Founders Tavern & Grille — Restaurant in Maryland

Explore Maryland - Founders Tavern & Grille

Located in: Festival At Pasadena Address: 8125 Ritchie Hwy Unit P, Pasadena, MD 21122 Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 9 PM · More hours Phone: (410) 544-0076 Menu: toasttab.com

Our Declaration Good Friends, Great Food & the Pursuit of Happiness!

One hot 4th of July, under the dappled shade of a huge elm, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams sit together at a picnic table sipping cold beer, discussing the pure benefits of food & spirits, while their families relax and play around them with laughter. George Washington turns from the hot coals of the fire with a platter of burgers, “Who’s hungry?”—and the feast begins.

That’s how we’d like to think it happened. This scene conjures that sense of family and friends, gathering for fun in our own backyard, and chowing down on some great food, sprinkled with love for history, the pure beginnings of the Founding Fathers, and the birth of this great country. This is what Founders Tavern & Grille is all about!

While we give a nod to that history, Founders Tavern & Grille lives in the modern day and was established in 2013 by local business owner and executive chef, Steve Sumner, and his wife, Janet, along with their good friends, the Lane family. We designed and created a space that is warm and welcoming—a place where friends and families could gather, relax, feel at-home, and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned comfort food, taken to the next level of course. Our recipes are carried down from family, perfected through years of cooking and a passion for fresh ingredients. There's something on our menu to please everyone.

We pride ourselves on our fresh ingredients, and as much as we rejoice in the friends we have around us, we also rejoice in the food we have around us. The best and freshest food is what's grown closest to you… we hold this truth to be self-evident! That is why Founders strives to provide the best quality, locally-sourced ingredients to our customers, and work with those who share in our same philosophy and support the same mission. We have partnered with local meat and seafood suppliers, Chesapeake Farm to Table, Bear’s Honeypot, Schillinger’s Farm, Maryland Seafood, Dudek Butchers, and even get our organic coffee and teas from Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company who started an H2O initiative contributing a portion of their sales to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Our commitment is to source local, organic & GMO-free. Our beef is all fresh, no steroids, no antibiotics. Our bacon is nitrate free. Our eggs & chicken are free-range & hormone-free from the Eastern Shore. All fresh local ingredients wherever possible to give back to the community.

We make our own homemade sauces, dressings, desserts, nothing frozen; we actually have no freezer on the premises. Our pizza dough and bread are made in-house fresh daily from our own unique recipes. We bake our bread fresh every morning.

As a modern day tavern we also have the honor to offer over 100 Whiskey & Bourbon offerings for your merriment. We offer fine wines, and over 20 craft beers. Our signature craft cocktails are made with fresh herbs, seasonal spirits, and premium ingredients; because when you come to Founders we want you to share in a unique fun tasting experience. We truly are that neighborhood Tavern.

So won't you join us, raise a glass, and toast… to Good Friends, Great Food and the Pursuit of Happiness!

Hope you enjoy the...

This place is great. I'm not sure how I did not know that it existed until now. The bar while on the smaller side is beautiful as is the entire restaurant. It has a very rustic feel...walls are covered with wood, wood tables and they even tie the wrapped silverware with jute rope.

We visited on a Saturday midday and other than the large party there to celebrate a first communion there was not an awfully large amount of folks sitting on the inside. Most opted for outdoor patio seating as we all so desperately were longing for after such a long winter. When we arrived the only table left on the patio was directly in the sun so we just satinside which is just as pleasant.

My daughter and I decided to try a few appetizers since it was first time there. We picked the perogies (choosing to pay the extra $2 for caramelized onion and bacon bit toppings) and we also ordered the smoked stuffed jalapenos. Neither were as hot as we would have liked when they actually came out and to be honest they were just okay. We probably would never order them again and we really don't need to because the main event came next - The Reuben Pizza.

The Reuben Pizza was GREAT. My daughter is only 10 years old, and you know how picky a 10 yo can be, but even she agreed that we would definitely order it again. Everything about it was perfect including the crust and we literally ate the entire thing.

If we could change anything about the experience, I would say that our service was not the best. Our server was painfully slow and on a different day I may have been upset a little but on this particular day it didn't bother us at all. I would love to blame it on the huge party that was sitting near us but they had already received their food when we arrived and they were being helped by someone else from the waitstaff. Perhaps we could blame it on what appeared to be that all of the rest of her tables seemed to be on the patio but still she had to walk by us to get there. I don't know what was going on but I really want to believe that there was a legit reason and for that unknown reason she was not allowed to show us as much attention as she could have although I would have been totally okay with a yell as she walked by or maybe some eye contact that said..."I know, I know that I'm neglecting you, please understand" to which I would have returned a..."no worries, totally" look to her but we didn't really get that either. Nonetheless, she was still very sweet as was the hostess that sat us!

We finished our meal with the apple pie crumble (not sure the formal name) for dessert. We debated between it and the rice pudding. It could have seriously fed three folks. Also, very good!

I am looking forward to returning in the near future. I tried to find anything that referenced happy hour but was unsuccessful but I did see that there were whisky flights available if you are into that type of thing!

Hope this helps :)

**Review also...

3 Stars and yet, so many good things. This place has a great atmosphere. The food was very good. The Jefferson Mule was great. It is a little pricey, there are some reasonable meals but then there are some that just seem overpriced. I ordered the Mahi Mahi with Crab meat. I got 2 pieces of crab meat that were about the size of a nickel. $35 for an okay size piece of Mahi with Crab that wasn’t even worth putting on my plate. All in all, I think everyone enjoyed their food. Unfortunately, we had a bottle of water break at our table. They brought out the large glass jar (basically a pitcher) and placed it on the table. When we picked it up, the bottom just fell off the jar and all the water went everywhere and all over one of our laps (this was before dinners came out). Our waiter was very apologetic and tried to help us clean it up; but no other staff members seemed to care. The person who brought our food, while we were cleaning it up, just asked, "where can I put this plate?" Um, back on the tray... She then put the plate on the wet table and just left. She didn’t even bother to take the wet napkins. Why is it, we're helping clean up your mess and your own staff doesn't help. Not a single member of their staff tried to assist other than our actual waiter. So the member of our party had to sit through the entire dinner with soaked pants. Then after dinner, the waiter accidentally spilled a glass of water on one of the children. First time, freak accident with the glass, this time it was an accident tipping the glass; he apologized multiple times and helped us clean it up. Did any other staff members help, no. No one brought towels, napkins, nothing. Now we have 2 people soaked and we're going to order dessert. No big deal, it was an accident; I'm sure they'll take care of it. When it comes time to pay the bill, nothing. We received no discount, no free dessert, just a side comment that he was going to ask the manager but decided not to because he didn't want to bother her. I told him it would have been nice and then he just walked away. So instead of me writing a great review of how awesome this place was... now I'm writing a review on how good the food is but how much everyone here lacks basic decency. Another patron in the restaurant come over to assist, but your own staff wouldn’t. Will I come back… pricey food where they don’t seem to care about the patrons… I don’t know. I won’t go...