Dutch-Way Restaurant in Gap, PA has been an absolutely go to on every trip that we are in this area. We have been there on various nights of the week and have never been disappointed. This is one of the buffets that are unique to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that are located in supermarket buildings. The buffet is not in the supermarket but is owned by the supermarket and is in the same building. The decor is very much like most of the family restaurants in Lancaster - pleasantly decorated with tables and booths scattered through two areas of the restaurant. The buffet is offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner Mondays to Saturday.
So what makes Dutch-Way Gap a Top Buffet?
The food is very, very good and the dishes vary from night to night and from visit to visit. There is a featured theme every night that focuses around what is served from the grill/carving station and this carries over to the entrees on the buffet tables. Each time that we have gone, in addition to specific features on the grill and carvings, there has been at least one dish that we have never had before and each has been something good. Food is a mixture of PA Dutch/Amish dishes and continental entrees and side dishes.
The food is consistent in proper preparation, kept at the correct temperatures on the buffet, and in taste when the same dish is served. There are some things that I look to find each time we go on the salad bar and they are there. They make an exceptional chicken salad and it is one of the prepared salads found on their salad bar. It is so good that I have thought to just order the Soup and Salad Bar as I could easily make a meal of their chicken salad. (I have not done that yet, because they I would miss out on the rest of the buffet.) The foods on the buffet are properly maintained and not allowed to dry out and are replenished before the tray is empty. The buffet tables, the buffet area, the dining rooms are consistently clean and well maintained. So are the restrooms - which are located in the lobby of the restaurant.
There is great value here. The price of the buffet is comparable and perhaps even less than the chain buffets. There are children's and senior prices as well. The price is a little higher on the Friday and Saturday as there is Prime Rib at the carving station. Thursday nights are higher as this is the Seafood Buffet. This is a very affordable family restaurant at family prices - and if you have some at your table who do not wish to have the buffet that is no problem at all. There is a full menu here along with the buffet and some at the table may have the buffet and some may order from the menu - please don't give anything from the buffet to someone ordering from the menu (that is this site saying that).
There is quality in what is served here. The meats and vegetables are coming fresh from the food market on site. The baked goods are bakes on premises. Items on the grill are cooked to order.
Service is very good and the best - I mean the BEST - waitress in any restaurant works here. I have written about her before and there is no better. Whenever we are there, we look for her and ask for a table in her section.
Sadly, the last time that we were going to have dinner at Dutch-Way, it was closed for the employee Christmas party. I looked forward to this for a week. We were in the area for business during the day and in the evening we went to the restaurant and got right up to the door to see the sign that said that they were closed for their party. Well, they deserve a party for a job consistently well done! I do wish that they had been open, as we could both taste that dinner as we walked up to that door. Just writing about this buffet I can taste my favorites there! Soon, soon...
This buffet is not in the main tourist area of Lancaster. It is off to the edge of the county and not far from Delaware. You will not find tourists dining here. You will find local families here - Amish, Mennonite, and the English (as the Amish refer to the rest of us). These are the people who shop in the supermarket or just come here for dinner. There is a shed for horse and carriages to be tied up outside in the parking lot.
The Dutch-Way Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market
Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527.
The dinner buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The
restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles
south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of
this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
Showing posts with label BEST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BEST. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
TOP BUFFETS OF 2015
We struggle with the notion of best buffet over top buffets every year. We go to many great buffets - all of which I write about here. We also go to some not so good buffets, and you all hear about those as well. Then it comes to the end of the year and we look at all of the buffets we have been to during that year and try to rank them - and there are some that we had gone back to during the year from years past that consistently come to the top of the list of the best. The problem is deciding which one really is the best. This is not the first time that we came to the conclusion that there are several top buffets that really need to hold a place of honor and that is true this year again. There is no BEST buffet for 2015, but there are four TOP buffets. These are the buffets that are at the top of the list and that have each met the criteria that we set for Best Buffet. And since Lancaster County, PA hosts the most buffets of anywhere, three of this year's buffets are in Lancaster County, PA and one is near home.
The TOP BUFFETS for 2015 named by "Art of the Buffet" are (and in no specific order) - Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA, Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, PA, Yoder's Restaurant at Yoder's Country Farm Market in New Holland, PA and Yummy China Buffet which is calling itself Yummy Super Buffet now in East Meadow, NY which is named as Top Asian Buffet of 2015.
The criteria for Top Buffet - or Best Buffet - are simple but not easy to meet. The buffet must give excellent value. The buffet must serve quality food. The food must be prepared properly and taste very good to excellent. The restaurant must be managed properly. The service must be good. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal, visit to visit.Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back to whenever possible. There must be something that sets the buffet apart (in a superior way) to all the rest. We have been to many who don't even come close and then there are some very good buffets that are on their way to meeting all of this. While no one criteria is more important than the others - and they all must be met - the idea that this is a buffet that I cannot wait to get back to is very much in focus when we decide on which buffet makes the cut. And I must say that there is one small buffet in PA that is coming up to this.
Over the next two months (four buffets - four articles) we will talk about each of these buffets and what makes them stand out beyond the rest. We will feature each in its own article.
Each buffet that is a Top Buffet of 2015 will receive a certificate declaring that fact. Some buffets display their certificates proudly - and we are thrilled when we see that they do - but there is no requirement to do so. Look to the coming articles to see why these buffets hold this site's special designation for the year 2015!
The TOP BUFFETS for 2015 named by "Art of the Buffet" are (and in no specific order) - Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA, Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, PA, Yoder's Restaurant at Yoder's Country Farm Market in New Holland, PA and Yummy China Buffet which is calling itself Yummy Super Buffet now in East Meadow, NY which is named as Top Asian Buffet of 2015.
The criteria for Top Buffet - or Best Buffet - are simple but not easy to meet. The buffet must give excellent value. The buffet must serve quality food. The food must be prepared properly and taste very good to excellent. The restaurant must be managed properly. The service must be good. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal, visit to visit.Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back to whenever possible. There must be something that sets the buffet apart (in a superior way) to all the rest. We have been to many who don't even come close and then there are some very good buffets that are on their way to meeting all of this. While no one criteria is more important than the others - and they all must be met - the idea that this is a buffet that I cannot wait to get back to is very much in focus when we decide on which buffet makes the cut. And I must say that there is one small buffet in PA that is coming up to this.
Over the next two months (four buffets - four articles) we will talk about each of these buffets and what makes them stand out beyond the rest. We will feature each in its own article.
Each buffet that is a Top Buffet of 2015 will receive a certificate declaring that fact. Some buffets display their certificates proudly - and we are thrilled when we see that they do - but there is no requirement to do so. Look to the coming articles to see why these buffets hold this site's special designation for the year 2015!
Friday, November 06, 2015
The Best of the Best
Our pick for the Best Buffet for 2014 was Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA. We have been there a number of times this year and find that the night that I like the best at the Best Buffet is Tuesday nights. All of the nights are good - but I particularly enjoy dinner there on Tuesdays the best.
This is the night when I find the most Pennsylvania Dutch foods mixed in with always good standards. We were the area again recently - and picked Tuesday for the night that we would go to Dutch-Way. The feature on Tuesday nights is not fancy - it is burgers made to order topped the way you like them and also hot wings, both at the Grill. On the buffet on Tuesday's there tends to always be Chicken Bot Bie (Chicken Pot Pie - stewed with large noodles, not baked in a pie shell), Dutch Loaf, Ham Balls, Pork and Kraut, and more. Simple. Plain food which this region is known for - Pennsylvania Dutch cooking of the Plain People. The burgers are an extra thrown in for a very enjoyable meal.
Now, I can't talk about the Wings from personal tasting, as I don't care for hot wings and small chicken legs and wings tossed in sauce and spice don't interest me - or my palate. But I have watched people go up to the Grill on a Tuesday night and order platefuls of these. The chef behind the counter puts the cooked and hot chicken in a bowl and tosses it in the sauce or seasoning that you request from a list - and if you want more than one "flavor", he just tosses more in other bowls - and then all goes onto your plate. Watching them eaten at other tables, I am certain that they are good from the reactions of the dinners. But for me, I don't care for them in general.
The burgers always interest me. You order your burger by filling out a paper at the Grill Counter. There is a sign listing specifically put together burgers each with a different combination of toppings, but you can just ignore that list and put together on the paper by checking off boxes of ingredients exactly what you want. Of course, there is bacon - lately a burger has to have bacon - but if you don't care for that leave it off. There is even a fried egg that can top your burger. You order it cooked the way you like it from rare to well done. You can top the toppings with sauces, lettuce, and tomatoes. It all gets cooked for you and put on a bun. I order mine without the bun. I would rather leave room for more interesting things from the buffet tables than a burger bun. On the menu here - and in other restaurants - one of these burgers could easily cost you the price of the buffet - and here you could order as many as you like for just one price and have the entire buffet to go along with it.
Then, of course, there is the buffet. On this particular night, aside from the PA Dutch foods that I named above, there were ribs, lasagna, a pumpkin casserole, a vegetable casserole that was very good, fish, fried chicken, and more. As always there are five soups, a large salad bar, and a big dessert bar that spills over to one of the hot buffet servers where there are hot desserts.
I have my favorites on the salad bar also. They have the most wonderful chicken salad. I have sometimes considered just ordering the soup and salad bar for dinner as I could make a meal of this chicken salad. They also have chunks of Lebanon Bologna. This is a cured, dark pork meat with visible, tiny pieces of fat with a smokey, slightly sweet taste. This is a cold cut known in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country - originating in Lebanon County, PA. I have not found this on any other buffet in the area. It may be an acquired taste, but it is good. And if you go out to purchase this locally it is quite expensive for a cold cut. Here it is intended to go into a salad, but I just take the junks and eat them. The chicken salad and Lebanon Bologna are not limited to just Tuesdays.
We dined in a different buffet every night on this trip but this Tuesday night at Dutch-Way was a stand out meal. For Dutch-Way, which is the best, this is the best of the best. Other nights there are good selections also - Thursday is Seafood Night (at their highest price for the buffet) and Friday and Saturday feature Prime Rib, Ham, and Baby Back Ribs.
Service was excellent - and we knew it would be from the moment we were shown our table as our waitress/server was Marie who we have written about before as the BEST buffet server at any buffet anywhere. This is a young woman who makes you feel welcome and appreciated as a customer and always comes across as enjoying her work.
So, Dutch-Way Family Restaurant on a Tuesday - best of the best. Try it. This is a local restaurant off and away from the main tourist areas and is there for local people including Amish and Mennonites who are seen dining here regularly. Nice decor. Very clean. It also gets excellent reviews from the usual restaurant review sites. Don't go looking for a touristy restaurant. You will not find it. To me that is a good thing and a very strong plus. Others seem to want the tourist hype.
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
This is the night when I find the most Pennsylvania Dutch foods mixed in with always good standards. We were the area again recently - and picked Tuesday for the night that we would go to Dutch-Way. The feature on Tuesday nights is not fancy - it is burgers made to order topped the way you like them and also hot wings, both at the Grill. On the buffet on Tuesday's there tends to always be Chicken Bot Bie (Chicken Pot Pie - stewed with large noodles, not baked in a pie shell), Dutch Loaf, Ham Balls, Pork and Kraut, and more. Simple. Plain food which this region is known for - Pennsylvania Dutch cooking of the Plain People. The burgers are an extra thrown in for a very enjoyable meal.
Now, I can't talk about the Wings from personal tasting, as I don't care for hot wings and small chicken legs and wings tossed in sauce and spice don't interest me - or my palate. But I have watched people go up to the Grill on a Tuesday night and order platefuls of these. The chef behind the counter puts the cooked and hot chicken in a bowl and tosses it in the sauce or seasoning that you request from a list - and if you want more than one "flavor", he just tosses more in other bowls - and then all goes onto your plate. Watching them eaten at other tables, I am certain that they are good from the reactions of the dinners. But for me, I don't care for them in general.
The burgers always interest me. You order your burger by filling out a paper at the Grill Counter. There is a sign listing specifically put together burgers each with a different combination of toppings, but you can just ignore that list and put together on the paper by checking off boxes of ingredients exactly what you want. Of course, there is bacon - lately a burger has to have bacon - but if you don't care for that leave it off. There is even a fried egg that can top your burger. You order it cooked the way you like it from rare to well done. You can top the toppings with sauces, lettuce, and tomatoes. It all gets cooked for you and put on a bun. I order mine without the bun. I would rather leave room for more interesting things from the buffet tables than a burger bun. On the menu here - and in other restaurants - one of these burgers could easily cost you the price of the buffet - and here you could order as many as you like for just one price and have the entire buffet to go along with it.
Then, of course, there is the buffet. On this particular night, aside from the PA Dutch foods that I named above, there were ribs, lasagna, a pumpkin casserole, a vegetable casserole that was very good, fish, fried chicken, and more. As always there are five soups, a large salad bar, and a big dessert bar that spills over to one of the hot buffet servers where there are hot desserts.
I have my favorites on the salad bar also. They have the most wonderful chicken salad. I have sometimes considered just ordering the soup and salad bar for dinner as I could make a meal of this chicken salad. They also have chunks of Lebanon Bologna. This is a cured, dark pork meat with visible, tiny pieces of fat with a smokey, slightly sweet taste. This is a cold cut known in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country - originating in Lebanon County, PA. I have not found this on any other buffet in the area. It may be an acquired taste, but it is good. And if you go out to purchase this locally it is quite expensive for a cold cut. Here it is intended to go into a salad, but I just take the junks and eat them. The chicken salad and Lebanon Bologna are not limited to just Tuesdays.
We dined in a different buffet every night on this trip but this Tuesday night at Dutch-Way was a stand out meal. For Dutch-Way, which is the best, this is the best of the best. Other nights there are good selections also - Thursday is Seafood Night (at their highest price for the buffet) and Friday and Saturday feature Prime Rib, Ham, and Baby Back Ribs.
Service was excellent - and we knew it would be from the moment we were shown our table as our waitress/server was Marie who we have written about before as the BEST buffet server at any buffet anywhere. This is a young woman who makes you feel welcome and appreciated as a customer and always comes across as enjoying her work.
So, Dutch-Way Family Restaurant on a Tuesday - best of the best. Try it. This is a local restaurant off and away from the main tourist areas and is there for local people including Amish and Mennonites who are seen dining here regularly. Nice decor. Very clean. It also gets excellent reviews from the usual restaurant review sites. Don't go looking for a touristy restaurant. You will not find it. To me that is a good thing and a very strong plus. Others seem to want the tourist hype.
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
Friday, February 13, 2015
BEST ASIAN BUFFET 2014 - YUMMY CHINA BUFFET, East Meadow, New York
It has been awhile since we have given a Best Asian Buffet award. We dine at many Asian buffets. It takes a very special one to really stand out and Yummy China Buffet in East Meadow, New York stands out. It is not a large restaurant and in fact, it is one of the smaller Asian buffets. It does not have rows and rows of buffet servers. It has one long server, a wall next to that with cold items, and a combination hibachi grill and sushi bar. What it has is outstanding food, prepared, and maintained better than any other Asian/Chinese buffet that we have been to.
We have been watching this buffet since it opened about two years ago. During its first year it was expensive for buffets in this area and, frankly, because of the price we did not go in. About a year ago, the owner decided to lower the price and to do this he removed the nightly lobster feature from the menu. That was fine as he brought the price down to where it could better compete with other local Asian buffets. During this past year, the price was lowered again - to $13.99 where it is priced just right, especially for the excellent food that he is serving. As our readers are aware, our criteria for a best or top buffet requires value and quality and with the lower price those two criteria were more than met. But we also look at consistency over time and that criteria was easily met as well. The criteria of good service has been very well met - both by the women who care for you at your table but also by the chef who is at the sushi bar and hibachi grill. The Asian gentleman at the grill who also doubles as the sushi chef does an excellent job and prepares your order perfectly to your request. We were realizing that we were in a "best" buffet about mid-year. We dined here several more times to be sure and we are very sure. We have written about this buffet during this past year and you can go back and read the reviews.Our most recent review was at the beginning of December.
One thing that is special about this buffet is that while they are serving the standard dishes that appear on many Asian buffets, they also are serving their special dishes. Every review we come back to one dish that is exceptional and that is their Yummy Pork. This is a slow cooked pork roast - with the skin in a thin sauce that compliments the meat well. You carve a piece off for yourself from the hot serving tray. Sometimes it just falls apart which is good. The meat is tender and moist. We have tried other similar pork dishes at other Asian buffets and there has been nothing like this one. The sign says "Ancient Recipe" and I am sure that it is - and no one else seems to have that recipe that tries to serve a similar dish.
There are many other excellent dishes that you will find here on the buffet. There is a very broad selection of seafood, beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and vegetable dishes. If the name says "Yummy" try it, as these are their specialties.
The hibachi grill is small but has everything that you would want to have prepared hibachi style - an assortment of vegetables, noodles, chicken, beef, shrimp, and raw eggs in the shell. The chef will prepare it to your liking. What is different about this from other Asian buffets? This chef knows what he is doing. I really can't say that about many other Asian buffets. When this chef is not there, the owner takes over - and does just as excellent a job at cooking.
One very important thing about this buffet is that the owner is out in the dining room and around the buffet servers the whole time. He keeps an eye that everything is running just as it should be and we have seen him bring special things over to a table on request. As we have said so many times before, when the manager is hands on and involved - and in this case the owner - that is what is going to make a major difference in how good a buffet is. This combined with excellent workers and the difference is going to show and it certainly does.
We have found hidden gems in the past and Yummy China Buffet is certainly one of them. This is a must try. Try it for dinner. We have not been there for lunch and while I am sure that lunch is as excellent as dinner, you are going to get the experience that we have had so many times at dinner - and we have been to dinner here both weekends and mid-week.
This is a must try. And we are very happy to name Yummy China Buffet as BEST ASIAN BUFFET OF 2014!
The Yummy China Buffet and Sushi Restaurant is located at 398 Merrick Avenue, East Meadow, New York 11554. The telephone number is 516-486-2525. There is now a website that is linked at the side of this page. (By the way that website right now has a coupon for $5 off dinner on Mondays to Thursdays.) The restaurant is NOW open seven days a week from 11:30 am to 10:00 pm.
We have been watching this buffet since it opened about two years ago. During its first year it was expensive for buffets in this area and, frankly, because of the price we did not go in. About a year ago, the owner decided to lower the price and to do this he removed the nightly lobster feature from the menu. That was fine as he brought the price down to where it could better compete with other local Asian buffets. During this past year, the price was lowered again - to $13.99 where it is priced just right, especially for the excellent food that he is serving. As our readers are aware, our criteria for a best or top buffet requires value and quality and with the lower price those two criteria were more than met. But we also look at consistency over time and that criteria was easily met as well. The criteria of good service has been very well met - both by the women who care for you at your table but also by the chef who is at the sushi bar and hibachi grill. The Asian gentleman at the grill who also doubles as the sushi chef does an excellent job and prepares your order perfectly to your request. We were realizing that we were in a "best" buffet about mid-year. We dined here several more times to be sure and we are very sure. We have written about this buffet during this past year and you can go back and read the reviews.Our most recent review was at the beginning of December.
One thing that is special about this buffet is that while they are serving the standard dishes that appear on many Asian buffets, they also are serving their special dishes. Every review we come back to one dish that is exceptional and that is their Yummy Pork. This is a slow cooked pork roast - with the skin in a thin sauce that compliments the meat well. You carve a piece off for yourself from the hot serving tray. Sometimes it just falls apart which is good. The meat is tender and moist. We have tried other similar pork dishes at other Asian buffets and there has been nothing like this one. The sign says "Ancient Recipe" and I am sure that it is - and no one else seems to have that recipe that tries to serve a similar dish.
There are many other excellent dishes that you will find here on the buffet. There is a very broad selection of seafood, beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and vegetable dishes. If the name says "Yummy" try it, as these are their specialties.
The hibachi grill is small but has everything that you would want to have prepared hibachi style - an assortment of vegetables, noodles, chicken, beef, shrimp, and raw eggs in the shell. The chef will prepare it to your liking. What is different about this from other Asian buffets? This chef knows what he is doing. I really can't say that about many other Asian buffets. When this chef is not there, the owner takes over - and does just as excellent a job at cooking.
One very important thing about this buffet is that the owner is out in the dining room and around the buffet servers the whole time. He keeps an eye that everything is running just as it should be and we have seen him bring special things over to a table on request. As we have said so many times before, when the manager is hands on and involved - and in this case the owner - that is what is going to make a major difference in how good a buffet is. This combined with excellent workers and the difference is going to show and it certainly does.
We have found hidden gems in the past and Yummy China Buffet is certainly one of them. This is a must try. Try it for dinner. We have not been there for lunch and while I am sure that lunch is as excellent as dinner, you are going to get the experience that we have had so many times at dinner - and we have been to dinner here both weekends and mid-week.
This is a must try. And we are very happy to name Yummy China Buffet as BEST ASIAN BUFFET OF 2014!
The Yummy China Buffet and Sushi Restaurant is located at 398 Merrick Avenue, East Meadow, New York 11554. The telephone number is 516-486-2525. There is now a website that is linked at the side of this page. (By the way that website right now has a coupon for $5 off dinner on Mondays to Thursdays.) The restaurant is NOW open seven days a week from 11:30 am to 10:00 pm.
Friday, January 30, 2015
BEST BUFFET 2014 - DUTCH-WAY FAMILY RESTAURANT, GAP, PA
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant located in Gap, Pennsylvania has been named Best Buffet for 2014. This is a buffet that we have been following for several years and have dined at several times in the year 2014 and it has consistently met every one of our criteria for a best buffet. This buffet has been consistently highly recommended in every one of our reviews.
Dutch-Way has never disappointed. It serves quality food at a very affordable price in very pleasant restaurant surroundings. The service staff have always been reliably good and in some cases outstanding. While not a large buffet, it has a selection of food that always introduces new dishes along with regular favorites.
Readers will find many reviews on this site for this restaurant that describe the various dishes that have been found here. There has always been something different - even out of the ordinary - served on the buffet and each time it has been something good - something that you would like to see again on another visit. But if that one particular dish is not there, another just as good has taken its place.
There are many, many buffets in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is the buffet that we want to go back to each time we are in this area and we often go more than once during the same trip. When there are others to choose and one goes back to one already visited within a week - that is saying a lot. We have not said that often about any one buffet.
Those going to this buffet for the first time may be surprised when first walking through the door. Like some other buffets in Lancaster County, this buffet is connected to a food market on site - and this one shares the same building though the restaurant is completely separate on the opposite end of the building. While the decor is extremely nice, it is not lavish. If one is expecting row after row of buffet servers, one will not find that here. What you will find are three buffet servers in the middle of the buffet section - two hot and one cold, a grill area serving a different feature each night, and a wall that circles halfway around the section that includes a bread area, five soups, baked goods including cakes, cookies, and pies, a soft serve ice cream section with a sundae bar, and a cold prepared desserts area. The dining room consists of two sections plus private party rooms. The type of food that you will find is a mixture of local Pennsylvania Dutch foods combined on the buffet with continental dishes. The food is well prepared and kept in the buffet servers properly. We look carefully at every buffet that we review that the food is what we call "well maintained" in its serving tray meaning consistently kept at the proper temperature and not allowed to dry out and Dutch-Way maintains the food on the buffet well. One must understand that "small" can sometimes surpass "large" and this buffet does exactly that.
We are very pleased with our choice for Best Buffet for 2014. It took a great deal of consideration and we as we had this in mind during 2014, during each visit we looked perhaps more critically at each point that is considered for a top and then a best buffet. In 2014, this was the Best Buffet.
When you go to Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in 2015, let them know that you read about them here. It is out of the usual tourist area but worth the trip - that is really not that far and very direct to get to. Dutch-Way also has the advantage that they also serve from a menu and if someone in your party does not wish to dine buffet they may order from the menu. The menu is just as reasonable as the buffet.
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
Dutch-Way has never disappointed. It serves quality food at a very affordable price in very pleasant restaurant surroundings. The service staff have always been reliably good and in some cases outstanding. While not a large buffet, it has a selection of food that always introduces new dishes along with regular favorites.
Readers will find many reviews on this site for this restaurant that describe the various dishes that have been found here. There has always been something different - even out of the ordinary - served on the buffet and each time it has been something good - something that you would like to see again on another visit. But if that one particular dish is not there, another just as good has taken its place.
There are many, many buffets in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is the buffet that we want to go back to each time we are in this area and we often go more than once during the same trip. When there are others to choose and one goes back to one already visited within a week - that is saying a lot. We have not said that often about any one buffet.
Those going to this buffet for the first time may be surprised when first walking through the door. Like some other buffets in Lancaster County, this buffet is connected to a food market on site - and this one shares the same building though the restaurant is completely separate on the opposite end of the building. While the decor is extremely nice, it is not lavish. If one is expecting row after row of buffet servers, one will not find that here. What you will find are three buffet servers in the middle of the buffet section - two hot and one cold, a grill area serving a different feature each night, and a wall that circles halfway around the section that includes a bread area, five soups, baked goods including cakes, cookies, and pies, a soft serve ice cream section with a sundae bar, and a cold prepared desserts area. The dining room consists of two sections plus private party rooms. The type of food that you will find is a mixture of local Pennsylvania Dutch foods combined on the buffet with continental dishes. The food is well prepared and kept in the buffet servers properly. We look carefully at every buffet that we review that the food is what we call "well maintained" in its serving tray meaning consistently kept at the proper temperature and not allowed to dry out and Dutch-Way maintains the food on the buffet well. One must understand that "small" can sometimes surpass "large" and this buffet does exactly that.
We are very pleased with our choice for Best Buffet for 2014. It took a great deal of consideration and we as we had this in mind during 2014, during each visit we looked perhaps more critically at each point that is considered for a top and then a best buffet. In 2014, this was the Best Buffet.
When you go to Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in 2015, let them know that you read about them here. It is out of the usual tourist area but worth the trip - that is really not that far and very direct to get to. Dutch-Way also has the advantage that they also serve from a menu and if someone in your party does not wish to dine buffet they may order from the menu. The menu is just as reasonable as the buffet.
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. The restaurant is closed on some holidays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
Friday, January 16, 2015
BEST/TOP BUFFETS OF 2014
It is time once again to name this site's best and top buffets. The results this year will likely surprise many of our regular readers. The criteria for being a Best or Top Buffet are, as they have been, the buffet must give excellent value, it must serve quality food, the food
must be prepared properly, consistently, the restaurant must be managed properly, and the
service must be good to excellent. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal,
visit to visit. Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back
to whenever possible.
When the process gets narrowed down to a few choices, they get ordered
in priority of the criteria - and what starts to be examined is how
consistent were they. Consistency is an extremely important factor and in the end becomes the deciding factor. A few favorites every so often disappoint. Some
never disappoint. Every restaurant considered for best or top buffet has been visited several times over the course of the year.
The BEST buffet of 2014 is Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania. This honor goes to this specific location of the two Dutch-Way Family Restaurant buffets in Pennsylvania.
The TOP buffet of 2014 is Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, Pennsylvania.
The BEST ASIAN Buffet of 2014 is Yummy China Buffet, East Meadow, New York. This is the first time that a Long Island buffet has been given any award from this site.
In the coming weeks there will be an article about each buffet and what brings their designated award to it. We will, at this point, speak briefly to the "Top Buffet" award to Shady Maple. As many know Shady Maple has been a Best Buffet for many years. Shady Maple is as good as it has always been. It is a restaurant that it is hard to compare other buffet restaurants to. None can compare to the size of the restaurant or the quantity or variety of foods served. It is the first buffet that we recommend anyone to go to when in Lancaster County, PA - because it is just that different. But - and this is not a negative "but" - more and more if both this and Dutch-Way, Gap are considered for a meal, Dutch-Way is chosen. It is small, has pleasant but simple decor, and does not have anywhere near the quantities and variety of foods that Shady Maple offers in one night. Telling someone who is looking for a "experience" though is going to find that more at Shady Maple and that what puts it the TOP of the list. Yet, Dutch-Way has been proving to be the BEST when it comes to different and sometimes, more unique food choices. Both are great buffets and are must go tos. Designating Top or Best when it comes to these two buffets takes nothing away from either one. Read the articles that will follow in the next several weeks about each and you will better understand.
Congratulations to these exceptional restaurants. There are many other wonderful buffets that were dined at this year (and a few not so good ones) and some others came very close to being on this list.
The BEST buffet of 2014 is Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania. This honor goes to this specific location of the two Dutch-Way Family Restaurant buffets in Pennsylvania.
The TOP buffet of 2014 is Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, Pennsylvania.
The BEST ASIAN Buffet of 2014 is Yummy China Buffet, East Meadow, New York. This is the first time that a Long Island buffet has been given any award from this site.
In the coming weeks there will be an article about each buffet and what brings their designated award to it. We will, at this point, speak briefly to the "Top Buffet" award to Shady Maple. As many know Shady Maple has been a Best Buffet for many years. Shady Maple is as good as it has always been. It is a restaurant that it is hard to compare other buffet restaurants to. None can compare to the size of the restaurant or the quantity or variety of foods served. It is the first buffet that we recommend anyone to go to when in Lancaster County, PA - because it is just that different. But - and this is not a negative "but" - more and more if both this and Dutch-Way, Gap are considered for a meal, Dutch-Way is chosen. It is small, has pleasant but simple decor, and does not have anywhere near the quantities and variety of foods that Shady Maple offers in one night. Telling someone who is looking for a "experience" though is going to find that more at Shady Maple and that what puts it the TOP of the list. Yet, Dutch-Way has been proving to be the BEST when it comes to different and sometimes, more unique food choices. Both are great buffets and are must go tos. Designating Top or Best when it comes to these two buffets takes nothing away from either one. Read the articles that will follow in the next several weeks about each and you will better understand.
Congratulations to these exceptional restaurants. There are many other wonderful buffets that were dined at this year (and a few not so good ones) and some others came very close to being on this list.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Shady Maple Smorgasbord, East Earl, Pennsylvania
Eight months has been too long to not have had dinner at Shady Maple. The snow this winter and the rain this Spring has kept us from traveling but we finally managed to get a passable weekend to make the trip. We went on a Saturday night in the beginning of June.
Arriving at the parking lot I said a loud, "Oh Boy!". The lots were jammed. I do not remember seeing the parking lots - yes, lots - there are three - this crowded. I wondered what we would find inside. We wound up parking in the lot adjacent to the supermarket - below Shady Maple at the entrance to the gift shop and cafe. This is also a tour bus entry area and there were two buses there - one dropping off and one picking up and I even more expected to find a mob inside. We entered through the gift shop and made our way upstairs to Shady Maple's lobby. Where were all of the people?
Where were all of the people really is a mystery because there were no lines in the lobby for the cash registers - there were two registers open and each had a family paying - but we walked up, were next, paid and went down the hall expecting a long line there. At that end there was one large group waiting to be seated, a family of four ahead of us and tables open scattered throughout. We were seated shortly.
There were people in all of the dining rooms and the rooms were busy but not full. For just the very start of tourist season and not officially summer yet, there were more people than I had expected but it still did not explain the jammed parking lots. My wife suggested that perhaps there was a very large catering function which is possible, but so many cars for one catering function seemed unusual too. Anyway, enough dwelling on the parking lot.
There were no weekend specials on this Saturday night. Shady Maple through the winter and Spring will have special feature weekends. It was a usual assortment of items on the buffet servers and multiple grill stations for a Saturday night.
Lately I am finding that I get full sooner than I have in the past and decided that to make sure that I would be able to enjoy an assortment of items - there were several grill features that were catching my eye - that I would cut back on the usual salad that I make to start dinner at Shady Maple. I took a small sampling of macaroni salad and a small sample of Amish potato salad along with a small scoop of chopped tomatoes topped with a few green olives and Ranch dressing.
Where one of the soups should be on both halves of the buffet was trays of melted cheese sauce. This was there for french fries that were near by. As a result there was one - or two - soups missing from the usual assortment. I took a very different split pea and ham soup. It was not a thick soup as expected but a thin cream soup (very pale green in color) full of split peas and pieces of ham. I have not had it made this way before and it was good - the thick version of this soup (the standard version) is one of my favorites. This had the taste but lacked the body of the standard. I would actually consider it a soup all onto itself and not to be compared to the thick green version. There were other soups - some spicy - and there is always excellent chili.
On the grills were a broad variety of foods. There was NY strip steak being cooked to order on two grills. There were Smorgy Cheesesteaks, kielbasi, country sausage, several types of fish, carved smoked brisket, carved ham, and something that I have not seen here before - marinated prime rib. The marinated prime rib was one of the things that caught my eye and I knew that if I started with that I would not be eating much else as they were carving thick, juicy slices of it. When Shady Maple has Prime Rib as a feature and they usually have this on Wednesday nights, there are several Prime Ribs being carved - each done to a different wellness from rare to well done - at the grill so well done can be made even more well done if one prefers. This was just one prime rib being carved and it was done well. There was always a short line to get a slice. It had been so long since my last Shady Maple dinner that I was drawn more to the usual and started with a New York Strip Steak cooked rare the way I like it and some country sausage. I then took the plate to the buffet servers and walked the full length of the restaurant to see what was being offered. To my surprise Dried Corn was back no the buffet. This has been missing for over a year - though having been absent for eight months I don't really know when it was brought back. Last year the sign where the Dried Corn should be on the buffet said that since the Copes company changed hands the dried corn that they were supplying was not to the satisfaction of Shady Maple. Apparently, the corn got better because it is there where it always had been before - at the first corner of the right side buffet server. I had to have Dried Corn and took some and added some buttered noodles to my plate and happy, headed back to our table.
I don't understand what goes on with the chargrill that Shady Maple installed at the first carving/grill station. It seems to never be in use. It is covered over and is used as a flat griddle. This was where steaks were to be made. They are still made there but are made - as they had always been made at Shady Maple from the beginning - flat on the griddle. A charbroiled steak can be so much better but I have not had one here since the new grill was put in. The steak was still good and so was the country sausage. The sausage here is made in-house. It is popular at Shady Maple and I found as the night went on and I decided to go for more that it does run out.
I love the Smorgy Cheesesteaks - a Philly Cheesesteak by another name. You can have it served to use the standard way - on a thick, hard roll - or if you are like me and don't want to fill up on bread when there is so much more to enjoy, have them scoop it off the grill covered in melted cheese and mixed with chopped onions right onto your plate. There is also tomato sauce to go on top if you like - something that seems to be local - and they are cooking the meat without onions and without cheese. I got some cheesesteak - on the plate, not roll - and also got a piece of kielbasi. To this plate I added a pirogi that were on the buffet server. There were also a few small items scattered around the right half buffet servers on top of the center other trays - one was small hor d'oeuvres sized kiesch.I tried one of those too. The kielbasi was nice. I like smoked sausage and this was good. The pirogi was good as well.
I picked at a little of this and that for the rest of the meal. I took a fried crab cake and a piece of marinated turkey. This was very unusual. It was a small piece - I suppose it could be described as a thin medallion. It was blackened on the outside, moist and flavorful inside. This seem to be the night for marinated meats as there was also marinated chicken on the buffet servers that I did not try.
The marinated Prime Rib kept calling to me from the carving station to our table but I resisted. I wanted it but I knew that I would not be comfortable if I went for it - a plate too far. As we say it is not all that you can eat but all that you care to eat - all that you care to eat needs to be tempered by common sense. My common sense won out and I skipped the marinated Prime Rib - maybe it will be there next time!
Dessert at Shady Maple is always an overwhelming assortment of choices. I saw squares of apple cake and was going to take that until I saw that the sign said "Gluten Free Apple Cake" this means something other than flour has been used and I need to know what that "other" is for my own dietary concerns. I skipped the apple cake. Then I saw a half of an apple fritter on a plate. I was about to take that and a scoop of my favorite - egg custard. Again, my common sense won out and I left the apple fritter and took the egg custard. Later thinking about that apple fritter I was tempted to go back for it as I finished the custard, but decided that I was at the point of full and just stay right there in my chair. And I did.
While we were dining Meryl spotted Mr. Weaver, Shady Maple's owner. He was talking with the main buffet manager. This is a buffet restaurant (and complex of so much more) that is well supervised and managed.
Was it all good? Of course. Was I away too long? Absolutely. This is still THE Best Buffet! There is no question about it and everyone local to this area knows it. My next visit will be A LOT SOONER than eight months.
Oh and by the way, our Best Buffet 2013 certificate is hanging in a glass case on the piller next to the last cashier to the left in the lobby.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page. You can also keep up to date with Shady Maple by liking them on their page on Facebook!
Arriving at the parking lot I said a loud, "Oh Boy!". The lots were jammed. I do not remember seeing the parking lots - yes, lots - there are three - this crowded. I wondered what we would find inside. We wound up parking in the lot adjacent to the supermarket - below Shady Maple at the entrance to the gift shop and cafe. This is also a tour bus entry area and there were two buses there - one dropping off and one picking up and I even more expected to find a mob inside. We entered through the gift shop and made our way upstairs to Shady Maple's lobby. Where were all of the people?
Where were all of the people really is a mystery because there were no lines in the lobby for the cash registers - there were two registers open and each had a family paying - but we walked up, were next, paid and went down the hall expecting a long line there. At that end there was one large group waiting to be seated, a family of four ahead of us and tables open scattered throughout. We were seated shortly.
There were people in all of the dining rooms and the rooms were busy but not full. For just the very start of tourist season and not officially summer yet, there were more people than I had expected but it still did not explain the jammed parking lots. My wife suggested that perhaps there was a very large catering function which is possible, but so many cars for one catering function seemed unusual too. Anyway, enough dwelling on the parking lot.
There were no weekend specials on this Saturday night. Shady Maple through the winter and Spring will have special feature weekends. It was a usual assortment of items on the buffet servers and multiple grill stations for a Saturday night.
Lately I am finding that I get full sooner than I have in the past and decided that to make sure that I would be able to enjoy an assortment of items - there were several grill features that were catching my eye - that I would cut back on the usual salad that I make to start dinner at Shady Maple. I took a small sampling of macaroni salad and a small sample of Amish potato salad along with a small scoop of chopped tomatoes topped with a few green olives and Ranch dressing.
Where one of the soups should be on both halves of the buffet was trays of melted cheese sauce. This was there for french fries that were near by. As a result there was one - or two - soups missing from the usual assortment. I took a very different split pea and ham soup. It was not a thick soup as expected but a thin cream soup (very pale green in color) full of split peas and pieces of ham. I have not had it made this way before and it was good - the thick version of this soup (the standard version) is one of my favorites. This had the taste but lacked the body of the standard. I would actually consider it a soup all onto itself and not to be compared to the thick green version. There were other soups - some spicy - and there is always excellent chili.
On the grills were a broad variety of foods. There was NY strip steak being cooked to order on two grills. There were Smorgy Cheesesteaks, kielbasi, country sausage, several types of fish, carved smoked brisket, carved ham, and something that I have not seen here before - marinated prime rib. The marinated prime rib was one of the things that caught my eye and I knew that if I started with that I would not be eating much else as they were carving thick, juicy slices of it. When Shady Maple has Prime Rib as a feature and they usually have this on Wednesday nights, there are several Prime Ribs being carved - each done to a different wellness from rare to well done - at the grill so well done can be made even more well done if one prefers. This was just one prime rib being carved and it was done well. There was always a short line to get a slice. It had been so long since my last Shady Maple dinner that I was drawn more to the usual and started with a New York Strip Steak cooked rare the way I like it and some country sausage. I then took the plate to the buffet servers and walked the full length of the restaurant to see what was being offered. To my surprise Dried Corn was back no the buffet. This has been missing for over a year - though having been absent for eight months I don't really know when it was brought back. Last year the sign where the Dried Corn should be on the buffet said that since the Copes company changed hands the dried corn that they were supplying was not to the satisfaction of Shady Maple. Apparently, the corn got better because it is there where it always had been before - at the first corner of the right side buffet server. I had to have Dried Corn and took some and added some buttered noodles to my plate and happy, headed back to our table.
I don't understand what goes on with the chargrill that Shady Maple installed at the first carving/grill station. It seems to never be in use. It is covered over and is used as a flat griddle. This was where steaks were to be made. They are still made there but are made - as they had always been made at Shady Maple from the beginning - flat on the griddle. A charbroiled steak can be so much better but I have not had one here since the new grill was put in. The steak was still good and so was the country sausage. The sausage here is made in-house. It is popular at Shady Maple and I found as the night went on and I decided to go for more that it does run out.
I love the Smorgy Cheesesteaks - a Philly Cheesesteak by another name. You can have it served to use the standard way - on a thick, hard roll - or if you are like me and don't want to fill up on bread when there is so much more to enjoy, have them scoop it off the grill covered in melted cheese and mixed with chopped onions right onto your plate. There is also tomato sauce to go on top if you like - something that seems to be local - and they are cooking the meat without onions and without cheese. I got some cheesesteak - on the plate, not roll - and also got a piece of kielbasi. To this plate I added a pirogi that were on the buffet server. There were also a few small items scattered around the right half buffet servers on top of the center other trays - one was small hor d'oeuvres sized kiesch.I tried one of those too. The kielbasi was nice. I like smoked sausage and this was good. The pirogi was good as well.
I picked at a little of this and that for the rest of the meal. I took a fried crab cake and a piece of marinated turkey. This was very unusual. It was a small piece - I suppose it could be described as a thin medallion. It was blackened on the outside, moist and flavorful inside. This seem to be the night for marinated meats as there was also marinated chicken on the buffet servers that I did not try.
The marinated Prime Rib kept calling to me from the carving station to our table but I resisted. I wanted it but I knew that I would not be comfortable if I went for it - a plate too far. As we say it is not all that you can eat but all that you care to eat - all that you care to eat needs to be tempered by common sense. My common sense won out and I skipped the marinated Prime Rib - maybe it will be there next time!
Dessert at Shady Maple is always an overwhelming assortment of choices. I saw squares of apple cake and was going to take that until I saw that the sign said "Gluten Free Apple Cake" this means something other than flour has been used and I need to know what that "other" is for my own dietary concerns. I skipped the apple cake. Then I saw a half of an apple fritter on a plate. I was about to take that and a scoop of my favorite - egg custard. Again, my common sense won out and I left the apple fritter and took the egg custard. Later thinking about that apple fritter I was tempted to go back for it as I finished the custard, but decided that I was at the point of full and just stay right there in my chair. And I did.
While we were dining Meryl spotted Mr. Weaver, Shady Maple's owner. He was talking with the main buffet manager. This is a buffet restaurant (and complex of so much more) that is well supervised and managed.
Was it all good? Of course. Was I away too long? Absolutely. This is still THE Best Buffet! There is no question about it and everyone local to this area knows it. My next visit will be A LOT SOONER than eight months.
Oh and by the way, our Best Buffet 2013 certificate is hanging in a glass case on the piller next to the last cashier to the left in the lobby.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page. You can also keep up to date with Shady Maple by liking them on their page on Facebook!
Friday, February 28, 2014
THE BEST BUFFET OF 2013 - SHADY MAPLE SMORGASBORD, EAST EARLE, PA
We have yet to find any buffet restaurant in the US that tops Shady Maple Smorgasbord. I don't think that anyone can find another buffet that does when it comes to quality of food, quantity of offerings, value, consistency, size of the restaurant, and price. It is just that good and try as we can to find another buffet that even comes close, year after year, we always come back to Shady Maple as truly the best buffet.
It is not just this site that feels this way. I have said this before, people from all over know Shady Maple and will tell you how good it is. Not just people from Pennsylvania but I have been far, far away from Pennsylvania and have overheard people talking about Shady Maple and saying how wonderful it is. I have recommended many to go to dine at Shady Maple - not just on this site but face to face. Someone will say that they will be in Lancaster County and I will say then you must go to Shady Maple Smorgasbord and tell them where it is. The next time that I see these people they will rave about Shady Maple and thank me for sending them there! This happens over and over again. While it is common now for restaurants to have a Facebook page, the Shady Maple Facebook page is always busy and full of comments on how good the food is and how so many wish they could be there when a new feature is announced or a special is talked about.
So what makes this buffet so good and our choice for Best Buffet for 2013? When you walk into Shady Maple which is located surrounded in just about all sides by rolling farmland on the edge of what is called the Pennsylvania Dutch Country - populated by Amish and Mennonites who have settled this area for almost three hundred years - you see a huge and lavish lobby. This is not what you expect in an area where the people are known as the "Plain People". Shady Maple is far from plain. What you see you might expect in a big hotel in a big city or at a lavish casino. This is how the owner of Shady Maple - the same owner since it started - decided to build and decorate his buffet building when it moved from another corner of the property years ago. The old building is still there housing a furniture store. The original was much simpler in design and decoration and smaller. The old Shady Maple is more of what you might expect to find, but the new building was made grand and fitting what this famous restaurant should be to showcase its fine cooking and wonderful meals. The chandeliers follow into the dining rooms - there are many dining rooms. Some are private rooms that are opened to everyone when the crowds get too large for just the other immense dining rooms - and this is a regular occurrence in the summer months - and this happens then not just on Saturday nights. There is often a wait to get in - no matter what the season or the night of the week. (Except Sunday when Shady Maple is closed all day.) Along one entire side of the huge restaurant is a buffet area that goes the full length and curves around to add more room for desserts and beverages. (I have been in a restaurant that claims to be the largest restaurant in the world. I am certain that Shady Maple is larger.) But it is not just size that makes this buffet what it is. The food is as grand in quantity as the restaurant is large.
The food at Shady Maple varies from night to night. There are featured foods on different nights of the week, but other than the features you never know what you might find on the buffet. Yes, there are some things that you can just about to expect to always find, but there is so much here that just what changes every night is more in selection than other buffets have as all of their selections. There are four grills - one of which now has a chargrill in addition to a grill top. There are carvings, there are cooked to order items, and there are features filling these grills - every night (and day as they are open for lunch and breakfast too). Each grill is not cooking just one food but several different foods. When you walk to the buffet servers you approach from the middle of the length of the buffet serving area. The buffet servers go in both directions. Now, at first glance it will look like one side is a duplication of the other, and for some items that is true, but both sides have many different foods offered to you to select from than the other and this includes the salad bar, the soups, and the dessert area.
The foods served are not just Pennsylvania Dutch but many are local Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. But you will also find continental dishes, Italian dishes, Oriental stir-fry on one of the grills on some nights, and local favorites that are not PA Dutch. Smorgy Cheesesteaks are made to order at one of the grills. These are wonderful! The country sausage - made at the restaurant - and cooked on one of the grills is a favorite of mine (and many others). The steaks that are featured on Monday nights but show up on other nights are great! On Prime Rib Wednesday at dinner they are not just carving one Prime Rib - cooked just one way - but several Prime Ribs cooked to please those who enjoy rare up to well done. What is put on your plate is in size what you would expect to get in a menu restaurant when you order Prime Rib. You begin to wonder how you are going to fit everything else that you cannot resist into your stomach!
There is so much of everything. There are a number of soups to choose from and some are soups that I have only seen and had at Shady Maple. Wonderful seasonal soups along with more common soups but there just is not anything common here as basic gets a little extra which makes it only better.
I know our readers like to hear about desserts. Shady Maple has the widest assortment of dessert choices now than any other buffet that I have been to that is still in business. There are slices of layer cakes, all types of pies, Shoofly pie is always available as are apple dumplings and so much more! There is fruit, puddings, prepared desserts, sugarfree desserts, soft serve ice cream, sundae toppings, cookies, hot desserts... There are just too many to name. If you have a sweet tooth then moderate how much you take to eat during the meal because you will have so much dessert to choose from that you will not be able to resist. It is very easy to stuff yourself here - even if you don't take any dessert! This is the buffet that our slogan and sub-title was made for - "All you can eat is not a challenge!" It is very easy to forget that here. (Don't forget it, however, and you will enjoy your meal here so much more!)
The off season in this area are the months of January, February, and March and during those months, Shady Maple features very special weekend (Friday and Saturday night) features. Our article about the 2014 "off season specials" is here.
Now, with all of this food there must be a real big price for the meal, right? Well, no. The price is in line with most of the other buffets in this area and when you see the price, it includes the sales tax, an included gratuity (tip), and all meals include unlimited beverages which have a selection that also seems unlimited. The price of the meal varies by the night and the features with Tuesday's Seafood Night being the highest priced of the six nights that they are serving. The seafood on that night is plentiful - just like everything else at Shady Maple. Thursday nights are the lowest priced nights for dinner. At one time, Thursday was called "Family Value Night". The other nights vary in between. I am not going to give specific prices because in today's economy prices may change - though Shady Maple's prices have held where they are for some time now.
This is the one and only Shady Maple Smorgasbord. There is none better. This is the BEST! And once again is our BEST BUFFET OF THE YEAR!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
It is not just this site that feels this way. I have said this before, people from all over know Shady Maple and will tell you how good it is. Not just people from Pennsylvania but I have been far, far away from Pennsylvania and have overheard people talking about Shady Maple and saying how wonderful it is. I have recommended many to go to dine at Shady Maple - not just on this site but face to face. Someone will say that they will be in Lancaster County and I will say then you must go to Shady Maple Smorgasbord and tell them where it is. The next time that I see these people they will rave about Shady Maple and thank me for sending them there! This happens over and over again. While it is common now for restaurants to have a Facebook page, the Shady Maple Facebook page is always busy and full of comments on how good the food is and how so many wish they could be there when a new feature is announced or a special is talked about.
So what makes this buffet so good and our choice for Best Buffet for 2013? When you walk into Shady Maple which is located surrounded in just about all sides by rolling farmland on the edge of what is called the Pennsylvania Dutch Country - populated by Amish and Mennonites who have settled this area for almost three hundred years - you see a huge and lavish lobby. This is not what you expect in an area where the people are known as the "Plain People". Shady Maple is far from plain. What you see you might expect in a big hotel in a big city or at a lavish casino. This is how the owner of Shady Maple - the same owner since it started - decided to build and decorate his buffet building when it moved from another corner of the property years ago. The old building is still there housing a furniture store. The original was much simpler in design and decoration and smaller. The old Shady Maple is more of what you might expect to find, but the new building was made grand and fitting what this famous restaurant should be to showcase its fine cooking and wonderful meals. The chandeliers follow into the dining rooms - there are many dining rooms. Some are private rooms that are opened to everyone when the crowds get too large for just the other immense dining rooms - and this is a regular occurrence in the summer months - and this happens then not just on Saturday nights. There is often a wait to get in - no matter what the season or the night of the week. (Except Sunday when Shady Maple is closed all day.) Along one entire side of the huge restaurant is a buffet area that goes the full length and curves around to add more room for desserts and beverages. (I have been in a restaurant that claims to be the largest restaurant in the world. I am certain that Shady Maple is larger.) But it is not just size that makes this buffet what it is. The food is as grand in quantity as the restaurant is large.
The food at Shady Maple varies from night to night. There are featured foods on different nights of the week, but other than the features you never know what you might find on the buffet. Yes, there are some things that you can just about to expect to always find, but there is so much here that just what changes every night is more in selection than other buffets have as all of their selections. There are four grills - one of which now has a chargrill in addition to a grill top. There are carvings, there are cooked to order items, and there are features filling these grills - every night (and day as they are open for lunch and breakfast too). Each grill is not cooking just one food but several different foods. When you walk to the buffet servers you approach from the middle of the length of the buffet serving area. The buffet servers go in both directions. Now, at first glance it will look like one side is a duplication of the other, and for some items that is true, but both sides have many different foods offered to you to select from than the other and this includes the salad bar, the soups, and the dessert area.
The foods served are not just Pennsylvania Dutch but many are local Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. But you will also find continental dishes, Italian dishes, Oriental stir-fry on one of the grills on some nights, and local favorites that are not PA Dutch. Smorgy Cheesesteaks are made to order at one of the grills. These are wonderful! The country sausage - made at the restaurant - and cooked on one of the grills is a favorite of mine (and many others). The steaks that are featured on Monday nights but show up on other nights are great! On Prime Rib Wednesday at dinner they are not just carving one Prime Rib - cooked just one way - but several Prime Ribs cooked to please those who enjoy rare up to well done. What is put on your plate is in size what you would expect to get in a menu restaurant when you order Prime Rib. You begin to wonder how you are going to fit everything else that you cannot resist into your stomach!
There is so much of everything. There are a number of soups to choose from and some are soups that I have only seen and had at Shady Maple. Wonderful seasonal soups along with more common soups but there just is not anything common here as basic gets a little extra which makes it only better.
I know our readers like to hear about desserts. Shady Maple has the widest assortment of dessert choices now than any other buffet that I have been to that is still in business. There are slices of layer cakes, all types of pies, Shoofly pie is always available as are apple dumplings and so much more! There is fruit, puddings, prepared desserts, sugarfree desserts, soft serve ice cream, sundae toppings, cookies, hot desserts... There are just too many to name. If you have a sweet tooth then moderate how much you take to eat during the meal because you will have so much dessert to choose from that you will not be able to resist. It is very easy to stuff yourself here - even if you don't take any dessert! This is the buffet that our slogan and sub-title was made for - "All you can eat is not a challenge!" It is very easy to forget that here. (Don't forget it, however, and you will enjoy your meal here so much more!)
The off season in this area are the months of January, February, and March and during those months, Shady Maple features very special weekend (Friday and Saturday night) features. Our article about the 2014 "off season specials" is here.
Now, with all of this food there must be a real big price for the meal, right? Well, no. The price is in line with most of the other buffets in this area and when you see the price, it includes the sales tax, an included gratuity (tip), and all meals include unlimited beverages which have a selection that also seems unlimited. The price of the meal varies by the night and the features with Tuesday's Seafood Night being the highest priced of the six nights that they are serving. The seafood on that night is plentiful - just like everything else at Shady Maple. Thursday nights are the lowest priced nights for dinner. At one time, Thursday was called "Family Value Night". The other nights vary in between. I am not going to give specific prices because in today's economy prices may change - though Shady Maple's prices have held where they are for some time now.
This is the one and only Shady Maple Smorgasbord. There is none better. This is the BEST! And once again is our BEST BUFFET OF THE YEAR!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, February 07, 2014
BEST BUFFET AND TOP BUFFET OF 2013
This is the latest that we have ever taken to naming the Best Buffet for the year. This year was difficult. I go to a lot of really good buffets. A number of those stand out and just a few are ones that I think often about going to. All of those are not local and when I can get to them they are must go tos - even at the expense of trying something new. I went to a number of buffets in 2013. Some were first time for me and others were ones that I have been to before.
When we pick a Best Buffet - and last year we picked several and named them all Top Buffets for 2012, we start with certain criteria. They must give excellent value. They must serve quality food. The food must be prepared properly. The restaurant must be managed properly. The service must be good. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal, visit to visit.Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back to whenever possible.
When the process gets narrowed down to a few choices, they get ordered in priority of the criteria - and what starts to be examined is how consistent were they. A few favorites every so often disappoint. Some never disappoint. In the year 2013, there were two that did not disappoint and they are the choices for this year. This year there is a Best Buffet and a Top Buffet. Best and Top are not the same thing and in our decision for this year neither one of the other is considered higher. In other words, Top Buffet is not Number Two or the runner up.
Let me explain. There can be a best - the restaurant that pleases every time. There can also be a top - the restaurant that is at the top of the list to go to. It has appeal, it pleases, but it is not share in characteristics that can be compared to the other - things that it may not be able to compete against but that should not be held against it. If this is confusing, you now know why it has taken this long for this decision to be made this year.
So without further ado, the Best Buffet for 2013 is Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, Pennsylvania. The Top Buffet of 2013 is Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA. I am sure it is no surprise to any of our readers who have been to Shady Maple that it is again named as Best Buffet. It has been for as long as this site has been giving this award. Dutch-Way in Gap was one of our Top Buffets in 2012. It really is the buffet at the top of the list to go to when possible.
There will be articles about both of these buffets coming in the next weeks. We will be sending a Best Buffet certificate to Shady Maple. They have consistently from the start honored our award by displaying it in a glass case in their lobby, and we hope that they will place the new certificate there as well. If you go there please go and see it. It has been displayed in the case next to the last cash register on the left in the glass case on the column. When you see it tell them that you have read about them on this site. If you agree that it is the best, let them know. They appreciate the recognition.
Congratulations to Shady Maple Smorgasbord and to Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Gap!
When we pick a Best Buffet - and last year we picked several and named them all Top Buffets for 2012, we start with certain criteria. They must give excellent value. They must serve quality food. The food must be prepared properly. The restaurant must be managed properly. The service must be good. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal, visit to visit.Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back to whenever possible.
When the process gets narrowed down to a few choices, they get ordered in priority of the criteria - and what starts to be examined is how consistent were they. A few favorites every so often disappoint. Some never disappoint. In the year 2013, there were two that did not disappoint and they are the choices for this year. This year there is a Best Buffet and a Top Buffet. Best and Top are not the same thing and in our decision for this year neither one of the other is considered higher. In other words, Top Buffet is not Number Two or the runner up.
Let me explain. There can be a best - the restaurant that pleases every time. There can also be a top - the restaurant that is at the top of the list to go to. It has appeal, it pleases, but it is not share in characteristics that can be compared to the other - things that it may not be able to compete against but that should not be held against it. If this is confusing, you now know why it has taken this long for this decision to be made this year.
So without further ado, the Best Buffet for 2013 is Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, Pennsylvania. The Top Buffet of 2013 is Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA. I am sure it is no surprise to any of our readers who have been to Shady Maple that it is again named as Best Buffet. It has been for as long as this site has been giving this award. Dutch-Way in Gap was one of our Top Buffets in 2012. It really is the buffet at the top of the list to go to when possible.
There will be articles about both of these buffets coming in the next weeks. We will be sending a Best Buffet certificate to Shady Maple. They have consistently from the start honored our award by displaying it in a glass case in their lobby, and we hope that they will place the new certificate there as well. If you go there please go and see it. It has been displayed in the case next to the last cash register on the left in the glass case on the column. When you see it tell them that you have read about them on this site. If you agree that it is the best, let them know. They appreciate the recognition.
Congratulations to Shady Maple Smorgasbord and to Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Gap!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Shady Maple Smorgasbord Off-Season Special Theme Dinner Weekends - East Earle, PA
If you are a regular reader of this site you know about Shady Maple - our top buffet pick for a number of years now. You may not know that when the winter comes, Shady Maple features special theme weekend dinners on Friday and Saturday nights. Those dinners started tonight but this weekend's special continues tomorrow. I am going to list those theme weekend specials and their dates here for your reference. These dinners include the special featured items along with the regular smorgasbord.
Asian Weekend
Friday, January 10th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, January 11th 11AM-8PM
Walnut chicken, pepper steak, Korean BBQ wings, BBQ ribs, spring rolls and egg rolls with a variety of sauces. At the grilles: fried rice, lo mein, chicken or shrimp with your choice of variety of vegetables, curry, teriyaki or sweet and spicy Korean sauce. Plus gourmet apple bread, hot pepper jack cheese and orange creamsicle dessert.
Shrimp and Grilled Fish Weekend
Friday, January 24th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, January 25th 11AM-8PM
Featuring steamed shrimp (hot and cold u-peel and eat), fried shrimp, shrimp noodles, Maryland crab soup, crab augratin, oyster stew, grilled salmon, grilled cajun catfish, orange roughy, crab dip, hot crab dip and hand dipped seafood croquets. Plus gourmet strawberry bread, sharp cheddar cheese and lemon meringue pie.
Western Weekend
Friday, January 31st 4PM-8PM and Saturday, February 1st 11AM-8PM
Featuring New York strip steaks, chopped steaks, salisbury steak, hamburgers and hot dogs, BBQ baked beans, chili, cowboy caviar and peanuts. Plus Shady Maple's very own western burger and also featuring gourmet peach bread, longhorn cheese and fruited bread pudding.
Prime Rib Weekend
Friday, February 7th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, February 8th 11AM-8PM
The grill stations will be featuring famous juicy prime rib as well as their own Smorgie cheese steaks! Plus also featuring gourmet spinach and cheese bread, muenster cheese and pecan pie.
Hawaiian Luau Weekend
Friday, February 21st 4PM-8PM and Saturday February 22nd 11AM-8PM
Whole roasted pig, pulled pork, ham balls with pineapple sauce, pineapple chicken, coconut mahi, carved steamship pork with sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, pineapple bread pudding, Hawaiian fruit salad, chocolate fountain, smoothies, fresh pineapple, coconut macaroons, and plus pineapple bread and a variety of Hawaiian salads and desserts.
Farmers Weekend
Friday, February 28th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, March 1st 11AM-8PM
Chicken pot pie, duck legs, fresh pork sausage, ham balls, lima beans. On the grill they will have chicken livers with or without onions. The soup and salad bar is featuring chunky chicken salad, and cream of potato soup and cabbage soup. Plus Amish butter cheese, gourmet apple bread and apple and shoofly pie.
Prime Rib Weekend
Friday, March 7th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, March 8th 11AM-8PM
The grills will be featuring prime rib and their famouse Smorgie cheese steaks. Plus they will be featuring gourmet peach bread, muenster cheese and peach crumb pie.
Several of these have my attention. I would love to try their whole roasted pig! Then again, the next weekend's Farmers Weekend looks good too! They all look good! Each one is definitely recommended. I only wish I was not over four hours and a good amount of tolls and miles away.
Past these dates the season starts to begin again and while there will still be specials, the menus will revert to the usual and great Shady Maple Smorgasbord.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Asian Weekend
Friday, January 10th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, January 11th 11AM-8PM
Walnut chicken, pepper steak, Korean BBQ wings, BBQ ribs, spring rolls and egg rolls with a variety of sauces. At the grilles: fried rice, lo mein, chicken or shrimp with your choice of variety of vegetables, curry, teriyaki or sweet and spicy Korean sauce. Plus gourmet apple bread, hot pepper jack cheese and orange creamsicle dessert.
Shrimp and Grilled Fish Weekend
Friday, January 24th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, January 25th 11AM-8PM
Featuring steamed shrimp (hot and cold u-peel and eat), fried shrimp, shrimp noodles, Maryland crab soup, crab augratin, oyster stew, grilled salmon, grilled cajun catfish, orange roughy, crab dip, hot crab dip and hand dipped seafood croquets. Plus gourmet strawberry bread, sharp cheddar cheese and lemon meringue pie.
Western Weekend
Friday, January 31st 4PM-8PM and Saturday, February 1st 11AM-8PM
Featuring New York strip steaks, chopped steaks, salisbury steak, hamburgers and hot dogs, BBQ baked beans, chili, cowboy caviar and peanuts. Plus Shady Maple's very own western burger and also featuring gourmet peach bread, longhorn cheese and fruited bread pudding.
Prime Rib Weekend
Friday, February 7th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, February 8th 11AM-8PM
The grill stations will be featuring famous juicy prime rib as well as their own Smorgie cheese steaks! Plus also featuring gourmet spinach and cheese bread, muenster cheese and pecan pie.
Hawaiian Luau Weekend
Friday, February 21st 4PM-8PM and Saturday February 22nd 11AM-8PM
Whole roasted pig, pulled pork, ham balls with pineapple sauce, pineapple chicken, coconut mahi, carved steamship pork with sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, pineapple bread pudding, Hawaiian fruit salad, chocolate fountain, smoothies, fresh pineapple, coconut macaroons, and plus pineapple bread and a variety of Hawaiian salads and desserts.
Farmers Weekend
Friday, February 28th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, March 1st 11AM-8PM
Chicken pot pie, duck legs, fresh pork sausage, ham balls, lima beans. On the grill they will have chicken livers with or without onions. The soup and salad bar is featuring chunky chicken salad, and cream of potato soup and cabbage soup. Plus Amish butter cheese, gourmet apple bread and apple and shoofly pie.
Prime Rib Weekend
Friday, March 7th 4PM-8PM and Saturday, March 8th 11AM-8PM
The grills will be featuring prime rib and their famouse Smorgie cheese steaks. Plus they will be featuring gourmet peach bread, muenster cheese and peach crumb pie.
Several of these have my attention. I would love to try their whole roasted pig! Then again, the next weekend's Farmers Weekend looks good too! They all look good! Each one is definitely recommended. I only wish I was not over four hours and a good amount of tolls and miles away.
Past these dates the season starts to begin again and while there will still be specials, the menus will revert to the usual and great Shady Maple Smorgasbord.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Shady Maple Smorgasbord on the Fourth of July
For a big tourist area, not all restaurants are open on the Fourth of July in Lancaster County, PA. Shady Maple at one time closed early, but for a long time now has remained open for its regular hours. We were in the area on the Fourth of July and went to Shady Maple for dinner.
It was crowded but there was no wait. We went right in and was seated. The dining room was crowded and we sat a bit off to the side of where we are usually seated. I prefer a table and I like the main dining room area in front of the buffet area entrance. This Fourth of July was on a Thursday and the Thursday feature for dinner is always Family Value Night - and dinner was priced accordingly. As we were seated the hostess told us that there was an additional feature for the holiday - three types of ribs!
The menu is always changing at Shady Maple and there is so much that listing everything that is on the buffet just does not make any sense. There were some new soups which I have not seen there before that I do have to make note of and those were Sweet Potato Soup and Ham Vegetable. The Sweet Potato Soup was very interesting - and very good. Imagine mashed sweet potatoes sweetened with brown sugar and maybe even a little maple, add a little fresh butter, and liquify this with cream to a thick, creamy soup. This was the Sweet Potato Soup. If you like sweet this is the soup to try - and there was enough sweet potato flavor to satisfy. This would make an excellent soup to serve on Thanksgiving. Even though it was over 90 degrees outside, it was still satisfying! The Ham Vegetable was interesting also - like beef vegetable but with ham and a nice ham stock loaded with chunks of ham and vegetables. When there is more than one soup here that tempts me I take a half cup of each. The Ham Vegetable was very good - and it was very different from Ham and Bean (which they also had on this night).
The three types of ribs were baby back ribs, St. Louis ribs, and I guess what we can call generic barbecue ribs. The baby backs and the St. Louis ribs were served from one of the grills. The barbecue ribs were served from a tray on the buffet servers. I tried the baby backs and the St. Louis ribs. They both were good, but it may seem odd to say, but with each there was too much meat on and between the rib bones. The bones somewhat came away from the meat easily but my rib craving was not getting satisfied by these ribs. They were good but they would have been better if they had cut the ribs apart - they were served together in groups of three or four ribs, and if they were not like eating pork with bones in between. The sauce was good, but I did not go back for more ribs and ordinarily when I find ribs on a buffet I do go back for more. It did not really matter, though, as there was so much more to have - as there always is at Shady Maple.We had spent the day outside in the heat and perhaps this was just too heavy to deal with for dinner that day.
The Oriental Stir Fry was set up on the last grill and this I believe is a regular part of Thursday nights at Shady Maple. On that grill there was a sign for Portuguese Cod Cakes. I had no idea what would make a fish cake Portuguese but I tried one. These were breaded cod cakes with the cod minced like a crab cake is and it was mildly seasoned. They were flat fried on the fry grill. They were tasty and slightly spicy though not "hot and spicy". They were interesting and good.
Over on the charcoal grill they were cooking burgers. I did not have one but you could have had a burger grilled to order (with or without a bun) - add cheese and there are many toppings all over the buffet to build a burger with. I had wondered what they did with the grill when it was not a night that they serve steak - and on this Fourth of July Thursday they were grilling burgers.
There is no question that if you are in this area you must eat at Shady Maple. I have to struggle with my dinner choices not to go to Shady Maple so that I can get to the other buffets in the area that I love.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page. There is also an active Facebook page.
It was crowded but there was no wait. We went right in and was seated. The dining room was crowded and we sat a bit off to the side of where we are usually seated. I prefer a table and I like the main dining room area in front of the buffet area entrance. This Fourth of July was on a Thursday and the Thursday feature for dinner is always Family Value Night - and dinner was priced accordingly. As we were seated the hostess told us that there was an additional feature for the holiday - three types of ribs!
The menu is always changing at Shady Maple and there is so much that listing everything that is on the buffet just does not make any sense. There were some new soups which I have not seen there before that I do have to make note of and those were Sweet Potato Soup and Ham Vegetable. The Sweet Potato Soup was very interesting - and very good. Imagine mashed sweet potatoes sweetened with brown sugar and maybe even a little maple, add a little fresh butter, and liquify this with cream to a thick, creamy soup. This was the Sweet Potato Soup. If you like sweet this is the soup to try - and there was enough sweet potato flavor to satisfy. This would make an excellent soup to serve on Thanksgiving. Even though it was over 90 degrees outside, it was still satisfying! The Ham Vegetable was interesting also - like beef vegetable but with ham and a nice ham stock loaded with chunks of ham and vegetables. When there is more than one soup here that tempts me I take a half cup of each. The Ham Vegetable was very good - and it was very different from Ham and Bean (which they also had on this night).
The three types of ribs were baby back ribs, St. Louis ribs, and I guess what we can call generic barbecue ribs. The baby backs and the St. Louis ribs were served from one of the grills. The barbecue ribs were served from a tray on the buffet servers. I tried the baby backs and the St. Louis ribs. They both were good, but it may seem odd to say, but with each there was too much meat on and between the rib bones. The bones somewhat came away from the meat easily but my rib craving was not getting satisfied by these ribs. They were good but they would have been better if they had cut the ribs apart - they were served together in groups of three or four ribs, and if they were not like eating pork with bones in between. The sauce was good, but I did not go back for more ribs and ordinarily when I find ribs on a buffet I do go back for more. It did not really matter, though, as there was so much more to have - as there always is at Shady Maple.We had spent the day outside in the heat and perhaps this was just too heavy to deal with for dinner that day.
The Oriental Stir Fry was set up on the last grill and this I believe is a regular part of Thursday nights at Shady Maple. On that grill there was a sign for Portuguese Cod Cakes. I had no idea what would make a fish cake Portuguese but I tried one. These were breaded cod cakes with the cod minced like a crab cake is and it was mildly seasoned. They were flat fried on the fry grill. They were tasty and slightly spicy though not "hot and spicy". They were interesting and good.
Over on the charcoal grill they were cooking burgers. I did not have one but you could have had a burger grilled to order (with or without a bun) - add cheese and there are many toppings all over the buffet to build a burger with. I had wondered what they did with the grill when it was not a night that they serve steak - and on this Fourth of July Thursday they were grilling burgers.
On the buffet among so many things there were a couple of things I have not seen before here. One was barbecue beans which were kidney beans, bacon, green peppers and onions. The other was potato chunks with browned
butter. There is usually browned butter noodles served every night at Shady Maple. This was the first time that I saw potatoes in browned butter (and they were good!). To make browned butter, you take a pot filled with butter and put it on a stove and melt the butter - and once the butter melts to all liquid you leave it on the flame to continue to cook. What happens then is that the butter begins to burn and brown flakes form in the liquid. When it has all turned brown - you have browned butter. This gives the butter a very nutty taste and it is delicious. As I say, it is common in this area to see it on noodles, but not so often on potatoes.
As always at Shady Maple you have to tell yourself to stop going back up because there is always something else that you wanted to try or take more of. I stopped eating with several things that still caught my eye. I don't know if I have mentioned these here before but Shady Maple serves pretzel rolls - fresh baked and brushed with butter. They are found in a glass, heated case next to the left side at the edge of the dining room of the center grill island. These are very good but I reluctantly stopped myself from adding one of these to the end of the meal.
Of course, Shady Maple has been BEST Buffet for so many years in a row and in 2012 when we changed the format of the awards, it remains a TOP Buffet. (As I said then - if we did not do something to add more buffets to recognize for their excellence there is NO topping Shady Maple.)
There is no question that if you are in this area you must eat at Shady Maple. I have to struggle with my dinner choices not to go to Shady Maple so that I can get to the other buffets in the area that I love.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page. There is also an active Facebook page.
Friday, March 01, 2013
The BEST Server
This is not a new award from this site but it is special recognition for the best server - the person who takes care of you at your table - at any buffet that I have ever been to, and that includes a lot of buffets over many years. Her name is Lisa and she works at the Old Country Buffet in Bay Shore, New York. As I have heard, she has worked at this Old Country Buffet since it first opened many, many years ago - and she is still working there. She is one of the most dedicated workers that I have ever seen at any job - not just in a restaurant, but anywhere!
She is constantly on the go making sure that the tables in her section are taken care of. In this job that includes taking away plates and making sure that when a table is empty, it is cleaned and ready for the next guests. We have seen her at work for a number of years and she never seems to falter in what she does. She is always there when plates need picking up and she does so with a smile and welcoming remarks to the guests at her tables.
She has gone beyond what other servers in this restaurant and others do by carrying a spray bottle of cleaner with her all of the time in a special belt holster that she, personally, had made for this purpose. Where other servers here are just carrying around a wet cloth to clean tables, she is sanitizing the table - and the chairs - with the cleaner and then wiping them dry.
She never seems to slow down, and we have watched her work when she has been dealing with physical problems and injuries without missing a step. Currently, she is battling cancer and in this extreme circumstance she continues working, still with a smile and pleasant demeanor and still with all of the energy that she can muster.
As I say, we have seen a lot of good servers at various restaurants and, not just, buffets, but no one has been as impressive as Lisa. She is the BEST server anywhere. Old Country Buffet is very fortunate to have an employee like this.
She is constantly on the go making sure that the tables in her section are taken care of. In this job that includes taking away plates and making sure that when a table is empty, it is cleaned and ready for the next guests. We have seen her at work for a number of years and she never seems to falter in what she does. She is always there when plates need picking up and she does so with a smile and welcoming remarks to the guests at her tables.
She has gone beyond what other servers in this restaurant and others do by carrying a spray bottle of cleaner with her all of the time in a special belt holster that she, personally, had made for this purpose. Where other servers here are just carrying around a wet cloth to clean tables, she is sanitizing the table - and the chairs - with the cleaner and then wiping them dry.
She never seems to slow down, and we have watched her work when she has been dealing with physical problems and injuries without missing a step. Currently, she is battling cancer and in this extreme circumstance she continues working, still with a smile and pleasant demeanor and still with all of the energy that she can muster.
As I say, we have seen a lot of good servers at various restaurants and, not just, buffets, but no one has been as impressive as Lisa. She is the BEST server anywhere. Old Country Buffet is very fortunate to have an employee like this.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Top Buffet of 2012 - Shady Maple Smorgasbord, East Earl, PA
Shady Maple Smorgasbord has been our "Best Buffet" in the last four years. It is one of our Top Buffets of 2012 - not because it is not as great as it has been in the last four years, but as explained in our article naming the Top Buffets for 2012, no buffet really competes with Shady Maple Smorgasbord. We would be naming Shady Maple as best year after year after year until a giant killer came along - and I do not see that happening any time soon. Now, is this fair to Shady Maple? I believe so and it is important to let our readers know that there are other buffets out there that excel to the top. With that stated, let me tell you about Shady Maple - if you have not already read one of our many, many articles about this buffet.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where there are many other buffet restaurants. Shady Maple is family owned and operated. It is also the largest buffet restaurant that we have ever been in or seen. It fills a large building built by and for Shady Maple. The single building is two floors and contains the smorgasbord and several connected very large dining rooms, catering rooms and a gift shop - and another restaurant - that takes up the entire lower level.This building is part of the Shady Maple complex which also includes a large supermarket that also has its own restaurant (though not a buffet).
When you walk into the doors you are in a restaurant that is beyond what you would expect in this Amish/Mennonite community of Plain People. Shady Maple, inside, is anything but plain. There is a large and lavishly decorated lobby and sitting area with a fireplace and large crystal chandeliers. The large crystal chandeliers carry into the dining rooms which are also well decorated and not at all "country". The dining rooms are enormous and so is the buffet serving area. In fact the buffet area goes in two directions the length of the building.There are some items on each "end" that are the same but there are always items that will be different from one "end" or half to the other. In addition to the long, long, long row of buffet servers, there are three grilling and carving stations in the middle.
The food that is served is a combination of local dishes of the Pennsylvania Dutch and Continental/American fare. There is something here for everyone and no one should ever leave Shady Maple feeling hungry. In fact, just the opposite happens. It is too easy to leave Shady Maple after a meal and feel that you ate too much. It is all tempting and it is all good. It is hard to pass something by and there are so many choices.
This is a restaurant that seems to be known by everyone for counties around this area. I have heard Shady Maple mentioned in overheard conversations in Philadelphia. I have heard Shady Maple mentioned in conversations between Amish at Farmers Markets. And the comments are always positive. Out of Pennsylvania, someone mentions Lancaster County and the next thing I hear is "Shady Maple". This is a family restaurant that everyone comes to - locals and tourists.
What makes Shady Maple stand out? The food is great! The service is consistently good. The prices are in the moderate range and vary each night by what the night's feature is - but there is value for your money. They do include a reasonable gratuity with the price and the sales tax so the price you see listed is the price that you pay in total. The beverages are included with the meal. They make accommodations for people who have had a stomach staple - as long as a current doctor's note is presented. They have a senior price. And they give you a free meal on your birthday.There are buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each night there is a different theme with set featured items. Dishes change by season. And in the colder months of January and February when things are slower, there are special one weekend features such as Prime Rib Weekend, Hawaiian Luau Weekend, Pork Bonanza Weekend and a very special Valentines Day smorgasbord. Each year there is also an anniversary feature in March.
I have written so many good reviews about Shady Maple I don't want to keep repeating myself. This is my first choice in this area - and as I have written there are many good choices in this area when it comes to buffets including two other Top Buffets for 2012. I particularly enjoy the Pennsylvania Dutch dishes that are served occasionally such as Chicken Bot Boi, Apples and Dumplings, and Pig Stomach, but there are steaks of several cuts, carved roast beef, carved ham, lasagna, oriental stir fry on the grill, there own Philly Cheese Steaks - here called Smorgy Steaks, country sausage, smoked sausage, Polish sausage, pork loin, ham, chicken in many varieties, smoked pork chops, seafood, catfish, Prime Rib, ribs, beef brisket, veal patties, pizza, and on and on. If I named everything that I ever saw and/or tried at Shady Maple this article would go on for weeks.There are generally eight different soups. There is a salad bar that has anything you would like to create a salad plus local prepared salads. And then, of course, there is the desserts. There are hot desserts. There are apple dumplings. There are cakes and pies. There are prepared desserts and puddings. There is fruit. There is soft serve ice cream and all that you want to make a sundae. The dessert selection here is extensive - and good! Maybe too good - because after you have eaten yourself full during dinner, those desserts will call and tempt you to eat more than you had intended.
Top Buffet of 2012 is most deserved by Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Coming here is an experience and it should not be missed. This restaurant is not located in the middle of the common tourist area of Lancaster County. It is off to the edge of the area in the northeast of the county. It is not far from the Pennsylvania Turnpike and is easy to find and to get to. Expect a crowd and a wait during the summer months on a weekend - and even during the week. Expect a crowd during the Fall and before the holidays. It is quietest during the week during the winter. It is always good.
Congratulations to Shady Maple for consistently coming up at the top of our list - and for its award of Top Buffet of 2012!
Just to note - I just learned that Shady Maple just added a Charbroiler Grill and this makes for something to look forward to on my next trip in 2013! Char-grilled steaks are the perfect addition to this buffet!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East from Lancaster or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. (Put the name in your GPS and it will know it.) The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. They are closed on Sundays and certain holidays. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.There is also a very active Facebook page!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where there are many other buffet restaurants. Shady Maple is family owned and operated. It is also the largest buffet restaurant that we have ever been in or seen. It fills a large building built by and for Shady Maple. The single building is two floors and contains the smorgasbord and several connected very large dining rooms, catering rooms and a gift shop - and another restaurant - that takes up the entire lower level.This building is part of the Shady Maple complex which also includes a large supermarket that also has its own restaurant (though not a buffet).
When you walk into the doors you are in a restaurant that is beyond what you would expect in this Amish/Mennonite community of Plain People. Shady Maple, inside, is anything but plain. There is a large and lavishly decorated lobby and sitting area with a fireplace and large crystal chandeliers. The large crystal chandeliers carry into the dining rooms which are also well decorated and not at all "country". The dining rooms are enormous and so is the buffet serving area. In fact the buffet area goes in two directions the length of the building.There are some items on each "end" that are the same but there are always items that will be different from one "end" or half to the other. In addition to the long, long, long row of buffet servers, there are three grilling and carving stations in the middle.
The food that is served is a combination of local dishes of the Pennsylvania Dutch and Continental/American fare. There is something here for everyone and no one should ever leave Shady Maple feeling hungry. In fact, just the opposite happens. It is too easy to leave Shady Maple after a meal and feel that you ate too much. It is all tempting and it is all good. It is hard to pass something by and there are so many choices.
This is a restaurant that seems to be known by everyone for counties around this area. I have heard Shady Maple mentioned in overheard conversations in Philadelphia. I have heard Shady Maple mentioned in conversations between Amish at Farmers Markets. And the comments are always positive. Out of Pennsylvania, someone mentions Lancaster County and the next thing I hear is "Shady Maple". This is a family restaurant that everyone comes to - locals and tourists.
What makes Shady Maple stand out? The food is great! The service is consistently good. The prices are in the moderate range and vary each night by what the night's feature is - but there is value for your money. They do include a reasonable gratuity with the price and the sales tax so the price you see listed is the price that you pay in total. The beverages are included with the meal. They make accommodations for people who have had a stomach staple - as long as a current doctor's note is presented. They have a senior price. And they give you a free meal on your birthday.There are buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each night there is a different theme with set featured items. Dishes change by season. And in the colder months of January and February when things are slower, there are special one weekend features such as Prime Rib Weekend, Hawaiian Luau Weekend, Pork Bonanza Weekend and a very special Valentines Day smorgasbord. Each year there is also an anniversary feature in March.
I have written so many good reviews about Shady Maple I don't want to keep repeating myself. This is my first choice in this area - and as I have written there are many good choices in this area when it comes to buffets including two other Top Buffets for 2012. I particularly enjoy the Pennsylvania Dutch dishes that are served occasionally such as Chicken Bot Boi, Apples and Dumplings, and Pig Stomach, but there are steaks of several cuts, carved roast beef, carved ham, lasagna, oriental stir fry on the grill, there own Philly Cheese Steaks - here called Smorgy Steaks, country sausage, smoked sausage, Polish sausage, pork loin, ham, chicken in many varieties, smoked pork chops, seafood, catfish, Prime Rib, ribs, beef brisket, veal patties, pizza, and on and on. If I named everything that I ever saw and/or tried at Shady Maple this article would go on for weeks.There are generally eight different soups. There is a salad bar that has anything you would like to create a salad plus local prepared salads. And then, of course, there is the desserts. There are hot desserts. There are apple dumplings. There are cakes and pies. There are prepared desserts and puddings. There is fruit. There is soft serve ice cream and all that you want to make a sundae. The dessert selection here is extensive - and good! Maybe too good - because after you have eaten yourself full during dinner, those desserts will call and tempt you to eat more than you had intended.
Top Buffet of 2012 is most deserved by Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Coming here is an experience and it should not be missed. This restaurant is not located in the middle of the common tourist area of Lancaster County. It is off to the edge of the area in the northeast of the county. It is not far from the Pennsylvania Turnpike and is easy to find and to get to. Expect a crowd and a wait during the summer months on a weekend - and even during the week. Expect a crowd during the Fall and before the holidays. It is quietest during the week during the winter. It is always good.
Congratulations to Shady Maple for consistently coming up at the top of our list - and for its award of Top Buffet of 2012!
Just to note - I just learned that Shady Maple just added a Charbroiler Grill and this makes for something to look forward to on my next trip in 2013! Char-grilled steaks are the perfect addition to this buffet!
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East from Lancaster or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. (Put the name in your GPS and it will know it.) The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. They are closed on Sundays and certain holidays. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.There is also a very active Facebook page!
Friday, February 08, 2013
Top Buffet of 2012 - Festival Buffet at Foxwood's Casino and Resort
The Festival Buffet is the buffet at the Foxwood's Resort and Casino in Connecticut and is names as one of our Top Buffets of 2012. I have been to this buffet a number of times and have reviewed and written about it several times - and each time that I have written about I need two weeks to say everything that needs to be said - and all good too! That alone tells you that there is something special about this buffet.
Foxwoods is a very large complex and consists of two hotels, several casinos, shops, night clubs and lounges, and a lot of restaurants. The Festival Buffet is the only buffet in the complex. When you come to dine at this buffet, it will be different on Monday to Thursday nights from Friday to Sunday nights. On Friday to Sunday they feature what they call an enhanced menu. Both weeknight and weekend buffets are great. The enhanced menu on the weekend adds steak, crab clusters, and more - at a slightly higher dinner price.
The buffet is located in what is called Rainmaker's Square in the complex. There are three dining areas for this buffet. One of these dining areas is actually outside the restaurant on the promenade separated by a low wall from those walking by. If you like the feel of a "sidewalk restaurant" this is what you will get outside. Be aware that this section is a smoking section. Of course, this areas has open access into the main dining room and the buffet area.
The food is set up in "stations" that follow the wall around the room and each station has a theme with food coordinating with that theme. The first thing you will see as you come in through the entrance is the dessert station and this is long and extensive. You are tempted as soon as you enter!
Following along the wall, there will be a station with seafood, a station with continental foods including entrees, carvings, and side dishes, a station with Italian food, a station with Asian food, and a station with both Tex-Mex and Barbecue. When the enhanced menu is in effect there is a station with crab clusters. The salad bar and the soups are on an island in the middle of the dining area.
There is a vast amount of food to choose from here and that makes wanting to try everything difficult. There is a lot to tempt you and there is way to much to be able to try - even taking small tasting portions. Starting with the salad bar, there are two sides to the salad bar with the soups on an end. On one side there are the makings for a Caesar Salad plus a pre-mixed special salad. On the other side is everything necessary to make an great tossed salad plus a variety of prepared salads. The salad is great but there is so much more to eat and I sometimes wonder why I did not just skip the salad and move on to all the rest. There were four soups to choose from when we went this past year - increased on the buffet from two soups before that. And if you go to the Asian station you may also find an Asian soup there as well. The New England Clam Chowder is excellent. Even the chicken rice soup tasted homemade!
As you go past the various stations and look at the entrees and side dishes you can be overwhelmed by all you see. At the seafood station there is mounds of fried cod, broiled seafood entrees, fried shrimp, fried clams, peel and eat cold shrimp, french fries, and more. I will come back to the continental station with its carvings and move you along to the Italian station. Behind the counter there are chefs preparing the dishes that you see laid out in front of you and these include not only hot entrees, but cold antipasto items as well. The dishes change here but I have had lasagna of various types, tortellini, pasta and a variety of sauces to put on, sausage and peppers, meatballs in tomato sauce, and more. At the Asian station there are also chefs behind the counter preparing and woking the dishes that are put out on the buffet counter.These have included dumplings, chow mien, various Chinese entrees, fried rice, noodles of various types - hot and cold, egg rolls and more. The barbecue/Tex-Mex station changes from weeknight to weekend and is more barbecue than Tex-Mex on the weekend. On the weekend they are charbroiling steaks here along with everything else. There have been very good ribs served, taco and burrito fixings, pulled pork, chili, riblets, BBQ chicken, beef brisket, beans both barbecue beans and Mexican beans, and more. Again, at each station, items change night by night and there is more on the weekend "enhanced" buffet at the stations. It is almost impossible to say what you will find on a visit - or the next visit after that.
Now, let's go back to the Continental station in the middle. I call this "Continental" as that seems to me the best way to describe it. Here there are a variety of entrees, side dishes, and vegetables. There have been Swedish meatballs, beef strognaoff, chicken with mushrooms, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, potatoes of various types, and various vegetables. The carvings may include several among which may be an excellent Prime Rib, pork loin, ham, tritip beef, turkey, and others. Portions are carved large.
As I have said, more than once - you cannot possibly try it all in one meal. But you want to!
Still want dessert. The dessert counters are almost as long as the food stations. There are hot desserts. Cold desserts. Pies, cakes, pastries, diet desserts, crepes, cookies, cupcakes, soft ice cream. I will repeat what I wrote in my last article about the Festival Buffet's desserts -
"There was a lot of very tempting desserts and a wide variety from hot cobblers, hot bread pudding, an assortment of puddings including tapioca, rice pudding, etc. There were many different cakes. The apple cake caught my eye. It was a large slice of brown cake with apples very visible in the slice. There was coconut cake - yellow cake with white frosting super-filled with coconut. As I stood next to the serving counter, I could smell the sweet coconut call to me. There were brownies, chocolate mousse, soft serve ice cream, sundae fixings, and an area where crepes were cooked and filled to order. There is also a section of sugar-free desserts - mostly cakes."
Service has been excellent. The table staff are attentive and make sure your plates are picked up and your drinks are refilled (soft drinks are included in the price of the buffet).
I have been to casino buffets in Atlantic City and casino buffets at another resort/casino in Connecticut. This has consistently been the best. Others have been good. This is the one that I think about going back to - and do when I make the trip to Connecticut. There is no question that by the standards that has been set by this site, this is a Top Buffet. There is value for your money. The food is of excellent quality. It is prepared well and tastes great. Plus the staff are equally good. If you are in Connecticut, go to Foxwoods and have a great meal at the Festival Buffet.
The Festival Buffet is at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The address is 350 Trolley Line Boulevard,
Mashantucket, CT 06338-3777. The phone number is 1-800-369-9663. There is a website with directions, etc. and that is listed at the side of this page.
Foxwoods is a very large complex and consists of two hotels, several casinos, shops, night clubs and lounges, and a lot of restaurants. The Festival Buffet is the only buffet in the complex. When you come to dine at this buffet, it will be different on Monday to Thursday nights from Friday to Sunday nights. On Friday to Sunday they feature what they call an enhanced menu. Both weeknight and weekend buffets are great. The enhanced menu on the weekend adds steak, crab clusters, and more - at a slightly higher dinner price.
The buffet is located in what is called Rainmaker's Square in the complex. There are three dining areas for this buffet. One of these dining areas is actually outside the restaurant on the promenade separated by a low wall from those walking by. If you like the feel of a "sidewalk restaurant" this is what you will get outside. Be aware that this section is a smoking section. Of course, this areas has open access into the main dining room and the buffet area.
The food is set up in "stations" that follow the wall around the room and each station has a theme with food coordinating with that theme. The first thing you will see as you come in through the entrance is the dessert station and this is long and extensive. You are tempted as soon as you enter!
Following along the wall, there will be a station with seafood, a station with continental foods including entrees, carvings, and side dishes, a station with Italian food, a station with Asian food, and a station with both Tex-Mex and Barbecue. When the enhanced menu is in effect there is a station with crab clusters. The salad bar and the soups are on an island in the middle of the dining area.
There is a vast amount of food to choose from here and that makes wanting to try everything difficult. There is a lot to tempt you and there is way to much to be able to try - even taking small tasting portions. Starting with the salad bar, there are two sides to the salad bar with the soups on an end. On one side there are the makings for a Caesar Salad plus a pre-mixed special salad. On the other side is everything necessary to make an great tossed salad plus a variety of prepared salads. The salad is great but there is so much more to eat and I sometimes wonder why I did not just skip the salad and move on to all the rest. There were four soups to choose from when we went this past year - increased on the buffet from two soups before that. And if you go to the Asian station you may also find an Asian soup there as well. The New England Clam Chowder is excellent. Even the chicken rice soup tasted homemade!
As you go past the various stations and look at the entrees and side dishes you can be overwhelmed by all you see. At the seafood station there is mounds of fried cod, broiled seafood entrees, fried shrimp, fried clams, peel and eat cold shrimp, french fries, and more. I will come back to the continental station with its carvings and move you along to the Italian station. Behind the counter there are chefs preparing the dishes that you see laid out in front of you and these include not only hot entrees, but cold antipasto items as well. The dishes change here but I have had lasagna of various types, tortellini, pasta and a variety of sauces to put on, sausage and peppers, meatballs in tomato sauce, and more. At the Asian station there are also chefs behind the counter preparing and woking the dishes that are put out on the buffet counter.These have included dumplings, chow mien, various Chinese entrees, fried rice, noodles of various types - hot and cold, egg rolls and more. The barbecue/Tex-Mex station changes from weeknight to weekend and is more barbecue than Tex-Mex on the weekend. On the weekend they are charbroiling steaks here along with everything else. There have been very good ribs served, taco and burrito fixings, pulled pork, chili, riblets, BBQ chicken, beef brisket, beans both barbecue beans and Mexican beans, and more. Again, at each station, items change night by night and there is more on the weekend "enhanced" buffet at the stations. It is almost impossible to say what you will find on a visit - or the next visit after that.
Now, let's go back to the Continental station in the middle. I call this "Continental" as that seems to me the best way to describe it. Here there are a variety of entrees, side dishes, and vegetables. There have been Swedish meatballs, beef strognaoff, chicken with mushrooms, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, potatoes of various types, and various vegetables. The carvings may include several among which may be an excellent Prime Rib, pork loin, ham, tritip beef, turkey, and others. Portions are carved large.
As I have said, more than once - you cannot possibly try it all in one meal. But you want to!
Still want dessert. The dessert counters are almost as long as the food stations. There are hot desserts. Cold desserts. Pies, cakes, pastries, diet desserts, crepes, cookies, cupcakes, soft ice cream. I will repeat what I wrote in my last article about the Festival Buffet's desserts -
"There was a lot of very tempting desserts and a wide variety from hot cobblers, hot bread pudding, an assortment of puddings including tapioca, rice pudding, etc. There were many different cakes. The apple cake caught my eye. It was a large slice of brown cake with apples very visible in the slice. There was coconut cake - yellow cake with white frosting super-filled with coconut. As I stood next to the serving counter, I could smell the sweet coconut call to me. There were brownies, chocolate mousse, soft serve ice cream, sundae fixings, and an area where crepes were cooked and filled to order. There is also a section of sugar-free desserts - mostly cakes."
Service has been excellent. The table staff are attentive and make sure your plates are picked up and your drinks are refilled (soft drinks are included in the price of the buffet).
I have been to casino buffets in Atlantic City and casino buffets at another resort/casino in Connecticut. This has consistently been the best. Others have been good. This is the one that I think about going back to - and do when I make the trip to Connecticut. There is no question that by the standards that has been set by this site, this is a Top Buffet. There is value for your money. The food is of excellent quality. It is prepared well and tastes great. Plus the staff are equally good. If you are in Connecticut, go to Foxwoods and have a great meal at the Festival Buffet.
The Festival Buffet is at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The address is 350 Trolley Line Boulevard,
Mashantucket, CT 06338-3777. The phone number is 1-800-369-9663. There is a website with directions, etc. and that is listed at the side of this page.
Friday, February 01, 2013
Top Buffet of 2012 - Yoders Restauarant, New Holland, PA
There was no question that any list of top buffets had to include Yoder's Restaurant. I have been writing about Yoder's for years and those of my readers who have taken my suggestion to go and try Yoder's have written back to me to say - "Yes!".
Yoder's may not have the ambiance of some of the other buffets but it has what counts - great food, service, and value. Yoder's is one of the supermarket buffets that I have written about in Lancaster County, Pa - something that you don't generally see in other areas. Yoder's is located within a building that is Yoder's Farm Market which is a supermarket. The restaurant is separated from the food store and is located down a hallway. The facilities of this building also include a few shops and a catering hall.
When you go into Yoder's you will find laminated booths in rows across the room. At the rear is the buffet serving area. There is a room at the rear that has tables to accommodate groups of larger guests but for the most part, the restaurant is as you see it through the doors. Do not let this put you off. Go in, be seated, order the buffet and your beverage from one of the very friendly wait staff and then head up to the buffet.
You will encounter three, long, double sided, buffet servers in the middle. A full grill area at the rear. A dessert bar on the right wall of the room and a soup, bread, and hot servers on the left wall. In front of the grill there is a small server sticking out and inside you will find condiments and also when it is seafood night, peel and eat shrimp kept cold. You are in Lancaster County and you are surrounded by Amish and Mennonite farms. The food that is cooked from scratch at Yoder's is prepared to appeal to the local people who live in this area. This is Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. While I am sure you will find tourists here as well, this restaurant is a local restaurant and the food on the buffet very much follows local recipes. You will find good plain, country cooking and often something a little fancier as well.
There are always two soups and they tend to be out of the ordinary varieties - though you will also find old favorites as well. The salad bar has a nice selection to create a salad and also has a number of local prepared salads. Some of these will be similar to what you are familiar with but in Lancaster they are made a little bit differently and better.
What is served from the grill varies by night. There are nights with steak on the grill, nights with fish and seafood on the grill, and nights with carvings such as Prime Rib. When there is steak you are asked how you would like it cooked and it is cooked to your order. What you get off the grill will fill your plate. Portions at Yoder's are large - whether from the grill or portioned servings in the hot buffet trays. It is very easy to find yourself eating more than you may have intended. That is a good thing because it is all so good it is hard to resist going back for something else that caught your eye on your way back to your table. Use a little discipline though and try to take smaller servings because there will be things that you will want to go back and try.
One of our favorite's here is the Baked Oatmeal and it is served from trays set into the counter on the left wall. At one time there was just one type of Baked Oatmeal served here. Now there are several. They are all good but the plain is still the one we go for. I don't know any other buffet that includes Baked Oatmeal as one of the items during dinner - and it makes for a great side dish. There are many other dishes that we love here and they often vary night by night - week by week. Among other greats are ham loaf, BBQ ribs, stuffed flounder, marinated Delmonico steak, potato filling, sliced turkey, Prime Rib, fried chicken, and so many more. You will find different things and you may find some of these - it depends on the night.
Desserts are found on their own double buffet server as well as along the wall and in a revolving glass enclosed case that contains pies. There are plenty of desserts to choose from. There are cakes, pies, soft serve ice cream and a sundae bar, fresh fruit, canned fruit, puddings and prepared desserts. This is one of the few buffets in this area that still serves Cracker Pudding - cracker pudding is like rice or bread pudding but is made with saltine crackers - and shredded coconut. It is a local dessert and is very good!
What sets this buffet apart? The food is consistently extremely good. The quality of what is served is high. There is value for your money. The service has never been bad. There are no disappointments. These are the marks of a top buffet.
Yoder's well deserves to be among the 2012 awardees for Top Buffet. It is highly recommended that you should dine there - and remember - you are going for the food not to sit under chandeliers - which you will not find here. Simple surroundings in a country restaurant is what you will find along with great food!
Yoders is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They open very early in the morning and close at 8:00 pm at night - as most other buffets in this area do. They recently started opening for Sunday brunch but other than that they are not open on Sunday's for lunch or dinner. If you are coming for the buffet that you have just read about come at dinner from Monday to Saturday.
The restaurant is located at Yoder's Country Market, Route 23, New Holland, Pennsylvania. The phone number is (717) 354-4748. There is a website and that is linked at the side of this page.
Yoder's may not have the ambiance of some of the other buffets but it has what counts - great food, service, and value. Yoder's is one of the supermarket buffets that I have written about in Lancaster County, Pa - something that you don't generally see in other areas. Yoder's is located within a building that is Yoder's Farm Market which is a supermarket. The restaurant is separated from the food store and is located down a hallway. The facilities of this building also include a few shops and a catering hall.
When you go into Yoder's you will find laminated booths in rows across the room. At the rear is the buffet serving area. There is a room at the rear that has tables to accommodate groups of larger guests but for the most part, the restaurant is as you see it through the doors. Do not let this put you off. Go in, be seated, order the buffet and your beverage from one of the very friendly wait staff and then head up to the buffet.
You will encounter three, long, double sided, buffet servers in the middle. A full grill area at the rear. A dessert bar on the right wall of the room and a soup, bread, and hot servers on the left wall. In front of the grill there is a small server sticking out and inside you will find condiments and also when it is seafood night, peel and eat shrimp kept cold. You are in Lancaster County and you are surrounded by Amish and Mennonite farms. The food that is cooked from scratch at Yoder's is prepared to appeal to the local people who live in this area. This is Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. While I am sure you will find tourists here as well, this restaurant is a local restaurant and the food on the buffet very much follows local recipes. You will find good plain, country cooking and often something a little fancier as well.
There are always two soups and they tend to be out of the ordinary varieties - though you will also find old favorites as well. The salad bar has a nice selection to create a salad and also has a number of local prepared salads. Some of these will be similar to what you are familiar with but in Lancaster they are made a little bit differently and better.
What is served from the grill varies by night. There are nights with steak on the grill, nights with fish and seafood on the grill, and nights with carvings such as Prime Rib. When there is steak you are asked how you would like it cooked and it is cooked to your order. What you get off the grill will fill your plate. Portions at Yoder's are large - whether from the grill or portioned servings in the hot buffet trays. It is very easy to find yourself eating more than you may have intended. That is a good thing because it is all so good it is hard to resist going back for something else that caught your eye on your way back to your table. Use a little discipline though and try to take smaller servings because there will be things that you will want to go back and try.
One of our favorite's here is the Baked Oatmeal and it is served from trays set into the counter on the left wall. At one time there was just one type of Baked Oatmeal served here. Now there are several. They are all good but the plain is still the one we go for. I don't know any other buffet that includes Baked Oatmeal as one of the items during dinner - and it makes for a great side dish. There are many other dishes that we love here and they often vary night by night - week by week. Among other greats are ham loaf, BBQ ribs, stuffed flounder, marinated Delmonico steak, potato filling, sliced turkey, Prime Rib, fried chicken, and so many more. You will find different things and you may find some of these - it depends on the night.
Desserts are found on their own double buffet server as well as along the wall and in a revolving glass enclosed case that contains pies. There are plenty of desserts to choose from. There are cakes, pies, soft serve ice cream and a sundae bar, fresh fruit, canned fruit, puddings and prepared desserts. This is one of the few buffets in this area that still serves Cracker Pudding - cracker pudding is like rice or bread pudding but is made with saltine crackers - and shredded coconut. It is a local dessert and is very good!
What sets this buffet apart? The food is consistently extremely good. The quality of what is served is high. There is value for your money. The service has never been bad. There are no disappointments. These are the marks of a top buffet.
Yoder's well deserves to be among the 2012 awardees for Top Buffet. It is highly recommended that you should dine there - and remember - you are going for the food not to sit under chandeliers - which you will not find here. Simple surroundings in a country restaurant is what you will find along with great food!
Yoders is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They open very early in the morning and close at 8:00 pm at night - as most other buffets in this area do. They recently started opening for Sunday brunch but other than that they are not open on Sunday's for lunch or dinner. If you are coming for the buffet that you have just read about come at dinner from Monday to Saturday.
The restaurant is located at Yoder's Country Market, Route 23, New Holland, Pennsylvania. The phone number is (717) 354-4748. There is a website and that is linked at the side of this page.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Top Buffet of 2012 - Wood Grill Buffet, Charlottesville, Virginia
The Wood Grill Buffet located in Charlottesville, Virginia is one of the five TOP BUFFETS of 2012 named by this site. The Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville is one restaurant of four that are a small chain within a chain. The over-all restaurant chain is Western Sizzlin. This award is given to this specific buffet restaurant location in Charlottesville, VA. and no other in the chain. We have not been to the other locations and we have no idea if the great experience that we have had consistently over the number of times we have been to this buffet in Charlottesville, is any indication of the other restaurants in the chain.
This buffet is located in its own building sharing a parking lot with a store and a supermarket. The shopping center is located off Route 29. There is plenty of parking, but depending on the night you go to this buffet there may be a crowd to get in. All that this means is that there will be a short wait before you are seated. Even on a weeknight, when we were there last, the restaurant was crowded at dinner. There is a large dining room with both tables and booths. The buffet area takes up the entire rear and right side of the restaurant.
Dinner price for adults in 2012 was $10.59 on weeknights and $10.99 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Refillable soft drinks are $2.09. This is an incredible price for the variety of food that is served on this buffet! The food here is a blend of country, Southern, southwest, and just plain old good American cuisine. There is something for just about anyone to be satisfied with. On the weekends they are open until 11:30 pm which is also unusual for a buffet.
There is an extensive salad bar, split between two large, cold buffet servers. You will find everything including cold meats to create your salad, plus there is an extensive array of interesting and tasty prepared salads. The chicken salad with large chunks of chicken was particularly good. There is also real crab salad - not the fake crab that so many buffets use, but real crab meat filling the salad! As I have said in the past, it is easy to just come here and enjoy the salad bar and nothing more - BUT there is so much more to move on to at this buffet!
There are hot buffet servers with meat dishes, fish, crab cakes, lasagna, and so many entrees and side dishes. The fried chicken was the best that I have had at any buffet and it was good real Southern fried chicken! There is a counter with a grill behind that has steak being cooked and put out in various stages of how it has been cooked from rare to well done and they are grouped together for you to take. At this grill there are also ribs - real, fall off the bone, barbecue ribs. This is one of the few buffets that I know of where you can get good barbecue ribs. And in this area, they know how to cook ribs and those coming here know what to expect! There are also chicken breasts coming off the grill, and there were burgers, hot dogs, roast beef, ham, and more. Also at the grill counter was a taco and burrito bar. There is a bake potato bar on one of the hot buffet servers.
There is so much that one person could not possibly even try it all in a small amount and not be overly stuffed. You could come here several nights in a row and eat something different each night just in your choosing from what it there each night.
Desserts are found that bakery counter that takes up a side of the restaurant. At this counter there are breads, pizza and baked good desserts along with a sundae bar with soft serve ice cream, Fresh fruits, puddings, and the like are over on the cold buffet server. At the bakery counter are pies, cakes, hot cobblers, cupcakes and more. There is also a chocolate fountain which many enjoy.
What stands out about this buffet for me is the extent of good food and in particular the ribs. There is a lot to eat here and it is all good. There is a variety to eat here and even my picky eater wife finds plenty to enjoy of plainer cooked entrees.
This buffet is highly recommended. Our only regret is that this buffet is over 600 miles away and we cannot get here as often as we would like to. Go here and enjoy! We congratulations to the management and staff of the Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville, Virginia. The award of Top Buffet of 2012 is well deserved!
The Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville is located at 576 Branch Lands Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA 22901 and their phone number is (434) 975-5613. Their website is linked at the side of this page in our listing of buffet links.
This buffet is located in its own building sharing a parking lot with a store and a supermarket. The shopping center is located off Route 29. There is plenty of parking, but depending on the night you go to this buffet there may be a crowd to get in. All that this means is that there will be a short wait before you are seated. Even on a weeknight, when we were there last, the restaurant was crowded at dinner. There is a large dining room with both tables and booths. The buffet area takes up the entire rear and right side of the restaurant.
Dinner price for adults in 2012 was $10.59 on weeknights and $10.99 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Refillable soft drinks are $2.09. This is an incredible price for the variety of food that is served on this buffet! The food here is a blend of country, Southern, southwest, and just plain old good American cuisine. There is something for just about anyone to be satisfied with. On the weekends they are open until 11:30 pm which is also unusual for a buffet.
There is an extensive salad bar, split between two large, cold buffet servers. You will find everything including cold meats to create your salad, plus there is an extensive array of interesting and tasty prepared salads. The chicken salad with large chunks of chicken was particularly good. There is also real crab salad - not the fake crab that so many buffets use, but real crab meat filling the salad! As I have said in the past, it is easy to just come here and enjoy the salad bar and nothing more - BUT there is so much more to move on to at this buffet!
There are hot buffet servers with meat dishes, fish, crab cakes, lasagna, and so many entrees and side dishes. The fried chicken was the best that I have had at any buffet and it was good real Southern fried chicken! There is a counter with a grill behind that has steak being cooked and put out in various stages of how it has been cooked from rare to well done and they are grouped together for you to take. At this grill there are also ribs - real, fall off the bone, barbecue ribs. This is one of the few buffets that I know of where you can get good barbecue ribs. And in this area, they know how to cook ribs and those coming here know what to expect! There are also chicken breasts coming off the grill, and there were burgers, hot dogs, roast beef, ham, and more. Also at the grill counter was a taco and burrito bar. There is a bake potato bar on one of the hot buffet servers.
There is so much that one person could not possibly even try it all in a small amount and not be overly stuffed. You could come here several nights in a row and eat something different each night just in your choosing from what it there each night.
Desserts are found that bakery counter that takes up a side of the restaurant. At this counter there are breads, pizza and baked good desserts along with a sundae bar with soft serve ice cream, Fresh fruits, puddings, and the like are over on the cold buffet server. At the bakery counter are pies, cakes, hot cobblers, cupcakes and more. There is also a chocolate fountain which many enjoy.
What stands out about this buffet for me is the extent of good food and in particular the ribs. There is a lot to eat here and it is all good. There is a variety to eat here and even my picky eater wife finds plenty to enjoy of plainer cooked entrees.
This buffet is highly recommended. Our only regret is that this buffet is over 600 miles away and we cannot get here as often as we would like to. Go here and enjoy! We congratulations to the management and staff of the Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville, Virginia. The award of Top Buffet of 2012 is well deserved!
The Wood Grill Buffet in Charlottesville is located at 576 Branch Lands Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA 22901 and their phone number is (434) 975-5613. Their website is linked at the side of this page in our listing of buffet links.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Top Buffet of 2012 - Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Gap, PA
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania is one of the unique to this area, supermarket restaurants. There are three Dutch-Way Markets in Pennsylvania. All three of them have restaurants, but only two of those restaurants have buffets. We found the Gap location a year and a half ago and have enjoyed the buffet at that restaurant very much from the beginning. It has become one of our must go to buffets when we are in the area. We also visited the other Dutch-Way location that has a buffet but we were disappointed in that buffet - and this award - TOP BUFFET OF 212 goes exclusively to the buffet in the restaurant in Gap.
When you enter this restaurant you have no feeling at all that you are in a restaurant that is part of a supermarket. The room is finely decorated and the atmosphere here equals any stand-alone restaurant and buffet. The seating is comfortable and dining here is very pleasant. There are two dining rooms that are connected to each other. There is a mixture of tables and booths throughout. There is also a private dining room for parties or catered events that is separated from the main restaurant by a door.
When you enter the restaurant from its own lobby that is connected to the market by a hallway, you are entering through double glass doors into an inner restaurant lobby where you will be seated by a hostess. At your table your server will take your soft drink order and you then go up to the buffet area at the rear of the room. The buffet is arranged along the wall where you will find soup choices - there are always four soups in hot soup servers. At one end of the soup area there is a breads server and if you follow the soup section around you come to the baked desserts, which follows along to the soft-serve ice cream machine and then along to the rest of the many desserts that are offered. Out on the floor are three double sided buffet servers. One an extensive salad bar with a variety of create your own salad fixings and also prepared salads that include items unique to the Pennsylvania Dutch area. There are two buffet servers with hot foods. There is also a permanently set up, large grill and carving section with one or two chefs behind the counter to carve or create to order one of the special features of that particular night.
There are features most nights and they follow a theme. These themes have changed from time to time so I will not name nights and features. The one consistent feature that I will share is an extensive Seafood Night which takes place every Thursday night and does have a higher dinner price than other nights. Seafood Night does include crab legs.
Some of the recipes here are unique to the restaurant and the chefs here have taken some standard entrees of the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish area and given them a unique slant in taste which is very good! Not all of the cooking is Pennsylvania Dutch and there is a nice variety of entrees that will appeal to most. Some of what is served could be considered "continental" and those dishes are great too. I have not had anything - at this location - that I would not consider good. And we have enjoyed every meal here - and think about going back often (which can be a problem when you are four hours away).
Price of the meals do vary by night, but on some nights the meal is just $10.99! Soft drinks have been $1.39 and are refillable. If you are 60 or over, tell the cashier and you receive a "Senior" discount when you pay your meal check.
Service - here - has consistently been excellent. The serving staff is attentive. The staff at the buffet makes sure the trays are filled and the food that is out is well tended and not permitted to dry out.
The food is quality. There is great value to be had here, even on Seafood Night when the price has been $17.99. The restaurant has been consistent from visit to visit and we have been here several times in 2012. There was no question in our minds that this was going to be a Top Buffet.
We congratulate Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in GAP, PA - their staff - and their management on being one of this site's TOP BUFFETS OF 2012!
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site for the chain and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
When you enter this restaurant you have no feeling at all that you are in a restaurant that is part of a supermarket. The room is finely decorated and the atmosphere here equals any stand-alone restaurant and buffet. The seating is comfortable and dining here is very pleasant. There are two dining rooms that are connected to each other. There is a mixture of tables and booths throughout. There is also a private dining room for parties or catered events that is separated from the main restaurant by a door.
When you enter the restaurant from its own lobby that is connected to the market by a hallway, you are entering through double glass doors into an inner restaurant lobby where you will be seated by a hostess. At your table your server will take your soft drink order and you then go up to the buffet area at the rear of the room. The buffet is arranged along the wall where you will find soup choices - there are always four soups in hot soup servers. At one end of the soup area there is a breads server and if you follow the soup section around you come to the baked desserts, which follows along to the soft-serve ice cream machine and then along to the rest of the many desserts that are offered. Out on the floor are three double sided buffet servers. One an extensive salad bar with a variety of create your own salad fixings and also prepared salads that include items unique to the Pennsylvania Dutch area. There are two buffet servers with hot foods. There is also a permanently set up, large grill and carving section with one or two chefs behind the counter to carve or create to order one of the special features of that particular night.
There are features most nights and they follow a theme. These themes have changed from time to time so I will not name nights and features. The one consistent feature that I will share is an extensive Seafood Night which takes place every Thursday night and does have a higher dinner price than other nights. Seafood Night does include crab legs.
Some of the recipes here are unique to the restaurant and the chefs here have taken some standard entrees of the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish area and given them a unique slant in taste which is very good! Not all of the cooking is Pennsylvania Dutch and there is a nice variety of entrees that will appeal to most. Some of what is served could be considered "continental" and those dishes are great too. I have not had anything - at this location - that I would not consider good. And we have enjoyed every meal here - and think about going back often (which can be a problem when you are four hours away).
Price of the meals do vary by night, but on some nights the meal is just $10.99! Soft drinks have been $1.39 and are refillable. If you are 60 or over, tell the cashier and you receive a "Senior" discount when you pay your meal check.
Service - here - has consistently been excellent. The serving staff is attentive. The staff at the buffet makes sure the trays are filled and the food that is out is well tended and not permitted to dry out.
The food is quality. There is great value to be had here, even on Seafood Night when the price has been $17.99. The restaurant has been consistent from visit to visit and we have been here several times in 2012. There was no question in our minds that this was going to be a Top Buffet.
We congratulate Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in GAP, PA - their staff - and their management on being one of this site's TOP BUFFETS OF 2012!
The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant is located at the Dutch-Way Farm Market Supermarket at 365 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41), Gap, Pennsylvania 17527. The buffet is served from 4 pm to 8 pm Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays. This is about two and a half miles south of Route 30. There is a web site for the chain and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Return to Yoders, New Holland, Pennsylvania
When I am asked what the second best buffet is, I think Yoders. It has been a while since I have been to Yoders and with an extended visit to the Pennsylvania Dutch area in Lancaster County, PA, dinner at Yoders was definitely on the schedule.
Yoders is a restaurant and buffet that I have written about before, It is a bit unusual - though in this area it is not really out of the ordinary before - you see, it is located in a supermarket. In Lancaster County there are several supermarkets that have restaurants and a few of them have full buffets. The restaurant is actually in the building that the supermarket is located in but separated by a hallway that goes past gift shops and there is the restaurant. Of course, the supermarket is named Yoders as well.
From Monday to Thursday the dinner price at Yoders is $13.49. On Friday and Saturday nights the price for dinner is $14.49. Unlimited refill soft drinks cost $1.99. This may seem expensive to some used to the $10.99 buffets, but OCB also charges $1.99 for drinks. When compared to its neighbor buffet - Shady Maple, when you add the tax and tip at Yoders you come pretty close to the price that you pay there.
This is not a lavish buffet. There are no crystal chandeliers, there is no grand entrance lobby, and you do not have long buffet servers the length of the restaurant. What you do have is good food that is cooked from scratch and a nice selection with something for everyone. This visit was on a Friday night and this is Land and Sea night - as are Saturday nights - and the emphasis is on seafood.
This is a local restaurant that cooks to appeal to local tastes and this is a Mennonite and Amish area - when you are eating at Yoders, you will be eating at a table near Mennonite and Amish people. These are people who appreciate good, plain and fresh country cooking - and that is what you get at Yoders.
As usual, we started with soup. There were two soups - New England Clam Chowder and Stuffed Pepper soup. It is often the case at Yoders that the soups will be a bit out of the ordinary. I had the clam chowder. My wife skipped the soup - as you regular readers know - she is a picky eater who does not eat seafood other than shrimp, but there was plenty of non-seafood here for her to enjoy and she looks forward to coming back to Yoders. The clam chowder was thick and tasty - though a bit on the salty side. I lifted the lid on the tureen of the stuffed pepper soup and I was met with the strong and good smell of stuffed peppers. The soup was in a tomato base and was full of chopped meat and green peppers. (A day later I encountered freshly made, Stuffed Pepper Soup again at a food market - so apparently this is a local soup.)
There is a nice salad bar. It has several types of lettuce greens and also a large selection of prepared salads - some local to this area. There are toppings to make just about any type of mixed salad that you would like including Caesar Salad.
There is a large grill and on this night they were grilling marinated Delmonico steaks. You ask for your steak how you like it and that is how you get it. The steak was tasty. It did have the taste of what it had been marinated in which was slightly sweet, and, in my opinion, marinating is not necessary - but it was good. On weeknights there are other items served from the grill.
With the steak I chose potato filling - think of stuffing made of potatoes - green beans and stewed tomatoes. I also took a small amount of baked oatmeal. My good wife loves their baked oatmeal and it is good!
Thia may sound like an odd criticism of a restaurant, but portions at Yoders are large. I have said this in the past. When I eat at a buffet I like to take a tasting plate - small portions of things that I want to try and then have the ability to take a variety. When I finished the very good steak, I wanted to sample the seafood dishes that are offered Friday and Saturday nights. There were several that I had my eye on - one of which I have never had before. One other was the fried pollack and the pieces that were out where full size portions. Of course, you can take a little bit if you cut a piece of what is there but I don't like to do that. I feel that is wrong as it leaves a broken piece in the serving tray for someone else. So, I took a full piece.
The dish that I have never had before was Tuna Noodle Casserole. This was the butt of many jokes on 1960's TV comedy shows. The joke of "what is for dinner?" was always "tuna noodle casserole" and would be met with a frown. This may have been common at your house - we never had it in our family and my wife never had it on her house either - of course, she does not eat fish anyway. Well, there was tuna noodle casserole and I had to have some. It was actually very good. It was tuna - it seemed to be canned tuna which I suspect is how this is always made - and the tuna was blended with noodles, mushrooms and a cream sauce. It was thick and tasty. To this plate I also added a piece of the stuffed flounder. This was a flounder fillet that was rolled around a generic fish stuffing. It was all good. The flounder was tasty as was the pollack and the rest.
This is one of those buffets that you see things that tempt you to go back up and go a plate further. The fried chicken here is always good. I took a small piece. There was another fish dish that I wanted to try - baked haddock. This was thin fillets of haddock with a crumb and lemon topping. I could not take a whole piece and against my own desire not to cut off a piece from a larger piece there, I did just that. I did not take the fried shrimp but my wife did. There was also cocktail shrimp served both plain and spiced I passed on this too - though I have had this here before and it is good.
My wife was happy with ham loaf in pineapple sauce - chopped ham cooked into a meatloaf. She also took more than one portion of the baked oatmeal. She likes Yoders - no matter what night we are there and she was happy with the selections - which is saying a lot for any buffet on seafood night when my wife is there.
There is good reason to leave room for dessert here. They have a nice assortment of layer cakes, hot and cold prepared desserts - including many local favorites, fruit pies, shoo fly pie - of course, and a soft serve ice cream that is very good. There is a sundae bar to top the ice cream. Yoders complex includes a dairy and that dairy makes home style ice cream. It is a shame that this hard ice cream is not included on the buffet. It is served from the menu - and you can buy it in the attached supermarket. I have been told that it is excellent.
Yoders is a must try but if you go, as I said in the beginning, do not expect lavish. You do not go to Yoders for the atmosphere, you go for the food.
There is a website for Yoders listed at the side of this article. The restaurant is located at Yoder's Supermarket or perhaps, more properly, Yoder's Country Market, Route 23, New Holland, Pennsylvania. The phone number is (717) 354-4748.
Yoders is a restaurant and buffet that I have written about before, It is a bit unusual - though in this area it is not really out of the ordinary before - you see, it is located in a supermarket. In Lancaster County there are several supermarkets that have restaurants and a few of them have full buffets. The restaurant is actually in the building that the supermarket is located in but separated by a hallway that goes past gift shops and there is the restaurant. Of course, the supermarket is named Yoders as well.
From Monday to Thursday the dinner price at Yoders is $13.49. On Friday and Saturday nights the price for dinner is $14.49. Unlimited refill soft drinks cost $1.99. This may seem expensive to some used to the $10.99 buffets, but OCB also charges $1.99 for drinks. When compared to its neighbor buffet - Shady Maple, when you add the tax and tip at Yoders you come pretty close to the price that you pay there.
This is not a lavish buffet. There are no crystal chandeliers, there is no grand entrance lobby, and you do not have long buffet servers the length of the restaurant. What you do have is good food that is cooked from scratch and a nice selection with something for everyone. This visit was on a Friday night and this is Land and Sea night - as are Saturday nights - and the emphasis is on seafood.
This is a local restaurant that cooks to appeal to local tastes and this is a Mennonite and Amish area - when you are eating at Yoders, you will be eating at a table near Mennonite and Amish people. These are people who appreciate good, plain and fresh country cooking - and that is what you get at Yoders.
As usual, we started with soup. There were two soups - New England Clam Chowder and Stuffed Pepper soup. It is often the case at Yoders that the soups will be a bit out of the ordinary. I had the clam chowder. My wife skipped the soup - as you regular readers know - she is a picky eater who does not eat seafood other than shrimp, but there was plenty of non-seafood here for her to enjoy and she looks forward to coming back to Yoders. The clam chowder was thick and tasty - though a bit on the salty side. I lifted the lid on the tureen of the stuffed pepper soup and I was met with the strong and good smell of stuffed peppers. The soup was in a tomato base and was full of chopped meat and green peppers. (A day later I encountered freshly made, Stuffed Pepper Soup again at a food market - so apparently this is a local soup.)
There is a nice salad bar. It has several types of lettuce greens and also a large selection of prepared salads - some local to this area. There are toppings to make just about any type of mixed salad that you would like including Caesar Salad.
There is a large grill and on this night they were grilling marinated Delmonico steaks. You ask for your steak how you like it and that is how you get it. The steak was tasty. It did have the taste of what it had been marinated in which was slightly sweet, and, in my opinion, marinating is not necessary - but it was good. On weeknights there are other items served from the grill.
With the steak I chose potato filling - think of stuffing made of potatoes - green beans and stewed tomatoes. I also took a small amount of baked oatmeal. My good wife loves their baked oatmeal and it is good!
Thia may sound like an odd criticism of a restaurant, but portions at Yoders are large. I have said this in the past. When I eat at a buffet I like to take a tasting plate - small portions of things that I want to try and then have the ability to take a variety. When I finished the very good steak, I wanted to sample the seafood dishes that are offered Friday and Saturday nights. There were several that I had my eye on - one of which I have never had before. One other was the fried pollack and the pieces that were out where full size portions. Of course, you can take a little bit if you cut a piece of what is there but I don't like to do that. I feel that is wrong as it leaves a broken piece in the serving tray for someone else. So, I took a full piece.
The dish that I have never had before was Tuna Noodle Casserole. This was the butt of many jokes on 1960's TV comedy shows. The joke of "what is for dinner?" was always "tuna noodle casserole" and would be met with a frown. This may have been common at your house - we never had it in our family and my wife never had it on her house either - of course, she does not eat fish anyway. Well, there was tuna noodle casserole and I had to have some. It was actually very good. It was tuna - it seemed to be canned tuna which I suspect is how this is always made - and the tuna was blended with noodles, mushrooms and a cream sauce. It was thick and tasty. To this plate I also added a piece of the stuffed flounder. This was a flounder fillet that was rolled around a generic fish stuffing. It was all good. The flounder was tasty as was the pollack and the rest.
This is one of those buffets that you see things that tempt you to go back up and go a plate further. The fried chicken here is always good. I took a small piece. There was another fish dish that I wanted to try - baked haddock. This was thin fillets of haddock with a crumb and lemon topping. I could not take a whole piece and against my own desire not to cut off a piece from a larger piece there, I did just that. I did not take the fried shrimp but my wife did. There was also cocktail shrimp served both plain and spiced I passed on this too - though I have had this here before and it is good.
My wife was happy with ham loaf in pineapple sauce - chopped ham cooked into a meatloaf. She also took more than one portion of the baked oatmeal. She likes Yoders - no matter what night we are there and she was happy with the selections - which is saying a lot for any buffet on seafood night when my wife is there.
There is good reason to leave room for dessert here. They have a nice assortment of layer cakes, hot and cold prepared desserts - including many local favorites, fruit pies, shoo fly pie - of course, and a soft serve ice cream that is very good. There is a sundae bar to top the ice cream. Yoders complex includes a dairy and that dairy makes home style ice cream. It is a shame that this hard ice cream is not included on the buffet. It is served from the menu - and you can buy it in the attached supermarket. I have been told that it is excellent.
Yoders is a must try but if you go, as I said in the beginning, do not expect lavish. You do not go to Yoders for the atmosphere, you go for the food.
There is a website for Yoders listed at the side of this article. The restaurant is located at Yoder's Supermarket or perhaps, more properly, Yoder's Country Market, Route 23, New Holland, Pennsylvania. The phone number is (717) 354-4748.
Friday, May 04, 2012
SHADY MAPLE SMORGASBORD COMING INTO SEASON
Shady Maple Smorgasbord,located in East Earl, PA is in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country where the Amish live. Shady Maple, as our regular readers know, has been named Best Buffet of the Year for a number of years. This is a popular tourist destination and Shady Maple while a bit of a distance from where many of the attractions in this area are located, during the tourist season gets busy during the summer months and in the Fall following December. After December things slow down in this area and at Shady Maple. Some of the buffet restaurants have shorter hours. Shady Maple maintains its regular hours. To attract the locals it offers special weekend features on the buffet. Around April, Shady Maple returns to its usual menu.
I was just at Shady Maple at the end of April - there were no special features but the mid-week, Wednesday night buffet was featuring a number of Amish dishes that would mostly appeal to the local people who have grown up with them. This seems to be how Shady Maple transitions as it approaches the tourist season.
I will take the opportunity here to tell you that the Shady Maple website has a new look. Personally, I prefer the old look. This look is perhaps a little easier to navigate.
There has been one change at Shady Maple that I may have told you about. One of the minor things that has made Shady Maple unique is that it served both Coke and Pepsi. For some reason, and this reason may be pressure from one of these companies, Shady Maple only serves Pepsi products now. This is a bit of a disappointment - one which upsets my wife more than it upsets me, as I enjoy Shady Maple's brewed ice tea instead of soda with my meal.
At most buffets we start our meal with soup, but at Shady Maple we start our meal with salad. This is a throw back to the original Shady Maple building where the salad bar came first in the long, cafeteria type line that the original location had. There was something new on the salad bar. The sign said "Caesar Salad". They have had romaine lettuce before, but not Caesar dressing. This was a prepared Caesar Salad. I took some - and when I ate it I was surprised to find that it did not taste at all like Caesar Salad. It was much more like Cobb Salad. The dressing was a ranch type dressing. There was pieces of egg, chunks of real bacon, and cheese in the salad. These are all of the makings of a Cobb Salad. Later I checked at the other salad bar and it was there too - labeled the same, and exactly the same as what I had taken. This was a big surprise. Surely, Shady Maple knows the difference between Caesar Salad and Cobb Salad.
The feature on Wednesday nights is Prime Rib. This is served at the grill stations and there are several Prime Ribs that they are carving from - each cooked to a different wellness. Yes, they had rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done! They are carving full sized restaurant portions so if you want to have room for everything else that is good, you want to ask for a small slice. The Prime Rib was excellent. There is horseradish at the counter for those who enjoy that with their Prime Rib.
When I looked around the buffet servers - and remember - from what I have told you before - there are two sides of buffet servers and while SOME foods are the same on both sides there are a number of different foods on each side. Any way - when I looked around I found several local Amish dishes - Chicken Bot Boi, Snitz and Knepp, and Pig Stomach (around here called Souse0. I love all three. Before you say, how disgusting to eat pig stomach, don't knock it until you have tried it. Here it is prepared to look like a stuffing - which mostly it is. The pig stomach is cooked stuffed with potatoes, bread chunks, and pork sausage cut up. When done, all of that is chopped up so you never really see the pig stomach - it is just meat mixed in. The taste is pork - no different.
Snitz and Knepp is a mixture of stewed dumplings and apples. It is thick, gooey, and sweet. It is a side dish that you could eat for dessert. Delicious!
Chicken Bot Boi I have talked about before and it is a favorite of many of my readers who have come to the Amish area in Pennsylvania. It is stewed chicken with thick dumpling noodles, carrots, potatoes, and celery. The broth is cooked to be thick. It is also delicious and Shady Maple makes it right!
These are not dishes that you are likely to find here in June, July or August when the tourists are here.
I am not going to go into all of the other foods that were served. They were typical of other Shady Maple menus that I have written about. Desserts were out in their typical glory here. There was a chocolate layer cake with cherries on top that looked wonderful. There were a variety of cheesecakes. The sugar-free pies - and there is no artificial sweetener used in these pies, just fruit juice - were strawberry rhubarb and French apple.
There has been a change in table staff and I observed this last summer - and it had changed back again in the Fall. There are a number of servers who are Russian or Ukrainian women who maybe here on an exchange program. I have observed similar some businesses in Virginia during the summer. Our server was one of these women. She was just OK - she could have been better at getting plates off the table quicker - something that is not usually a problem at Shady Maple.
I enjoyed the meal - as always. And I recommend that if you have not been to Shady Maple and you are in this area it is a must go to.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
I was just at Shady Maple at the end of April - there were no special features but the mid-week, Wednesday night buffet was featuring a number of Amish dishes that would mostly appeal to the local people who have grown up with them. This seems to be how Shady Maple transitions as it approaches the tourist season.
I will take the opportunity here to tell you that the Shady Maple website has a new look. Personally, I prefer the old look. This look is perhaps a little easier to navigate.
There has been one change at Shady Maple that I may have told you about. One of the minor things that has made Shady Maple unique is that it served both Coke and Pepsi. For some reason, and this reason may be pressure from one of these companies, Shady Maple only serves Pepsi products now. This is a bit of a disappointment - one which upsets my wife more than it upsets me, as I enjoy Shady Maple's brewed ice tea instead of soda with my meal.
At most buffets we start our meal with soup, but at Shady Maple we start our meal with salad. This is a throw back to the original Shady Maple building where the salad bar came first in the long, cafeteria type line that the original location had. There was something new on the salad bar. The sign said "Caesar Salad". They have had romaine lettuce before, but not Caesar dressing. This was a prepared Caesar Salad. I took some - and when I ate it I was surprised to find that it did not taste at all like Caesar Salad. It was much more like Cobb Salad. The dressing was a ranch type dressing. There was pieces of egg, chunks of real bacon, and cheese in the salad. These are all of the makings of a Cobb Salad. Later I checked at the other salad bar and it was there too - labeled the same, and exactly the same as what I had taken. This was a big surprise. Surely, Shady Maple knows the difference between Caesar Salad and Cobb Salad.
The feature on Wednesday nights is Prime Rib. This is served at the grill stations and there are several Prime Ribs that they are carving from - each cooked to a different wellness. Yes, they had rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done! They are carving full sized restaurant portions so if you want to have room for everything else that is good, you want to ask for a small slice. The Prime Rib was excellent. There is horseradish at the counter for those who enjoy that with their Prime Rib.
When I looked around the buffet servers - and remember - from what I have told you before - there are two sides of buffet servers and while SOME foods are the same on both sides there are a number of different foods on each side. Any way - when I looked around I found several local Amish dishes - Chicken Bot Boi, Snitz and Knepp, and Pig Stomach (around here called Souse0. I love all three. Before you say, how disgusting to eat pig stomach, don't knock it until you have tried it. Here it is prepared to look like a stuffing - which mostly it is. The pig stomach is cooked stuffed with potatoes, bread chunks, and pork sausage cut up. When done, all of that is chopped up so you never really see the pig stomach - it is just meat mixed in. The taste is pork - no different.
Snitz and Knepp is a mixture of stewed dumplings and apples. It is thick, gooey, and sweet. It is a side dish that you could eat for dessert. Delicious!
Chicken Bot Boi I have talked about before and it is a favorite of many of my readers who have come to the Amish area in Pennsylvania. It is stewed chicken with thick dumpling noodles, carrots, potatoes, and celery. The broth is cooked to be thick. It is also delicious and Shady Maple makes it right!
These are not dishes that you are likely to find here in June, July or August when the tourists are here.
I am not going to go into all of the other foods that were served. They were typical of other Shady Maple menus that I have written about. Desserts were out in their typical glory here. There was a chocolate layer cake with cherries on top that looked wonderful. There were a variety of cheesecakes. The sugar-free pies - and there is no artificial sweetener used in these pies, just fruit juice - were strawberry rhubarb and French apple.
There has been a change in table staff and I observed this last summer - and it had changed back again in the Fall. There are a number of servers who are Russian or Ukrainian women who maybe here on an exchange program. I have observed similar some businesses in Virginia during the summer. Our server was one of these women. She was just OK - she could have been better at getting plates off the table quicker - something that is not usually a problem at Shady Maple.
I enjoyed the meal - as always. And I recommend that if you have not been to Shady Maple and you are in this area it is a must go to.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord is located at 129 Toddy Drive in East Earl, PA. Take Route 23 East or Route 322 South to get to the restaurant. The phone numbers are 1-800-238-7363 and 717-354-8222. There is a website and it is listed at the side of this page.
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