Wm. Farmer and Sons Boarding & Barroom

1 Reviews on “Wm. Farmer and Sons Boarding & Barroom”

• Roger K

  If you want to eat at the bar, arrive early. Happy Hour on Friday and Saturday is from 3 5PM. I dont know if they take reservations for the bar area. When we arrived at 7 pm on a Saturday, the entire bar area was packed full. Our reserved table was in a large adjacent room that was, at most, only half full. Obviously, the bar and its lounge has a strong early draw.The atmosphere inside this restored 1830s building is very nice with clean lines and modern fixtures. While their are dining rooms in different parts of the building, the one we were in, at the corner of South Front Street and Union Street, was good sized with a mix of booths, movable deuces sharing a wall banquette, street-level window tables, and a long, double-sided counter table down the middle of the dining area. Brightly lit during daylight hours (even cloudy ones), the fixtures are dimmed for atmosphere as the evening progresses.Their cocktail list offers some of the classics, rickey, old fashion, julep, dark & stormy, and gimlet. My wife tried a Penicillin ($12) (which none of us had ever heard of) with Scotch whiskey, lemon juice, honey, and ginger. It was quite good. Our friends were quite pleased with the quality of their Old Fashion ($11) and a 2 year old Willet Rye ($15). My choice of beverage was a Black Hog Granola Brown Ale ($7), which was filled with flavor and a good body.My wife and I shared the Crispy Octopus ($14.75) with fingerling potato salad and salsa verde. The octopus was properly cooked and probably the second best Ive had. The salsa verde was a tasty complement and the greens were very fresh.For her main course my wife chose the Sunburst Appalachian Trout ($29.75) served with red bliss potato, sunflower, and an Ozark ham barnaise. The trout was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious. Blending everything together created a texture of a savory mousse. I had decided to try the Cast Iron Bar Burger with cheese ($18.75) which came highly recommended by our dining companions. Topped with butter baked onions and a tomato relish, the texture and consistency of the patty was so light that your first bite might mislead you to believe that you could eat several of these at one sitting. The flavor was absolutely delicious and it came very much medium-rare as requested. Even the brioche roll was excellent. Hand-cut fries could have been served hotter, however.Our foursome finished off by sharing a Blackberry Cobbler ($8.25) and a Cast Iron Pecan Pie with Vanilla ice cream. Both excellent with Espresso ($3) and Cappuccino ($4). Service from our soft-spoken server, Autumn, was efficient and pleasant. Multiple servers assisted each other to aid in delivering all of each course at the same time. The quality and quantity of the food served here vs. the price is actually a very reasonable value.

  November 6, 2016, 11:12 pm

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