The Fearrington House Restaurant — Restaurant in Pittsboro

I visited Fearrington House Restaurant for an anniversary dinner for my parents. I expected a very good restaurant as Chef Colin Bedford has been highly reviewed and awarded. We were treated with the Summer 2018 menu and we all opted for the Chef's Tasting Menu ($150 per person, not including alcohol), which featured a few items that sounded extremely delicious on paper.

I will start with the positives. The quality of the presentation here is amazing. Clearly Chef Bedford knows how to plate a dish. The restaurant decor and service were also amazing. We received excellent service from the waitstaff and Maitre D, who offered beverages before seating us.

Our multi-course dinner was described on the menu as 4 courses. We started with a tomato jelly, which was interesting, and black garlic ganache macaroon. The macaroon was of decent quality and flavor, but far from the quality I expected especially when compared against macaroons I've had in France at small brasseries and bakeries. It was overcooked and overly sweet.

First course was a smoked beef tartare. Again the presentation was excellent with the tartare plated with a glass dome covered filled with hickory smoke. This presentation provided us with an excellent smell of hickory smoke once the dome was removed. Unfortunately the beef tartare itself was far less impressive, tasteless and far too lean. A good beef tartare should have a nice fat concentration to provide flavor and this beef did not. Also, beef tartare is usually served with a cracker or croquette. In lieu of this, the tartare at Chef Bedford opted for a type of smoked and burned crisp which was virtually inedible.

Second course was the best course of the night. We were served truffled tortellinis with a basil foam and cherry tomatoes. The tortelli was good, although the truffle flavor was far too subtle (but I'm a huge fan of truffle). The basil foam added the traditional flavor you'd expect in an interesting way. I enjoyed this dish, but it was very small (literally two bites) and I would improve upon it by adding more truffle to the tortellini filling.

Third course was lobster tail garnished with white asparagus in a drawn butter sauce, and this is where it fell apart for me. Frankly, the lobster was extremely overcooked. I've had better cooked lobster tail on a cruise ship where it was prepared for 500 guests at a time, and frankly, for a restaurant at this price point and with this kind of reputation, overcooked, rubbery lobster tail is completely unacceptable. The predominate flavor in this dish was butter. I wish I could say that there was at least some complexity to the flavor but there was not. It literally tasted like rubber coated in butter.

Main course was next and was even worse. This was a duck filet with potatoes. It came out dry and cool, not even warm to the touch. I assume this was cooked sous vide but there was virtually no skin or sear to the duck and it was not only a dull gray (typical with sous vide, though usually the meat is seared after it comes out of the bag) but almost flavorless. Again I can't help but compare to cruise ship food, which should NOT happen at this price point. Duck is a delicate and flavorful meat, but it should come moist and warm, preferably with a nice sauce of with hints of garlic, rosemary or thyme. None of the these flavors existed with this dull hunk of gray duck we were presented.

Final two courses were dessert. First was a strawberry or raspberry sorbet with a baked meringue and vanilla whipped creme. This was nice, it was light and interesting, and of course the plating was excellent. My only negative comment about this dish was the meringue, which was very hard to eat and tasted almost like an overcooked marshmellow. I did particularly enjoy the sorbet though. The last course was their traditional dark chocolate souffle. An utterly uninspired finale, frankly, and while it was decently flavorful, I think you'd have to try really hard to screw up a chocolate souffle.

There is no excuse for mediocrity at this...

TLDR: dry, overcooked food lacking flavor, equally dry service and no concern when alerted to these conditions; hard pass. If you can't get it out of a bottle, then don't get it at Fearrington House. Go to Herons at Umstead, or literally anywhere else instead of here.

The only positive part of the evening was the cocktails. Kudos to the bar, they get the one star.

I couldn't tell you who the maître d was for the evening, I'm certain there isn't one. No one introduced themselves as if they were in a position of authority or concern for the well being of the guest experienc; the waitress never even introduced herself.

On the second course, an amlagamation of cold, dry, flavorless rye bread topped with caviar and egg, the waitress asked if it was good. I informed her that it was uncomfortably dry and unpleasant. She replied,"Oh, it's not for everybody." From this point forward, she never once asked again how a course was and didn't rarely tended the table.

Each time another disappointing course was presented, it was dropped off by uncomfortably timid, anxious youths who were literally shaking so badly that items were spilled on several occasions. This prompted a string of apologies and we attempted to assuage their concerns with calming reassurances. This phenomenon was not only at our table but others within the same dining room. Individuals in training are fine, but usher their development. This was absurd to witness, given how Fearrington House bills itself. I was embarrassed for these kids and no adult staff seemed interested in helping them learn the trade and master their nerves for it.

With each course being dropped off, there were always remaining plates which were ignored and littered the table. The crumbs were left unattended, glasses and carafes ran dry until wait staff was verbally asked to refill them, with rare exception.

The courses delivered were never explained unless I stopped the waitress and asked her to define the dish. I've never experienced this in a restaurant of this caliber. Each time, once prompted, she explained nuanced details of the dish not presented on the menu. I'm not used to having ot request this.

The halibut on the menu was swapped for black bass which was bland and overcooked. The pork shank was dry and overcooked. It takes a lot of effort to make a dry pork shank, so kudos for the energy put into that. The dessert was uncomfortable on the palate, like a watered down chocolate mousse with no appealing characteristic in taste or texture. Two bites in, our chocaholics at the table passed on the dish.

When a main course had one bite missing, we were asked if we'd like a to go box. We replied,"No thank you." This was satisfactory to the waitress who never asked if the dish was satisfactory.

Over the phone we were incessantly reminded of the guest dress code when booking the reservation and on a follow up to confirm the reservation. On arrival patrons attire ranged from shorts and a polo shirt to shorts and a tank top. We were over dressed, the restaurant clearly has no convictions regarding their policies.

A wedding was going on outside of the restaurant with music loud enough that it was difficult to hold conversation at a normal volume in the restaurant.

When you're in the space, pay attention to the paint lines not matching up, the siding in need of repair outside the window, the apathy of the staff. Fearrington House Restaurant is the house which care forgot. Perhaps this experience is an anomaly. I won't be returning to find out, if you're entertaining rolling the dice, I'd suggest the Umstead's Heron's restaurant instead.

For all the fan fare about which this place was touted by peers, it's remarkable that things have gone so awry. The prevailing culture of this place is poor. I assume a better experience would be had at Olive Garden.

In my experience, a maître d would be floating about and resolving the aforementioned issues and helping to educate the staff on being more attentive of...

I hesitate to write this review, but the experience was so atypical that I feel I must share it with others, especially those that may be considering Fearrington for a special occasion. My wife and I have stayed at the Inn, shopped, and dined (casual and formal) at Fearrington since 2017. It is our go-to spot for NYE, birthday, and anniversary dinners. We last dined there for our 10th anniversary in 2022, which had very good service (although the food was not 'out of this world' good as we experienced in earlier years).

Our most recent anniversary in June 2023 was a disaster. I made the reservation over the phone to insure they had correct instructions (food allergies, occasion, proper spelling of my wife's name, etc.). They kindly confirmed the reservation over the phone the week of. We arrived, and even though I spoke with them within the hour to let them know we'd be arriving separately, they acted surprised to see us. They showed us to our table but didn't present a personalized menu as we'd received the six (!) anniversaries before. We shrugged it off and thought maybe they had changed procedures (it appears a lot has changed recently). We were the first seating, and began to look over the (standard) menu, which has been pared down considerably. We discussed how difficult it was going to be to make selections from the sparse options.

While waiting for drinks, they never acknowledged our anniversary, even though both of us had brought gifts to the table for the other. Then, to our shock, they seated three other couples in the same room, presented each with personalized menus, and vocally celebrated the fact they were there to mark their anniversaries. It felt like a slap in the face--it would be one thing if we were at a new restaurant and had made a reservation via OpenTable or similar--but these folks know us, we've been regular patrons, spent thousands of dollars ($500+ an occasion, and far more in lodging, gifts in the shops, spa appointments, etc.). It should have been easy for them to recover the mistake, but they never acknowledged why we were there. It was so awkward and embarrassing, we waffled on whether to even open our gifts at our table with dessert, but it seemed too sad to leave and open them elsewhere--Fearrington is/was "our place." We've both decided we probably can never go back--the experience was dissatisfying, heartbreaking, and forever changed the mystique of the Inn for us.

On a practical level, we've tried giving the new chef the benefit of the doubt, but aside from the drop in service levels, the cookery doesn't hold a candle to the Colin Bedford years. Fearrington needs to fix both service and food before it can regain its place as one of...