The Willard — Restaurant in Franklin

My wife and I recently visited Franklin Indiana over the weekend. it was close to the dinner hour and we were looking for some local cuisine. It just so happened that our visit was in downtown Franklin, right near the Historic Artcraft Theatre. We were already parked across the street and we noticed diners eating on a porch in an old building that looked like it was attached to the theatre. So we went over and walked into the main entrance. Signs said to sit anywhere. The place was busy and old world. We proceeded to sit outside on the porch. The weather was perfect. Several diners were seated outside already and we found a nice spot tucked up against the sidewalk. The waitstaff were busy taking orders and delivering food. We did not have to wait long for our server to come up and ask us if we wanted drinks. We ordered a couple of adult libations. We then looked at the menu. The menu gave a brief history of the building itself. It also had a very diverse choice of pub style food. We both looked over the food as well as the history. The Willard is a very famous building. It was originally a Home built in 1860. Over the years it become a hotel, called The Willard. In 1986 it became a restaurant with an old world charm. Our server came back and my wife ordered the breaded tenderloin and I ordered the Steak Sub on a hoagie bun. It wasn't long before the food arrived. People were slowly coming in just off the street. Some were finishing up. The porch was not very large but adequate. Shortly thereafter our food arrived. My steak sandwich was exquisite. The steak was a healthy quantity. It was the quality you would find in a very nice steak restaurant. I ordered it with lettuce and tomato. You could see the steak glistening straight from the grill. My wife's tenderloin was very large. It was breaded and hung over the bun. She also got chips and I got fries which were steak fries. I bit into the sandwich and the steak was sooo tender! Unbelievable how tender it was. I tried a bite of my wife's sandwich and she tried a bite of mine. We were both very happy with our choices. The bun on the tenderloin starting to fall apart from the toppings but that was to be expected. Our server came back a couple of time to check on us. We both split one more adult libation. As we were eating, a neighbor just happened to be walking by which was odd because we both live about 30 minutes north. Small world. We both finished our meals without any leftovers. The prices were very reasonable esp. with the quality and quantity of the food. We will definitely go back. We try to support locally owned restaurants as much as possible. We settled our bill and I gave more than 20% tip. I know this review went long but I wanted to give The Willard the kind of review it deserves. If you live close then you may already be familiar. If not, make a day of it. There is a lot to see in Franklin and why not cap it off with lunch or dinner at the...

I would have given service one star if it wasn’t for RICKEY 13!!!! I checked the website to make reservations. Quote “reservations for party of 10 only” I called and was told it was first come first serve. No reservations only first come first serve. Upon arriving at THE WILLARD I approached a waitress to ask for help to seat our party of 9. Without hesitation I was told no! And that I had to wait for tables to empty and do what I can to seat ourselves. My response was ‘really? I swear I wasn’t being a Karen (as my granddaughter says) I was truly asking for help to seat my family together for dinner. Again I was told to try and get my own sitting/tables. I complied with what I was told and returned to the entrance to watch for tables to open up. After 20 mins of waiting a waiter, RICKEY 13, approached me and asked if I was part of the party of 9 waiting on tables. Yes I told him. He told me I will help you get tables. Since the policy is first come first serve (we were next in line to be seated) RICKEY 13 made sure we got the tables when they opened up. AND took our drink orders and after waiting 20 mins for a table came back and took our food orders KNOWING, with the crowd it would take awhile for us to get our food. Once we were seated RICKEY 13 checked on us. Refilled our drink orders and brought our food within 30 minutes after we were seated. THIS IS EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE! More RICKEY 13’s is what the service industry needs to serve customers. Yes we will go back to The Willard! I will be sure to ask for RICKEY 13 even if it means letting other parties go ahead of me so I can get him as our server. Thank you RICKEY 13! I appreciate your service, humor and making our experience at THE WILLARD enjoyable. ☺️ Danny Susie Jon Kristin Caroline Addi Brian Ari Sophie God BLESS RICKEY 13 and THE...

I have been to Willard a few times went to dinner with a friend tonight we went to get a table and the lady server/manager told us there was another table getting ready to come open because we we’re at a bigger table we walked over towards that table but realized they were not ready to leave so we went back to the open table we were originally at. She acted like she was very agrivated with us. The guy server/manager came over asked if we wanted to move to the smaller table. We were already seated and did not want to move again. It was not busy with a wait at all noone was waiting to be seated the entire time we were there. The guy took our drink order and food order. We got a Ribeye sandwich and a burger with chips that took 30 minutes to get out and was cold when we got it. We watched the lady manager and the guy run around waiting on other tables and ignoring ours. I asked the guy when getting our checks if him and the girl were managers because I had seen them there when I visited over the years. He replied yes. I told him that the lady was very unpleasant to us and he apologized. While cashing us out the lady came to our table and asked how was I rude to you and I replied you totally ignored our table. She said I wasn’t rude to you and I was not your server as we watched them both check and wait on the same tables in the room. We thought it was very rude of her to approach our table and loudly say how was I rude when I have that table and that table pointing to the room. I think you need to get your manager some more training on how she represents your restaurant and how she talks to your customers. We were just letting the gentleman manager know how we felt we were treated and thought it was also unprofessional of him to go straight to her before we left and was ok with her...