My best friend and I went to farmer brown based on the fact that he had heard it was a soul food restaurant. I should have read the CitySearch reviews first. We went on a Friday night and the restaurant and bar area was packed (I highly recommend reservations). Based on the crowd in side we began to realize that this was not going the the soul-food experience that we had anticipated. The drinks from the bar were good and strong. Once we were seated and flipped through the limited menu and all we saw on the menu that was related to soul food was fried chicken, pulled-pork sandwich, mac-and-cheese, a po boy sandwich, gumbo and some desserts. We order the ribs and appetizer and the fries. The ribs were good but the fries arrived cold so we sent them back for another plate of the ribs. He had the pork chop, greens and mac-and-cheese and I had the steak. The steak and pork chop were average, the greens were swiss chard with a sweet glaze and not collard greens, and the (small portion of) mac-and-cheese was just the right size because it was not good. On the positive side, the wait staff was great. They were very friendly and attentive. When I think about soul-food I think about comfort food and I just did not feel it. If you are a fan of soul food, as I am, skip this restaurant. This is California cuisine meets Soul-food and the Soul gets lost in the mix. If I look beyond my disappointment regarding the lack of soul, I would say that overall this is a very average restaurant with nothing unique enough to make me want to recommend it.
Pros: Strong drinks, close parking, great staff
Cons: Area, Not real soul-food, limited menu
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