Farmer Boys closes another O.C. restaurant
September 6th, 2008, 6:30 am · 22 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
Looks like Farmer Boys has shuttered yet another Orange County burger joint.
The Riverside-based chain unexpectantly shutdown this week its location in Santa Ana, at the corner of 17th Street and Tustin Avenue. The burger chain is known for serving made-to-order burgers, salads, sandwiches and monster appetizers such as onion rings. The restaurants, including the shuttered one in Santa Ana, serve fast-food in a fast-casual.
The interiors are typically nicer than most fast-food joints, but the eateries also offer drive-through service. For those reasons, Farmer Boys often calls itself a “fastaurant.”
Besides the Santa Ana location, Farmer Boys closed another eatery in Tustin, at the corner of Prospect and First streets. That Farmer Boys debuted in 2004. It is now George’s John’s restaurant.
The company did not return calls seeking comment.
The Southern California chain has four other eateries in Orange County: Anaheim (two locations); Brea and Fullerton, according to its website.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Yeah this sucks. My wife unfortunately stopped there a couple nights ago and discovered it was closed. That was one of our favorite places to pick up a quick bite…
September 6th, 2008 at 8:27 am
This restaurant chain had the absolute plainest and worst burgers I’ve had.
Their fries tasted right out of the frozen-bag-1970’s style.
Their decor was crummy Inland Empire 1980’s.
Their prices were above a Denny’s.
Small wonder they have had to close some units.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Some people I know enjoyed their burgers and breakfast. In my opinion, burgers were a little bland, no big deal. I kinda felt like i was in the IE when i ate there. There are lots of these types of neighborhood restaurants spread across orange county, most are not large chains though. eg: Ted’s in Laguna Niguel, Dukes in Santa Ana etc etc.. A lot of them are much better than Farmer Boys too. Nancy, maybe one day you can find out which is the best fastaurant in orange county.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Never cared for ‘em. If the food and atmosphere had justified the prices and speed of service, or the prices and speed of service had justified the food and atmosphere, it would have been OK.
An absence of any advantages whatsoever isn’t a very profitable “niche.”
September 6th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
The place that replaced the Farmers Boys in Tustin at Prospect and First is called John’s Place, not George’s. And it’s not necessarily a burger restaurant. It’s basically the same as the old Farmers Boys and it’s the same owners as the John’s Place in East Orange at Santiago and Jamboree.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Thanks Nick. I think I was confusing John’s for the George’s restaurant that replaced the Wendy’s on East Chapman Avenue…
Nancy
September 6th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Good food, but the service isn’t fast enough. Breakfast is too expensive at about $9-10 when you can get it elsewhere for $5. Lunch and dinner is priced ok though. Good place though. Sucks that it closed those locations. They need to speed up the drive through at all locations.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
High prices,slow drive through,average food! Good riddance.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I hope they close all of the Orange County stores. The food is terrible and the stores are dirty. I was in the Brea store for Sunday breakfast awhile back and there was food on the floor in the dining area and none of the workers seemed to care after I brought is to their attention. The buildings have no architectual style and are frankly hard on the eyes. Maybe the concept works better in the Inland Empire.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:40 am
They need to close up period. Their drive through time is the horrendously slow, their burgers and food are sub par and way overpriced. Please go away…
September 7th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I disagree with the negative comments, but the food was hard to distinguish from Wendys. I don’t go to Dennys for the same reason figure I can find something more interesting at other burger joints.
I also noticed that noone pointed out that they opened after there was a Philly’s best, Jerrys dogs open there, and way before all else, the Knollwood. I would go to Jerrys dogs for a burger (strange but they have a real open wood grill) if in the mood in the area over Knollwood. But those who want a larger place with a bit more room than Jerrys’ would do as good or better over at the Knollwood.
Now I have to admin if Knollwood closes (or has closed) I would not notice it for quite a while because I do go to Philly and Jerrys mostly.
You might yell at me for mentioning Philly in this discussion, but I am just putting it in the mix because I feel there is equal pull between these four places as far as my taste is concerned.
If Philly was one of the lame immitators of Philly steak I would leave them out, but having the shaved beef / cheese / saute’d onion on a bun is about as good as any burger you could put in front of me.
Jim
September 7th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Place is overpriced for the food quality. Another one bites the dust.
September 7th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
To me, they seem to be the leader in this type of concept, so this is quite a surprise. Although, I did wonder why they put those two shops so close together, when the others are so spread out. I love Farmer Boys, and I have to admit that they make my all-time favorite fast-food burger and maybe even restaurant burger. Their fried Zuchini is AWESOME! I think they’re way better than In-N-Out at for tad more money, at the same speed. But, now there are none even remotely close for me. Luckily, there are quite a few other independent shops around like Duke’s in Orange, but I sure haven’t found any that I like as much.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Ok. OC posers get over your IE bashing! My husband and sons love going to this restaurant when they go shoot model rockets in Irwindale. Kids can get breakfast, dad a burger. The restaurant has always been clean and the food fairly priced. We live near Teds in Laguna Niguel which is disgusting inside decor wise vs. Farmer Boys. It is a shame to see some of their restaurants close, but it may be the demographic in the Santa Ana area that isn’t interested in American fare food vs. the restaurant itself.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
The FB restaurant in Tustin had few customers over time. Food (burgers mainly) was not real tasty. Glad John’s Place came in. Food’s much better. (Not as superior as some of the other places like Dukes, but tasty and you know what you’re going to get.) And we really like the breakfast. The workers are really nice and friendly. We tried the FB on 17th recently and what a difference. Manager was unfriendly and service was so-so. We won’t stray from John’s Place again. You should do a little story on the independents in OC - Johns, Bill’s Burgers, Dukes, etc. More people should know about them — and they don’t need to settle for Denny’s or other similar places.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
to zacksmom, this is east santa ana, alot of white people
September 8th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’ll disagree on the staff and manager at the 17th location being unfriendly or bad service. My wife and I would get breakfast there once or twice a month as well as dinner one or two times a month and the workers were always really nice.
People complain about the speed of service, but they made all the meals fresh. Their burger prices were in line with all the other burger joints in the area; Fantastic, Knollwoods, Omega, Dukes.
I do agree with TustinGuy I’d like to see a feature on local independents in OC, that would be cool.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am
To you all who somehow think FB burgers were actually good because they were “fresh” or they were a clean restaurant.
These burgers tasted as mediocre as a Kmart counter burger and they weren’t fresh- they were fresh frozen.
You need to get out and try a real fresh burger like Fuddruckers.
FM sucks big time and their mediocrity was astounding.
The interior also lacked big time and yes Zacks Soccer Mom with kids who doesn’t have time to visit quality restaurants due to the kids, the Inland Empire sucks big time also.
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I thought they offered great food at decent affordble prices. We ate there a couple o times a month and service and food was very good. It reminded me of cafes that I went to as a kid. Sorry to see them go.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I just saw over the weekend that they are re-opening this location. Does anyone have any idea why or what changed their minds?
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Really? I’ll have to find out more. Thanks for posting.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Farmer Boys in Santa Ana has reopened! Here is a quick blurb that I posted on my Eat in OC website.
http://www.eatinoc.com/oc-food-news/santa-ana-farmer-boys-reopens/