Hen Mother Cookhouse - Alpharetta — Restaurant in Alpharetta

Not sure what is up with some of the negative reviews. Hen Mother Cookhouse is AH-MAAAAAAAZING!! I’ve been to the Johns Creek location numerous times. Today was my first time dining in Alpharetta. Ok - so the details:

1. the food. Absolutely delicious!! Cooked with love! This is not your standard blaśe breakfast/brunch/lunch place. It’s top notch!! The food is so good! They were just recognized by Michelin. (Congrats by the way)! Portions are so generous. Everything I’ve eaten here has been incredible, but here are some of my favorites: -seasonal avocado toast. So so good. I don’t even think I’m a huge fan of pumpkin, but the most recent one is pumpkin and is out of this world. Also the peach one in the summer. 💥 -their biscuits. BEST I’ve ever eaten!! And I’m a southern girl…so I’ve had many. The homemade jam served with them just puts it over the top. -gravalax. I don’t usually even like salmon that much. My hubby ordered this dish. It’s delicious!! -chicken sausage- again, doesn’t sound that great…but trust me - it is!! -the chicken sandwich with green goddess dressing. It is the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten! It’s messy - so don’t order on a first date. But definitely second date worthy. 😅It is SOOOOOOO GOOD. -herbed potatoes - just delicious! -sweet potato fries-yum -French toast - not your regular French toast. But so yummy! -my son loves the chicken and waffle. And he also really loves that green goddess chicken sandwich.

There are so many delicious food options here. Those are just some of my favorites.

2. the building. Wow - so beautiful. So many thoughtful details were put into the design and decor. The patio is lovely, and today was a perfect day for sitting outside!

3. Staff - exceptional!! Seriously, love these guys. Always willing to offer suggestions. They are always hustling, because this restaurant is always so busy. Special shout out to Jay…I just love seeing your smiling face.

Sometimes there is a wait to get a table, sometimes not. So if you are on a time crunch…downtown Alpharetta, Milton, or Avalon may not be your best choice. Very similar to wait times for ALL of the restaurants in downtown Alpharetta, Milton, and Avalon. Also, the wait times given by the hostess for this restaurant and ALL others are guesses. So you may be seated a little later than time quoted - or you may be seated earlier than time quoted. However, once you are seated…they are fast. My food has always come out quickly.

This is a fabulous locally owned restaurant!! So happy you’ve opened this gorgeous new...

Went to Hen Mother Cookhouse for the first time yesterday for lunch (went on a Thursday, so got to experience the weekday menu)! They just opened up their Alpharetta location.

Food: For an appetizer, we ordered the Baked Brioche French Toast. It is made with seasonal poached fruit (ours was blueberries) and whipped custard. The toast is perfect, with a soft inner texture and a crusted texture on the outside. My only qualm about it was that the blueberries only seemed to be infused on one side of the toast, so when sharing with someone, you need to make sure you spread it around to get the full flavor profile. The custard was a wonderful addition too. For my entrée, I got the Tuna Melt (which is on the specials menu) and my friend got the Gravlax Plate. The Tuna Melt was PERFECTION, made with cheesy sourdough boule, pimento cheese, cookhouse tuna salad, cabot white cheddar, and arugula pickled red onion. Every flavor blended together beautifully and it was such a generous portion! I had plenty to take home with me, but unfortunately ended up accidentally leaving my leftovers at the restaurant :'(. I tried my some of friend's Gravlax Plate as well and it was yummy, but I definitely preferred my dish. We were also really surprised and a bit letdown by the portion of her dish, as there was very little gravlax- she ended up ordering an extra side of it since it was not as much as she had anticipated.

Drinks: I got the Chai Box Latte for my drink and I also tried a bit of my friend's Lavender Latte. I definitely liked my friend's latte more than my drink haha. The chai was okay but I think it would have been better as a hot drink, not iced. The ingredients felt as though they were loosely mixed since it was iced, I think if the drink was hot, the flavors would have fused together better.

Service: It took a while to get seated (as expected!) but our server was very sweet. My only complaint is that after we were seated it took a good while for someone to actually come to our table. After the first visit from our server though, it got a lot better and we were given attention frequently. Overall, a very pleasant experience with the service.

Atmosphere: Super cute interior, we sat on the patio and although outdoorsy it is still enclosed so no bugs get in and it doesn't get to hot (which I loved). Very cute place to go for lunch/brunch!

TLDR: Great food and service and super cute interior! I will...

My friend and I came to this restaurant thinking we were going to have a nice day, but that was not the case. They gave me the wrong food. I was okay with it at first, because I understand mistakes happen. Then I saw the waitress raise her voice at one of the crew members, who I think was the manager. After that, she came to me and said, “Remember, this is what you ordered. Remember?” The way she spoke to me was very rude, but I stayed calm, even though I knew I hadn’t made the wrong order — she had. Some people don’t take accountability for their mistakes, and she was one of them.

She wouldn’t even talk to us properly, and at one point she just grabbed my coffee and refilled it without asking. I let that go too, but overall, it felt rude and disrespectful.

Things got worse when we asked for our check and a to-go box, since we couldn’t stay any longer. We hadn’t even finished our food because of how uncomfortable the service was. When the check came, it was wrong again. Instead of our $47 bill, we were given someone else’s bill for $147! I knew it was a mistake, and I was fine with that, but while I was looking at it, a woman behind me suddenly snatched the bill right out of my hands without saying a single word. Later, I found out she was actually the owner of the restaurant. At that moment, it became clear why the servers were so rude — they were following her example.

I stood up and went to find the manager to explain how bad the service was and how disrespectful the staff had been. That’s when I learned the woman who snatched the bill from me was indeed the owner. I told her directly that her behavior was rude and unacceptable, and that her servers were just as disrespectful.

I truly believe the way I was treated had to do with the fact that I am Asian. Throughout the entire experience, I stayed patient and calm, and I never acted rudely toward them, even though I was not treated fairly like other customers in the restaurant. I deserve to...