Wm. Farmer and Sons — Restaurant in City of Hudson

I love the look of this restaurant: a fine example of an exquisitely restored Hudson building with a beautiful palette of brass and grey. I’ve loved having cocktails and oysters at the bar, and dinner in the two level restaurant with its variety of tables, big beautiful windows and the open fireplace, though I find the central metal table to be quite cold to sit at. The service is good but cold at times, especially at the bar where a sort of high pretension seems to reign. Today we came for brunch and the first word that comes to mind with regards to the experience is desultory. First of all, the ambiance was ruined by a giant screen tv with a football game playing on it. Really? The restaurant was FULL and NOT ONE PERSON was looking at the screen. In fact, everyone in the restaurant seemed to be studiously trying to avoid it as they were all fully engaged with each other. I can’t imagine anyone in Hudson, either visiting, or a local like me, coming to this restaurant to watch a sports game or any other thing on TV. Get rid of it! It’s vulgar. The wait staff was sweet but clumsy. A cup of coffee was brought out in a charming cup and saucer and set on the table even though the coffee had sloshed into the saucer leaving about a quarter inch of it underneath the cup. I’m sorry but that is just plain old inattentive and bad service. Who wants to drip coffee on themselves every time you take a sip of it. Our meal was brought out and the plates crammed onto the tiny table without appropriately clearing space for them. That is the job of a bus person or waiter to prepare the table before bringing out the dish. I ordered the blue plate special of the day, the eggs Benedict. I have to admit that I have an obnoxious requirement for eggs that are not runny. When I asked for well done eggs, the waiter told me that they are fairly well cooked and that it shouldn’t be a problem, that they are not typical poached eggs. Having been a chef for years, I understand the obnoxiousness of people who cant tolerate runny eggs, but I also understand that there is an art to cooking eggs, so I decided to take it anyway. It is true that the eggs were quite firm around the outside- a little too firm and rubbery! And yet the top of the egg had a pool of gelatinous runny whites. It’s not the yolk that bothered me, it’s the uncooked whites. I didn’t send it back, but tried to hide it by mixing it into the hollandaise, which was decent but not abundant enough to pull the dish together. The special ham is beautiful and fragrant but more salty than flavorful. The biscuit was too doughy, and since the dish was not warm enough, the ham was cold and there wasn’t enough hollandaise, desultory is the word that came to mind. I believe an excellent dish with the history and possibilities of Eggs Benedict, if one chooses to serve it, must be exceptional. Otherwise it’s just a common plate that one finds in nine out of 10 brunch restaurants that leaves you wondering why you bother ordering it any longer, as it’s taken on a ghostly form which no longer resembles the masterpiece that gave it its well deserved fame. The dressing for the greens is exceptional and so are the quality of the greens, which were crisp and fresh and in perfect condition. My friend ordered the fried chicken sandwich. I won’t review that, since I only tried a bite of the chicken, but he found the whole combo just ok. I’m not a fan of fried chicken sandwiches, but I am a fanatic for fried chicken, and it did give me the desire to come back to try their fried chicken basket. But...it was served with pickles in a plastic to go container. Once again...REALLY? It’s a restaurant with lovely dishes, cups and plates and you’re going to serve the pickles in a container make of cheap plastic that has to be thrown away? I seriously cannot comprehend who would make that choice, along with the big screen tv football game; but those two bad choices do seem to be related. And both should be banished from the establishment. As well as the earpiece on the host... Update: The restaurant has...

My husband, 3-year-old and I recently stayed, dined, and nearly lost our minds with happiness at Wm. Farmer & Sons. We had a few days to take off unexpectedly, and decided to go -- we'd never been before but heard good things.

On arrival, we were met with the friendliest greeting -- they were expecting us and knew our names, that we'd have our little one with us, that we had made a dinner reservation, etc. They quickly communicated some helpful info about the building, and about Hudson in general, and just could not have been friendlier.

Then we entered our room (the Pennington Suite) and oh MAMA. It is so charming, so sweet, so perfectly thought out and welcoming. A giant kingsized 4-post bed, cozy living room area and a separate smaller room we were planning on using for our son. Unbelievably, Farmer & Sons predicted that and had a child-sized air mattress already blown up and ready for us, completely outfitted with sheets and the softest, duck-patterened blanket, etc. And there, right on the little bed, was a sweet little teddy bear and note that said "Welcome Jack!" (our sons name). Soon after, Kristan (owner) knocked on the door to welcome us, and brought us two little wooden rocking horses for Jack to play with. It was jaw-dropping. The attention to detail was just incredible, throughout the room and the whole place, really. But the kid's bed, their warm and kind welcome, etc. was unreal.

We also made a late dinner reservation ahead of time and were able to enjoy a long, lovely meal in a cozy corner of the dining room directly underneath our room. The reach on our monitor was closer than it is in our own house.

The care and attention in the dining room was no different than our stay: genuine, easy, and just spot on. We shared oysters (perfect with a cream, chives and spice), grilled octopus salad, scallops, mushrooms, and quail cooked to perfection with vegetables and "Kentucky Spoonbread" which was like polenta, but you know, made on some other master chef planet of flawlessness.

Seriously. If you're still reading this review, you're probably no longer buying it. But that would be your loss. The entire experience -- from the room, the food, the cocktails, even popping down to the delightful coffee mercantile in the mornings, to exploring Hudson, etc. -- was just ACES, start to finish. My husband and I have also been laughing that we ever considered NOT bringing our kid. It was actually toddler-vacation-heaven, with the way they pampered us, with the welcome, the way we were able to eat downstairs while he snoozed upstairs, even an off-menu, AMAZING mac-n-cheese they made just for him early one evening. The owners have a little one too and are just so understanding. Plus, there are 2 amazing parks just a few blocks away!

Just awesome, all around. Keep it up WF&S! We'll be...

We arrived on a beautiful Sunday afternoon for our romantic stay at this amazing inn-after a two hour train ride from NYC up the Hudson River-which I also highly recommend if you have a chance.||The inn is about a five minute walk from the train station-uphill but not too hard. It sits on a quiet corner and is very easy to find. It looks beautiful and fits in well with the neighborhood.||Check-in was super easy. Staff was excellent and very helpful. The lobby area has a coffee bar and a few sundries available. There is a very good bar and restaurant on-site as well-and it can get busy for sure-so would consider reservations if you are thinking of eating there. They do not use keys-but unique passcodes for smart locks on the external door and room doors.||Our room was on the third floor-which is the top floor of the inn. This MIGHT be an issue for some people as there is no elevator and the stairs are pretty steep and narrow. The room was huge-with a king-sized bed, big bathroom with claw-foot tub, an AC unit on the wall, two windows that overlooked the street, a heating stove, two small couches, a fridge stocked with wine and beer for purchase, and numerous antique fixtures which made it very comfortable and unique. There was also a rooftop lounging area with some chairs to seat in.||The inn itself was very quiet, there can be a some noise on the street and from the bar-but very livable compared to NYC! ||Overall I highly recommend this inn-we loved our stay and would go back again in a heartbeat!||Some things I wish I would have known:||1. Hudson the town is AWESOME. Super cute, very walkable main avenue with lots of shops and galleries and restaurants and bars-with really good food! |2. Apparently it is busy in Hudson on the weekend-not so much during the week-we arrived on Sunday-so a ton of things were closed until Wednesday or Thursday-we had plenty to do and see-but that might matter for some people.|3. IF you have any interest in art, nature, history, etc-then you MUST go to OLANA, which is the estate of the landscape artist Frederick Church and his wife. We knew NOTHING about it, but had done some reading and booked a walking tour of the elaborate grounds and the mansion-with excellent guides and very inexpensive-we both thought it was one of the most fun things that we did!|4. In addition to the hotel bar and restaurant we LOVED a restaurant called...