The Farmers Union — Restaurant in San Jose

Being back in San Jose for a Sharks game we took our usual walk downtown to find somewhere new to experience for dinner. Tonight's choice turned out to be The Farmers Union on the corner of Santa Clara and San Pedro streets.

Framers Union has a spacious dining area with a large full bar. They also have semi private dining alcoves that are cozy, but not cramped with huge windows that give you an open feeling. If that isn't enough room for you try the upstairs dining, over looking the bar, or outside sidewalk dining for people watching.

We were seated quickly and our drink orders taken. Tonight's server was Jomuckha who was as professional as she was attractive. Tonight we choose to have an appetizer of the dungeness crab cakes. They're served with citrus vinaigrette and cajun remoulade. The cakes were moist with just the right complement of spices and onion.

There were 3 of us in tonight's group. Our entree selections tonight were the beer batter fish and chips. The true cod fish were serve hot and flaky with Union secret sauce, sea salt, and Kennebec fries. ($18)

Lamb burger served with tzatziki spread, red pepper feta cheese, dirty fries, and all the fixin's. ($17) The tzatziki spread (Yogurt, cumber, lemon, spices) lettuce, pickles, and tomato help with the dryness of the lamb.

Grilled flat iron steak with dirty fries, Fresno chili chimichurri, and a fried egg. $24 This was my selection for the evening. Ordered medium, served perfect, and delicious.

The pluses for tonight: the openness of the dining area, Jomuckha's spot on service, perfectly cooked steak and cod, and generous portions.

The minuses for tonight: 2 of our orders came with dirty fries. We obviously were served the bottom of the pan. The fries were served cold and saturated in their dirty spice. Jomuckha was apologetic and removed the price from our bill, but minus 1 star for lack of attention to detail.

All in all I would recommend The Farmers Union. I loved the location, service, and dinning room and enjoyed the uniquely different twists on their menu items.

As always please like this review if it was helpful to you. As a local guide your likes are...

Ordered an old fashioned and it’s super strong. I might send flirty texts tonight. Whew. There’s a decent size wine menu.

I sat at the bar so he was overwhelmed with customers. Not his fault. Didn’t check on me at all after food was delivered until I asked for my check. I didn’t see a manager walking around to check with customers either.

Fries are fresh cut and quite delicious. Tomato soup had basil and fresh tomato flavoring. Decent but couldn’t hold it’s own. Thick bread for the grilled cheese but not all the cheese was melted. Overall, it’s good but not worth $15.

The salmon plate is doing a bit much. It’s probably wasteful in size for the veggies. I don’t think most people would finish the veggies. There’s tomatoes, squash, zucchini and mixed greens salad. They could give you half and still be sufficient. Salmon was cooked perfect with crispy skin on it. About a 6oz portion so it’s filling. At $28 it’s not worth it.

Wedge salad was perfect! Definitely a lunch item for any day. Can say enough about this one .

The vibe is chill and great if you want to be ignored by the staff. It has a some strange looking recessed booths with coat hangers. There’s a sitting area with a taxidermy head above some king and queen style oversized chairs. Not sure what’s going on there but it’s cool. Take a pic!

So, I’d go back there only because I live nearby. I wouldn’t drive here if it were out of walking distance. I didn’t see a happy hour offered so it’s not a place I’d come for a game or to chill on a weekend night. It’s just okay.

Arrival 2:15pm on a Friday

Parking - scarce Time to be seated - immediately Time to get water -

Came here with a small group of friends on a Friday night. Restaurant smelled good, had a cool atmosphere. The menu seemed a little pricey but we were genuinely exited to dine here. That all changed over the course of our meal.

Things started to go bad after we ordered our food and it was brought out. I ordered a large soup with chicken. My friends ordered hamburgers and one ordered their ribs special.

They brought out a small cup of soup instead of the larger bowl and it was room temperature. I took 2 bites and sent it back. When my oder came back it was a slightly larger bowl but again it was room temperature. Wasn't very excited to eat it but I was hungry so I decided to just finish. The hamburgers were fine the ribs were super dry and everything seemed to have come out of a microwave. One of my friends found a dark piece of hair in her food and could not finish.

Things got really bad when we told the waiter about our experience and the manager came over. We eventually asked her name and she wouldn't give it. I think it was Jess though. She came over and started profiling my friends and I. We explained to her the issues with our food. She started asking us what we do for work. We were unsure why this mattered in the current circumstances. The vibe was really uncomfortable and even hostile. Not sure why the manager was getting so emotional as we were all calm. They had us sit there for like 45 minutes while they tried to figure things out. The ordeal concluded with the manager telling us that our business was no longer welcome in the restaurant and that we needed to leave immediately. All in all a bad experience and terrible mistreatment...