The Farmhouse Tuscan — Restaurant in Springfield

This was our first visit to the restaurant. I was very excited to see it take the place of the green turtle. We ordered a total of 6 dishes, via online ordering that came out to a little over $80. The online ordering was easy and direct. They offered the ability to track your order which is great. I do wish they would send you a text when your order was ready. I picked up right in the window I was given. Though I didn't eat in the restaurant I did get a chance to check out the decor which looks lovely.

We all were a little underwhelmed by the appearance of the food. I did pick up the food and had to drive 10 minutes home but I also expected all of it to be warmer than it was. For each item the picture online did not match what we got. The short rib pizza had lots of meat on it in the picture. What I received did not. Both my husband and my son's bread on their short rib sandwiches were completely untoasted and in one case soggy on the bottom. Though the picture had some really nice browning on the bread. My youngest's pizza looks like it was thrown in the box but more importantly had very little pepperoni on it which he commented on. The food itself was all okay and edible. Though my husband and son who got the short rib sandwiches wanted there to be more flavor. I wish the caramelized onions on my pizza were a bit more caramelized. All of us absolutely loved the side dish of sauteed mushrooms but noticed that they were button mushrooms not wild mushrooms as stated on the website. The servings in my opinion were all large. Enough for each dish to be two meals, depending on how much you eat.

For dessert we ordered the Italian donuts. These were on par with most Italian donuts I've gotten. They were doughy not quite a sweet as an American donut but the dips that they provided helped. My husband said the chocolate dip tasted like Hershey's. I absolutely loved the caramel dip. I wish the berry dip had more distinct flavor. The order came with seven good sized donuts.

I was hoping this would be a new date night spot or occasional family treat restaurant for us. But for the price, I'm not sure we would...

Review: Farmhouse Tuscan, Alexandria – A Missed Opportunity with a Nice Parking Lot

When I first heard a new restaurant was opening in an area that is basically a food desert unless you are craving generic chicken, pan Asian, or a Greek spot that doubles as a pizza joint, I was cautiously optimistic. A place with a real bar? In this culinary wasteland? Count me in.

But after nearly a dozen visits (yes, I gave it that many chances, blame hope not logic), I can say with confidence: no bueno, no bueno. It is just not good.

Let’s start with the décor. Sure, it is technically an upgrade from the sad remnants of The Green Turtle, but that is a low bar. Imagine your grandmother’s stuffed furniture from the eighties awkwardly mashed with a budget nineties aesthetic and not in a trendy retro way. The bar stools? Designed by Batman, apparently. You cannot glide in or out without doing a full on gymnastic dismount. And the dining chairs? Demolition derby for your ribs and hip bones. It is like they built the place as a test of endurance.

They finally updated the background music, moving on from the Frank Sinatra Vegas comeback tour, but that small mercy cannot save the food.

Now, about the menu: it says Tuscan, but reads like Olive Garden went to a trade show and came back thinking it was fine dining. No fresh bread, no salad worth remembering, and dishes that range from bland to offensively odd (one actually tasted like soap). And do not expect your food to come out hot or even come out at all, sometimes.

Then there is the service. If the food was mediocre but the service decent, I might cut them some slack. But alas, the staff seem genuinely annoyed to be there. Did they inherit The Turtle’s old crew or just audition for it? Servers outnumber guests, yet flagging one down is like ordering a drink during a hurricane.

The only real upside? Parking. It is plentiful. So yes, you can get in and out easily, physically, not emotionally.

Verdict: Save yourself the grief and head to Burtons. It is always packed for a reason, it is consistently good, worth the wait, and run by people who seem to enjoy...

Mediocre food at a premium price, and they add fees for credit cards (wtf private equity group owners?). My wife and I tried this place on a whim, and it looked good from the outside, but inside the service was slow (but friendly); the short rib and frutti de mare pasta dishes were pretty bland and below expectations, and they were served 35 minutes after we ordered. The short rib dish was 50% pasta, 49% mushrooms and onions, and 1% rib meat. The frutti de mare dish said it included a lobster sauce, but when plated it had no sauce. The server returned it to the cook who added a basic alfredo sauce and way too much of it. The frutti de mare dish said it included lump crab, but what that meant was about .0001 ounces of crab. The table had an olive oil dispenser and a peppermill on the table for bread, but no bread was served. If you want a side salad to go with your dish, you have to buy the large full size portion as side salads are not available. For drinks, we just ordered lemonades and the lemonades were good but were $8 each lolol! Drinks and waters were never refreshed. And finally they charged 3% fees for a credit card payment which is just ridiculous (no other restaurant in the area does this). Finally, the tables in the lounge area are too high or the chairs seated us too low…we felt like little kids eating at a high top. No one shorter than 6’5 tested these chairs and it shows. All in all this is an expensive place with slow service, bland food that didnt really live up to the menu description, and nickel&dime fees that are not worth the total price. Far better Italian restaurants in the area. It’s a bad strategy to try to be a higher-end restaurant with hosts, servers and cooks that have very little (or...