Mike McCahill of The Guardian called Barbecue a "boringly white-bread with no cinematic ambition".[3]
While attending Beijing International Film Festival, Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter had this to say about the film: "[A] half-baked comedy-drama about a group of bourgeois friends who have to confront the pitfalls of middle age".[4]
Representing The New York Times, Nicolas Rapold called the film "[a] kind of utterly unremarkable local product", but added that "its loosely written story doubles as a smirk-inducing glimpse at what feel like very Gallic life challenges".[5]
