Dining Out Southeast: The Farmhouse, Springville, AL

We took a drive down U.S. Highway 11 toward Birmingham this afternoon.  Some days (well, MOST days), it's a great idea to get off that interstate and travel the slow way to your destination.  As we came upon the quaint town of Springville, we decided we'd stop in on a restaurant we had heard some chatter about for lunch.  The Farmhouse is a short distance from either I-59 or U.S. 11.  The parking lot was full which we took as a good sign.

Upon entering, we were greeted and seated promptly. Social distancing was being adhered to as best they could and the staff wore masks.  I noticed that the hostess was diligent in sanitizing the menus after use and the young man clearing the tables after each service was careful to also clean the chairs as well as the tables.

Our server took our drink orders and told us of the numerous daily specials. 

We chose onion rings as our appetizer.  The menu described them as sweet Vidalia onions, deep-fried in beer batter, and glazed in thyme-infused honey.

The onion rings were a promising start to our meal. They were served hot, were nice and crunchy, and did have a drizzle of honey.  I didn't pick up on any thyme infusion of the honey.

Sweet Harold chose the Chopped Steak Philly made with shaved Angus ribeye with caramelized onions and a melted Gouda cheese sauce.  He selected hand-cut fries as the side item.

Where to begin? The bread wasn't toasted, but the steak was cooked well.  However, he stated the meat was very salty. As you can see, the cheese sauce was plopped in one spot on the bread/steak and wasn't distributed over the entire sandwich. The fries were "okay" in his opinion.

I chose one of the day's special Hamburger Steak (ground Angus beef) over mashed potatoes topped with chipotle caramelized onions with brown gravy. I chose grilled asparagus as my side. I ordered the hamburger steak medium-well.

Where to begin? The hamburger steak was well, well, well done. And salty. There was a little heat from the chipotle onions. 

The grilled asparagus was tender-crisp after a brief visit to the grill, but no olive oil or butter was present.  The spears were simply dry and had no flavor other than simply being an asparagus spear.

As you can see, this is a WELL DONE (almost to the point of being charred) hamburger steak.

I don't know if there was a problem with the kitchen exhaust system today, but the dining room had a distinctly smoky aroma/feel during our entire meal.

We noticed that other tables received bread baskets (??) with their drink order. We didn't get one because we ordered an appetizer maybe? By the time we noticed, it was too late to inquire although some bread with my meal would have been nice.

Would we return? Maybe.  The best part of our meal was the onion rings.

Perhaps we'll give another try.