Farmhouse Kitchen & Ale — Restaurant in Camden Township

We visited twice & could not have had a more juxtaposed experience. Second visit confirmed we will never return to this establishment, much to our great disappointment.

The first visit was absolutely FANTASTIC! We made reservations for a Saturday evening. Molly was our INCREDIBLE waitress. I cannot give her enough recognition!! She was so passionate about the history, how they make all of their own dressings, the from-scratch kitchen style & said each first-time customer was given a free skillet cookie dessert as a thank you. I was thinking, "WOW! This place is amazing and customer service is top-notch!" You sit down & are immediately served a little shot glass type of water & are left with the pitcher for refills on your table. Love it. Then, when we ordered, we stated we would just drink the water & we were brought out larger glasses with ice & lemons. Great. Love it. Ordered a wedge salad for us to split. Molly offered to have it brought out on two separate plates. Yes, please. It was delicious. Fresh bacon (you KNOW when it's real), lots of yummy homemade dressing & thin slices of onion on top. This was not mentioned on the menu listing but was a wonderful added touch & should be a permanent topping. My mother & I both loved it and remember it well as it was truly exceptional.

I ordered the tenderloin sandwich & French onion soup. SO GOOD. The combination of mayo+mustard was genius. Loved it. My mom had the chef's special that included a steak & green beans in this magically delicious sauce I wish I could drink. Could not have been any better. Molly was quick in anticipating our needs, has a true heart for service & giving her customers the utmost respect & service, and the food was incredibly delicious. The skillet cookie was to die for. I was so excited to have found my new "spot" as I'm a bit of a foodie & I was excited to bring hubby here for a date night (which we only get a couple times a year)!

Our second visit could not have been worse. Our waitress was cold, did not bring out any additional water cups or offer us ice & was not conversational. She frankly seemed resentful she even had to be there & was not attentive at all. No passion or excitement. It really brought the mood down but I went with it. We can't control others & maybe she was having a bad day. I can't expect her to necessarily "perform" for her guests so I brushed it off.

We ordered the wagyu sliders & they were delicious. Loved the chipotle+crispy onions on top. The menu does not specify how many you are paying for. We received three for a two-person table. We saw the table next to us (party of five) receive four & were wondering how that could be, but chalked it up to maybe they paid extra for another a la carte.

However, there was a discrepancy with what I ordered based on my experience last time (the $10 wedge salad) & what I received. The bacon on this salad was not cooked fresh like the previous wedge. It was more like store-bought bacon bits. And no onions. Not a big deal. They had a menu change recently so I asked about it. I was completely dismissed & I won't go into detail about how horrendous our service was beyond that point other than to say I was so upset I didn't even finish the salad.

When I was asked about a box for my less than half-eaten salad, I said no thank you I am pretty disappointed with it so I won't eat it. Then the man from behind the bar (did not introduce himself but I'm assuming the owner otherwise I'm not sure why he inserted himself into the situation) came to ask about a box. When I explained why I said no & was unhappy I was then berated about why I'm wrong about being disappointed by the food. After I told him, "Okay, thanks for telling me that?" (Because why are you even at our table if you're not here to help make your repeat customers happy?) I ended up leaving & sitting out in the car until my husband paid.

And no, we were not offered the free skillet cookie or anything to make our experience better. No tip & we will NOT be coming back. Very disappointed as it was...

Updated review. Unfortunately Google doesn’t allow you to add to an existing review or make a new one.

My mother-in-law took us out for lunch yesterday and we chose to dine-in here. I’ll The experience is great minus havin to ask the waitress for refills. That comes with time tho and we weren’t dying of thirst so it’s not as big of a deal. When we got our check, she was probably up to 6 or 7 tables she was caring for all by herself. The chef came out and delivered dishes and helped her as much as possible, which is HUGE and so nice to see. He really prides himself in not only what he serves to his guests, but their experience as well. For a town as podunk as Camden is, this place has high standards for itself. It’s amazing to see actual chefs in the kitchen vs the cooks I have worked with in the past. It’s the difference between someone who just needs the job and someone who has a passion for their job. I personally haven’t come across this experience at a restaurant around these parts and I’ve lived here my whole life. Havin a chef care about the food and experience is somethin you only see on tv or get to experience in a big city.

Now onto my opinion of the food yesterday. To Start: Bread Plate. Unlimited. Rotating butter. We had regular butter and a garlic herb butter with 3 kinds of rolls that we are unsure of. The garlic and herb butter was absolutely AMAZING and I would buy it by the pound if I could. Soooo good. The rolls were just ok in my opinion tho. Wagyu Sliders which come with onion straws, chipotle, and swiss cheese. The burger itself is literally so amazing. I personally don’t care for Swiss or chipotle. The chipotle has a big kick if your not a fan. I can handle some chipotle, but this was too much for me. I would order these sliders again tho if I can customize the toppings tho for sure. My husband loved them and said he would order them as a meal next time.

I ordered the bone-in pork chop, which was covered in a very tasty glaze, but very dry and just not that great without it. I don’t think it’s the chefs fault, but possibly just the cut of meat. I’m not an expert by any means tho. My MIL loved her steak salad and my husband ordered the fried fish tacos again, which of course he loved lol. I ate his last taco since he was too full to eat it and I honestly think I’ll stick to ordering those from now on tho because they are truly the best bang for your buck and they taste soooo good. The Amplified Bacon Mac was his side and I truly feel like this side needs to come with a warning because it was even spicier than the last time we had it. He loves spice and even he thought it was almost too spicy this time. The menu doesn’t mention spice whatsoever next to the name of the side and “amplified” can mean so many things. Maybe offer a spicy bacon Mac and a regular bacon Mac so people have an option. Not everyone likes hot stuff. I ordered the Gouda twice baked potato and it’s amazing. It had a sauce on it that reminded me of tzatziki sauce that was so refreshing and really made the baked potato pop. I highly recommend it. For dessert we ordered a fresh baked cookie with ice cream it’s literally soooo yummy. Reminded me of the pazookie we get at BJ’s Brewhouse. I highly recommend it cuz it’s so fresh and decadent. No liquor can be sold on Sunday in Hillsdale County, so that’s unfortunate. Not their fault by any means tho. However, we are Pepsi fans and they serve coke so that’s a big downfall for us lol. They have sweet tea that hit the spot for me tho and totally recommend over coke products lol. All in all. Great experience and worth the...

PSA

We had reservations to take my mom out for a nice Mother’s Day meal at farmhouse kitchen & ale in Camden, (our first visit) & had to wait well beyond our reserved time while a table for 8-10 sat empty. Maybe there were reservations for that table, (which was two tables put together), but no one else was there waiting. Within about five minutes the hostess came over and said “your table is ready now” - it was a table for TWO. TWO. A guy (manager? Owner?) came over and said we had you down for two, I said “no you didn’t, when I was standing by the hostess I saw our name with 3 beside it.” (As much as I had called in). He said “well I don’t know why we had you set up for a table for two.” Why even say that? There were three of us standing there. DO YOU NOT SEE THREE PEOPLE? No apologies after that, he just told us it wouldn’t be long? (My hubby walked through and it was crystal clear no one was leaving soon), and asked us to have a seat in this cubby hole practically on top of one large table people were sitting at, we were definitely in their space. It was so awkward we decided to leave. The guy saw we were leaving, looked me in the eye and simply looked away. When My hubby told the hostess we were leaving her response was “have a good night.” Was that an okay response? How about we are sorry for the mix up, or please give us another chance, or come up to the bar and have an appetizer or drink on us while you wait, something other than have a good night? They simply didn’t care.

So much for reservations. We left there with a bad taste in our mouth without even tasting their food.….

In this world this incident is small, I get it, so we went to Lake Diane to a restaurant there and had an amazing meal and lots of laughs. ...