Shawn O'Donnell's at the Farmhouse — Restaurant in Burlington

The wife and I stopped in here after cruising through Whidbey Island. Saw it changed hands and thought we would give it a try.

We sat in the bar. Seating was readily available, and after our experience I can see why. We sat at the bar and I went to the restroom, my wife was ignored until I returned, which wasn't very long but still should have been asked what she wanted to drink. When I got back, it took the bar tender at least 5 minutes to see what we wanted to drink.

I looked over the menu, as did my wife, and I can understand an Irish menu, however that menu shouldn't be solely based around corned beef. Don't get me wrong I like it, but in my opinion it shouldn't be in everything. And if it wasn't corned beef, it was Guinness filled or deep fried.

The bartender finally decided to ask us what we would like to drink, and this particular individual had a particular air about them. One could tell she was very unhappy within two seconds of talking to her. My wife ordered a lemonade, and I ordered a local beer from Skagit Co. The bartender looked at me and passively commented, "you're at an Irish bar and you order those drinks". Complete eye roll included.

My wife's lemonade shows up and it's gross. No flavor. It's bad enough she can't even choke it down. My beer shows up and she slides it towards me with a snarky "here you go" comment. While consuming my beer, an elderly lady returns to the bar looking for her jacket/sweater she left behind. This is when I really saw what this bartender was truly like.

When the elderly lady asked about her jacket the bartender told her, "no I haven't seen it, I don't know what you are talking about" then mutters under her breathe, "don't blame me cause your old ass can't remember what happened to it, it's not like I took your "f" ing jacket." This blew my mind, no let me look into it, let me see if I can find it just attitude.

Shortly after that, the lady who was the hostess, seemed more like the manager to me told the lady "oh no, I moved your jacket over here when I cleaned the table. Here it is no worries". I was happy with what seemed like a beacon of goodness in a place that seemed to only exude negativity. Well, that was short lived. As soon as the elderly lady collected her jacket and left, the trash talking ensued between the two women. It was highly inappropriate for any kind of employees to be talking this way in front of customers.

After all of that, my wife taking one drink of her lemonade, and we discussed if we wanted to order food that just wasn't appealing, between the menu and what we saw leaving the kitchen, finally the bartender shows up again, and they aren't busy, two servers at the end of the bar doing nothing, and asks if we want anything to eat, we decline.

I promptly finish my beer, pull my wallet out, and wait. And wait. Annnnnd wait. In the 10 minutes I waited for the bartender for the check she walked by me 5 times. Finally, after all of that, she makes a passive aggressive comment, "WOW you pounded that beer. Guess you just can't wait to leave..." My response was " we have a long road ahead of us."

She hands us our check, "I didn't charge you for your lemonade cause she didn't even drink it. Guess your beer was more important." No why didn't you drink it, is there something wrong with the drink, can I make you something else, total lack of care.

This whole experience was around 20 to 25 minutes. That was all I needed to know I will never return to this restaurant. I will never recommend going to this restaurant. I am not surprised why we were able to get a seat so quickly on a hot Sunday afternoon. If this is the best you have to offer, I'm sorry for...

I drive from Seattle to Anacortes and back several times a year. Usually, I have a schedule to keep and zip along the familiar route without considering the places along the way. The other day, I made an early start and had an hour or so before I needed to be anywhere. Once I met up with people, my day would be busy and I might not get a chance to eat before my stomach rebelled and made me hangry. A nice breakfast would pass the time and make sure that I was a nicer person later in the day. Driving along route 20, I remembered The Farmhouse. It was a classic roadside restaurant where a traveling family could get a decent meal. It was just the kind of place I was looking for. I pulled into the left lane to get ready for the turn and thought about all the coffee I was going to drink. There was just one thing - The Farmhouse was no more. I had forgotten that it had been sold and re-opened as Shawn O’Donnell’s. My sure thing breakfast spot was now some untested Irish joint. I parked and walked in, uncertain about what was to come. The interior is completely new. The pies and tchotchkes for sale by the door were gone. There was a bar decorated with dark wood and signs in Irish Gealic. A row of booths lined the front wall. There was no hostess on duty, so the small group in front of me and I formed a little line and waited for someone to show us to our tables. The group entertained themselves with menus that they had helped themselves to and I played on my phone. By the time a waitress showed up, the group knew what they were going to order and I had a high score for the day. The waitress led us all to the dining area dropping me at a booth and leading the group to a larger table farther in. I read the menu, but I was focusing on the cup of coffee that should show up soon. It took a while for the waitress to stop by and even longer for her to deliver a cup and a pot of coffee. I worried about the pot cooling off during the meal, but I was glad I would not have to wait for refills. I poured a cup and took a sip. The coffee was uninteresting, but it was hot. I picked chicken fried steak from the menu then sipped coffee and played on my phone while I waited to order. I had a new daily high score before I could make my order. I have been using chicken fried steak as a way to evaluate breakfast restaurants.A bad kitchen can trip up in several ways - tasteless gravy, bad steak, ruined eggs and there are many things that can go wrong with the hashbrowns. I played for a long time while I wondered what this place would screw up. The plate that finally arrived was a revelation. I had ordered my eggs over medium. The two in front of me were perfect specimens. The yolk was bright yellow and slightly thickened. The whites were completely set but not rubbery or browned. I enjoyed a bite, then forked up some hashbrowns to dip into the yolk. The potatoes were crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. While I enjoyed the texture, I noticed that they were perfectly seasoned. Yumm! I took a sip of coffee and admired the main item. The gravy was dark and flecked with bits of sausage. I applied the edge of my fork to the steak and was happy to hear the crunch of the breading and the tender give of the meat. The bite was everything I could hope for. All the textures blended perfectly. The flavors were bold and perfectly balanced. Without a doubt, this was the best chicken fried steak I have ever eaten. I finished every morsel, drank plenty of coffee and played a bunch more. The bill showed up, I put my card on it and I played quite a bit. I was glad that I had plenty of time and I was glad that I gave this...

Stopped here to get a quick bite to go. Stood there at the front entrance not sure how it works, no sign that says seat yourself or please wait to be seated. It's very confusing because all you really see when you walk in is a long bar and stools. After a few minutes someone walked up and I asked if I could place an order to go. She seemed unsure and argued with herself on if she should or could do it. As she started my order the phone rang and she reached across me to answer the phone, saying she had to take it, not excuse me. Then walked away to talk on the phone instead of asking them to hold while she finished my order. At this point another waitress walked up and asked if the other girl was helping me, I said well she was about to start taking my order but the phone rang. The 2nd waitress took my order no issues but walked away as I finished the hand held transaction. I chose to print my receipt and with no one there to finish the transaction I grabbed my own receipt after it printed off. The first waitress, finished with her phone call came back and asked if I got to place my order. I said yes and asked if it was OK that I grabbed my own receipt. Then the 2nd waitress came back and I asked the same thing. She said yes, it would be 10 min. It was 10 min. Everything was there. Here's the weird thing though. I ordered a rueben and subbed a salad. Asked for thousand island for the salad and was told they do not have that. Ummm, doesn't a rueben have thousand island on it? I know, it says "secret sauce". But it's very similar to thousand island. In the end the reuben was dry, not alot of meat on it like I've seen in the photos. Maybe I just got a bad one on a bad day, it happens but this was my first experience and I used my $25 birthday comp. The experience was eh. I am willing to give it another chance, but not...