Pops of pink, mellow yellow, and electric blue. A retro roller rink. A two-story dollhouse of delights where fashion meets fun and flavor. This is no ordinary, ’70s-inspired Houston restaurant—it’s the newly opened Malibu Barbie Cafe, a prismatic pop-up restaurant in the Heights area that has become the latest Instagrammable hotspot.
The plastic doll, which was created in 1959 by businesswoman Ruth Handler, has experienced a resurgence in recent years. In 2023, the Barbie feature film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling broke box office records; there’s even an enduring everything-pink fashion trend known as “Barbiecore.”
Toy manufacturer and Barbie owner Mattel partnered with events and experiences company Bucketlisters to introduce the doll to the nation’s hottest culinary scenes in the form of Barbie-themed cafés. The traveling restaurant has already popped up in Miami, Chicago, and New York; in Houston, it’s open till late October.
The 10,000-square-foot space was packed for Malibu Barbie Cafe’s opening day on Aug. 16 and has generated interest ever since. Derek Berry, Bucketlisters’ president of experiences, says the company chose Houston for the months-long event because of the city’s “booming food scene.”
The Barbie pop-up plays host to fans spanning generations—after all, the doll has had a long time to build a devoted following. “Barbie has stood the test of time,” Berry says. “There’s so many variations of Barbie today, different races and different jobs, and [the brand] speaks to anybody and everybody. We wanted to honor and play with the Barbie brand.” The pop-up isn’t doused in pink paint, like you might expect. Instead, the company leaned into the sun-soaked California Barbie aesthetic from the 1970s: a beachy palette with pops of burnt orange, blush, sky blue, golden-yellow; palm trees, surfboards, and lifeguard rings.
The result is a coastal chic café housed in an industrial building, near railroad tracks. It leaves you feeling as if you’ve escaped into a real-life dollhouse, accessories and all. There’s a life-size Barbie box adorned with a boombox and roller skates, along with a bar decorated with dangling, multi-hued disco balls and retro floral overlays. The skating rink is packed with kids and kids at heart. Then there’s the grown-ups, wearing pumps and platforms and sipping pink-hued Malibu Vibes cocktails. The waiters address guests as Barbie.
The café has helped plenty of patrons revisit their childhoods—even if it’s only for a day. “There is just something nostalgic about Barbie,” says Lindsey Caldwell McConathy, who visited the café during a preview experience. “You can tell everything in the café is designed to take you back in time, right into Barbie’s world.”
For the themed menu, Bucketlisters enlisted Becky Brown, a California-based chef who has competed on televised culinary competitions Chopped and Master Chef, to create a menu with hearty options (such as the double smash burger) as well as health-conscious selections (the vegan curried cauliflower bowl). Brown, who has launched about 30 pop-ups to date, considered designing the menu an artistic endeavor. “I like that it’s a temporary experience. It almost feels like an art installation in that way to me,” Brown says. “I grew up playing with Barbies, and it was such a cool, full-circle experience to create these dishes that really capture the spirit of Barbie, especially Malibu Barbie, which has such a fun-loving, retro vibe.”
Brown pondered what Malibu Barbie herself would like to eat, were she able, and figured she’d enjoy elements of pink and sparkles. The result was confetti-sprinkle pancakes topped with a glittering cinnamon sugar and house-made honey butter. She determined that Barbie would also appreciate decadent fig jam and a gruyere-filled grilled cheese, along with an element of surprise: an ice cream float served in a hot pink Barbie convertible.
After experiencing Brown’s inventive menu, visitors to the pop-up are encouraged to explore the dream-like space, shop for Barbie merch, and pose inside a Barbie box. And when it’s time to leave, don’t be too bummed about stepping out into the sweltering Houston heat—through the magic of make-believe, even this place can feel like Malibu.
