Hamrock's Restaurant — Restaurant in Fairfax

Hamrock's is where to come to enjoy a special meal or a drink with significant others, family, friends, or a business acquaintance you want to impress. Come casual or dressed up and you will fit right in. I was in jeans and a T-shirt while a couple tables away seniors in high school were in their prom finest clothes. When the wife thinks she wants to have a nice, quiet, relaxing, fine dining experience with good portion sizes and both somewhat traditional and very unique offerings, especially among the specials or when they participate in an event like Restaurant Week, we head to the local favorite Hamrock's.

Hamrock's is named after the owner, a neighbor, who is a seasoned veteran of the restaurant business and an excellent and creative chef known to come up with delicious experimental fare that may become a standard menu item (or not, so if you see something you might want to try, order it!). Bill Hamrock often appears to greet guests and neighbors. You will enjoy your reasonably priced and portioned food in a majestic early 1800s very large home that is beautifully kept up and decorated right in the middle of historic downtown Fairfax City. Be sure to read the history of the house.

Dining is available in the house, on its very large wrap around porch, and in a small decorated back yard dominated by a massive tree, weather permitting. Consistently excellent offerings of ribeye steak and parmesan fries, shrimp and grits, crab cakes, and other local favorite starters, entrees, and desserts are served with fresh popovers. What many might consider are more southern dishes are available. A massive bar offers mixed drinks and a huge array of wines.

Lots of convenient parking next to the house is available and dedicated to the restaurant, so parking is never a worry. The staff are professional, attentive, efficient and pleasant.

Hamrock's also has had excellent take out offerings which were extremely popular during home confinement during the pandemic. Besides their more standard menu, they offered very well priced and portioned family meals that my family loved and so did lots of others as evidenced by the number of families picking them up. He even made videos of how he cooked certain dishes which were very popular to watch during the pandemic.

Bill has done a lot of catering and special events and is known to serve special or requested items. Bill's catering is always a huge hit when served at neighborhood events.

They have an enormous selection of yummy gluten free offerings cooked in a separate kitchen. The gluten free calamari is excellent! Though the sauce on it is unlike any other calamari dish I have had, it would...

The only reason I didn't give 1 star is because the lobster bisque was quite delicious, but unfortunately that was the only positive part of our experience at Hamrock's. The atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired and the quality of the interiors do not match the menu or prices they're charging. The tables felt like we were at a total dive, there were exposed screws and nails in the wall next to our table, and Scotch tape on the walls as well. The service was incredibly slow, and we are not people who want a fast/rushed dinner but it was even too slow for us (we were there for a total of 2 hours on a Sunday night). Our waitress kept going only to the table next to us and never came to us, and finally after that table left she told us that was the owner so she had to make sure they were taken care of. Which...is just not something you need to tell a customer, no one should be made to feel like they are less important than someone else. My husband's duck was way overcooked but my crab cakes were fine. We were incredibly patient all night but the final straw came when they served our dessert. The ice cream on each of our plates was COMPLETELY melted. I have never been served something like that in my life. The waitress explained that the plates had just come out of the dishwasher so they were hot, which made the ice cream immediately melt. I simply could not believe we were served something like that, the desserts were essentially inedible. I told the waitress that in the future I'd recommend she take the plate back to the kitchen instead of serving that, and she said it was the last scoop of vanilla ice cream as if that made it okay. Like...then just nix it and don't serve it! To be served something like that at the end of a terrible meal with terrible service in a terrible environment -- when you're about to receive a bill well into the triple digits -- is just insane. We had been really excited to try this restaurant but will absolutely not...

Devine! My partner and I had stopped here Tuesday, December 5th at around 6:45. Pm. He had just picked me up from the airport. After a 5+hr flight, all I wanted was a homestyle cooked meal. I am gluten intolerant, but I REALLY had a craving for some fried chicken. As he was waiting for me in baggage claim. He googled: "gluten free fried chicken near me" & up popped Hamrocks. He studied the menu and was excited about a new restaurant (to us) that had options for me. Starving, even if the menu hadn't been correct online, I would have settled for a nice salad or something. (I've been disappointed with places before) We walked in and were promptly greeted and welcomed by the host staff and a friendly woman behind a bar area to the right. We were sat immediately. As soon as we were sat, a gentleman came by with some water. Having never been here before, it was nice to have a moment to look at the specials and menu. There was no need for a special gluten free menu as there were (gf) indicators next to the options as well as vegetarian (v). The fried chicken dinner was there!! I cannot even begin to tell you how happy it made me. Our server arrived to greet us. (Dark curly hair, glasses & just the right amount of wit, mixed with a caring nature) I'm sorry I forget her name. I got a glass of wine, cup of lobster bisque, fried chicken dinner and we finished with the gluten free chocolate cake! My partner had the filet. We enjoyed the sides as well : au gratin potatoes, creamed spinach and glazed carrots. Both proteins were cooked to perfection, presentation was beautifully done, seasoned well and we both were pleased. I was so thankful to have a very accommodating restaurant as well as very knowledgeable staff in regards to my intolerance. If you happen to be in the Fairfax area, you MUST check this place out! It is as beautiful as the food is marvelous. Thank you all for a wonderful experience,...