Barbie in the flesh?). Reservations are recommended.