Home at Braddock Inn
Even though their website has been under construction for forever and we had no idea what to expect, we decided to go to Home at Braddock Inn on Saturday night with our friends to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I think the last time we went there was about 12 years ago for a Sunday brunch with my parents who were visiting. We had been to dinner only once before that and I remembered that we enjoyed it but I couldn’t remember much else.
As we drove up the mountain, the little spit of rain in Frederick turned into an impressive snow shower that coated the ground in Braddock Heights. We got there a bit early and watched the music duo set up in the upstairs bar area. Unfortunately our table was ready before they started playing.
Since it was Valentine’s Day, they had a special menu but I had a chance to briefly look over their usual menu a bit. I was very surprised to see that they had an extensive lunch menu that included burgers and other sandwiches. They serve dinner starting at 3PM Monday-Friday and breakfast, lunch and dinner on the weekends starting at 9AM. I remember thinking that the breakfast looked good but I wanted to turn my attention to the specials of the evening, which sounded like a great deal.
For $80/couple, the special included a bottle of wine (choice of Chardonnay or Merlot, we chose Merlot although for some reason, our waitress tried to talk us into trying the Chardonnay), a shared appetizer (choices were clams casino, crab dip or garlic hummus and pita). We choose the clams, which were tasty but very small and there were about 10 on the plate. Our friends liked the crab dip and the crusty bread it came with. The next course was a choice of salad or soup. I had the spinach salad which was ok, albeit a bit greasy by the end once the warm bacon dressing started to cool. Jim and one of our friends chose a vegetable soup while the other had a bowl of Maryland crab soup. For entrees, two of us had twin petite filets which came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I had the pork tenderloin with risotto (although the menu said mashed potatoes) and asparagus. Our other friend had lump crab stuffed trout but I can’t remember what came with it other than the same asparagus the rest of us had.
The special also included a shared dessert. After telling us the choices, Jim and I chose a chocolate cappucino cake and our friends chose a strawberry cheesecake. Our waitress told us not to be surprised if she came back and told us they were out of the cappucino cake but they apparently weren’t because the cake came out a few minutes later. It was good and the perfect size to share. It tasted a lot like tiramisu.
I wish they would get their website up and running so I can study the regular menu a little more. The restaurant is in a very pretty location on Schley Ave. in Braddock Heights. I’m thinking of going for breakfast next time.
thanks for helping to stimulate the local economy, lizfrog! when things have improved a bit in our house, we will have to check out this place
Liz, do you by any chance remember what sort of items were on the breakfast menu and what the prices were like?
@Kali Durga, unfortunately no I didn’t. I meant to look over the menu after deciding that we were going to take the special but then our order was taken and the menus turned in and I spaced out on studying the menu more. Maybe Jim looked at it more than I did. I’ll have him comment more if he remembers anything.
I didn’t even notice the breakfast menu. The regular menu was standard American Fare, with a number of burgers, sandwiches and typical dinner entrees. I would imaging the breakfast was fairly traditional, and would guess regular prices since it wasn’t necessarily a “swanky” sort of place.
Thanks for the report on Braddock Inn. It’s been on our list of places to try for dinner for some time. (We did have an enjoyable lunch there once, during open-house weekend of historic Braddock Heights homes).
Braddock Heights is a bit out of the way for us (we live in Damascus), so we tend to forget it’s there in its tucked-away location. Wish we had thought about going for Valentine’s Day!
I think they added breakfast a few months back, as I don’t remember seeing it on the menu the first time that we ate at the Braddock Inn. If I recall correctly, the breakfast selections include standard fare — omelettes, eggs, maybe French toast, etc.
And speaking of breakfast, I noticed that Isabella’s is now serving breakfast. I was walking around downtown this weekend and they made mention of it on their sandwich board in front of the restaurant. I think it may only be served during the week, so you better check before trying it out. I have no idea what their breakfast menu includes.
And of course Isabella’s website is currently off-line… That could be some interesting breakfast. B’fast tapas, anyone?
Yay for more breakfast options!
@Kali Durga, isn’t that frustrating? The website has said it will be back in 2 minutes for about an hour and a half now!! And I agree about more breakfast options. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day!
I wish the proprietor at Braddock Inn the best. It has a dynamite daytime winter view, but the Inn is very secluded. In the food industry, it’s location location location. We visited a couple years ago during winter and the entire parking lot was a sheet of ice. Treacherous. What they need is a really strong hook. Sounds promising from this review.
I was thinking, as we left the restaurant, that it would be a nice wedding venue.
The place is haunted and a paranormal inversitgation team wants to investigate it. The sports bar donwstairs and the 3rd floor are active areas. I beleive the Maryland Ghost Hunters Society is trying to reach them about invesitgating the place. My mother’s boyfriend managed the sports bar and saw many apparations and other pople I know who worked there have reported the same things.
Also, an invesitgation is in the works for 101 East Patrick Street which is now home to Venus on the Halfshell.The foundation there is the oldest in the city of Frederick. Plus my late grandmother worked there for the Blue Ridge News Agency for 40 years. Jennifer, the owner and friend asked me if she wore perfume. I said…Yes and only the best!!! If my gandmother is visiting it might be to heck up and see if anyone screwed up the books. I told her though is she is heading to the bathroom get out of her way. HA HA!
I miss her everyday and if she is there I would like to communicated with her.
Since I love a good ghost story I thought I would share this story that Susan emailed in:
Spooky! Thanks for sharing!
That IS a cool story–though I don’t know if I would have found it particularly “cool” to have been bothered by such unexplainable noises all night long. And then to have found the chairs and tables piled up in front of MY door in the morning…Hmm. Something interesting to think about next time I drive by the Catoctin Inn.
Ive been working at the restruant for a few months now and find what you say interesting, allthough i havent seen ghost or apperitions for say i have heard thing, usually during the night hours when going upstairs to our storage room, i think it would be a great idea to investagte this building, it has a lot of history and would be interesting to see what an overnight stay would show you..
thx.
Darrell– Gee, it’s too bad I won’t be able to make it to Braddock Inn on March 20 for my company’s “Open Mic Nite” downstairs. The thought that paranormal activity has been sensed down there would have added to the evening (along with a couple beers)!! Can’t say I’m a believer, but it’s still kinda fun to think about the possibility.
Also, if your grandmother still is hanging out at her old workplace at 101 East Patrick, I hope you’ll someday experience a connection with her there!
I sometimes wonder how many folks truly feel they have experienced unexplainable goings-on–around Frederick or anywhere else–but decide it’s best to keep it to themselves.
That opne mic night mught be cool. I was singing there one night while my sister and her b/f were arguaing right in front of me and I could feel someone looking over my shoulder. It was not scary. I hate the rest rooms. It always feel like there is someone else in there.
I would love to tell my grandmother that I miss her!
We went to the Home at Braddock Inn for breakfast on Sunday. It was terrific. Great fluffy omelet, stuffed french toast, egg skillets, etc. Very reasonable, and the service was great. They have live jazz in the front room/lounge on Fridays or Saturdays. This week Friday Frederick Jazz trio is scheduled. There is little to no good jazz in town, so I am going to give it a try.
Thanks for the report Bill!
I am the executive chef at braddock inn, and would like to say thanks for all the good reviews….Our breakfast is fairly priced, and some may say cheap!! Not in quality, of course!!! I will answer any other questions anyone has on this post!!! Hope to see ya soon.
Hey Iggy. Got a bit of good news for you and the gang at Home at Braddock Inn! Just post your email here so I can share it with you, OK? Hint:
Some good Public Relations:)
Iggy, thanks for checking in! When do you think the website will be up and running?
Our advertising/media person is working on it right now…Hopefully by the middle of march….as well as a E-newsletter and there should be a mailer in the frederick news post soon as well!!! So keep your eyes open, and also if you have not been there in a while we put out a new menu over the summer. Keeping the best of the home classics and introducing some more contemporary dishes like ahi tuna, salmon, some nice pastas, as well as about 8 new sandwiches for those looking for liter fare. And of course we have kept the price as low as we possibly can, so bring the whole family!! Will keep ya updated!!!
Iggy, any update on the website??
This place is great. My other half and I love their Cowboy Steak. Their downstairs bar would be a great place for a private party. They also carry a couple of Flying Dog Beers, which is an added bonus for FD fans.
As other non-chain, locally based restaurants bite the dirt, it’s one more reason to make a point of trying Home at Braddock Inn. I hope they’ll be able to get their website up and running very soon.
I hope so too. Their business should pick up once the website is up. Hopefully Iggy is right and it will be soon.
It is now 8/31 and the Web site is still not up! I am looking for a wedding and reception venue in Frederick Co. I read on a wedding forum that a bride from Frederick had her wedding at the Braddock Inn and had a great experience. I wanted to find out more about this place–prices, etc. I e-mailed the inn, but have not gotten a response. I called the owner and spoke to him. He said he would e-mail their menu to me. It’s been days, and nothing!
I live more than an hour away, so I want to get as much info as possible before I make the journey to visit. I’d love to see a few pictures of the inside. This is frustrating!
I agree Kit. There’s absolutely no excuse for their website to be down this long. I know it’s no help to hear word of mouth, but it really is a lovely venue. I hope they answer you soon though, lest they lose a potential valued customer.
Hey guys…Sorry about the web site being down, I cannot give you an excuse or reason, Unfortunately, that is out of my control, as Executive Chef, I can however, Give anyone my personal E-mail if there is any problem getting hold of anyone to plan an event. We have had about 6 weddings or wedding receptions in the past 2 1/2 or 3 months, And everyone was very pleased with everything. Once again, that is word of mouth, And, not knowing me personally, I am sure you will take my opinion as biased. But, anyhow, Contact me at chef_iggy@live.com if you are having any problems with the restaurants E-mail, which is, argie33@msn.com
Sorry for the inconvenience,
Iggy
Thanks for the reply Iggy. I’d hate to see you lose customers just because your website isn’t up. But really, what is the deal with the website? I wrote this post for Valentine’s Day in February and lamented the lack of website back then!
Despite Iggy’s (executive chef, Home at Braddock Inn) hope that their website would be up and running by mid-March, the site is still under construction as we enter April.
Having intended to go there for dinner for some time, I thought a great opportunity had come round recently when my visiting niece and her friend inquired about having dinner somewhere. When I suggested Braddock, my niece’s initial interest cooled a bit upon checking the website and finding that menu offerings weren’t available. We ended up going somewhere else, since we were able to check the menu on line to make sure they served dishes meeting the somewhat picky taste of my niece’s friend.
Still looking for that website to come out from under construction, Braddock Inn!!!!
Some on here know me as a negative Nellie when it comes to reviews; so it is with great pleasure that I report on my first (of many) visit to the Home @ Braddock Inn:
My wife and I visited this past Saturday the 28th. We’d heard about it on this site and wanted to check it out. For starters, I almost fainted when making the reservation, b/c the host who took our reservation ASKED ME WHERE WE PREFERRED TO SIT. When I told him we had never been there before, he proceeded to describe the front and back rooms.
So we made the 10 minute drive from our Frederick home to Braddock Heights; and I must say, that ten minutes is the equivalent of a four hour drive into Nothern West Virginia. It really feels like you’re in a different state/part of the country.
When we arrived, the host who took our reservation offered a tour of the facility so we could hand-pick our table. He then offered a table in the side room for us where he knew of no reservations for “at least a couple of hours.” We ended up having the room to ourselves for the entire time we were there.
The server we had was extremely friendly, and grateful for our business. We had the crab dip, which is probably the best we’ve ever had, along with a couple glasses of wine (merlot, cabernet), which were good as well. I had the cowboy steak rare (kudos to the chef for knowing how to cook a rare ribeye!), and my wife had the country fried steak. Both of our dinners were very, very good, and perfectly prepared.
Another terrific part of our experience were the prices. We walked away feeling like we had a $100 dinner, when in reality, it was barely over $50. You truly get more than you pay for at this restaurant. We will be back for dinner again, but also for their breakfast; as their menu seemed quite reasonable and tasty while including some real traditional favorites like sausage and gravy.
I recommend that those who are hung up on going until they see an online menu/website take the plunge and go anyway. It will be well worth your time. Thank you for a great dining experience Home at Braddock Inn!
Thanks for letting us know about your good experience at the Braddock Inn. It really is a beautiful restaurant in a beautiful setting. I definitely want to get up there for breakfast as well!
Sorry about the website delay!!!! Our media person is working on it, I swear!!! Anyways, Just want to remind people that for easter (and mothers day as well) We do a breakfast and brunch buffet, filled with all kinds of homecooked goodness. I can E-mail menus if anyone is interested, would post it, but checking this from my home pc right now. Always is a really good turn-out, so reservations are recomended especially for larger parties. Hope to see you all there.
Thanks,
Iggy
Yaaay, my significant other and I finally made it to Home at Braddock Inn on Mother’s Day. We were in the area and decided on the spur of the moment to stop by for a late-ish dinner. With the peak dining hour well past, we were promptly seated at a choice table by a window overlooking the green lawn and large old trees in the back. Very relaxing, private, and just what the doctor ordered.
While we were hungry and did wait longer than we might have liked to get coffee (“Brewing a new pot”), the promised bread (“More was being baked,” we were told), and the entrees themselves, we focused on just relaxing and being out from under our usual time constraints. We enjoyed the richly flavored coffee when it finally did arrive, and the two kinds of bread, accompanied by pumpkin butter, were tasty and satisfying (though not warm, as we had hoped!).
We both love crabmeat so we went all the way, ordering MD crab soup plus the crabcake entree, with roasted asparagus and redskin roasted potatoes (substituted for the usual rice pilaf). The crab soup was fine (my partner would have preferred a bit more crabmeat), as were the crabcakes, which contained very little filler. Both of us enjoyed them, though I felt they were a just a tad bland and could have used a bit more spice. As for desert: Though I was comfortably full, I couldn’t resist ordering the “apple fritters” (tender baked apple pieces in a crispy, lightly browned sweet potato batter with caramel, served hot and nestled in a little cast-iron skillet–and topped by vanilla ice cream). Warning: Utterly scrumptious! But large–more than enough for two. We ended up eating the ice cream and a small sampling of the fritters–and boxing the rest for a still-delightful “take two” the next evening.
All in all, good “comfort food”–nothing fancy–in what looks and feels like a plain but charming old home in a green, relaxed setting.
Folks, I have located the antithesis of Home @ Braddock Inn, and regrettably, must offer my feedback from our first (and last) visit this past weekend to Old South Mountain Inn:
Every single aspect of the experience was horrendous. The first thing you notice about the place is that the two owners have reserved parking spots right up front WITH THEIR NAMES on the sign, and then their names on the license plates of their Blinged out vehicles. If this doesn’t give you an idea of what this restaurant is about, then I don’t know what else will, b/c it’s clearly all about the owners, their profit margin, and not about the customers.
For a white linen type of place such as this, we had a teenager serving us. She was relatively nice, if a little Applebees-ish, but certainly not what you would expect from such a legendarily special type of location.
We had a $12 crab dip appetizer that came with approximately 4 oz. of crab dip, and SIX crackers for dipping. $12 people. $12 (can I say profit margin?)!
The “salads” that came with our entrees were TWO pieces of iceburg lettuce, and a cherry tomato. You had to pay $4 EXTRA to substitute the garden “salad” with a caesar salad. The owners clearly don’t care that every other restaurant offers a garden or caesar salad with no extra mark-up (can I say profit margin?).
I ordered the prime rib b/c it’s one of my favorite cuts of steak, and I get it just about anywhere I can. Old South Mtn Inn had it as a “special” that night. I ordered the 12 oz. Queen cut. What I received was roughly 8 oz. and what appeared to be 1/2 of an inch thick. It was, quite simply, the thinnest, dryest, most bland tasting prime rib I have ever had in my entire life.
My wife ordered the Filet Mignon w/ Bernaise sauce and bacon, cooked to medium. She received a well done brick of approximately 6 oz. of meat with a piece of bacon lying on top of the steak. I repeat, A PIECE OF BACON LYING ON TOP OF THE STEAK!!! LOL!
If you want to pay prices comparable to Dutch’s Daughter, but receive quality roundabout Bob Evans, this is your place. Keep padding their pockets while depriving yourself of fine dining and great food currently being offered at countless other locations in the Frederick area.
While playing a game on my PC ( with PC fan drawing air through an open window in the basement of my split-level ); I was watching an old movie in another room on my TV. When the commercials came on I would go back to the PC and then vice-versa when I thought they had stopped. So; I was wide awake frequently walking between rooms; when I found myself watching the TV at about 2:30 AM Saturday morning. I then saw the most remarkable cloud; like an inkwell poured sideways flowing along my hallway towards the PC room! I was taken aback as I had lights on in both rooms I clearly saw the cloud which was about the width of a man’s arm four feet off the ground and rouling and flowing like an ink-like ashe-cloud from a fire moving along. I sat astounded for a few minutes and also because I lacked the courage to investigate. Finely it disappeared and after a few more minutes mustering my gut; I went to investigate and found nothing! Needless to say; I closed the window and never opened it again after dark! H O W E V E R; Every night at 3 AM there is a single “scratch” at that window as if to see if it is Open!!?? In fact, since my bedroom is downstairs; I have come to automatically wake up at 2:50 and I lie in wait for the scratch!? It never fails! I doubt this is a cat or dog; as they would soon get discouraged and would probably scratch more than once. I hear nothing else. I have since seen that one of the “forms” a vampire can assume is that of a dark cloud so I wonder; as the basement windows are only 4 inches above the ground in these split-levels. I have since sold the house ( good luck! ) and no longer hear the “scratch” at 3 AM in Frederick.
Nice spookyness. Thanks for sharing.
Is this on the level or am I a little slow when it comes to recognizing a good pull on the leg?
Who knows? It’s a harmless story and it sort of goes with the other ghost stories in this thread.
Hey everyone!!!! The Home at Braddock Inn website is finally up and running after the extended wait!! Some of the print is small on the menus, but can be magnified. The pages will be reloaded on monday with bigger pages and print. But, The graphics and photos are awesome, as well as the format of the page itself. Check it out and feel free to leave comments!!!
Thanks for waiting,
Iggy
Yay! Thanks for letting us know Iggy!
Well, this certainly IS good news! I’ll tip off my friends who’ve been asking about it.
Glad to see it’s up! now, how about a vegetarian entree?
Well, There is not alot of vegetarian options on the menu, When a vegetarian or vegan dines there, I personally come to the table and go through a list of tasty suggestions to fit there diet. The list is virtually endless to what we can go with veggies!!! Also, On weekends, usually a couple times a month, We run vegetarians options such as veggie lasagna, Stuffed eggplant, eggplant parmesean, and others. So, feel free to ask for the Chef (Me) or if its one of my (very few) days off there will be another competent staff or the owner who can work with you to get you a dish of your liking.
I was going to make the same comment…that the vegetarian options listed on the menu for lunch and dinner are very limited. Based on just the menu and website, I would have hesitated to bring a group that included vegetarians to dinner.
Friends and I had brunch at Braddock Inn this weekend. With the many breakfast options, the vegetarian in the group had no problem finding something she liked. Everybody went away very happy. The food was excellent, the portions generous. The chicken-apple sausage was a HUGE hit, even with Mr “Only pork sausage is worth eating”. The wait staff was helpful and attentive. The location, even in the rainy fog, is beautiful…the site is heavily wooded and the leaves are just changing color. There is even a resident cat (always a good omen). Highly recommended.