Feathernesters

Get a reservation for sure before going… Food was OK, not fantastic but not too bad on our visit there. Neat store.

Went here for lunch with the girls on a Saturday afternoon. Upon entering this place, one would not expect it to serve food. As you walk farther to the back, however, wafts of food invade your nostrils. I had the chicken salad sandwich with potato salad… everything was fresh and tasted better than I anticipated. I wouldn’t mind going back one Sunday for their world famous brunch.

Great little place for lunch and especially brunch. I was surprised there was a place to eat tucked in here in the back of a cute little store (some great shabby chic, vintage, and vintage-​esque finds).
The food isn’t anything life-​altering, but it’s tasty and never disappoints. I absolutely love the quiche at lunch (spinach and cheese is my favorite), and the ham and egg dishes on the buffet are also favorites. I can also recommend the lemonade with a splash of raspberry flavoring (sugar-​free), deluxe buttermilk pie, and peanutbutter pie.
Make reservations on Sunday for sure! On weekday lunches, we’ve walked in with no reservation and no wait at all.

What has happened? I have been to Feathernester’s on many occasions and have always enjoyed the food (though limited selection) and the tea room atmosphere. Today, I took a friend and we arrived to unprepared staff, a plain dirty bathroom and several menu items unavailable. One waitress scrambled to try to cover the entire place for the first hour we were there. She did a good job, but it was an air of complete lack of preparation. My chicken salad sandwich was very good, the potato soup lukewarm and the tea cakes came after our meal because they were baking (a full hour after the place opened). The dessert selection was limited to cake there were none of their «signature» pies available. Come on, wake up and get your act together. I will try again in case there was some disaster such as power failure, etc. that caused the chaos today. But I did find it interesting that not once were we asked how our meal/​experience was… I suppose they already knew the answer.

Overpriced and mediocre food. I had the quiche of the day, which tasted like it had been re-​heated in a microwave. There were blobs of clearly frozen spinach in the quiche, as well as clumps of cheese. The tomato basil soup was good, but a very tiny portion and was accompanied by two sad club crackers, nothing more. I split an éclair with a friend for desert and it tasted frozen. The service was exceptionally slow. I found the whole experience considerably less than pleasant and have no intention of ever returning.

Fabulous lunch! Never heard of buttermilk pie before today and it was delish! Glad I made a reservation. One isn’t required but it was very busy. Make sure to order the buttermilk pie! DELISH!!! This was a groupon deal and when another presents it self I will definitely purchase it.

Another restaurant we got sucked into via Groupon. Ugh. Reservations required, really, I have no idea what the appeal is for this place, in not the greatest neighborhood. On arrival, instead of being greeted politely, the only question is «Do you have reservations?». When I say yes and our name, we wait a few minutes, then are told to go sit at the table by the bookshelf. No staff walking us there, welcoming us. The waitress borrows a laminated card from another table for our drink selections and despite telling her we have never been here before, doesn’t have much else to say. She comes back to get our drink orders but never mentions the buffet, so we ask, do we just go on up when we are ready? Are there plates up there?
The «buffet» is just a couple fold up tables put together, with chafing dishes on them. No covers on anything and everything is cooked in disposable tin foil pans, disposable.
There were two types of breakfast frittatas that weren’t bad, obviously homemade. Way over-​sized sausage patties walked right out of McDonalds screaming frozen and pre-​formed. Bacon was thicker, better quality but cooked the gamut from almost raw but hot to blackened edges. My son got a piece so raw I took it away from him. Grits, undercooked potatoes O’Brien, donuts homemade and rolled in sugar, very fluffy and good. The small fresh fruit tray was not so fresh, sweet melon, some dead grapes and strawberries looking a little gray. The sausage gravy and biscuits were very good.
There was a gentleman who was making omelets to order, same guy who asked if we had reservations. They had typical accoutrements to your omelet, with the exception of cucumber? On an Omelet. OK, so I say sure. I try to order an omelet but he is busy making them. He gets done with one, delivers it to the person at a table, returns. Despite having an empty burner, he doesn’t take my order, he finishes the other omelet, goes to deliver that one. Okay it MUST be my turn now. I see him return to the kitchen, then he leaves again. So I say «Sir?», getting ready to say «May I get an omelet». He holds up the wait one minute /​talk to the hand? sign and then finally returns to his station about a minute later, no apologies. I order the omelet and go have a seat. It is delivered in a reasonable amount of time, with no comments from him at all and thank you from me. It is a broken omelet, didn’t come out so well, looks like breakfast on mother’s day morning! Ok who cares how it looks as long as it tastes good, right? I bite into it and find raw, oily onions, either overcooked or canned tomatoes, raw but hot cucumbers and melted cheese. Not impressive at all, and not worth a wait.
The shop is a little loud with no music, despite it being full of mostly little older ladies. The items in the store are all shabby chic décor, which I cant evaluate the quality or price as I don’t go for that type of décor. It was a little odd that the items decorating the ladies room were for sale.
Each drink was $ 1.95 (including a child’s) and we got no refills at all. Not on hot coffee, cold tea or lemonade. She never asked or brought around refills. Also, she got involved in a conversation with the table beside us on something and another one of her customers had to stand beside her, waiting to talk to her to ask for something /​get their bill. That lady stood by our table, waiting and rolling her eyes a bit that she hadnt even noticed her standing there.
Plates were cleared a little slowly considering you need to get a clean plate to go to the buffet again. After sitting for several minutes with no offer of additional beverages, just talking, we finally asked for the bill. For 3 adults and a child was a staggering $ 58 before Groupon and tip, considering the food quality. After Groupon, it was $ 35 with tip. Considering I paid $ 15 for the Groupon, that still is $ 50 for a marginally okay brunch.
At checkout, we came to the register to pay. I also had my iPhone ready with the Groupon already on the screen. The greeter/​omelet maker rung us out and hardly spoke again. After my iPhone sat there for several minutes, I asked if he was done with it and he said yes, first he spoke! After the receipt printed, he turned on the 30-​second charm routine saying please sign this receipt and this one is for you and have a nice day.
It seems like they are trying to do an upscale tea house /​Sunday brunch but they have neither the refinement to make it as nice as they would like nor charge the price they do for it. Some simple, friendly, southern hospitality would have more than made up for the mediocre food, but was not to be found. Hit brunch somewhere in the Fan on Sunday morning and spring for tea at the Jefferson if you are so inclined, as the service makes all the difference. Even WITH my Groupon /​discount, we were disappointed.

Feathernesters is a great place for sensible women and sensitive men.
The restaurant – or tea room – is in the back of this crowded little antiques and design store, tucked away, somewhat obscurely, on Lakeside Avenue.
You almost certainly need a reservation! We strolled in a few weeks ago for the first time and could not be seated. We returned with a reservation yesterday.
The food is tasty and good. The main attraction, though, is not so much the food, but the charm and experience of a lovely, unique place.
Menu items are reasonably priced. I got a $ 14.95 lunch which included beverage, salad, soup, muffin (tea bread), sandwich (chicken salad), and a dessert.
If you grew up in Richmond and are a Thalhimer’s and/​or Miller & Rhoads groupie you will notice and perhaps recognize some of the furnishings at Feathernesters.
Let me amend my opening sentence. Perhaps this the perfect place for little old ladies and young, pretty bridesmaids. And calendared mother and daughter chats.
I guarantee that after dining here you will rush home with a compulsion to watch re-​runs of «Will and Grace».

BEWARE LIVING SOCIAL VOUCHER PURCHASERS!!!
I purchased a LivingSocial deal two days ago and waited to receive my email that says, «Go use your LIving Social deal!» I received the email at 8am this morning and promptly made my reservation for lunch today.
Upon arrival, I promptly informed my server of the Living Social deal that I purchased. She said, «Groupon?» I responded, «No, LivingSocial.» No issues, right? WRONG.
After ordering and completing my meal (which was exceptionally mediocre), I attempted to pay with my Living Social voucher, but was informed by the cashier fellow that they «can not accept Living Social vouchers until after the deal has ended,» i.e., after Living Social stops selling the vouchers, which is tomorrow.
Now, I know that merchants can, should, & do accept vouchers while the vouchers are still «on sale.» I have been redeeming Living Social vouchers for at least two years with no issue. Living Social is amazing, and I know how the vouchers work. I tried to explain this to the merchant, but was met with, «I’m sorry, I can’t accept it. Nothing I can do until I get the list of voucher numbers from LivingSocial.» I have read the LivingSocial ‘fine print,’ and this very important detail is NOT in the ‘fine print’. He gave me the business card and name of the proprietors. I filed a complaint with Living Social, informing them that they had a merchant that wasn’t playing well with others.
The cashier fellow also informed me that they «had a problem with restau​rant​.com» also. I am more inclined to think that THIS MERCHANT is the real problem.

Another Groupon-​inspired visit brought me to Feathernesters for Sunday brunch. The tea room was packed, and they had to turn down walk-​ins, so even though reservations are only suggested, I would say that they are highly recommended, maybe even necessary. Fortunately, I had a 12:30PM reservation for two, so I had no issues.
I did have a little trouble finding the place because my GPS said that 6118 Lakeside Ave was a few blocks farther up, but a quick smartphone check of Feathernester’s website yielded more detailed driving directions. (FYI, the store is in the Lakeside Towne Center.)
As soon as you walk in the door (and even a bit right outside the entrance), you will be overwhelmed by this store’s cuteness. Everything is so delicately yet lavishly designed! There are a lot of themed areas of the store with all sorts of interesting items to browse. It really is a stunning and gorgeous arrangement of goods. Since we were here for brunch, we weren’t sure where the dining area was, but we just followed our noses back to the tea room. :o)
The tea room is toward the back of the store, but it is essentially mixed in with the store instead of truly sectioned off. There was a lot of chatter and the delicious smell of fresh, hot food. Brunch is $ 12.95 per person, and it is an all-​you-​can-​eat buffet.
I basically tried a little bit of everything, and my favorites were definitely the casseroles and biscuits w/​gravy. There is also a made-​to-​order omelet bar, and co-​owner Marc will personally bring the omelet to your table after he makes it! =)
To be completely honest, I found the food to be just mediocre, but there was a lot of heart put into it (as cheesy as that sounds). It’s also a really fun tea room and enjoyable just to sit and chat over food. Our waitress didn’t actually notice us after we seated, so we had to flag her down for drink orders, but she apologized profusely and was very attentive for the rest of the meal. We ordered two glasses of orange juice, and when I asked whether it cost money for refills, she replied with «of course not!». Thus, I gladly gulped down a second serving of OJ. =)
Our server was super friendly, and when I asked her for some hot sauce to accompany my omelet and casserole, she said she would check if they had any in the kitchen for me. She said she was almost 100% sure that they didn’t have any though. Lo and behold, they had some Tapatio! She was genuinely surprised to discover that the restaurant carried hot sauce, but she brought out the whole bottle for me, and said I should feel special because she has never brought out a whole bottle of anything for anyone, haha.
After the meal, we spent a few minutes wandering the store, perusing and admiring all of the vintage pieces as well as really unique products. All in all, it was a really fun experience exploring Feathernesters, and I’m sure lunch and afternoon tea here are great too!

I made a reservation here 6 weeks in advance for a Bridesmaids’ Luncheon. I told them it would be 10 – 12 people and they asked if I wanted to reserve a ‘party room’ which was a makeshift room basically with a curtain hanging up for an added $ 50. I told them that would not be necessary.
My reservation was made for noon on the day of Hurricane Irene so, I called the day before and moved the reservation to the following saturday. The person who answered the phone told me that the hurricane wasn’t going to be «that bad» and we might get a little rain and that we should still come in. Good thing I went with my instinct… here it is over a week later and people STILL don’t have power…
All of the extra rudeness aside, I went in yesterday 45 minutes prior to my reservation where two girls approached me and said that they had called to confirm my reservation and had an attitude because they did not get in touch with me. So, I check my phone and they called at 10:30 a.m. the morning of and left me a message but my phone never rang… due to the fact that all cell service has been messed up because of this hurricane.
Anyway, one woman pointed me to 3 separate tables and said that is where my party would be. The tables were not pushed together so I asked if they could be… and the woman said, «Did you make a party room reservation?». I said, «No.». and she said, «Well, we have other reservations and cannot push the tables together.» Then, she asked if it was for a bridal shower b/​c I had a gift bag in my hand and I said, «No, these are my bridal party gifts.» So, she was very aware that this reservation for 11 people was special to me and she still wouldn’t push the tables together. So, I proceeded to tell her that we were not going to be able to eat there then and she kept her attutude and smug face and shook her head while saying, «Okay».
The only GOOD thing about this experience is that I was able to take my girls to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and have a whole BALLROOM to myself free of charge for us to enjoy our day in.
Thank you Feathernester’s for being so rude and unaccommodating. I was glad I could take the business of 11 people elsewhere! :)
I would have appreciated being told up front that if the customer does not pay the extra fee to have a curtain put up that they will not sit your party together. So, if you have a party of 4+ people, do not expect to mingle together unless you want to get up and walk over to another table to talk with someone.

Feathernesters is an adorable little store in Lakeside featuring shabby chic and country kitsch new and used home items. It also has a café, and does a brisk afternoon tea business– it’s very popular for ladies events like wedding showers, birthday parties, etc. I believe their afternoon tea spread is around $ 12 per person. It doesn’t compare to something like the tea at the Jefferson, but it’s nice in a quaint and charming way nonetheless.
I’ve been there for afternoon tea (they do a nice pimento cheese tea sandwich, and have a decent selection of teas to choose from) and also had their coffee (which was ok but not particularly fresh) and pastries (I found them a bit stale).
On Friday nights, a local chef comes in and makes dinner– they call it the Supper Club. He usually offers 5 or 6 dishes, and all are accompanied by a house salad and bread. I haven’t tried that yet, but their menu looks very traditional– Beef Wellington, Roasted Pork Loin, etc.
Around the holidays, Feathernesters has events for families like tea with Santa and Mothers Day brunch. Reservations are needed, and the spaces for these events sell out fast. The best thing to do is get on their website, and even sign up for their newsletter, which reminds you about upcoming classes and events.
Even if you don’t go for a special occasion, it’s fun to walk around the store– it’s set up in different «rooms» almost, and the owners obviously have a flair for design– their bedroom set-​ups are so gorgeous that I literally want to lay down and take a nap in the precious cottage bed… they offer everything from large furniture pieces (distressed country kitchen sideboards, brass headboards, etc.) to handmade Christmas ornaments. Their prices are a little expensive considering most of the things are refurbished, but if you have the extra cash or are redoing a room or something, it’s a good place to go to get ideas.
The men who run Feathernesters also offer classes (Check out their website, which has a calendar of special upcoming events) where they teach you everything from how to paint and distress furniture for a shabby chic look to how to make a Christmas wreath. They’re really affordable (between $ 30-​$ 65) and most of the time some sort of meal is included. They fill up fast, so book early.