Barbara Fritchie Restaurant

I’ve been on a bit of a diner kick lately, so I was excited to try the Barbara Fritchie Restaurant on the outskirts of Frederick, MD. After visiting the historic Barbara Fritchie house, one of the docents recommended heading here for some «real deal» diner food. BTW, in case you’re wondering who this person is, here is an excellent article in the Washington Post, which essentially debunks the legacy of her heroic feat, during the Civil War —
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So the BF restaurant is definitely a throwback to 70’s diner. There is the requisite U-​Shaped counter in the center of the dining area, and then booths and tables all on top of worn linoleum tiled floors. Overly bright and sometimes flickering florescent lighting completes the diner motif.
As for the food, I skipped the all-​day breakfast options, and went straight for the fried chicken, since this is one of the staples by which I judge a diner’s cooking prowess. And I have to say, the fried chicken was delicious! The server indicated that the meat was salt-​brined and then each order battered fried for 20 minutes until golden brown. The ginormous platter arrived with the skin still glistening, and when I cracked open the skin, steam vented out to reveal moist and not dry meat. The chicken was not too salty, and the batter had a good spice blend.
The sides were just OK. The mashed potatoes tasted like a weird hybrid of powdered mix + fresh spuds, but the accompanying white gravy was just bad. The gravy had too much flour and not enough stock or salt, resulting in a gloppy mess. The coleslaw was very pedestrian and tasted like it came straight from a 10-​gallon Food Service size container. The Mac and Cheese was decent, put needed another variety besides American Cheese to round out the flavor profile.
If you are in the area, it’s worth a visit for the nostalgia, but don’t expect to be «wowed». Service can be a bit slow, even when the place is not busy and the cuisine is not gourmet by any means.

Pleasant wait staff
1950s ambience
Great breakfast
Good scrapple done right
Home made biscuits, small but very tender. Great coffee
Generous menu
Definitely a favorite for locals

I told you guys I’d be back to BF! I ordered a pile of corned beef hash, three easy-​over eggs plopped on top of the hash, home fries, and wheat toast w/​coffee. The eggs and hash were fantastic. The hash had the right amount of saltiness to it and was semi crispy. The home fries were a little under seasoned, but nothing ketchup couldn’t remedy. The eggs had a good runny center, which combined with the hash, made for a perfect combo. The coffee was very good and a smooth and rich flavor. Overall, very good – I’m glad I came back.

Terrible food. Stopped in for breakfast, ordered the biscuits and gravy. It was inedible. The gravy tasted like a flour roux. No other taste. I sent it back and got a pie. The crust was soggy and was pretty much pudding with meringue on top that slid right off. Poor service to top it off. Then they billed us wrong! Save this place for granny!

I really wanted to love this place. It has a certain kind of «charm» to it. Nostalgia maybe a better word.
It’s a typical diner from the 60s-​70s. Huge open space with a center island for seating. It’s out dated but like I said it has a certain charm to it that I loved.
Food was ok. I had the crab and eggs Benedict. The eggs were poached very well. The crab was a crab cake that was pretty tasty. The hollandaise sauce was a little weak. THe home fries were either under cooked or mush. I would have loved them to be browned or a little crispy bit on it. To be fair I did not ask them to hammer them on the griddle, which I suppose I could have.
My lady had scrambled eggs and bacon to which she commented «nothing special».
The staff was very friendly and welcoming. It was like walking into moms kitchen. You definitely got the feeling they wanted you to leave full!
Overall this place was cool. Good bang for your buck and really good coffee!

Loved the service and delicious breakfast. Quaint and I will come back when visiting Frederick again.

I’m a regular patron when friends are home from school. Barbara Fritchie’s diner: not the hero you need, not the food you asked for, but the hero you deserve. Service is spotty but the servers are usually very friendly. Recommend trying to grab a booth and sticking to small parties, and keeping an open mind. This is a small roadside diner. Get pie.

From the road it looked like a great place to have a simple but tasty Holiday-​season dinner at a vintage roadside diner. I mean, there’s a giant candy cane on the sign! Unfortunately, the front door is where the nostalgia stopped and reality kicked in.
Don’t get me wrong. Barbara Fritchie has prospered for years without my patronage and will likely go on long after I’m out of the zip code. The numerous local patrons who surrounded me on my visit will help ensure the doors will stay open. That is, as long as their experience is better than mine. It’s just that when I order Spaghetti and meatballs (a classic of the restaurant), I kinda expect meatballs and a sauce with flavor… not a bland sauce with some small meat pieces tossed in. The highlight of the meal was the garlic toast and friendly waitress. The slices of pie headed to the Cadillac-​wide booths were enormous but I didn’t care to be further disappointed.
The place is definitely a throwback but the silence is eerily quiet as it seems the Muzak left Barb along with the meatballs. The booths are huge and the counter is more spacious than you’ll find anywhere. BFs might be a good spot for breakfast or an all day breakfast entrée (at least I hope so) but my experience was just not good. My disappointment is worse as I really prefer to patronize locally owned establishments.

So disappointed this time. They weren’t at all busy, but we still sat for 15 minutes without a hello or a menu. We walked out. The manager on duty wasn’t organized or friendly.

A friend of mine introduced me to Barbara Fritchie a couple of years ago. It’s a great little diner that I always try and stop at on my way through Frederick, MD.
I have tried several of their omelettes and various breakfast dishes. Good diner food all around! The rest of the fam has tried various permutations of their salads and burgers. The whole fam gives this place two big diner thumbs up!
The staff is always friendly and we’ve never had to wait for a table. It’s not super cheap, but it’s not expensive either. In the words of Goldilocks «it’s just right.»
When you think of driving through Frederick and the fact that you could stop for some lame old fast food, you really should consider stopping at Barbara Fritchie Restaurant.
Small business = good for the local economy.
Good food = feeling prosperous after a good meal.
Stop in and tell ‘em Frank L sent ya. They almost certainly won’t know who the heck I am, but why not?

Just not good. We had a breakfast there and everything was very bland. My wife and son ate less than half of what they ordered — my son had sausage and gravy over biscuits, and my wife had an egg Benedict plate. Very underwhelming. go to family meal across town, you’ll be much happier.

Sadly, going downhill. The food is just okay not bad but not delicious either. Our waiter, who used to be the bus boy, was forgetful and rude. He didn’t refill our drinks and forgot part of our order. When I got his attention across the restaurant instead of getting up and coming over to us he expected me to shout across the restaurant! The apple dumpling was served so hot I burned my tongue and had to wait for it to cool, after the ice cream melted it was still steaming! Unfortunately, the usual waitresses were on break and letting this young kid play waiter. We won’t be back for a long while.

This place has great homestyle food, and a ton of choices! Our server was great, although not the quickest but I think that has to do with the diner –take as long as you want and sit for awhile vibe. We had a party of 11, which was easy for a walk in at this place.
My BLT was spot on. One of the best. I split it with my fiancé, he got the shrimp salad sandwich which was not quite as good.
I can’t say my unsweetened iced tea was that great but maybe no one else orders that these days.

Excellent prices! Excellent food! Barbara Fritchie’s is a down home, Mayberry style diner that is well worth the trip off the beaten path in Frederick. Breakfast is delicious-​just like grandma would make. Lunch and dinner are reasonably priced and are real food-​not a tiny patty slapped on a bun. The crab Benedict is delicious!

Nastalgic.
Good American breakfast and lunch.
Used to go as a child with my family and parents. Then took my children, and now return on occasion as a «young» empty nester.

Had breakfast here for the first time. Unfortunately won’t go back. Had the Fasnacth, it was dry. The corned beef was from a can and was not crisped on the griddle. The home fry potatoes were bland and unseasoned and tasted like they blanched them and put them on a griddle to heat not fry. My wife had the sausage gravy and you could taste the flour in the gravy. All in all not a good breakfast.

First star: ample sitting space for large groups and laid back casual atmosphere
Second star: real butter
Third star: free refills on coffee
Forth star: the urinal is high enough that tall people don’t have to squat to avoid peeing on the top of it
5^th star lost because: terrible for anything other than breakfast lol

Very good food, and we are not easily pleased. I got the biscuits with gravy, and both were good. The gravy had the right about of sausage and was well-​seasoned. It came with eggs, which I got scrambled. They were average – I don’t expect to be blown away by scrambled eggs. Not a big egg person.
My partner got French toast with bacon and home fries. The French toast was excellent, made with cinnamon in the batter. The bacon was reportedly very good, and she is a bacon connoisseur. She is also a fried potatoes connoisseur, and she said these ones were alright. They needed to be crispier.
The atmosphere was that of a down-​home dive. We were just passing through, but the rest of the patrons seemed to be locals. The staff were busy with the Saturday morning crowd, but there was no wait to be seated (10:00 AM). We did wait at least 30 minutes for our food, but it was all hot except the home fries. We waited 5 – 10 minutes to pay.
The POS system was cool. It was funny to see such a high-​tech system in this run-​down diner.
We are planning to stop by this place again.

We couldn’t help but chuckle when we walked through the door of this diner. It’s like a super time warp. That’s not a bad thing it’s just so BAM! that it drew out a little laugh.
The breakfast menu is very simple but offers plenty of options. We went with your typical eggs, bacon, hash browns, etc. Everything was exactly what you would expect from a diner. Oh, we also got some banana bread which was very good. My 3 year old gobbled it up.
Moral of the story: it’s a diner with a hometown feel in a very retro setting. I’d probably pick this place over one of the chains down the road mostly because of price and preferring the home cooked vibe. We will definitely try them out for lunch or dinner in the future.

It’s great that places like this exist. I love a solid diner like this with good coffee and counter service. You should only get the breakfast in places like this… or at least that’s what you should judge it by… and the tuna melt. If a diner doesn’t make a good tuna melt… seeya!
Anyway, stopped in the first time, service was extremely fast and the eggs were cooked perfect. Potatoes were good as others have said. I got the 3 egg special with toast and sausage patty. It was a fair amount of food for $ 7.58. Only two complaints;
1^st, The plates are small. So, while it looks full of food, it is a small plate and I really only had a small spoonful of hash browns on there.
2^nd, the sausage patty had congealed white fat on it (you can see it in the photo). It had been thoroughly cooked earlier and then left to stay warm on the side somewhere I guess. Simply throwing it back on the grill would have melted the fat and made it more appetizing looking.
I did like how they gave you butter on the side for your toast. Most breakfast places I’ve been to lately slather on the butter with the big butter paintbrush. Was nice to be able to have soft whipped butter and only use as much as I needed.
All the food was good, though, so I will definitely go back to try the pies, pancakes… and of course the tuna melt.
Full menu. Loads of options.