The Fed Community — Restaurant in Clarkston

I don't typically write reviews for restaurants, but I ate here for brunch on 9/16 and it was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. It started out fine, the restaurant itself is lovely inside and seems like a trendy place. The server was very polite and attentive. Anything pleasant ends here. I have an extremely severe nut allergy - eating one sends me into anaphylactic shock. Even any sort of bread, pastry, or any other food item containing a trace of nuts (i.e. cross-contamination) can make me extremely ill. As such, I am always careful when going to restaurants, informing the server of my allergy and basing my order off of what the most safe item on the menu would be. I ordered an espresso martini. When ordering, I asked the server specifically if the drink contained Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) which can be an ingredient in espresso martinis. The server replied no, the drink did not have Frangelico or any other hazelnut flavoring. She then listed the ingredients (espresso, vodka, Kahlua). I received the drink, took one sip, and it tasted off. It didn't taste good, but I never send things back so just figured I would sip on it throughout the rest of the meal.

Next we ordered food. I told the server that I had a very severe nut allergy - I had assumed she knew based on the conversation around Frangelico / hazelnut liqueurs, but with the severity of my allergy I wanted to re-iterate. Specifically, I asked whether the Dutch Baby (deep-dish pancake) had any nuts in it or possibility of traces of nuts. She checked with the kitchen and they said no. I ordered one, along with a basic breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes (generally very safe choice for nut allergies).

10 minutes later, the server comes back to me in a panic and informs me that the espresso martini she served me about 25 minutes ago did indeed contain Frangelico (hazelnuts). Luckily, I had still only taken one small sip of the drink at that point. Had I drank more, or finished it, I'd have been fighting for my life in an Emergency Room. At that point, I was feeling fine, took a Benadryl, and my friend monitored me for the rest of the day.

To her credit, the server was very apologetic (with good reason). She brought me another martini, without the Frangelico, assured me it was safe. Note, I did not ask for a replacement drink. She just brought me one. It was good, I drank it and ordered another one, asking again to have it Frangelico-free.

The food itself was mediocre. The Dutch Baby was undercooked (still raw/ battery in the middle). My scrambled eggs were cold and bland, no cheese, no salt/ pepper or seasoning. There were 4 tiny pieces of potato cut up. Bacon was fine. Certainly overpriced for the quality and quantity of food received. Fine, this place is style over substance. After dodging a literal bullet with the drink, I'm not going to stress over mediocre food. I probably should've left after the drink incident but truthfully needed to stay with my friends in case I showed allergy symptoms and needed to be taken to the hospital.

Finally, the bills come. The bill the server brought me had my entrée, 1/2 of the Dutch Baby I split with a friend, and one espresso martini (~$38 total). Okay, at least they comped the one espresso martini after almost sending me to the ER. Probably should've comped the whole meal after a near fatal mistake like that, but whatever. I give the server my credit card to pay for my bill.

The server brings my receipt and credit card back. As I'm going to sign, I notice my bill now says ~$54. Why was I charged more than the original bill I was given? I read it, and after I had given the server my card, she added back in the first espresso martini that had almost killed me! Even if it was somehow an oversight, and the server never planned on comping anything, she should have come back and told me that she made a mistake on my initial bill, and corrected it. You don't give someone a bill and charge them more secretly in the back, regardless...

Big Boy under candlelight.

The first time was terrible. My wife and I set out for a nice dinner arriving at The Fed. We decided to sit at the bar since the place was a packed. In the middle of our soup/salad course my entree was served. Seriously in the middle. Not even half my bowl of soup was finished and my New York strip was delivered. I asked to send it back until we were done.

The bartender apologized and said she'd order a new steak and deliver it when we were ready.

We finished our soup/salad and our entries are delivered. At first sight it was clear it was not a fresh piece of meat, but the original cut placed under a heat lamp .The reason be, the fresh crumbled blue cheese on the first pass now was half melted and the meat was cold and tough. Not New York strip tough but sitting under a heat lamp tough.

And for my wifes meal, the salmon with the grape salsa on the side. Yes my wife asked for the salsa on the side was poured directly on the salmon. It appeared to be extra salsa. The salmon was barely visible.

Clearly unhappy with the service the bartender handed us a $50 gift certificate.

We thankfully accepted the gift and proceeded on our way understanding they were having a bad night.

So tonight we decide to redeem our gift card and give them another try. This time sitting at a table. We were assuming we'd receive better service sitting at a table with an actual server. Oh were we wrong.

Not even 2 bites into our Poke appetizer, my soup was delivered. Seriously, it was happening again. We sent the soup back asking to serve it after the appetizer.

2 tables over was a family of 6, 2 of which were infants. In between us and the family of 6 was a young lady waiting for her date.

The date arrived and the mother at the table of 6 apologized to the young lady for taking up nearly the entry space in between the two with her infants belongings. Yes they were sitting on the same bench seat.

We over heard the gentlemen at the table with his date state they were only going to have drinks and appetizers.

They ordered and began talking. Within minutes, the infants were being infants and the couple cancelled their appetizers, drinks and walked out.

No one bothered to ask them why.

So we now finished our second course, drinking our bottle of wine waiting for our entrees and the hostess approaches us asking if we could move over 1 table because they have a large party arriving.

Mind you, she wants us to move next to the infants and all the infants gear.

We decline the offer.

So they still proceed to sit the large party directly next to our table.

This party has another 2 children, under the age of 5, with sippy cups.

So here we are drinking a $50 bottle of wine in between 2 parties with children under the age of 5 crying and acting thier age. At one point one of the kids was flashing a flashlight throughout the building, shinning the ceiling, other people, through the window. WTH! Are we at Big Boy?

A person comes to our table holding 2 plates at a 30 degree angle "Who had the scallops" she asks. This was expeditor, holding the plates with her thumbs clearly on the eating surface of the plates.

They want to come off trendy, with the wait staff dressed in casual attire. But within minutes it's clear the wait staff isn't trendy. They're unskilled millennials trying to show thier worth.

On our way out, another baby carriage waiting to be sat.

This place is a joke! Never, never again!

P.S.

There's no vistabule. So everytime the door opens all the heat escapes the building and you and your food drop 10 degrees.

By the way, this was 7:30pm on a...

This has been the hardest restaurant I've ever reviewed.

Atmosphere - Inside the restaurant is extremely nice. It's a very nice place to sit down. My biggest complaint is that all of the guests are dressed nicer than the workers in a pricey restaurant.

Food - This is where I was really let down. For the insane price for smaller quantities, I expected to take a bite of my food and say "Wow'. Even if it had tasted good it would've been hard to say anything because my jaw was sore after chewing on under-cooked noodles for 5 minutes. Everything tasted fine, but the flavors just weren't there. If you love paying tons of money for bland food you might like it. Surprisingly, the vegetables they put as sides on the dish taste great, but everything else tastes like my mom's cooking when she wouldn't season it at all, and told us to put salt on it if we wanted flavor. Also, all of my noodles were stuck together to make one ugly mega noodle because apparently if your paying $30 for a plate, they can't afford to run the noodles under-water to get the starch off, or they just don't know what they're doing. I also would've expected nice evenly cut vegetables, and not half of them looking like the you let your 5 year old help out in the kitchen. I feel like I'm being hypercritical, but given the price range, these are things I've come to expect.

All in all, if the prices were cut in half, this might be a 3 or even 4 star restaurant because of the vibe. But you will leave here disappointed and feeling scammed. If you go, get the burger. It looked really good and wasn't outrageously priced. My wife and I were going out for a special occasion however and didn't want to get the cheapest thing (by far) on the menu. You're better off going to one of the Kid Rock restaurants across the street. The staff was nice and attentive, but there are only like 10 entrees and they're all very expensive (except for the burger). When you are priced averaging around $30 a plate and you only make like 10 plates. I'm expecting that you have those nailed down to perfection. Instead this seems like some guy who's a decent cook with a good eye for decor who's friends politely tell him he should open a restaurant because they tend to enjoy his food. Although the other restaurants in the area are expensive, and the restaurant looks/feels nice, a restaurant is about the food. Unfortunately, the food here is where they fall catastrophically...