Founding Farmers Tysons

This place is really excellent … Tried brunch buffet and it is waw …
1– Eggs are all fresh made even scrambled eggs.
2– Even though it is a buffet but waiters are always passing specialty items from the tray to the table.
3– Spreads are to die for (avocado, farmers spread must try, etc.)
4– We made reservation and they honored the time with only 3 min wait although the line was way too long.

Yummy HEAVY brunch here. We came here before church on a Sunday. It was just as bustling as everyone else has said. This was our third time here, so this is a review of the average experience I had.
Pluses:
— Consistently good brunch food and a lot of diversity of choices
— The bacon tho
— The shrimp for the shrimp and grits tho
— Valet was cheap on Sunday morning ($ 3 I believe)
— Lots of cute babies seem to hang out here during Sunday brunch time
Minuses:
— Wait staff is not super pleasant, especially the host. Our host seemed so stressed that it was significantly impacting his quality of life working there
— I’m not actually sure if its worth the money unless you fasted the day before and could really eat

Finally made it out to Tysons this past Sunday after having several people rave about the food. Sadly the whole experience was quite disappointing; they were literally out of EVERYTHING, including shrimp, lobster, and the stuffed pork dish. To make matters worse, our server only informed us of this 5 – 10 minutes after having taken our orders. Although he was extremely apologetic at first, he seemed irritated at our indecisiveness when trying to pick out alternate dishes, and failed to check on us when the food arrived until it was time to drop the check.
Had we been closer to home or more familiar with the area we would have gone elsewhere, but at 7:30 on a Sunday evening our options were limited. They did give us coupons for the dishes we had initially ordered, but I don’t see any of us making another 45 minute trip to risk our first choices being unavailable once again.

We stopped in for lunch on a Saturday afternoon to discover that they were only serving brunch. We usually enjoy a nice friendly seat at the bar, and it was open seating. The server explained the whole brunch option so we decided to give it a go.
For $ 30+, the selection was minimal. Although everything I ate was very good, I expected a bigger selection. Yes, we were educated on the farm to table sourcing including the home-​made ketchup. They had some fizzy house-​made sodas but there was no Coke products.
The serve yourself type buffets included a variety of locally sourced bacon, sausage and carved meats. There was also a variety of egg and potato dishes. It wasn’t until near the end of our meal that we noticed the passed appetizers. We had a chance to sample the deviled eggs and candied bacon. There was a small dessert table consisting of mini cakes and other sweets.
Overall, I am not sure if I would return but it was a good meal.

Founding Farmers can be acrowd pleaser, but don’t be confused. The food here is neither chef-​driven nor is it healthy.
I make this point because the marketers that put this chain together have done a brilliant job of packaging it. «Farm-​to-​table» has become a euphemism for those things, and Founding Farmers shoves it in your face at every turn. I understand the appeal, but to be clear, here’s what you really get at Founding Farmers:
1) Fairly priced chain restaurant food in huge portions
2) Lots of decent bread
3) Very good drinks
4) Very inexperienced waiters
Stick to what’s simple: Farm bread, kettle corn, salads, simply-​prepared fish and chicken dishes, sandwiches.
Avoid the gooey, cheesy, fried, or overly-​complicated upsell items that are relentlessly pushed by the waiters. Corn bread, crab dip, cheese-​stuffed and –topped this and that, deep fried entrees, vegetables, and desserts, fried sandwiches, burgers. Call it comfort food if you like. It’s bar food. Decent enough, but not worth waiting in line for with all the superior restaurants in the area.
Regarding the waitstaff, I’ve been dragged here 3 or 4 times and have yet to encounter an experienced waiter. Could be my luck, but they have not been well-​trained.

This place is completely over hyped. The food was fine, but nothing special. I went once to just say I’ve been and I won’t be be going back. The worst part was the cocktail they made for lunch, it was so strong for I couldn’t drink it and it was $ 12 down the tubes.
Go to say you’ve been, go somewhere else with probably better food and shorter wait times.

We got the famous fried chicken with doughnut and was not satisfied. The chicken was dry and had way too much breading. The doughnut was good but very very sweet.
We did enjoy the corn bread skillet as well as the shepard’s pie. That was delicous!

I’ve here a few times before & I’ve always been happy coming. They normally fill up fast so helps to make a reservation. If you just show up like I normally do they have some spots at the bar which is still nice. The prices fit well for how good the food is. I find everything to be amazing & to stuff my face. The staff is super friendly & helpful. I really enjoy this place, I wish I lived closer.

Overall, excellent, organized service. Great staff who provided helpful advice about dishes and cocktails. The food was also amazing! After walking all day I was in need of both a cold cocktail and a hearty meal, and this place delivered on both accounts.
I had the farmer’s fraise cocktail (I think that’s what it’s called) which was perfectly mixed, the perfect strength, and had great presentation. Lychee and strawberry flavors with a touch of brut and vodka — superb.
For dinner I had the chicken pot pie which came out with almost a croissant like crust on top which was extremely flaky but delicious nonetheless.
My friends tried a pisco drink with orange peel and an amaretto sour — both were very pleased with their drinks. For dinner they had the ham pea & apple 7 cheese mac n cheese and the roast turkey which was essentially thanksgiving on a plate. Everything looked great and tasted delicious. Great portion sizes too — enough to make you full but not so much as to make you feel sick afterwards.
Deducted one star because they made us wait 15 minutes despite having a reservation with no explanation. The place is super packed though, so maybe that was it. Definitely make a reservation!

We returned to Founding Farmers for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed our meals.
I had the ribs, my girlfriend had their pot roast and her son had the salmon.
The ribs were extremely tender and the BBQ sauce was wonderful. the pot roast was in a rich beefy sauce/​gravy with a wide array of vegetables. The beef was «fall apart» tender. The salmon was very moist and flaky with great flavor.
We split the house specialty doughnut and a piece of chocolate cake. The doughnut was incredible with a rich, cream filling. The cake was very impressive… it was about 5 inches tall with layers of cake and marshmallow crème frosting. It was truly large enough to split among 4 to 5 people.
Beside the wonderful food, our server Carlos provided excellent service; he was attentive without hovering. The general manager Rachael even came to our table to introduce herself and check on our dining experience.
Overall, I do not think our dining experience could have been better.

I got the roasted turkey and gravy lunch place, which consisted of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans. Turkey came thinly sliced, roasted, and covered with gravy. Everything on the dish was good except the green beans and it wasn’t because they’re green beans. The green beans were drenched in salty water and subsequently tasted like salty water.
Rossi got the fish and chips for lunch. He enjoyed them and we both enjoyed his garlic fries. Our lunch plates weren’t cheap at $ 16 and $ 15 but I don’t mind paying that for a quality lunch were the ingredients come from good places. I’ll definitely be back.

My BF and I came here for their $ 30 brunch buffet (be sure to make reservations, this place gets busy). I was impressed by the items I saw on their menu and looked at Unilocal prior to see if their cocktails were worth the $ 10-​$ 12 price tag. I heard a lot of good things about their Bloody Mary, so I decided to give it a try. If you like a spicy bloody, this is definitely for you. They use a lot of pepper and use pepper-​infused vodka which gives it a good kick (I was a fan).
We went up to the buffet, and I was surprised that there were not as many items as I saw on the menu. We were later told that servers came around with pass-​around items, although they hardly hit out table (I really wanted to the the Eggs Benedict) :(. It was nice to be able to taste many items on their menu. The Maple bacon is amazing! Probably the best bacon I have ever had. Other favorites were the mac and cheese and the cinnamon pancakes. Unfortunately the cedar-​plank salmon was very fishy tasting and the fried chicken was a bit dry.
Overall, the food was pretty good. We omitted the desserts because there wasn’t really anything that looked enticing. The restaurant was gorgeous, has a great location, and the service was okay. I really like the franchise and the concept, however I will probably not do the Brunch again. A huge deterrent is the insane drink prices, especially as many DC area brunches include cocktails in the price. With that said, I would come back for their regular menu.

This review is just for weekend brunch. I love FF– Tyson’s brunch much better than D.C.‘s location now. (I’m sure I will revert back when I miss the beignets)
Come hungry! Great for groups, dates, and feeding hungry men or kids. Beware, you will get the ‘itis’ and have to play rock, paper, scissors, for who has to drive home. Ambiance is great and spacious.
Make a reservation at least a week in advance or be prepared for an hour wait.
Who knew brunch buffets could be so good?

IMHO, the place is over hyped. totally meh. When I walked in here — the ambiance was definitely awesome and the place has been done up tastefully. It was super busy, but we had reservations so we were seated within 15 minutes of getting there. These 15 minutes were spent at the bar with some friendly bartenders, who concocted up some pretty average drinks. I think the menu oversells their drinks — all I tasted in the missionary’s downfall was lots of ice and pineapple juice, such a waste of time and money. My friend had the whiskey sour which was way better.
Now for the food — very very disappointing. To share, we started with the classic deviled eggs. I think the eggs had been boiled way too long ago, the filling was bland and grainy — whoever their chef is, needs to taste this stuff and fix it. It was like somthing a 5 year old would make. Where was the creaminess I expected in my deviled eggs?!!
I had the veggie tagilatelle — I appreciate hand made noodles, but a lot of them were stuck together and the whole dish smelled very eggy and tasted very sweet — I like sweet and salty, but this was just lots of sweet. My friend had the fried chicken dinner where I saw him slowly pick out most of the breading and keep it apart — parts were burnt and some other parts were too thick to eat right. The chicken itself was fine. The grits. well these were just sad and sorry looking and needed a lot more love. Some salt and pepper please? Some fat — give the damned dish some flavor, man!
We were also upcharged for the vegetables on the side, which we presumed the server was making a substitution for my friend since he did not want the collared greens. We asked him about it, he refused (politely though), but I still think there was confusion and he misunderstood what we had originally asked for.
Needless to say we skipped dessert. The place attracts large groups as do most McLean bars (people from work) and there were some super loud and borderline obnoxious groups as we sat there.
I think the place could be great, they need to fix the kitchen tho.

Looks can be misconceiving. This place has a gorgeous interior design but everything else goes downhill really quickly.
I recently came here with a group of friends for lunch and we all became very upset.
First of all, service was awful. I don’t remember his name but he literally just took our order and disappeared for 30 – 45 minutes. Never came back to check up on us until the very end. We found out that he went on a break… seriously?! That was pretty ridiculous because if you were going to go on break, you would have another server watch your table. Trying to fish out another server was difficult too. It’s like they all avoid making contact if the table isn’t in their section. Thankfully, we had a friend who worked there and he helped us out but that doesn’t make up for our crappy waiter.
Now for their food… it’s okay. It’s pricey for food that doesn’t taste that great. Their popular Jefferson fried chicken is just too heavy and bland. The donut that came with it just tasted like fried dough. We also had their salmon which was cooked great but the flavor was gross. I wiped off the glaze and it tasted MUCH better.
I really don’t understand how this place is so popular when I haven’t had a great experience the three times I’ve been here. Definitely not going to come back here after this recent visit.

After a long day of hiking nothing hits the spot like good American comfort food. The atmosphere and environment here was spot on for what you expect when you think Founding Farmers. My friends and I ordered the green fried tomatoes, crab dip as well as the fried chicken dinner, steak & enchiladas, fried chicken sandwich, and the fried country steak dinner. It was all amazing, everything tasted so delicious that we had no room for dessert. Which we regretted immediately, the dessert menu sounds heavenly.
My favorite of the night was the jefferson donut you got with the fried chicken meal, you could order this as a dessert too. The donut was almost crunchy on the outside and inside there was a vanilla custard filling that will knock your socks off. Everything was good but if I go again, I think i will order a dozen donuts just to have throughout the day.
All in all, amazing place for amazing food and I can’t wait to come back.

I first heard about founding farmers from my friend back in NY who raved about the DC location. Then, I found out they have more than one location and since we were in VA, we decided to make a reservation here.
They have a valet but if you go on the weekends, parking is free! So, go to the garage and validate your ticket at the restaurant.
It’s always a good idea to make a reservation at this place because it does get packed. Call them in advance or make a reservation through Unilocal :-)
For starters, we ordered the green fried tomatoes, and the spicy crab dip. The green fried tomatoes were good but tart. The spicy crab dip that came with the baguette was the winner. If you’re stuck on a starter, choose the spicy crab dip. It won’t disappoint.
For the entrée, we ordered pretty much what everyone said to get– the spicy fried chicken with jefferson donut. It does not disappoint. The spicy chicken in fact IS spicy. The mac and cheese that comes with it is yum, and the donut is amazing. They do offer the donut on their dessert menu so if you don’t want the spicy fried chicken, you can always just get the donut.
Our waiter was friendly and on top of it. We never saw the bottom of our cup and if you drink club soda, they don’t charge you for it! He was very attentive even if the restaurant was busy.

I have been to this location a handful of times and visited the location in DC once. Today, I visited with a co-​worker and a client. We chose this place since it was mutually convenient for us and our client.
There is convenient parking in a garage next door. I definitely recommend making a reservation! There was a crowd of people at the entrance today and we were seated pronto since we had a reservation.
Probably not ideal for a business meeting since it’s pretty loud inside, but the food is spot on. Our client ordered the 7 Cheese Macaroni and she was floored. My co-​worker and I both had the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. I opted for green beans instead of fries since I could probably stand to lose a few pounds. :D
By the way, I am a big fan of ALL of their fried chicken options. Fried? That’s the ONLY way to go. The Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich is a personal favorite. The Chicken Noodle Soup while basic is really tasty as well.
Our server was super helpful and service was prompt and a plus since we were in a bit of a rush. I forgot to mention the flavored sodas are money!

Solid American food! Came here with co-​workers while I was in town. Ample seating and very open layout. Wait staff was extremely friendly and knowledgable.
We started off with the skillet corn bread, Brie flatbread, and the spicy corn crab dip.
The corn bread was amazing! One of the best I’ve had. Came warm in a skillet with some added texture/​crunch since there were some pieces of corn baked in. The Brie flatbread was a surprising win for me– it was pleasantly sweet and delicious. The spicy corn crab dip didn’t make as much of an impression on me, but one of my coworkers loved it!
For my entrée, I got the chicken pot pie. The crust was flaky, warm, and savory– fantastic. The filling also hit the spot with generous pieces of chicken, potatoes, and veggies. Definitely recommend!

Came here when they first opened and haven’t been back because they’re ALWAYS PACKED!
Arrived a little after 7 and waited for a table for two. We got seated an hour later but we already planned for the long wait so it was fine. Ordered my fave, the fried chicken with the Jefferson donut. This is the one place you can get boneless chicken and have it look and taste like bone-​in chicken. The reason they don’t get a 5 star is b/​c I honestly feel it was better when they first opened. The chicken I had today wasn’t as juicy and my donut wasn’t warm like the first time. I do understand it’s 10x more busy than before so I’ll cut them some slack. The food is still good and the servers I’ve had have always been polite.
Still one of my favorite places but good luck trying to eat here with or without reservations!