I’ve been hearing about Friend of a Farmer from people here and there so I had been meaning to try it. After seeing the not-moving enormous line at Shake Shack, we decided to find another spot with outdoor seating (since Ice was with us).

I thought we were so lucky to finally get seats at this seemingly always packed restaurant but now I wish we never got the seats. I was disappointed with the food from beginning to end. I couldn’t find an entree that really interested me so I chose 2 appetizers instead. I had the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms which were completely flavorless. The red pepper sauce wasn’t even seasoned. My 2nd appetizer was the Parmesan and Herb Crusted Shrimp. The shrimp was over-cooked and served room temperature. The parmesan had hardened onto the shrimp like rubber. (If I pull off cheese and don’t eat it, that’s a bad sign!) I suppose the shrimp had been hot at some point because it wilted the sparse amount of salad underneath which was gross because it was sitting in a pool of shrimp water and salad dressing mixed together. Lon ordered the Pan-seared Tilapia which actually came breaded and fried, which was not what he wanted but ate. Carol, my fabulous friend and 9 time published cookbook author, had the Shephard’s Pie which looked pretty good but tasted more like ketchup-y Sloppy Joe with mashed potatoes on top. She only ate about 1/3 of it.

So now I’m bewildered at why so many people all over the web recommend this place. Is it just cool to eat on Irving? Most of the reviews are about their brunch so I hope that’s significantly better but now I don’t think I’ll ever give this place a second chance. Not only was the food poor quality, it wasn’t cheap. It was about $25 per person, which is $25 too much to eat at this place.

posted by jessica at 08:55 PM Filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.