Franklins Restaurant, Brewery and General Store

December 12, 2007
Near DC and worth a stop if nothing else than to say you have been. The best part of the place is the incredible General Store which does have a good beer selection. I could have spend a lot of money if not travelling the next day. Outside that the place seems to offer solid food, good service which is prompt and friendly, colorful decor and a variety of beer.

December 5, 2007
A pretty cool place and worth a visit. I’m not quite sure what makes this place so cool, but the pizza is good and they have a decent selection of their own beers most of which were very good.

April 30, 2007
Cool place in a historic building. They had nine beers on tap, with a tenth being a nitro version of the regular porter, although they were out of one of the regular taps. Pretty good variety of styles offered as well. Food was good and so was the service. Definitely worth stopping by.

March 22, 2007
A neat place. Set up like a flashy BBQ joint, the general store is next door and is a thing to see. Lots of tourist items, toys for the kids, and the beer and wine selection is for real. I picked up a sampled pack from a Virginia brewery. Only beer I had while dining was the imperial stout, which was solid, and the BBQ was decent enough to satisfy me and my picky BBQ tastes. It doesn’t touch true Oklahoma and Texas BBQ, but it wasn’t an imitation like so many other places in the north offer.

January 17, 2007 [ Updated January 19, 2007 ]
I never knew this place existed. About 4 miles from College Park, they have plenty of dirt cheap parking in the adjacent lot (25 cents and hour). Colorful comtemporary interior, with two levels. I drank at the upstairs bar. Nice happy hour from 4 -6:30pm, with $1off pints and discounted food. I had a $3 quesadilla that was decent. All the beers are above average, and they had a nice selection when I visited. Impy Stout, Barleywine, IPA, 2 strong ales, Red, Coffee Stout, and a few others. The crowd was mostly regulars and business travelers when I stopped by. Worth a visit.

October 28, 2006
This place is a diamond in the rough. From the outside you’d have no idea what lies inside. The restaurant/brewery is pretty sizable. They usually have 6 to 8 beers on tap, all of which are brewed on the premises. The food is pretty good, a step above your typical bar food. The service is always very good, the people are friendly and some are knowledgable about what’s on tap. If you stop in for lunch or to fill your growler, you have to check out their "general store". The beer selection is slightly below average, but I found a few gems I hadn’t found anywhere else. They carry a selection of six packs in the cooler from various American micro breweries (approximately 40 different brands). The selection of dry singles is small and cluttered, but if you take your time to go through it there’s some good stuff. The prices were average. Franklins is unique, I wish there were more places like this out there. Stop in to have a good lunch, taste their selection, fill your growler and hit up the general store for some micros you might not have seen elsewhere.

October 25, 2006
Hyattsville sucks, but if you can get past that, the place is excellent. Always terrific seasonals and special brews. They love to experiment and brew big beers. I think they’ve done a great job with the place on the inside. The onion rings are to die for. Knowledgeable staff. Unique.

October 15, 2006
Located in an old warehouse - and that goes for both the surroundings and the interior - both seems somewhat run down - in a run down part of town. Maybe the parking prices tells it all: 25 cents for 2 hours!!! why bother with a parking meter?!? But it’s a nice place for a train spotter, since the trains run right back of the bulding and they are visible from a lot of the tables. I found the service quite slow, and the food edible, but nothing special (were there for lunch). 9 beers on at my visit - many of them quite tasty.

October 10, 2006
Like Jeff said, a semi-nice place in a fairly shady area. Inside is big and there’s actually quite a bit to do. Nice little bottleshop. Small bar to crawl up to. Big restaurant to eat in. Nice. The beers weren’t hit or miss, lots of em though. The food was great. I think I had a reuben or something. Chris had huge balls.

January 25, 2006
Great place in a crappy crappy area. Casual place, mix of low key college students, professors/researchers, and families. The standard staple of beers are all solid nothing amazing but all pleasent and drinkable. There seasonals are a gamble I have had some that were great and some that were not so great. I love the food. The chili (they don’t always have it) is some of the best that I have had, the thai fried ribs, the half chicken, there are many good options there. Great place to go for a meal and a few good beers.