This hidden gem in the rural part of northern Maryland is a good place to take groups. The idea is, you order your entree. Everything else is served family style. All of the breads, appetizers, sides, are all the same for everyone. The whole table gets to serve themselves from large dishes of each, throughout the meal. The entree portions are massive, so come hungry. There is a fee for plate sharing, to cover the sides and such. The chicken tenders were just right, large, moist, and fresh with the breading done just right. Pricing is a bit steep, but that's because of the amazing portion size. Come early, as the tables fill up fast. Our group of 8 got there at noon, and we were seated immediately. The hall filled up fast after that. The scenery is amazing and the ducks had me "quacking" up! read more

Great selection of food, well prepared, excellent service and such a beautiful setting. A definite 5 star with a nice country ride

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! I grew up with it. I don't know where the ducks went though. Pretty sad because I remember feeding the ducks during my childhood and it was so fun to me. I remember I saw someone getting proposed to from inside the restaurant and it was so cute. The food is great! The bread is DELISH!!! So good. I also like the chicken and sides, I love how they serve the food. They also have great ice cream!! You'll have to make sure to order some. I also like how you order before you sit down, it really speeds up the process. The service is great, super nice workers. I love this place and I hope to go again soon. read more

A great family style restaurant with delicious food and great service. The ambiance is casual and whenever we go there with our friends we all have a great time!!! I recommend it highly and give it five stars! read more

This place is a country style, family style dining place. It has been many years since I ate at a place like this. The chicken is to die for. I plan to go back soon. read more

Best crab cake I've ever eaten! You can actually see the crab in it - big and meaty without much filler. You know it's real because some shell was left on. Lots of unlimited sides come with the dish: cole slaw, pickled beets, cottage cheese, peaches, warm rolls, sugar rolls, apple butter, corn, string beans, and French fries. Free ice cream for dessert if you have room. Try the apple butter in your coffee instead of sugar. It's really tasty! Service was friendly and quick. Enjoy! read more

Great food, great service. Love making a special trip and their fried oysters can't be beat!

My last visit was around 8-10 years ago. Stopped going due to decreasing quality. Went this past week to try it again. We were hugely disappointed. The crab cake was tasteless yellow mush. Way too much filling! The chicken was good, but the two piece consisted of one piece that was barely bigger than my thumb. Service was fair. Waited 10 min for someone to return for empty glasses on the table. Came on a week night and there were only a handful of tables seated at the time. I've called and left two messages asking for a manager to call back. Both times they were busy dealing with customers and I never received a call back. Guess maybe they are too busy with customer complaints? Drove 45 min to go, but should I have stayed home and eaten a frozen dinner. My biggest complaint is the lack of response from management. read more

Friendly Farm - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland

Good food but way over-priced. Hard to justify a $400 bill for a family of 6 eating country style.

My eggplant Parm had too much sauce in the dish Their crab cakes aren't the best ( Box Hill North can't be bet) Very over priced

Limited, but ample, selection of entrees and sides - if you absolutely must have Calamari, Corned Beef, Guacamole, or the perfect Appletini, don't bother. This has been a dependable place for a great meal, especially for families, for all of my life. read more

Wonderful experience, great service, affordable, big portions! Fried chicken and crabcakes were delicious and sugar biscuits are sinful!

Today, we took a leisurely drive to the country to go to a luncheon with our Harley Owners Group chapter at Friendly Farm in Northern Baltimore County in Upperco/Hereford, Maryland. This restaurant really is a farm on about 200 acres with three ponds including ducks. It is such a lovely setting for a restaurant - you feel like you stepped into another world. They have been going strong since 1959. Our group had the entire banquet hall with commanding views of the pond. They had a buffet set up for us that included sugar biscuits, dinner rolls, cottage cheese, apple butter, peaches, homemade Coleslaw, homemade mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn, along with their famous Fried Chicken and Roast Beef (top round) sliced in gravy. We were lucky - because it was a buffet, we could go back for seconds. I thoroughly enjoyed the Fried Chicken - fresh and crispy. They had unlimited beverages as well. To finish our delicious meal, we had Hershey's hand-dipped vanilla ice cream with nuts and chocolate sauce. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals and the staff was so friendly and welcoming. read more

I debated between 2 or 3 stars. The location and farm setting make for a nice view out in the country. It feels like a fun experience with the family-style service and lots of families enjoying a meal together. This counts for an extra star. As for the food, some of the entrees can be decent. But how much better it could be if they took some time and care with the sides. Fresh country vegetables can be delicious. These are not. They use obvious canned green beans with flecks of ham in them. Canned corn. Cottage cheese. Basic rolls (the sugar rolls are tasty). It feels like this place coasts on its location when it could be so much better. read more

Have gone here many times over the years with the extended family. I have never had a bad meal here. Everyone's favorite is the warm sugar rolls -excellent. read more

Interesting place located on a farm with nice views. You order dinner at the entrance and then sit where you wish. All sides, drinks, appetizers, and ice cream and sherbet are included. The place is very clean and the service is excellent. The chairs and tables are basic cafeteria style. FOOD is BASICALLY BUFFET brought to the table. The fried chicken, appetizers and sides are all standard buffet quality. I've had better fried chicken at KFC overseas. The side dishes taste like canned food. The eggplant parmesan is good. They serve QUANTITY OVER QUALITY. The ice cream is Hershey and it's good, and was the highlight of the dinner. We are glad we tried it for the experience. For location and experience 4 stars however we go to restaurants for food so 3 stars, 2.5 if you consider it was almost $50 with tip for two. read more

We had not been to Friendly Farm in years and years. I used to think it was so good, but now I realize it's just mediocre. We got there when they opened so we were seated immediately. Our nice waitress was really quick with getting us drinks and the starters. I got the sweet tea and it seemed a little weak to me. I always went there for the crab cake, which I got again today, and yes, that is still good. Hunks of lump crab meat with practically no filler and a light dressing mixed in that has a good flavor. I just read where another reviewer on here mentioned how their crab cake seemed slightly "off" and the first couple of bites of mine did seem a little odd to me. In fact, I remember taking another bite and trying to discern if it was bad or not. But further bites tasted fine, so I ate it and I didn't have a problem later. It was good. But I realized, really looking at everything, that most of the stuff is canned. You can tell. The sliced peaches are obviously from a can. Our daughter had never been there before, and she assumed, from the name, that everything you got was grown there on the farm! LOL. The sides that you get with your meal, the french fries, my hubby likes, the corn and the green beans are obviously from a can. I think I always just really liked the crab cake in the past, so I overlooked everything else. Our daughter was treating my husband for his birthday and Father's Day, so he got the filet mignon and ordered it medium well. Medium well means slightly pink in the center. It was well, well done. In fact, it was dry. I tasted a bite. He had to use steak sauce, and he never uses steak sauce. I knew he was using it to help moisten it to get it down. We kept telling him to send it back, and even the nice waitress told him to send it back, but for some reason he just wouldn't do it. I don't know if he was embarrassed or not, but for the price our daughter paid... Then you get the little dish of ice cream. No, of course the ice cream isn't homemade. I think it's Hershey's and it was pretty good. They have several flavors to choose from. We always end up getting seated by the windows where you can look out over the farm, see the ponds and the docks, and it is a beautiful setting. The place is still really popular, and it got more and more crowded. I think that when people hear "all you can eat", they associate it with good food. However, when you think about it, the crowds that this place feeds, they do food for what I call "food for the masses". Other than the main entrée that you choose, the sides are like cafeteria food. It would be hard for them to make everything that they serve from scratch to this many people. I have a feeling, though, that we won't be back after this. read more

Food is vile. there is nothing fresh here. All vegetables are canned. Nothing healthy to eat here as well. Not sure why people rave about this place. Ugh! read more

This place is phenomenal. I don't know how they can serve an entree with seven side dishes at a reasonable price. Four of went to dinner here yesterday and ordered the chicken entree. That's five pieces of chicken, rolls, apple butter, string beans, French fries, apple slices, cole slaw and cottage cheese along with your drink and followed by a serving of ice cream. The service is great and the space can accommodate groups large and small. Looking forward to our next visit here. read more

Not what I remember. Crab cakes were bland, pork chops dry, and no need for all the canned sides. Don't care for the pay ahead process and won't be back read more

Me and my family celebrated our Grandfathers 90th birthday here and the food was amazing. Our waitress (I forgot her name) she was great. No complaints. Food and sides were very good! Will be returning! read more

Friendly Farm - Soft Shell Crab Dinner - Special for $31 - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland

I have always had a soft spot for Friendly Farms! In the warmer months you can take some of your rolls and go feed the geese and ducks after your meal, they have baked goods for sale, and they have a great store that you can buy little knick-nacks in! We had such great service provided by Debbie Marie! She is truly a star. Our drinks were not empty once and she was so attentive! You pay first, which is a Friendly Farm tradition. I always get the fried shrimp and my family usually gets their crabcakes. For sides, you get a wonderful variety! Some of my favorites are the cole-slaw; the sweet rolls; the corn! Yum! And they're bottomless. For dessert they offer a wide variety of ice creams and sorbets. I always go with the moose tracks and you can never go wrong with that! read more

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Enjoyed carryout from Friendly Farm last weekend. We ordered an assortment of fried chicken, fried shrimp, coleslaw, french fries, and sugar biscuits. The only subpar item was the french fries (under-seasoned and limp) but could partially be attributed to the nature of takeout food being a little cold by the time you get it home. Everything else was phenomenal! Especially the sugar biscuits. YUM! read more

Absolutely disgusting. The entire restaurant had an absolutely foul smell, and the food was terrible. Don't waste your money. Trust me.

The bread was good, corn had not a pat of butter or seasoning, green beans were bland, coleslaw was actually the best because it was fresh, crab cake was horrible, filet had no taste at all, chicken was edible, my kids liked their fried shrimp, my almost 2 year old said she didn't want the chicken and she LOVES chicken. Lastly the ice cream was freezer burnt. The staff was extremely pleasant and nice! however, I would never return, it was not worth what we spent for a family of 5. I'm really confused by the reviews. read more

Everything the other reviewers assert is true. Yes, the meal opens with a generous serving of canned sliced peaches, cottage cheese, sugar beats, celery and pickles, fries, apple and cranberry sauce. Very family-style rural, and very Americana. Their format is somewhat unconventional: guests are required to place their entree orders with the cashier in advance of entering the dining area. The space is large and rectangular and the furnishings are dining-hall functional. It reminds me of an Elk's lodge or a Kiwanis club room. I must admit that they serve one of the best crabcakes I've ever had. In it are hardly any fillers, just bite after bite of verifiable crab meat. The old bay seasoning was applied delicately so as to not muffle out the inherent flavor of the crab. The fillet mignon was choice, grilled to medium rare as ordered. The staff is extraordinarily friendly and accommodating. There's also a gift shop at the far corner of the property. It's staffed by only one lady and she appears to enjoy listening to NPR. read more

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Save you're time an you're money hour wait turns to 2 hours foods bland not fresh nothing comes locally or fresh better off with McDonald's

I believed the hype and was let down. I think I wasn't super encouraged to try it, the let down wouldn't have been so hard. The food was okay, but nothing to really brag about . It's a family style dining restaurant which is nice. Everyone selects their own entree but the sides are all the the same for everyone. French fries, corn, slaw, peas. The ice cream was super yummy though. read more

Friendly Farm - Chicken and Crabcake - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland

So many of my memories are housed in the walls and grounds of Friendly Farms. I have been coming here since 1969 (when I was 2) and would eat here every day if I could. From special occasions like birthdays, or just time to get together with family and friends. I would always recommend Friendly Farms. First word of warning, on Mother's Day, Easter and other special days, come early, or expect a wait. And if you have family in town for the Christmas holidays, know that they close for two weeks to allow the staff to have time with their families. That being said, family is important to Friendly Farms. My Grandmother and Great Aunt brought us here and introduced us to the warm and wonderful staff, the ducks on the ponds that you can feed, and, oh, did I mention the food? COME HUNGRY since everything but the entree are served family style. Once you place your order, your table is seated overlooking the farm and the ponds. The first thing you will receive are the heavenly sugar rolls (and regular rolls, which I save for the ducks). Don't neglect them when they are warm from the oven. Try to save one in the basket for each of your fellow diners - you can get more : ) While I see there are other items on the menu, I have NEVER ordered anything but the crab cakes. As I often say when I see diners eating fried chicken or ham, I have to remark (they sell chicken? ; ) As a Baltimore born girl and lifelong Marylander, I take my love of crab cakes VERY seriously. I have tried others, but nothing (not even in Baltimore, or down de ocean Hun) can even COME CLOSE. These jumbo lump crab cakes are HUGE (but get two - one to savor later) are BROILED. No fried junk full of filler. These are the real deal. You will thank me later. You also gets family style sides - two veggies, home cut fries, cole slaw, cottage cheese and apple butter (try them together - trust me). Endless drinks, and ice cream for dessert. The other great part of the experience is the warm, welcoming staff. Some of the Wilhelm family, who own Friendly Farms, are still here from my childhood. You will be treated like family members who come by for a meal and fellowship. NOTE: one thing you will NOT find at Friendly Farms is alcohol - they do not sell it. If you "need" a drink with dinner, keep driving. But I could forgo anything for the sweet rolls and the double Crab Cake meal.... If only it wasn't 2 hours from my home in Charles county, Maryland... read more

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Come out to the country! Love the fried chicken! Unlimited sides and coffee and ice cream is a nice ending!

Better left as a childhood memory. I came here many times throughout my childhood. Now 45, I was here earlier today and ordered the incredibly overpriced eggplant parmesan. For almost $22, I got a plate of freezer burnt eggplant with an obnoxious amount of cheese on top. It was inedible. I took 3 bites and that was more than enough. I don't understand the hype around this place. Cost almost $100 for 3 people to eat lunch. The sides are negligible and not fresh, not worth what they charge. I'll keep the childhood memory and dine elsewhere. read more

The shrimp were very big and tasteful. The sides are UNLIMITED and desert is included. It was worth the travel the chicken wings are small and natural. I will return in the future read more

Friendly Farm - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland

Food is terrible! 3/4 of it is canned. All vegetables and fruit they sell are in season and yet they still serve canned Meats are not fresh and we aren't even sure if the pork was real meat. The great reviews must be from the massive amounts of old and dying people in the restaurant that don't have tastebuds anymore. The ONLY reason to come here is for the sugar rolls. Don't bother. read more

Was always a great place to take the family on a Friday night. Friendly staff and great service.

If you like over priced food out of a can this is the place for you. They only offer one vegetarian (eggplant parmesan) and they were out of it at 4:50pm. So the lady offered me something called shared dish; 7 plates of sides. Beetroot, cottage cheese, canned peaches, cannes corn, canned greenbeans, tasty apple butter, and rather bland coleslaw. And this costs you $12, before tax. My kids got a very rubbery  ham and the rather bland broild fish. Although roast beef was moist and cooked well. Our server was nice but not awfully attentive. As twice we had to ask another server to replenish our drinks. So over all, I  think the food was worth $15-20 max. But we end up paying $51.25. Second time we are leaving this place unsatisfied and probably will not come back again. read more

After coming here a few times within the past decade, i have realized this restaurant is a cash grab. You get about ten choices of an entree, no less than $20. You get fake appetizers which are just bread dumped in sugar, coleslaw, apple butter, and cottage cheese. the 'sides' are canned green beans, canned corn, and frozen fries. hick stuff mostly. then a scoop of store bought ice cream for dessert. i felt like a pawn in a monopoly read more

Everything was fantastic however the crab cakes are to die for! The restaurant was really busy but we couldn't even tell because our waitress took great care of us. We will definitely keep coming back. read more

I hate to write a bad review on a local business but unfortunately I think this business is price gouging for very little. The fried chicken was dry and tasteless, vegetables were straight from a can, service was horrible, and prices were extremely expensive. I wanted to like the place but so many other great local places that taste great and is affordable. read more

It's a long drive for us to come here, but it is always worth it. The chicken is cooked to perfection, crispy outside, juicy and tender inside. The fried jumbo shrimp are also perfectly breaded and fried. And the sides. Oh the sides!!! The corn and cottage cheese are my favorites, but they are all good. Top it off with some Almond Joy or Moose Tracks ice cream? Yum!!!! Our server was friendly and kept up with our all-you-can-eat refills. read more

Friendly Farm - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland

These are the best crab cakes in Maryland! There is a reason this place is packed after church on Sunday's. Family style side servings is unique and most entrees are great. I do not recommend the steak, but everything else I have every ordered was great. The crab cakes are at the top of the list! read more

Friendly Farm - Seafood Near Me - Upperco, Maryland