The Parsonage — Restaurant in Jonesboro

What a disappointing experience. I wanted to like this place because I appreciate the whole farm-to-table attitude. But If I had read the google reviews before visiting - the ones for which the chef writes back and refutes every concern the reviewers have and says they should have spoken to the manager while there - I wouldn't have bothered.

Our Sunday brunch visit was all kinds of wrong. First off, there's a sign that says we should seat ourselves, and someone would be right with us. So we found a table for two on the covered patio. After about ten minutes, someone finally offered us menus. It was at least another ten before she took our order. In all, it was an hour from the time we sat until the time we had food.

The menu is rather limited, with prices on the high side. An omelette was $12 and the only sides offered were grits or hash - no toast, no fruit. It looked like a two-egg omelette with very little meat. A four-egg omelette is $25; I suppose it's meant to be shared. A "Bishop's breakfast bowl for two" is $16.25 and includes two eggs, sausage, bacon, hash, and a biscuit. That sounds like a meal for just one hungry person - y'know, the size of a Denny's Grand Slam - except twice the price.

Toad-in-the-hole was a modest portion and bland. I don't know why the egg yolks were hard while the egg whites were runnier than the gravy.

The person who brought our food was not the person who took our order. This second woman set the food down, said "Oh, you don't have silverware - hold on while I fire someone, ha ha..." so I guess she's management. She left and then returned with flatware and set it down without saying a word. She did not ask if we needed anything else. No one ever came by to check on us until we were done and awaiting a check. I would have liked a knife (I was given a spoon and fork), salt and pepper, and drink refills.

We heard about the alcohol situation from folks at the next table, as well as overheard a waitress explain it to other diners: apparently the place has no liquor license, but serves mimosas and bloody Marys for free. "If you order a few, I guess we'd charge you for an orange juice," she said. We were not offered this opportunity, though, and no staff came by after we'd heard. I don't want to pay $12 for runny eggs just to subsidize other folks' drinks. Also I'm not 100% sure this is legal, even in Arkansas.

So to return to the comments by the chef that other reviewers should have spoken to management: we didn't have the opportunity. There was no one to be found for any sort of help or service. The manager herself didn't even offer any help. I can't...

If I could give ZERO stars, I would. The service and food were HORRIBLE!!! We came in to celebrate a graduation and came in hungry and was HIGHLY disappointed. We asked to sit on the terrace because it was a large crowd. Now don't get me wrong, we knew it would've been some type of wait due to it being more than 10 people.

It started off with the drinks, a couple of people wanted sweet tea but it was more like unsweetened tea. When the drinks were brought to the waitress attention, she stated "sorry the tea isn't to y'alls liking". That was strike 1.

My husband went to find the waitress after about 20 minutes to take orders. She came in with an attitude to take his order first. He replied and stated to take the women orders first, with her replying "no, I'm taking yours first". Strike 2. Please note, my husband was the last to give his order at that particular table

When the food arrived, my husband ordered the potato hash, which was not what the menu described. It was all potatoes. He got the attention of the waitress and she brought out another order of "potato's". Again not the description on the menu. Here comes the "Chef", picking up my husband's fork and attempting to look for the "hash" in the potato's. He then states "I don't look through every order to see if there's an equal amount of hash that comes out". I told him he could take the plate because he would not be eating anything that he played with. He agreed to take the potato's of the ticket. We then attempted to let him know the attitude of the waitress, and he replied "no, her attitude is fine". We can clearly see that the "Chef" was the owner because no one wanted to take responsibility of the service provided.

When the waitress was first addressed about her attitude, that's when she told us they were short staffed and it was only two waitresses and the Chef and she stormed out. She said, she tried to be patient with us and was done. If were giving that information upon arrival, we could've taken our service somewhere else instead of being treated as if we were not welcome. The waitress slammed the ticket on the table and...

I've been here twice. The second time was just to give it another chance, because I was disappointed on my first visit for lunch. I paid $12 for a sandwich, which at least came with a little salad on the plate, but the quality did not match the price. I gave it another shot because I had friends who recommended the brunch menu and service. But never again, it was completely disappointing. Beginning with the ordering process right inside the front door, it's awkward, confusing, and crowded. Honestly, the place is small enough that having full wait service seems reasonable. But when it's busy and people have to crowd in at the front entrance, it's stressful and forces you to make a quick choice on what to order. The biscuits and gravy were the worst we've ever had from any restaurant. The biscuits were stale hockey pucks, clearly warmed in the microwave. The gravy had no sausage; granted, it wasn't advertised as sausage gravy, but what's the point without it? It was nondescript, cold, and lacked flavor. The breakfast sandwich had one tiny slice of bacon and what appeared to be powdered eggs. And there were no sides of any kind included with the entrees; no fruit, no hash browns, no grits, etc. we were interested in the Belgian waffle, which was the most expensive brunch item at $12. We asked how it's served, like does it come with a fruit topping, etc? The answer was no, just powdered sugar and syrup. Seriously?? I can do that at home. The only acceptable item was the cinnamon roll, which was a good value at $2, and it was tasty. And the coffee tasted good, until we found residue from the pump pot in a coffee cup (it looked like a worm!). Yuk. The lemonade was a bright artificial yellow and tasted of artificial sweetener, like Crystal Light. And there were no quality checks from the staff. The menu prices are out of balance with the food quality and prices. I...