Agricola Eatery

Roy Miller

The atmosphere and service at Agricola was wonderful. The food unfortunately did not live up to our expectations. We started with a cheese board which had 3 small pieces of tasty cheese, a tiny piece of delicious honey comb and a tasty golden raisin spread with an interesting cracker. We had an order of the seafood chowder which had very little seafood and was more soup than chowder. It was also spicier than expected. We got the chicken plate where they kindly replaced the chili sweet potatoes with fingerlings-excellent (for my daughter who doesn't like spicy). Unfortunately the chicken was again a bit spicier than expected since the menu didn't reflect it and the ranch sauce had chili on it which they replaced, she didn't eat. My wife's mushroom flatbread had chili flakes all over it (should be stated on the menu, not everyone likes spicy), she barely ate it and they kindly removed it from the bill. We had a duck rigatoni which was fine if bland, the demi glaze really lacked flavor (at least not spicy so we were able to eat it). Finally the best dinner was the salmon. It had a nice sauce with good depth and flavor. The only thing with this dish was that the skin wasn't cooked enough to be crispy but it was easy to peel off. For dessert we were excited for the peanut butter mouse jar but it under delivered. The mouse pb flavor was too subtle and overall while the idea seemed good we were too optimistic in ordering two to share.. we didn't even finish one between five of us.

Rick White

Our family outing last Sunday was the celebration of several of our family's birthdays and really our first indoor dining experience together as a family in 2 years. We last ate at Agricola a few years ago and really enjoyed ourselves. We were so looking forward to eating there again and could've eaten anywhere else...but alas, the promise of a great meal at Agricola was not met. The menu reads really well and sounds very appetizing but the kitchen's execution of many of the dishes just wasn't great and in some cases left us scratching our heads. Case in point is the "Wild Mushroom Pate". Sorry guy's but this is most definitely NOT a pate. I suppose some might consider it a mousse except for the fact that is was a loose, flavorless mess. Visual appeal is absolutely important in fine dining, but first you need to execute the idea so that it tastes good (which this did not). The "Local Mushroom Flatbread", while pretty to look at with it's runny poached egg, MUST have the "Local Mushrooms" partially cooked BEFORE you add them to the flatbread. Otherwise diners end up with rubbery, flavorless mushrooms that are very difficult to chew. It's great to use well-known local producers such as LoRe' Pasta and Griggstown Chicken but please don't call it "Crispy Chicken", because it wasn't...$37 for overcooked Halibut would've been too much for me to bear...fortunately for the restaurant my wife likes her fish well-done...but someone needs to stop appropriating terms like Soubise...which it definitely was not. I am all for letting ingredients shine and coaxing the flavor out of them...and Chef your food looks great but for the love of Boulud, pick up the freaking salt and pepper mill! We asked for salt and pepper to be brought to the table and they never arrived. Our server was very nice and provided average service but the kitchen took over an hour to send out our appetizers. The meal wasn't cheap and left us very disappointed with our choice that evening.

Justin Cali

Walked in on a Saturday night, couldn’t get a table but luckily founded seating at the bar. Service was okay, but the food was meh for the price tag, we got the calamari and it was the only delicious item we got, we order the the Duck entire and the Salmon entire. The duck was on the chewy side and salmon had no favor to it, and the noodles were definitely hard it was undercooked. I don’t mind paying top dollar for food if the food matches the price tag. Drinks and wine selection was decent.

Jérémie Lumbroso

UPDATED REVIEW OCT. 2022 (3 stars): OK, it's been a year, Agricola still doesn't have Apple Pay, but at least this is now a well-known oddity. One of my complaints of last year, is that Harvest Restaurant Group was trying to get the "farm to table" and modern branding, but was not doing any of the pioneering stuff that the original owner used to try out. Well since Summer 2022, I am very happy to report that all HRG restaurants now carry non-alcoholic beverages that use Seedlip spirits. For this reason, Agricola and The Dinky are now back to being regular destinations. The mocktails are very good! And they change! The Wild Mushroom Paté is still very good... ORIGINAL REVIEW NOV. 2021 (1 star): First a bit of history: Agricola opened in 2013, by a local entrepreneur, Jim Nawn who owned an organic farm and wanted to create the restaurants that use it. Agricola was his flagship restaurant, and it was a creative, innovative "boutique" restaurant that kept things fresh: For instance, they had vegan dishes very early on, and, in 2018, they introduced the Seedlip, non-alcoholic cocktails. Unfortunately, Nawn lost interest in running his restaurants after a personal tragedy, and sold everything to Harvest Restaurant Group. HRG immediately removed the non-alcoholic cocktails, reduced the vegan offerings, simplified the menu, to appeal to a more generic crowd. HRG seems to only cares about the established "farm to table" branding. I loved Agricola, and I used to go twice a week for drinks and dinner. I now don't recognize the place. The food is still decent, the waiters are top notch. But the management!! Last week, we were unable to pay with Apple Pay, so we had to go to the bank to take cash. Despite explaining our intentions, the general manager phoned us frantically — and when I politely asked that they suggest to HRG to get Apple Pay (the detour inconvenienced us and made us look like we were skipping out on our bill), she said: "Well you could also bring money with you." I never thought I'd hear that in the hospitality setting, but certainly not during an active pandemic. HRG and this rude manager: EVERY restaurant around Agricola has Apple Pay and better service — from place's like Mamoun's, Jule's or Junbi's, to high-level places like Kristine's, to small shops like the Bread Boutique or Witherspoon Bread. We go to Kristine's now. Better everything!! And they have Apple Pay! And the manager is not rude. My guess is that HRG is a big group that underpays staff and if they didn't they would have a better manager. At any rate, no interest in helping their bottom line! PS: The Wild Mushroom Pâté was supremely good though...