I've been to Pam's Farmhouse Restaurant a few times now. It is located about a mile west of…read moreInterstate-440. It has been a Raleigh institution for nearly 30 years, serving breakfast and lunch with a focus on traditional Southern home cooking. It's a classic North Carolina country restaurant filled with regulars, simple furnishings, brick columns, ceiling fans, and happy diners enjoying long lunches. Restaurants like this are becoming increasingly rare.
This restaurant is well known across North Carolina and much of the Southeast. I am always surprised by how many people throughout North Carolina, east and west, know of it and have eaten here. It has been featured on WRAL's Tar Heel Traveler series featuring Scott Mason.
The inside reminds me of restaurants that were built in the 1970s and 1980s and simply never felt the need to modernize. The terrazzo-style floor, brick columns, vinyl chairs, and ceiling fans all contribute to an authentic, lived-in atmosphere. It feels like a place designed for regular customers who want to remain in a time of family-owned local restaurants with loyal employees who know many of their patrons by first name.
Their menu is unique and includes all-day breakfast featuring hand-patted sausage, country ham, homemade biscuits, red-eye gravy, grits, pancakes, and omelets; daily lunch specials that, depending on the day, include fried chicken, barbecue chicken, meatloaf, fried catfish, country-style steak, hamburger steak, pork chops, fried seafood, and turkey with dressing and gravy.
Fresh vegetables also change daily and often include collards, butter beans, cabbage, squash and onions, yams, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, and other Southern staples such as fried okra. Meals are served with biscuits and hush puppies, reinforcing the old-fashioned Southern diner experience.
Today, I had roasted turkey with plenty of gravy over dressing. It came with cranberry sauce. You get two sides, and I had black-eyed peas and fried okra. The turkey was moist, and the gravy seemed homemade, covering the turkey as it rested on a bed of dressing. The fried okra had an even golden coating, and the black-eyed peas seemed slow-cooked and homemade. This is exactly what I've come to expect here. They always live up to their well-earned reputation as a place specializing in Southern comfort food.
I drank a half-and-half mix of sweet and unsweetened iced tea. No need to ask for a refill; the pitchers of both are left on the table. But that doesn't mean you'll miss your waitress for very long; she'll check on you regularly. In other words, the service is every bit as good as the food, with plenty of old-fashioned Southern hospitality.
Important things to consider when planning a trip: They only serve breakfast and lunch. They are open 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday, and are closed Sunday and Monday. They accept cash and checks only--no credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Venmo, or other electronic payment methods. The prices are reasonable enough that they won't break your wallet or checking account. There is an ATM on the premises for your convenience.
I can't wait to go back. Great food, great service, great hospitality, and always a great experience.