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| - My recent lunchtime visit to Max's Farm Table was a study in contrasts - the deficiencies of the front of house unfortunately detracted from the glimpses of greatness exhibited by the kitchen. Factoring the unevenness of the food and that the limited menu is not well-configured for the lunch crowd, I plan to sit on the sidelines while the restaurant works out these kinks.
I enjoyed the look and feel of the restaurant, from the gleaming stainless steel of the open kitchen, the stylish muted gold, blue and terra cotta color palette used throughout the interior. Seating options plentiful - both booths and tables are available. The loud background music, a heavy dose of soft rock from 70's and 80's seemed louder than necessary in a near empty restaurant.
The limited menu in place when I visited had burgers, pizzas and sandwiches. The sandwiches do not come with any sides, but there are a handful of a la carte options: fries ($4 for a small order, $7 for a large), soup (pricey at $6 for a cup) and a salad (no description $7). The restaurant also offers a Friday fish fry and has a separate weekend brunch menu.
I ordered the chicken sandwich (described as slow roasted chicken with onions, green peppers and mushrooms served on a freshly baked roll) for $9. While the chicken was moist and tender, it needed a fairly liberal dose of salt. The lightly sautéed red, orange and green peppers made the sandwich look visually appealing and added some textural contrast to my sandwich. I felt the undercooked onions could have used more time in the sauté pan to enhance their flavor. While the menu indicated the sandwich came with mushrooms, I did not notice any of them. The toasted homemade bun had fantastic flavor and just the right density. I liked but not loved this sandwich - even when I added more salt, this dish lacked any punch, nothing to make it memorable.
As I mentioned earlier, my meal did not come with a side, but during the course of my meal, by server offered me a small sample of the roasted squash soup which ended up being the highlight of my visit. The soup was more like a puree, but was packed with flavor that comes from slow roasting the squash. Unlike my sandwich, the soup was masterfully seasoned. The person that prepared that dish displayed some mad cooking chops.
While that soup was the pinnacle of my experience, the service was the nadir. From the moment I set foot in the restaurant, confusion reigned. For starters, here was no host station, so it was unclear whether I should order at the counter or wait to be seated. After I stood confused for about a minute in the middle of the restaurant, a server finally saw my perplexed look and indicated I could sit where ever I wanted. After grabbing a seat in one of the booths in the back of the establishment, the server quickly came by with a menu and a glass of water. Then nothing for 10 awkward minutes. There were only three other sets of patrons, so it wasn't like the restaurant was at capacity. My food came quickly once I finally ordered, but it was delivered with no silverware or napkins. When I needed salt for my under-seasoned sandwich, I had to wander around the dining area looking for my server because she never checked in after delivering my food. Same story when I realized I needed some silverware to eat my unwieldy sandwich - get up and hunt for utensils. While the Yelp business listing indicates that Max's has free wi-fi, when I asked my server for the password, she indicated it is not available for customers. To be fair, my server was quite personable when I interacted with her, but it seemed like she had no serving experience and little training from management.
Will I visit Max's again...probably, the potential from my tiny sample of the magnificent squash soup gives me reason to be optimistic. But I'll probably wait six months to give the restaurant time to work through the service issues and fine tune the menu.
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