City Farmhouse Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in South Portland

Dear City Farmhouse Kitchen & Bar Management,

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and frustration with the disrespectful behavior exhibited by your restaurant staff during my recent visit. I arrived at City Farmhouse Kitchen & Bar on June 14, 2023 8:00 PM and was subjected to an unacceptable one-hour wait, during which the staff completely ignored me. After waiting 20 minutes at a host-less booth, I had enough of waiting in queue without a restaurant host so I spoke with the restaurant staff to which she said to wait. I head back to the queue standing for another 20 minutes before the same restaurant staff that I spoke with earlier return and seated my fiancée and I. Once seated, we had to wait another 20 minutes before a different waitress approach our tables that she had completely forgotten about us.

As a customer, I believe it is essential to be treated with respect and courtesy. However, the conduct of your restaurant staff was completely unacceptable. Despite my attempts to gain their attention and inquire about the status of my wait-time, I was consistently ignored, which made me feel invisible and disrespected.

Waiting for an extended period is understandable during busy hours, but being completely disregarded by the staff is inexcusable. It is essential for your staff to communicate effectively with customers and provide updates on wait times or any unforeseen delays. I did not receive any information or acknowledgment during the entire hour I spent waiting, which added to my frustration and disappointment.

I kindly request that you address this matter promptly and take appropriate action to ensure that such disrespectful behavior is not repeated in the future. It is crucial for your establishment to uphold standards of customer service and train your staff to treat all patrons with the respect they deserve.

I sincerely hope that you will take this complaint seriously and work towards improving your service quality. As a customer, I should not have to endure such disrespectful treatment during my dining experience. I expect a prompt improvement from your management, demonstrating your commitment to addressing this issue and ensuring that it does not happen again in the future for other customers like myself.

Thank you for your attention to...

Table for 5 on a Tuesday night at 7. Reservation was lost due to a google assistant issue, not restaurant's fault, but was seated right away.

atmosphere was relaxed, décor was farmhouse chic, very clean lines, elegant feel without the stuffy dress code and discomfort of pomp and circumstance.

Apps were good. Crab cakes and farmer's toast were good, fries were okay. Had a cocktail that made me question whether there was even any alcohol in it. Wine list was almost exclusively california wines, but after the disappointing cocktail got wine instead since it comes in a persona jug that holds around 2 glasses for the same price as a single cocktail. it was the only argentina red on the menu, which is actually one of my grocery store go to's when there's nothing in reserve that tickles my fancy.

Entrees were okay. Boyfriend's steak was good, not great; not worth wrapping the leftovers to try and reheat later. I had ravioli. Pasta was fresh, veg and stuffing were good, one complaint was that the raviolis were accompanied by a thin lake of olive oil on the bottom. Would have liked to see oil omitted and a cleaner plate or a sauce in place of it; no one needs that much oil.

dessert was lava cake. cake was fine, ice cream was standard, chocolate scrolls and toffee crunch added visual stimulation but not an oral one. biggest head scratcher was i was pretty sure their "sweet cream" was marshmallow fluff melted on the plate with a kitchen torch.

service was slow and lacked coordination. not the waitress' fault, she was fine, it was the kitchen and bar. drinks took forever to come, in fact 2 of the 3 appetizers came before drinks, then drinks, then final appetizer even though all were ordered together. Entrees came 3, then 1, then the last. not sure the reason, but it all felt very slow and disjointed. we were doing an in-law meeting so it was fine this time, but under normal circumstances (i.e. just me and my boyfriend) i would have been annoyed with a 3 hour dinner start to finish.

All in all the food was okay, the service was a little subpar in terms of kitchen coordination but not the waitress' performance, the space is clean and modern but relaxed. Not a place i would go out of my way to return to and a little overpriced for...

Update 2/19/2023

The service was alright. The food has gone downhill. I got the avocado toast again and there was barely any avocado 🥑 on the toast. The tomatoes were cold on top and the egg came out runny. The server never asked me how I wanted the eggs cooked, so remember to tell them when you order this. My coffee came after my breakfast arrived. My mom's homefries were luke warm. Honestly, they need more servers, even the hostess has to buss the tables.

Update 7/17/2022:

I took my mom here a few weeks ago and we had a great time. But today, they were busy and tried to sit us at a dirty table. The table mats weren't cleaned and the table was sticky and the floor was full of bread under our feet. What happened to COVID clean? The manager came over and re-sat us at another table, more appropriate. We had a seasoned server (Christin?) she she was delightful. We even caught a glimpse of the chef as he was running the food to the tables to help out. Nice touch. I asked for an egg a little more cooked than OM but not quite OH and they did an excellent job. Maybe that should be called OMH 😂.

I keep trying to call for reservations and no-one answered all day, so I decided to just go for when they opened (430pm) and glad I did. Right after I walked in, so did everyone else. It got busy fast. I say at the bar at the most squeekiest stool ever - someone bring the WD-40! Other than that, I met a veteran who just retired from the Army as a Colonel and he's traveling all over. Great conversation and friendly staff. Hopefully I'll get to try brunch before I...