Freemans is located down a hidden private alley, making it charming before you even set foot inside. The inside space is equally charming, cozy, rustic, and warm. There are several connected but separate rooms, and it’s a lovely space. For a weekend brunch and other peak times, it’s definitely best to make reservations in advance. If you don’t have one, you’re either in for a long wait, or, if you’re comfortable sitting at the bar, you can try your luck there as it’s first come first served. We didn’t have a reservation, but were lucky enough to grab the last remaining open seats at the bar. Otherwise, we had been quoted a 45 minute wait time!
The bar offers the full menu and was really a great place to sit. Sure, it’s not as spacious as a table, but I liked the intimacy of the seating arrangement as well as the interaction with the bartender who doubled as a great server. We watched him prepare people’s drinks all meal long, which he balanced well with taking everyone’s orders at the bar and ensuring we had good service.
We ordered the baked skillet eggs shakshuka and the egg white omelette. The shakshuka came with spinach, feta cheese, tomato bell pepper sauce, and buttered sourdough toast. Great flavors, very tasty, but surprisingly a bit dry. The signature of a shakshuka is its sauciness. It’s wet and runny and moist, but this one was dry and the edges touching the skillet were caked on and charred. Only the inside was edible. And the toast was burned well past the point of crunchy, crispy, or rustic. It would’ve been a bit dangerous to eat that thing. Perhaps if we had had more time, we could’ve gotten it redone and I’m sure it would’ve been better, but it was definitely overcooked. Done correctly, though, it would be a really good dish.
The egg white omelette came with roasted broccoli, cheddar, and salad. We requested goat cheese instead of cheddar and, on a whim, decided to omit the broccoli, essentially making it a cheese and eggs. Delicious by the way. I loved it. They were quite generous with the goat cheese and the omelette was cooked exactly as requested. We also swapped out the salad for toast (I just never understand the “side of greens” concept – who wants to eat a plain pile of bizarre leaves with mediocre sauce?) and they provided sourdough toast, which apparently is the only bread they offer. I’m not a fan of sourdough, but it’s better than the greens. This sourdough toast was not as burned as the one that came with the shakshuka, but it wasn’t anything special. I’m not sure where they get their bread from (or if they make it), but they should reevaluate that and perhaps offer a different option.
Overall, I actually really liked the place. The combination of the service, the ambiance, and one great dish will definitely make me give this another chance. They have generated enough confidence in me to say that the shakshuka mishap was an exception and not the norm, so I’ll chalk it up to the fact that they were hugely busy during the brunch rush and didn’t execute it properly. I’d definitely recommend giving this place a try.
