This episode was written by Kirker Butler, who was nominated at the 34th Annie Awards under the category of "Writing in an Animated Television Production", and Mila Kunis, who voices Meg, was also nominated for her work on this episode under the category of "Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production". In his review of the episode, Dan Iverson of IGN wrote: "After a couple more episodes like the one that "Family Guy" had on Sunday night, we could officially and unequivocally call the show the best animated program to air on the weekend", adding "we are completely willing to raise the once hit-or-miss comedy of "Family Guy" to the level of most consistently funny comedy on FOX Sunday nights — and that is thanks to great stories and hilarious comedy like that of this week's episode "Barely Legal." In a review of "Family Guy", Volume five, Nancy Basile regarded "Airport '07", "Prick Up Your Ears", and "Barely Legal" as "gem episodes". Brett Love of TV Squad commented: "It seemed like more of a cohesive story than we have seen in a while as the whole family was tied in to the same storyline", later adding "I liked the story of Meg's infatuation with Brian", concluding with "overall, I'd call this one a really good episode."