Ryan's Buffet - Fredericksburg, Virginia

I wrote in the Spring about a Ryan's that we were at in Hagerstown, Maryland. That Ryan's had made a significant change since I had been there previously (before the takeover by Buffets Inc.) to become much more an Old Country Buffet with little left from its former Ryan's identity.

In August we returned to a Ryan's that we have been to probably more than any other Ryan's. This is the Ryan's Buffet in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This Ryan's also has become much more like Old Country Buffet, but it has retained many of the things that made the original Ryan's chain the best of the buffet chains. For those reading who are not aware, several years ago the parent company of Old Country Buffet bought out the Ryan's chain and quickly thereafter started to close Ryan's restaurants in mass - in the usual way that Buffets, Inc. does business - they arrive in the morning as the doors are opening for business for the day and announce to everyone, including the management - that this restaurant is closed and you do not have a job anymore - go home. The company then started to make those remaining Ryan's restaurants into clones of Old Country Buffet restaurants and, rather than taking the best of Ryan's and introducing that to OCBs, they took the worst of OCBs and introduced that into the Ryan's restaurants. Some Ryan's have managed to still maintain what made them good - and the Ryan's in Fredericksburg, VA is one of those.

One major difference from OCB, and what was always good at Ryan's, is the salad bar. In Fredericksburg they still have the large salad bar with its extensive selection that Ryan's was known for. Here there is a make-your-own Caesar salad with all everything there for you to put together and the salad dressing at the side for you to add to your liking. This is not the pre-made Caesar salad that is found at OCB, and the dressing here is much better. The seafood salad was very different from that at OCB as well. While it was not using real crab meat but what is called "Krab" meat, it was using large chunks of that made into a salad and not the shredded "seafood" and macaroni salad found at OCB. There were also three types of lettuce to choose from and (perhaps because of the location) there was nothing spilled from one serving tray to the next.


On the hot buffet server there were many more selections than you find at OCB. There were large pieces of smoked sausage that were not served in the sweet sauce that OCB puts smoked sausage in. There were whole sides of catfish - not the little chunks that are served at OCB. Many of the dishes that Ryan's was known for were still on the buffet. I recently wrote about the Mandarin Stir Fry that Buffets, Inc. introduced this year. This was here at the grill area and took up the griddle next to the char-flame grill. I actually did see one person walk up and have it, but as I have said this is not very popular at any OCB or Ryan's that I have been in that have it. This was the only time that I have seen anyone have it. (This opposed to Golden Corral where there are still lines after a year and a half for their seafood stir fry.)

Now, the steaks! The steaks here are made on a char-flame grill and they are made to order - if they already do not have a steak that is cooked to your request. And what is given to you is a significantly sized piece of steak and not a small two inch chunk as is often served to you at OCB. More than once, I have been to this particular Ryan's, where a rare steak was not there when I asked, and the grill chef put one on just for me and then came to my table with the steak or call me over to get it when it was ready. So different from any other buffet! And I must say, this is something particular to the very good employees at this particular Ryan's. They actually seem happy to be working. The steaks are being seasoned to Buffet's Inc.'s idea of steak seasoning which contains way too much pepper, but they are cooked on the grill properly and much of this seasoning can be scraped off. I smile when I eat the steak here. I can't say that often.


Now, over to the dessert section. You know the little squares of sheet cake that you find at Old Country Buffet. How would you like a large wedge of a round, double-layer, chocolate cake? Well, that is exactly what was being served here. It looked great and was so tempting!

Well, I have to say that this is the best Ryan's we have ever been to and my picky eater wife agrees. When coming to this area, I always check before to make sure that this Ryan's has not fallen victim to Buffets, Inc.'s axe, because they have no idea what a good thing is. If you are near Fredericksburg, Virginia - and there is a lot of history to be found there, as well as a huge shopping center which this Ryan's is located at - try this Ryan's.

This Ryan's Buffet is located in the Central Park Shopping Center/Complex off of I-95 in Fredericksburg, VA. Its address is 1780 Carl D Silver Parkway, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 and the phone number is (540) 548-0051. There is a link at the side of this page to Ryan's chain webpage.

Old Country Buffet, Alexandria, Virginia

I have not been to an Old Country Buffet in another state for quite some time. We were in Virginia and decided to try the OCB there outside of the city of Alexandria on a Sunday night. We frequently eat at OCB locally on Sunday night so I knew I would have a good night for comparison.

Locally, the OCB is generally crowded on a Sunday evening - around 6:30 pm. In fact, we tend to arrive later after 7:00 pm to avoid the crowds. This was not so in this Old Country Buffet. There were people inside having dinner but it was relatively empty. The menu offerings at Old Country Buffet are set from night to night. On Sundays there will be carvings of turkey, ham, and roast beef. With the recent addition of steak every night, there is also steak. I will not go into the side dishes but everything that is at our local OCB on a Sunday was there in Alexandria.

This Old Country Buffet did have the "skillet" special, that OCB sent an email to its email list customers about several months back saying that it would be at many OCBs. The two OCBs near me do not have it. The skillet feature is a copy of the skillet seafood special at Golden Corral. I have seen it before at two Ryans and the interesting thing is that no one dining there was having it. No one here was having either. The Ryan's are set up for it as they have a permanent grill area. In this OCB there were two hot plates at the end of a counter. You can select beef or chicken, add noodles or rice, and add a sauce. The way it was set up, the skillet chef did all this for you, and then cooks it in front of you. The sauce selections were sweet or spicy.

So, how did this Old Country Buffet compare to the local Old Country Buffet that I eat at in New York. For one thing there was a very different employee attitude in Virginia. It was far more positive and friendly. There is generally a more positive employee attitude in many places outside of New York. The people working did not come across as if you are intruding upon their time. Another difference was that the seasoning of the food in the Virginia OCB was less salty and less over peppered with black pepper.

A number of years ago, when char-grilled items were introduced on the menu at OCB, I was told that some OCB's would have grills in the dining area at the buffet section and cooked steak to order as Ryan's and Golden Corral do. I was also told when I inquired where, that this Alexandria OCB was one. It is not. They were bringing the steak out from the kitchen already cooked as they do here. But here is a difference. I went up for a piece of steak. There was one piece out on the cutting board and when I asked for steak the carver said to me, "Let me go into the kitchen and get more steak. This piece is all fat and grizzle." He went into the kitchen and came out with several steaks, discarded the piece that has been on the board and I asked him for steak on the rare side. "Of course", was the reply and he carved one of the less well done steaks. He also cut off for me a piece that was almost half the steak - not the two inches that I get at the OCB at home. At home this would have gone down with me or whoever had gone up at that moment being given that inedible piece of steak.

I also saw that the salad bar was much larger in the Alexandria OCB with more things on it and also the taco bar had much more on it, including fajita chicken which has not been at the OCB near me in a few years.

This all may be what you are used to when you go to OCB. It is not for me in New York where there are two OCBs and they both are not at all like this OCB in Virginia. The dinner price was less, as well. Dinner was $10.99.

I do have to note that the men's room was in exactly the same condition as the one's at home. Why is it that when you step up to a urinal at an OCB men's room you are standing in a puddle of piss? The rest rooms have a sign on them that they are checked regularly. Is the puddle acceptable in the inspection?

If you are looking for an Old Country Buffet and you are near Alexandria, Virginia - perhaps having just visited Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington which is near by- then try this OCB. It is nice - as OCB's go.

This Old Country Buffet is located at 7820 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22306. The phone number is (703) 619-9557. The general Old Country Buffet chain website is listed at the side of this page.

KFC Buffet, Williamsburg, VA

Yes - KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken - Buffet. This is something that KFC does not make well known. There is nothing on their website that some of the KFC locations have a buffet in addition to their usual take out or take from the counter and sit down menu. I have only seen a few of these and the ones that I have seen have all been in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I have seen comments through various searches from people who have gone to a KFC buffet, but there is little to no information out there. Right away, you should know that this is an All You Care to Eat Buffet.

There is a KFC Buffet in Williamsburg, Virginia. We were recently in the area and we had a number of nights to try buffets and we decided that we would see what the KFC buffet is all about and how it is. We went for dinner, and in this location it was only available at dinner hours and not all night. The sign here said 4 to 8 pm for the buffet. The restaurant was open much later.

We walked into a usual looking KFC. There was a counter in the front with people behind taking orders and a line of people waiting to give their food orders. One end of the front counter were two small buffet servers. One had hot foods and one had cold foods. You go up to the counter with everyone else and order the buffet. It includes your drink, which is unlimited from the soda machine that is there in the dining room. There is no special area to sit for the buffet. You are sitting in the regular KFC dining area. The price for the buffet is $7.99. And as I just said this includes your beverage. The price is the same for children.

When we got to the counter we ordered two buffets and were each handed one foam, divided plate, a small foam bowl, and a soda cup. Plasticware is out on the condiments counter with napkins and straws. You are given ONE plate. You are to go back up to the counter and ask for additional plates when you are going back up to the buffet for more. The only drawback to this is if there is a line of customers, you are waiting on that line - if you are going to be civil and polite - to ask the person behind the counter for another plate. There was no problem getting as many plates as we needed.

The food in the two buffet servers is a selection from the KFC menu. IF YOU DON'T LIKE KFC FOOD THEN YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE THE KFC BUFFET. No need to comment here that you don't like it. It is just not for you - your choice. The food is KFC food - nothing more and nothing less.

As I understand it from comments that I found through internet search, what is being put out from the KFC menu varies. I will tell you about what there was on this night. I do not know if it changes from night to night.

On the hot server there was Original Recipe fried chicken, Extra Crispy fried chicken, chicken with biscuits which was a variation of chicken pot pie with biscuits on the side instead of a pie crust, mashed potatoes, gravy, kernel corn, green beans, black eyed peas, cooked carrots, and stewed tomatoes. That was all there was on the hot server. On the warm/cold server there was a mixture of prepared salad and dessert items. These were pickles, coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, peppers, pea salad, cottage cheese, jello, fruit crisp, pudding, frosted buns, canned peaches, and banana whipped chiffon. The fried chicken was a variety of all of the different parts - breasts, legs, thighs, and wings. All on the bone.

I have heard that people have had the KFC grilled chicken on the buffet, and I have also read that a make a salad was at one location. I don't think that there are any more items at any other location but there certainly could be different selections from the menu than what I have listed.

I have not had KFC in a very long time. In fact, the last time I had it, it was still called Kentucky Fried Chicken on the sign outside and not "KFC". I have always liked it and after this meal, I found that I still do. Now, my picky eater wife - you all know about her - she does not really like fried chicken. She does like chicken and grilled chicken and she came in with the intention of just pealing the fried coating off the chicken meat. She was happy to see the chicken and biscuits and she mostly ate that and was fine with it.

The food was as I remembered KFC and good. I tried the two different types of chicken and the chicken with biscuits (but I did not take any biscuits). The chicken with biscuits was good size pieces of chicken meat in a light gravy with peas, carrots, and potatoes. It was a good chicken stew. I did find the Extra Crispy better than the Original Recipe chicken. The Original Recipe Chicken seemed to me to be a bit over cooked - at least the color was darker than the light tan that I remembered it to be - but this was so long ago. I tried the vegetables and the mashed potatoes and gravy. It was all as I anticipated it would be and I enjoyed it. Again - if you don't like KFC, this is no different than what they are serving over the counter or in the bucket to take home.

There is no service at your table - obviously. When you finish a plate, you throw it away yourself in the trash bins all around the restaurant. As, I said, new plates are at the counter for the asking. You fill your own soda cup at the machine. When you are done, you throw away everything that is on your table.

The service at the counter was very good and the people that were filling the buffet from behind them - accessing directly into the food prep and kitchen area - were doing a very good job at keeping the trays full and fresh. There was nothing that looked dried out or that needed attention.

The restaurant itself was clean and we were there for dinner in August in a tourist area where it had to have been a busy day. There were several tables other than ours having the buffet.

I do not think that there would be any problem ordering the buffet for one or some and not for everyone that you are with. BUT - I am sure that they will spot you handing food over to anyone who has not purchased the buffet, so don't try it! These are very open dining areas and are in full view of the employees who are behind the counter and around the dining area keeping it clean.

Do I recommend the KFC Buffet? If you like KFC food and can eat more than a couple of pieces of fried chicken, then yes. I plan to go back the next time I am South in this area. If you are a small eater, then just order from the menu - but I suspect it will not be quiet as economical as the buffet. There was a good meal here for a total of $7.99 and tax.

This KFC Buffet is located at 1545 Richmond Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185. Their phone number is(757) 229 - 7212. There is no mention of the buffets on the KFC website so I will not post a link to that on the side. And the locations are NOT identified as having buffets when they do.

Wild, Wild West Casino in Atlantic City, NJ Buffet Closes

In June 2012, the Virginia City Buffet located in Bally's Wild, Wild West Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey was closed permanently. There is no intention to have another buffet in this casino and Bally's is looking at redeveloping the space toward entertainment. If you are a regular reader of this site you know that this was my buffet of preference among the casino buffets in Atlantic City and I have been dining at it since it opened years ago.

It was quite a surprise to me to learn that it closed. I have not been there in a year - but usually, I don't travel to Atlantic City more than once a year - and that is primarily to walk on the Boardwalk, take in the atmosphere, and have dinner at a buffet. When I was there last August (2011) there was a line to get into the buffet and when we finally got into the restaurant there were a good number of people having dinner there. From what I have been able to learn about the reasons behind the buffet's closing was that it was financial - that those who frequent buffets are not coming to Atlantic City - which I find hard to believe. I have also read related articles that the focus of the Atlantic City casinos is to no longer cater to the "day trip gambler" but to go after the high rollers - who don't eat in buffets. (Why would they when half the menu can be comped (given to them free) and brought to their table in any restaurant in the casino?)

A new casino opened this year in Atlantic City that did not open with a buffet and likely will not add one. This casino has several restaurants with name chefs. Will this be the trend in Atlantic City?

There are articles in New Jersey publications that say the "day trippers" are going to casinos in Pennsylvania instead of coming to Atlantic City. When other states started allowing casino gambling along with the Native American-run casinos opening there had to be a drop in visitors to what was the only East Coast place to gamble - Atlantic City. But doing things like closing the casino buffets in Atlantic City is not going to attract those gamblers back - and while they will not put thousands down on the tables, they lose a considerable amount that goes into the casino's coffers by the time they leave at the end of the day.

I, myself, admit that I have gone to Connecticut rather than Atlantic City. Would I have gone to AC instead if the two Connecticut casino buffets were not there? Maybe, maybe not. Will I be heading back to AC anytime soon? I will have to think about that and decide what buffet I would be going for. A few years ago we went to several of the other buffets in Atlantic City - just to see if there was one that I would like more or just as well as the Virginia City Buffet at Wild, Wild, West. I was disappointed with each one. The articles are here for each one we tried. I did not like the buffet at Caesars which is also owned by Bally's and those employees from the Virginia City Buffet were reassigned there now. Several suggested the buffet at Showboat and I was very disappointed there. That one fell down on keeping what was put out to eat fresh, among other things.

I like Atlantic City. I liked it before there were casinos there. Long ago there was a great restaurant outside of the city called Zaberras. It was not a buffet but it was very unique and the food was good. It was an experience just sitting in one of the several dining rooms and just walking through the restaurant. It is long gone. It closed not long after the casinos and the buffets opened. It was fun. Before I was told the news - in a comment on this site - that the Virginia City Buffet was closed, and then researched what was happening, I had been thinking that I really would like to go down to Atlantic City. Well, when I got this news that did not happen. Sometimes change is good. This change was not.

Dutch Way Family Restaurant, Myerstown, PA

I have been writing about a buffet that has been new to me for less than a year. It is the Dutch Way Family Restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania. The three Dutch Way Markets in Pennsylvania each have a restaurant but only two of those restaurants have a buffet - Gap and Myerstown. Since being so happy with the buffet in Gap, I have been looking forward to an opportunity to try the buffet in Myerstown.

Myerstown is north of Lancaster. It is just south of Route 78 which cuts across Pennsylvania in the north to Route 80. I am not often in this part of Pennsylvania and while a trip up to this area is not out of the question if I am in Lancaster, I have been waiting for an event that we attend that is not far from Myerstown. The day of this event arrived and I looked forward to dinner with great anticipation.

The restaurant, like the restaurant in Gap, is part of a supermarket - located off to the side in a connected building. We went on a stormy Saturday night at the end of July. There were forecasts of severe but scattered thunderstorms and we drove in and out of heavy downpours as we headed south from Route 78. We arrived as rain was just stopping at about 6:45 that night.

The restaurant is to the left of the supermarket entrance. On first impression the look of the restaurant was that it was smaller than the restaurant in Gap and for lack of a better way of describing it, less formal (more casual?) than the interior in Gap. Here there are rows of tables and booths down the length of the restaurant. At the back there are two private dining rooms that are there for parties but likely would be opened if there was a crowd in the main dining. There were a number of tables filled when we went in, but through the course of our dinner the restaurant emptied out. The feature menu nights at both restaurants are the same and as this was Saturday night the feature is Prime Rib and Ham - which is the feature also on Friday nights.

The serving staff here and pretty much all of the staff here was made up of young women - some in high school. I know this because I overheard a conversation about one about to start college in the Fall but would still be working there on Saturdays. Our server was a mature woman but the people at the buffet and the carving counter and the cash register were all young women. This was also different at Gap where the staff were more mature. I will speak on this more as I go along.

The decor is very nice. The prices are the same as they are at Gap. Dinner on Friday and Saturday are $12.99. Soft drinks are $1.39. Weeknights except for Thursdays are $10.99. Thursdays are a special seafood buffet and the price is $18.99.

The buffet was almost the same. There is a much smaller serving area at this location. There is not a large grill/carvings counter but a small setup in the corner that seemed to be able to be moved away. There were fewer and smaller buffet servers and there was not the selection that I found at Gap. Let me say this right off- had I come to this location first, I would not be as enamored with Dutch Way as I was and am about the Gap restaurant. This would have been a pleasant buffet that was not much different than some other nice buffets that I have been to. It would not be in contention for best buffet of the year this year. The food was fine - so read on.

I can only make direct comparisons to describe what I am talking about. There are four soups at Gap and there are four soups here. The soups at Gap are in hot soup tureens along a counter top set up for soup. Here in Myerstown, there were still four soups - chicken rivel, ham and bean, chile, and beef vegetable. The soups were served from trays in one of the hot buffet server - not soup tureens set in, as are at other buffets - but in the usual serving trays. The chile had pretty much dried out and needed tending- stirring, moistening - or just taken away as it did not look very nice. The other three soups looked and were fine. But tending is something that was lacking and not just at this buffet server. I had the chicken rivel and this was very good. Rivels are long, narrow dumplings. My wife had the vegetable and that was fine.

We went up after soup to the salad bar. The salad bar had the basics - two types of lettuce, standard toppings, a nice selection of dressings. There were also some prepared salads. There were items missing from the salad bar that were out at Gap - and there was just no room to have added these in. Some of the prepared salads were not there. There were no chunks of Lebanon bologna - interesting as we were just north of Lebanon. Would you miss these items if you did not know they were offered at the other location? No. The salad bar was plenty adequate for a salad bar. But all being equal- price the same - things should be close to the same. Again, the salad was great and I enjoyed it very much. There were chunks of real, fried bacon and I made myself a Caesar Salad with bacon.

In the Gap restaurant there was a large selection of fancy breads. Here there was just one fancy bread and a limited selection of plain breads and rolls. The one it did have - raisin bread - was dry.

There was one and a half small but double hot buffet servers with entrees and side dishes. Again, less than at Gap. My wife felt that there were just as many dishes out but in smaller serving trays - which is sometimes better. What struck me- as we had been to Gap recently on a Friday night when the same buffet menu should have been served was the lack of local dishes here. We are north of the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country here though we did pass horse and buggies along the rode on the drive here - and there were Mennonite ladies sitting at a table nearby us. Since the Gap restaurant does not gear toward tourists, those dishes are served there for the local diners, as I would think, would be done here too. The only local dish here was pork and sauerkraut - which was very close to the very good one that I have had at Gap. Here is what was on the hot buffet - meatloaf, fried chicken (which was not labeled "Henny Penny", pork and kraut, sausage stew, corn pie, turkey in gravy, fish sticks, baked chicken, barbecue ribs (no bone formed ribs), ham balls, chicken croquet, corn, green beans, harvard beets, carrots, broccoli casserole, stewed tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, potato filling, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes with ham, and mixed vegetables. There were two carvings which are the Saturday and Friday night feature, Prime Rib and ham. There was chicken gravy and beef gravy.

I went right to the sausage stew. It was made with smoked sausage slices in a thin broth with potatoes and shredded celery and carrots. It was fine but the sausages stewed like this lost most of their taste. The The pork and kraut was good and as I mentioned earlier was much like that at Gap. I later went up for a slice of Prime Rib and the prime rib was tender and nice. I tried the chicken croquet and these breaded and fried balls of chicken and filling had a good amount of chicken in them and clearly, you knew these were chicken. This is not always so in some other buffets. I had not noticed the sign over the barbecue ribs when I first went up and when I saw them I had to try them. I did not notice also until I took a section from the pan that these were formed, boneless ribs - much like is served at McDonald's - and which I complained about at another, much fancier buffet. At that fancy, high-priced buffet these were inappropriate to serve - on the adult buffet. Here in a much less expensive and more casual buffet, they were not out of place. They did have too much sauce on them, and frankly at this point I was filling up and I left some of this over. There are better choices here than these - unless you really love these.

My wife tried the meatloaf and said it was good. It was in a thin tomato sauce. She also tried the ham balls - served in a pineapple sauce - and these too were good. She also had some of the turkey in gravy and she liked that as well. Remember, she is a picky eater. She had no problem eating here and enjoying it.

We both tried the corn pie and found it missing something. It was corn cooked with a pie shell topping mixed with potatoes. It was a bit bland and both of us commented that it should have been been for how it looked.

The dessert area is much abbreviated from the one at Gap. There was a small counter with some pies and cake slices. There was a soft serve machine with two flavors of ice cream. There was a section with fixings to make sundaes. There was also a small hot section with hot desserts in cups - similar to what there is a Gap, but less so. There was a cold section on the salad bar with a small selection of prepared desserts. Over by the breads, there had been donuts and pastries out the entire time we were there along with small wrapped muffins and little square pieces of what looked like cake with chocolate icing. When we went for dessert, I went past the donuts to see what was on the dessert area. When I walked back - in a very short time - all of the donut halves and pastries were gone. The trays had been taken away for the night. I did try the chocolate cake squares which turned out to be chocolate peanut butter cake squares. Pennsylvania loves things with chocolate and peanut butter together.

For the most part the food was good - and there was plenty to eat. It just did not come up to the selection, the tending, or the service around the buffet tables that the much better location of this same restaurant in Gap came to.

Our table server was good and she cleared our dishes promptly and refilled our beverages. As I had noted above, she was a mature woman. There were times around the buffet server that two young women working were more involved talking to each other than to get out of the way of the customers who were trying to get to the serving trays that they were standing in front of.

The restaurant closes at 8:00 pm - as do most Pennsylvania buffets that I write about. From some time after 7:00 pm the young women started cleaning. Nothing was being taken away but they were clearly shutting down the buffet. As I mentioned - the donuts were taken away -well usually before doing this - especially with only a few guests in the dining room you make an announcement - "anyone wish to have XYZ should come get it because we are taking it away." Here is was clear that they wanted to close this buffet down as soon as possible to go home. Many buffets - including Gap - say "we close at 8" but keep things going at the buffet tables until 8:30 or later. They may not seat anyone but they never take anything away.

Will I go back? Yes, if I am in this area I would go back. This is an area with not many buffet choices. There is a Golden Corral in Lebanon, but I would prefer this over Golden Corral. Had I never been to Gap - same restaurant, owner, etc. - I would be writing about the nice buffet we went to in Myerstown. It was nice. It was just nothing special. Dutch Way Gap is special.

I do recommend the Dutch Way Family Restaurant in Myerstown, PA. Just take note of some of the things I have commented on. Again- nothing was wrong. Nothing was not worth going for. The food was good. I enjoyed my meal and so did my wife. I just had expected more from this buffet based on its sister restaurant. My wife thinks that this is the original and Gap is a newer location and designed for greater ambiance and a larger dining room. This very well could be. I had that impression also. I had this same impression of another pair of sister restaurants that I wrote about recently that did not match.

The Dutch Way Family Restaurant in Myerstown, PA is located at 649 East Lincoln Avenue, \
Route 422 East in Myerstown, PA 17067. The phone number is 717-866-5758. There is a website for the three locations (only two are buffets) at the side of this page.

New Features at Golden Corral

Golden Corral has a new buffet feature. They have called it Tropical Island Grill. I have not been to a Golden Corral yet to sample this new feature, but I want to alert all of my readers to this - in case you have not seen the television commercials.

I am hoping that this feature has take the place of the seafood skillet feature that caused great backups at the buffet because they were cooking each skillet dish to your order. I have written about this several times in the past year and if you would like to read my experiences with this, just search our archives or look through the listings of articles in 2011.

So what does the Tropical Island Grill bring to the Golden Corral buffet? You will find marinated grilled Key West chicken breasts, breaded spicy Cozumel shrimp, grilled teriyaki sirloin steak, grilled Fiji lemon peppered talapia, and hot island pork ribs. They say that this is inspired by the best of island cooking. From what I can see it looks either very sweet or spicy. I am hoping that the standard Golden Corral steaks and barbecue ribs are still on the grill along with these new feature items.

This feature is served after four o'clock each day and Sundays after 11 am. You will not find it at lunch other than Sundays (lunch on Sundays is served at dinner prices).

Another feature has also started at Golden Corral. They have added Cotton Candy along with the chocolate fountain. I am hoping here that there is an employee putting the cotton candy on to the paper cones and that this is not a do it yourself. If it is I can just imagine the little fingers that will go into that hot spun sugar. As I have written, the chocolate fountain has been an attraction to hands and fingers and has had little employee supervision in the several Golden Corrals that I have been to and watched at. With cotton candy around the restaurant, look before you sit down. This stuff is sticky, though it can be good.

As with any feature, it is available for only a limited time. With Golden Corral, when one feature ends they usually follow it with a new feature.

I will get to a Golden Corral soon and let you know, first hand, about the Tropical Island Grill and the Cotton Candy.

Summer Holidays at Lancaster Buffets

With Labor Day coming, I thought it was timely to talk about the Lancaster, PA buffets and the summer holidays. Lancaster, PA is a major tourist area and in any tourist area a great deal of business is done over the summer holiday weekends - Memorial Day, Fourth of July (not always a weekend) and Labor Day. But if you plan to go to some of the local buffets in Lancaster on those holidays, you may be disappointed.

Memorial Day and Labor Day are very significant holidays in this area and several of the buffets close or close early in the day following the breakfast or brunch buffet. Two of the buffets high on my "go to" list in Lancaster, Yoders and Dutch Way close on Memorial Day and Labor Day at about 1:00 pm. Shady Maple Smorgasbord is completely closed on both of those days. Several of the buffets in the main tourist areas - Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant, Family Cupboard, the chain buffets, and some others remain open. You really do need to call and check to be sure a buffet will be open.

Dutch Way also closes at 1:00 pm on July Fourth. Some of the buffets had been closed or closed early in the past on July Fourth such as Shady Maple, but a few years ago that changed and they have remained open regular hours - which means 8:00 pm closing.

Of course, the intent is to give their employees a holiday with their families and this area is all about families. You have to respect a business that will sacrifice a day of increased business for its employees.

So, just be aware. If you are heading to Lancaster and will be there on these holidays, you may not be dining in one of the buffets that I have highly recommended. You will still find a buffet - and there are still great choices, but just not as many.

Dienners Restaurant, Lancaster, PA

The only night that Dienners is open past 6:00 pm is Friday. On Fridays it is open to 8:00 pm. I am rarely near Dienners on a Friday evening to make it there. I recently was able to schedule in a visit to Dienners for dinner on a Friday night. The last time I ate at Dienners was three years ago.

When we got to Dienners it was 6:30 pm and there was a line to get in. Dienners is located on Route 30 very close to the area of Lancaster County that is the heart of the tourist trade. On a Friday night in the summer, Dienners attracts a mixed crowd of tourists and locals and on this night that we were there, there were also several groups of Mennonites that came in for dinner.

We were told that the wait would be from twenty to twenty five minutes and it was exactly that - twenty five minutes. You are given a pager to carry around so that you can visit the few shops next to the restaurant. This was an excessively hot night, and we went into the country gift shop next door just to avoid standing outside in the heat. The pager buzzes and lights and when it did we went inside and were seated.

It took about five minutes for our waitress to come over - and this was a foretelling of how she would be for the rest of the meal. I should say that she was not bad - but she was scarce to pick up soiled dishes off the table. She did eventually and she did bring drink refills.

The price of the buffet on Monday to Thursday for dinner is $10.25. On Friday and Saturday, the price is $11.50. The charge for children is 75 cents per year of age. It is actually better to order the buffet than to order off the menu here as the prices for the meals on the menu would add to more than the buffet. Soft drinks with refills are $1.49.

I have mentioned before that Dienners and the Family Cupboard restaurant are owned by members of the same family. The restaurants are operated separately, but much of the offerings on the buffet at both restaurants are the same. As I found on this visit, the recipes at each are slightly different. I am going to note here that I realized at this meal that I prefer the cooking at Family Cupboard. There is nothing wrong with Dienners, and the food is good. There is a bit more emphasis on adding a lot more butter to the recipes at Dienners.

There are two soups. One is always Chicken Corn Soup and the other varies. For Friday night, the other soup is New England Clam Chowder. The chicken corn soup is a thick chicken noodle soup with plenty of chicken, noodles, and corn - and some chopped hard boiled egg. The soup is thickened with creamed corn - not corn with cream, but corn that has been creamed - pulverized to a creamy consistency. This soup was good. On my prior visit it had been more like the one served at Family Cupboard. It is not really right of me to keep drawing comparisons to Family Cupboard, but if you have been to both you would clearly see why it lends itself so readily to do so.

The salad bar has most of what you want to create your own salad and there are a number of local recipe prepared salads. There are a several salad dressings for your salad, but just one type of lettuce.

What makes the dinner on Friday and Saturday night different from Monday to Thursday are the fried shrimp and fried cod that are on the buffet. I am guessing that these take the place of Fried Chicken and meat loaf. In addition to these two seafood dishes there were beef cubes in brown gravy, their signature rotisserie chicken, sliced ham, mashed potatoes, noodles in brown butter, green beans, beets, stewed tomatoes, kernel corn, baby carrots, bread filling, baked Lima beans, broccoli, white rice, macaroni and cheese, There is chicken gravy and brown gravy. There are also dinner rolls out with apple butter and Amish peanut butter (this is a local spread). The cooks here are Amish women and they are out at the buffet checking on what needs to be refiled and bringing more food out when needed.

I like fried fish - and one of the things I was looking forward to was the fish. The fish was strips of cod, fried in batter. It was good. The rotisserie chicken is just like that featured at Family Cupboard. I enjoy this chicken - both here and at Family Cupboard.

Noodles in brown butter are narrow noodles that have browned butter mixed thoroughly on them. To make browned butter you put butter on a stove in a pan and cook it down to almost burning to the point that brown flakes form in the butter and thicken it. It has a nutty flavor. There was a bit too much butter added. It was tasty but it really was more than it needed. The kernel corn was in a butter sauce also and that too could have had less butter and been just as good.

Don't get me wrong - it was all good. And for this area, authentic.

There is a dessert buffet server, a pie case, and a soft serve ice cream machine. There are a number of local desserts and these included egg custard, which is what I look for at PA Dutch buffet dessert bars. There were plenty of other things as well - shoo fly cake, hot fudge cake, hot apple crisp, pumpkin torte, chocolate eclair dessert, jello, cherry cheese delight, fruit salad, pistachio pudding, Oreo dessert, sugar free desserts, and much more. In the pie server there was shoo fly pie, cream pies, fruit pies, and lemon pie.

It was all good - no, I did not have all of what I have listed here and I limited my dessert to a small taste of the egg custard.

I would go back to Dienners but I would go to Family Cupboard before I would come back to Dienners. This is just my preference. I recommend Dienners but not as highly as I have in the past. If you dine early then you can go to Dienners any day. If, like many, you dine after 6:00 pm, then you can only have dinner at Dienners on Friday nights. For the same buffet menu and less butter - and open to 8 pm every night (except closed on Sundays, of course) - but with a higher meal price - go to Family Cupboard on Rt. 340.

Dienners is located in a building that at one time - many years ago - was a shoo fly pie bakery- in fact the best shoo fly pie in Lancaster. For some reason the acoustics in the dinning room are poor and it is very loud. Also for some reason the meal was not as relaxed as it should have been. It was crowded and it was warm - again, it was a record breaking heat day in July two days after July 4th.

Dienners is located at 2855 Lincoln Highway East in East Ronks, Pennsylvania (This is US Route 30). It is next to the big windmill so you cannot miss it. I have told you the hours, remember that like the rest of the local buffets it is closed on Sundays. Their phone number is 717-687-9571. There is a sparse website and that is listed at the side of this page.

Coming Back to Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant, Lancaster, PA

I have written about the buffet at the Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant several times in the past. My last article about this buffet was a year ago. We went back this year on the Fourth of July. Not all of the local buffet restaurants are open on the Fourth of July, for example, Dutch-Way and Yoders are both closed (or are open only until early in the afternoon). When selecting a buffet to dine at in this area, as many of you know, there are several that are at the top of my list. This one is about mid-way down. At times in the past, it has disappointed, but it is more often very good than not.

For a holiday night, the restaurant was not crowded, but the Fourth of July fell on a Wednesday night and those traveling to the area who could not have an extended Fourth of July weekend came on the weekend before or were coming on the weekend after. This was seen throughout Lancaster even at the tourist sites on July Fourth. The restaurant was not empty, but we have been here at this time of the year before and there have been waits to get in. We were seated right away.

The price for dinner has not changed since last year and it is still $17.99. The price of the dinner buffet includes the beverage. We had a coupon from their website - which is also found in the local tourist newspapers which are available all over the area for free - which gave $2 off the dinner price for each adult. This made the price not bad considering that drinks are usually 1.99 extra- so with the coupon this is equivalent to a 13.99 dinner at other buffets. It is a great value at the $13.99 equivalent - find a coupon before you come. The price may vary by the night. It may be higher on Fridays and Saturday nights.

My favorite thing at this restaurant is the chicken corn soup. It is unlike other chicken corn soups in the area. It is thick and rich. The soup is full of chicken, chopped hard boiled egg, and corn, and it is thickened with some type of grain. There is a slight vinegar taste to the soup. It is excellent. The other soups on the buffet on this night were vegetable beef and beef noodle. My wife had the vegetable beef soup - and as always here, liked it.

There is good salad bar here - and you can opt to just have the soup and salad bar as a meal. There is a good assortment of salad fixings for the lettuce that is out. There are also a number of prepared local salads. I had tried the Caesar Salad a year ago and I like it. I took Caesar Salad and it was just OK this time. There was nothing wrong with it, but I have had better. There is an excellent ham salad and this is something to try if they have it when you come. This salad seems to alternate with chicken salad - which is also very good here and tuna salad. I also took some cottage cheese and apple butter which is a local favorite. You have to put this together yourself - as for many years it is not often found talked about or even put out next to each other. Take a spoonful or more of cottage cheese and then put a spoonful of apple butter on top of it. This is really a taste treat - sweet, tart, and salty all at the same time. There is a small buffet server off to the side with white, wheat, and crispy rolls, raisin bread, wheat bread, white bread. There are also assorted cubed cheeses. Here you will find the apple butter also. The cottage cheese is on the cold server salad bar.

The buffet menu varies here by the night so what you may find one night, you may not find on another night of the week. The Friday and Saturday night offerings include more carvings. On this night on the hot buffet there was country sausage from New Holland Meats, chicken bot boi - very thick, full of large dumplings, chicken, and potatoes, fried shrimp, broasted chicken, pork and kraut- sweet and with plenty of pork, roast beef, turkey - two ways - in a tray and on the carving station, carved ham, Swedish meatballs, broiled pollack , pizza, zucchini casserole, red potatoes, corn on the cob, baked lima beans, bread filling, succatash, ham and scalloped potatoes, carrots, stewed tomatoes, buttered noodles, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy and beef gravy.

I love the turkey here that is served per-carved in the tray. It is a whole turkey cut into pieces, both white meat and dark, and served in its own liquid. I find it has a great taste that is unlike carved turkey. I eat a lot of turkey. To me this is the best. The sausage was very good. This is local country sausage and I enjoyed it a lot. The chicken bot boi was very good because of how thick and full it was - no skimping on any ingredient. The pork and sauerkraut was outstanding. It was more sweet than tart. Generally, the tartness of sauerkraut can overwhelm this dish. Here the sauerkraut was sweetened and this really added to this local favorite. It was also full of chopped pork. The broiled pollack, however, was too salty. The zucchini casserole was good but it had an under taste of some seasoning that was OK but I did not care for. My wife did like it.

On Saturday nights, there is a separate buffet set up for kids. It was set up on this night also - perhaps because it was a holiday. They call it the Kids Corner. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, nacho chips with cheese sauce on the side, chicken nuggets, turkey, macaroni and cheese, smiley face potatoes, carrots, kernal corn, pretzals, potato chips, apple sauce, canned peaches, chocolate pudding, and cookies in little packages. The price for kids is 75 cents per year of age from ages 4 to 12. I don't think that they would mind if an adult having the buffet also sampled some of this.

There is a serving counter at the back wall that is the dessert area. There was shoo fly pie, custard pie, oatmeal pie, vanilla pie, fruit pies, shoo fly cake, sheet cake, whoopie pies, prepared desserts, pudding, canned fruit, softserve ice cream, and two flavors of Slushies. On this night there was no fresh fruit. The baking is good here. This restaurant is associated with the Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop. You can just order the dessert bar without a meal.

I very much enjoyed this meal at the Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant. It made me wonder why I have not gone back as often. One thing had been in the past - longer than a year ago, the price here was higher - a lot higher. They seem to have realized that to bring in the families of tourists to compete in this area you need to be affordable - while serving a good and quality meal. They are doing that at the current pricing. I also liked the selections on this night more than what I have had here on Friday or Saturday nights. This is just a personal preference of my own.

I highly recommend that you try the buffet at Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant. I was asked recently by a friend where to dine in Lancaster and, of course, recommended the usual tops on my list but added that if they did not want to travel too far out of the central area for dinner to go here. Try it.

Like all of the other local buffets and restaurants they do close at 8:00 pm and they are not open on Sundays. There is a good chance when you come here there will be Amish and Mennonites dining here as well.

Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant is located at 2760 Old Philadelphia Pike, Bird-in-Hand, PA 17505. The phone number is 1-800-665-8780. There is a website located at the side of this page.

A New Rule...

There has not been a new rule of the buffet in some time. Not that there have not been really outlandish things observed. More and more I have been seeing something happen at various buffets that needs to be noted and a new rule made. The new rule is -

If you take a plate, bowl, cup, or piece of silverware and you decide you don't want it, do not put it back on the stack of clean dishes or back with the clean silverware. Take it back to your table or put it on the side of the stack where it will not be taken as clean.

Why? I have watched people of all ages - this is not just kids, though kids do this too - take a plate and then put it right back on the top of the stack of clean plates. So, you ask what is the big deal? Well, the big deal is that where ever that person's hands have been, I do not want to have to eat from a plate that they touched.

Here is an example - Mr. X blows his nose before going up to the buffet server. It is bad enough that he will be touching the serving pieces but he takes a plate and then goes back and puts it back on the stack. You take that plate and are eating directly off the surface that his hands held right after blowing his nose. Another example - Little Susy has been to the restroom. As many children in buffets seldom are, she was not accompanied by her mother. She did not wash her hands. Little Susy goes up to the silverware and takes a spoon - and then decides she does not want that spoon and back it goes into the cup with the clean spoons - just waiting for you to take it next. Better yet, Little Susy puts the spoon in her mouth and then decides to put it back. I have watched these happen and more. Again, this is not just about kids - adults do this - and frequently.

Come on people. If you take it or touch it - and you don't want it, it is simple - bring it back to your table and put it on the side and the server will take it away- no extra charge.

So here are our rules now in total - including our new #30.




RULES OF THE BUFFET

1. All you can eat is not a challenge. It is an offer!

2. There is no limit to the number of times that you can go up and get food.

3. Take your food in courses - as you would be served if ordering from a menu.

4. Everyone must pay!

5. No food is permitted to be taken out of the restaurant.

6. Take only what you will eat - do not waste food.

7. For a more social meal, it is polite to wait for the others at the table to finish their plates and then go up together to get more.

8. Take a clean plate every time that you go up to the buffet tables.

9. If you put it on your plate, leave it there. Never return food to the serving tray.

10. Never eat at the buffet tables!

11. Children under 12 should not be going up to the buffet tables alone.

12. The buffet table is not a cafeteria line.

13. Tip the server.

14. Never take a serving piece from one item and use it for another item.

15. Never place your dirty plates on someone else's table.

16. Never use your silverware to serve yourself from the buffet trays.

17. Once you have gotten what you want, don't stand around the buffet tables. Move on back to your table.

18. Children should remain seated through the meal.

19. Do not fill community plates for the "table". Each should take their own plate of what they wish to eat.

20. If you cough or sneeze into your hand, please do not use that hand to pick up the serving utensils.

21. In the buffet, as in any restaurant, children (and adults) should use their inside voices.

22. Don't talk on your cell phone while you are getting your food at the buffet tables.

23. Never bring an animal into the buffet. (this is not referring to medical guide dogs)

24. Never put your hands into a serving tray.

25. Tell your children not to put their hands into a serving tray - and make sure that they do not!

26. Do not carry on a conversation throughout dinner with the people at the tables around you.

27. Do not put anything back into a serving tray that has dropped onto the serving counter - and never put anything back into a serving tray (whether from the counter or your dish) with your fingers.

28. Never put the serving utensil, whether it a spoon, fork, or tongs, up to your nose to smell the food that you have taken out of the serving tray.

29. Do not eat while walking with your plate back to your table.

30. If you take a plate, bowl, cup, or piece of silverware and you decide you don't want it, do not put it back on the stack of clean dishes or back with the clean silverware. Take it back to your table or put it on the side of the stack where it will not be taken as clean.

Tuesday Night at Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Gap, PA

It was just a few weeks ago that I wrote about my second trip to Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, Pennsylvania. I had an opportunity to return to Dutch Way Restaurant just a month after my recent visit that appeared here in June. This time I went on a Tuesday night and the special theme feature on Tuesday nights is Build Your Own Burger and Wings.

The night we went was the night before the Fourth of July and the restaurant was the busiest that I have seen it. We did not have to wait for a table but the dining rooms while not completely filled were full. As I have written about this restaurant before, this is a locals restaurant and not one that attracts tourists. The reason for this is its location as it is in one of the more distant eastern ends of Lancaster County. It impresses me more that locals would come out to this restaurant on the night before a holiday when this area is overfull of tourists. It is the locals that appreciate the restaurant in a way that makes them come here - and not as a place to eat chosen at random by tourists. I have often thought that I should not write about these hidden gems - as I do not want them to be overrun by tourists - but at the same time I want to share a great place with my readers - who, I hope know how to act when they come to a restaurant like this - and not act as the tourists often do.

Anyway. We were seated and in a few minutes our server came over with a big smile and a very friendly greeting and took our beverage order and noted that we were there for the buffet and not the menu offerings.

The price of the buffet for dinner is $10.99 on Tuesday nights. Unlimited beverage refills are $1.79. Right here we are beating OCB's prices. Prices do vary by night- Monday to Wednesday will be this same price. Thursday is Seafood Night and the price then is $18.99. Friday and Saturday are less than Thursday, but more than Monday to Wednesday.

As there has been, there were four soups. The choice this night included beef vegetable, chili, ham and bean, and stuffed pepper soup. I tried the ham and bean and my wife had the beef vegetable. My soup was full and flavorful. The beef vegetable soup was according to my wife, "very nice". (From my picky eater wife, this is a rave review.)

The salad bar was as extensive as it has been with much of the same choices. There are many local styled prepared salads and and an overwhelming selections of items to create a salad. They don't have just bacon bits or chopped bacon. They have large pieces of crumbled fried bacon!
I went over to the grill to check out the features - build your own burger and wings. There was a large crowd of people around the grill and two chefs behind doing their best to get out the orders - each person, of course, was ordering their burgers and wings the way they wanted them. This is a very popular feature theme! I decided that I would explore the hot buffet tables first and come back to the grill later on. There were four types of wings to choose - hot, mild, ranch, and honey mustard. You asked for as many and what ever combination you wanted. The burgers were being cooked and built to order. The toppings included any of these cheeses - American, Swiss, cheddar, and pepper jack. Then you could add bacon, sauteed mushrooms, friend onions, barbecue sauce, tomato, lettuce, and more. Then there were the condiments that were your basics plus raw onion. Any or all of this cooked to your liking, and then assembled on a large bun. The burgers were large and thick.

Over at the buffet servers there was a large variety of very interesting dishes. There was chicken and biscuits - a thick creamed chicken with bits of chicken pulverized in a dense cream sauce served over biscuits. There was Dutch meat loaf. There were ham balls in a not overly sweet pineapple sauce. There was an excellent pork and sauerkraut. There was something called porcupine meatballs. We wondered. This could not be porcupine - could it? No, it was beef mixed with rice. It was good. There was sauteed beef and vegetables which was later replaced with chicken and vegetables, but later still was back to beef and vegetables. There was a thin but tasty version of the local dish, Chicken Bot Boi (I have described what this is many times before). There was so much for a buffet that that I will just list what else there was - Henny Penny Fried Chicken, roast turkey in gravy, roast beef in gravy, zesty talapia, mashed potatoes, potato filling (wonderfully different here), carrots, string beans with bacon, mixed vegetables of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, herb roasted potatoes with peppers and onions, stewed tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, beets, and baked beans.

I tried a little of several things that I had not had before and enjoyed the chicken and biscuits very much. I enjoyed everything that I tried very much! This is my third time back to this buffet and I have not been disappointed yet.

Not long after seeing the crowd at the grill, the crowd thinned out and I went up and "built a burger". I had the chef put cheddar cheese, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and fried onions on a medium rare burger - and skipped the roll. Let me say this about build a burger - eat one large burgers like this and there is not much room for much else to eat. I would have been happier with a thinner burger only because there was so much more to eat with everything else on the buffet! I enjoyed the burger. I did not try the wings. I am not much for wings and was not looking for anything spicy. Many were eating the wings with looks of great enjoyment on their faces and lips - lots of licking of lips.

There were various breads to try - warm, crusty rolls, white rolls, wheat rolls, pumpkin bread, cornbread, blueberry bread, and cranberry bread. There were also assorted bread sticks.
With all of this can you fit in dessert too? There are plenty of desserts to end your meal with. There was shoo fly cake, shoo fly pie, molten lava chocolate and vanilla - a hot dessert that was later replaced with hot peach cobbler, apple cobbler, egg custard pie, fruit pies, layer cakes, corn bread in a cup, an extensive assortment of prepared desserts, fresh fruits, puddings, and more. There was one prepared dessert called "Broken Glass". It was a pudding with pieces of different color jelly candies that looked like pieces of glass!

And, just like on my last visit there were chocolate donuts cut in half. I cannot resist chocolate donuts and I indulged in just one half, but I really should not have, but what the heck.
So there you have another featured theme at Dutch Way Restaurant Buffet. As it has been each other time I have been here it was WONDERFUL!

There is something that you need to know about this restaurant - if it is a holiday it may be open only until about 1 pm or it will just be closed. It is also closed on Sundays - as are most local restaurants in this area.

I will be going back. I may be able to try another location of this buffet in the near future. There are two. I am sure it will be just as great. Perhaps it is too early to be thinking that Shady Maple - for me, at least, may have a rival. Dutch-Way is much smaller. It does not have anywhere near the selection. But, as far as value and my looking forward to the next time going back as soon as I am walking out the door of the restaurant - there is something very special here.

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 and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.

Midsummer Swedish Smorgasbord at IKEA

We have just returned from the Midsummer Swedish Smorgasbord served for one night in June each year at the store restaurant at IKEA. IKEA has five one night special all you care to eat meals at their store restaurants during the year. This one is held in June each year.

We had been to the Easter Smorgasbord at IKEA this past April and enjoyed it very much. When we learned that there would be another in June we watched closely at the store for signs about when it would be. This year it was held on Friday, June 15th. These dinners are always held on Fridays. There are two seatings. The first is in the late afternoon starting at 4:00 pm and ending at 6:00 pm. There is an hour to reset the dining room and replenish the serving tables and the second seating starts at 7:00 pm and ends at 9:00 pm. Tickets for these dinners must be purchased in advance at the store restaurant and there are a limited number of tickets sold. The price of the meal including everything is $9.99 - and the meal is worth much more.

This is the menu that was presented by IKEA for the meal that would be served at the Midsummer Swedish Smorgasbord:

Assorted varieties of Herring
Hard boiled Eggs with Shrimp
Gravad Lax with Mustard Sauce
Smoked Salmon w/Horseradish Sauce
Whole Poached Salmon
Tossed Green Salad
Cucumber Salad
Rhode Island Salad
Midsummer Fruit Salad
Assorted Swedish Cheeses
Boiled Dill New Potatoes
Meatballs with Lingonberries
Swedish Ham (served cold) w/Mustard
Prinskorv Sausage (sautéed)
Crispbread, Thin bread, Dinner rolls
Strawberries and Whipped Crème
Ice Cream
Assorted Desserts
Coffee, Tea, Fountain Beverage

Everything on this menu was there at the dinner. The Easter dinner had some differences and actually, was more extensive. The set up for Easter was more extensive and a bit more organized as well, but at Easter there were many more people in attendance. At Easter there were hot trays to keep the hot food hot - here the few hot dishes that were served were in smaller serving dishes that were continually brought out hot as they needed replenishing - so everything remained at a good eating temperature.

We arrived a half hour early for the 7:00 pm seating and there was a long line to get in. The regular restaurant is closed for the day when this meal is served. We were let in about five minutes to 7. You enter and find a table. The tables are pre-set with silverware, a glass with a festive color paper napkin folded inside the glass, and for this dinner each table had a plate of Swedish crispbread and also a plate of chocolate bonbon cakes - one large one in the center of the plate and several smaller ones around the outside that were chocolate covered in coconut. The smallest tables seat four, but are separated in the middle so it may seat two couples without each couple touching the other's table. There are tables for larger groups as well - and the staff are very accommodating putting tables together for large groups. We found a table for two/four. No one else sat with us at the other half of the table. There were less people here for this dinner than there were at the Easter dinner - at which another couple did sit down at the other half of our table. You then get on a line to go into the serving area and there are two buffet serving tables with another shorter table opposite each of those at the end. Each side of the serving table duplicates what is on the other side and much is in the middle. On the ends you do have to reach from side to side for a few dishes.

When we had come in April we had jackets with us and it was easy to mark our table as taken. It was over 70 degrees out on this day and we did not think to bring a jacket in with us just to put on a chair at the table. To make sure our table remained ours, the first time we went up, we went up separately. When I returned to the table, I realize that all we had to do was fill our drink glasses with soda and our table would have been saved. As it turned out, there would have been no problem.

The dinner was very good and the food was very good as well. I tried a little of everything and I was pretty much full at the second dish. Of course, there are always things that I want to try some more of and the third time up was perhaps one trip too many, even with the small amounts that I took. The hardboiled eggs with shrimp also had a bit of caviar on top and this was good. The graved lox was excellent. I have said before that I don't like salmon that is not either smoked or raw. The poached salmon was exceptional and was served with a sour cream and cucumber sauce on the side. This is the only cooked salmon that I have liked. I had this at Easter also and made a point to take more of it this time.The ham was a baked ham that was served cold and was very good. There were little sausages (Prinskorv Sausage) that were sauteed with thin cut onions and these were very good. I had these also at Easter and at that time they ran out quickly. Tonight, they were continually replenished. While I enjoy cheeses, I don't generally choose them at a buffet but there were three cheeses that I had to try - one was semi-soft, one was semi-hard, and the third was hard. They reminded me of other cheeses that I have had. I am not cheese-saavy, so I can't identify what they were or what they were like, but I enjoyed all three. Not on the list about, but out on the buffet were jars of sliced sweet pickles. These were very thinly sliced and while they tasted like most sweet pickles, because they were so thin, they were quite different. I liked all three herrings with the herring in cream sauce as the one I enjoyed most. The other two were herring in wine sauce and herring in a yellow cream sauce that must have had mustard in it.

At the dessert server there was a large bowl of huge, fresh strawberries with the green leaves cut off the tops. Next to that bowl was a bowl with whipped cream. People before they went up for their meal, went straight to those strawberries and mounded them on plates and mounded whipped cream on top. There were also bowls of cut up strawberries and blueberries. There were several desserts. We decided that we would each take a dessert and taste it. We took a small piece of a dense cinnamon swirled cake covered in chocolate and a pudding cup with caramel swirled on the sides and a vanilla custard pudding. There also was fruit salad, the strawberries, the strawberries with blueberries, ice cream cups, small two color chocolate(what looked like) brownies, and a pink dome of smooth frosting with some type of cream inside. The chocolate cinnamon cake was very good. The pudding was nice, but not what I anticipated. It had appeared to be an egg custard - my perception only - and it was more a custardy vanilla pudding.

The people who are working at this dinner and at the Easter dinner are exceptional. Everyone is going out to their way to be welcoming and friendly. They go around the dining room and greet you. This dinner is a Swedish festival at which summer wreathes are made and worn like crowns. They were putting these flower crowns (artificial flowers - no allergies) on the children's heads to keep. We suspect that the people who are hear are store management - they go so much beyond what the general employees do - not saying the regular employees would not be this nice - but this really is beyond what we experience at this same restaurant when we dine here for regular meals that are not special dinners like this one. My wife wanted tea and was not sure what to push on the coffee urn to just get hot water and went over to one of the people working and was greeted and told that she would come over and show her - she could have just said push the orange button in the middle. Everyone was all smiles. And we experienced this same thing in April at the Easter dinner.

You do clear your own table here - as you do when you eat at this restaurant for regular meals. There are stacks of tray carriers with trays walled off from the dining area (two of these setups on the floor) and you take your dirty dishes and put them on the trays - and then go for more. This is not a problem. And if you have dishes stacking up on your table you have only you to blame. Plus there is no one to tip!

We learned on this night that the next all you can eat dinner will be Crawfish - all you can eat crawfish. This will be in August. We will skip this one. I only marginally like crawfish and my wife would not eat it at all.

There will be another big smorgasbord in the Fall. I don't know when that one will be. Following that there is one for Christmas, and then Easter again.

When I have talked about these meals at IKEA in the past there have been some very unjustified negative comments and not from anyone who had ever had one of these meals. If you would like to try something different - with good food - and I will add quality food (much of it is sold in their small grocery department and it is imported from Sweden and expensive) - then try one of these smorgasbords. For $9.99 you can't get a quarter pound of gravad lax at a gourmet counter - you get all you care to eat of that here plus the herring and all the rest for $9.99. If you want to be a food snob, then stay away. This is a loss leader for the store - they do it to get you into the store in hopes that you will shop - and to introduce you to foods that they sell for you to take home. In fact one of the nice ladies came around and told us that we can get much of what we ate down in the grocery section to take home - and gave us a coupon to save money on it, as well! If you want to feel rich on at a $9.99 AYCE meal- go for it. I will be back!

Willow Tree Restaurant and Smorgasbord, Lancaster, PA

The Willow Tree Restaurant and Smorgasbord in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was formerly called the Willow Valley Farm Restaurant and Smorgasbord. It is part of a hotel complex called The Willow Valley Farm Inn and Suites. I had been to this restaurant/buffet a number of years back and to our recollection we had been there perhaps three or four times. This was before I started writing this site. We had not gone back. One reason was that my good wife would have stomach problems after eating here. Another was that it is located in an area that is out of the mainstream of Lancaster County - below the City of Lancaster and getting there requires driving through Center City Lancaster which is just OK and, surprisingly for a city surrounded by gentle people and farmlands, it is very urban.

It has been a long time and we were in Lancaster County on a Sunday night. There are few buffets open on a Sunday in Lancaster. Willow Tree is open - as it is the hotel's restaurant (which recently started serving only buffet and on longer serves from a menu). We talked it over and figured that after so many years things must have changed and we would try it again - and hopefully, my wife would be fine after the meal.

We set out for the restaurant using the GPS and I saw that it had a way to go that did not go through the city. Interesting. OK, we started out and soon discovered that this route was taking us on mountain-like roads that were single lane. We came to one spot along the way with a single lane bridge. It was still daylight even though it was dinner time and we at least could easily see the road and where we were going. Of course, when we came to the road that the restaurant is located on it had us turn right instead of left - and before we could turn around we were in the city. Finally, we arrived at the restaurant. We decided right then that we would go back the usual way through the city after dinner.

There are now two hotels in the complex. One is a Double Tree and the older part of the complex is the Willow Valley Farm Inn and Resort. The restaurant is around the back of the building that is signed as the office for the hotel. You follow the parking lot around and you will see a very pretty pond with fountains. The restaurant is in the building facing the pond and there is a sign. You climb up a staircase to get to the restaurant from the parking lot.

I had vague recollections of what the restaurant looked like inside though my wife remembered it exactly as it is now. You enter past a cashier's desk and there is a hostess pedestal there. You are seated in one of two dining rooms. We were there on a Sunday night on Memorial Day weekend in one of the few buffet restaurants open. There was hardly anyone there dining. This should have told me something. I also should have walked around and looked at what was offered on the buffet before we sat down, but I rarely, if ever do this, and we were seated, ordered soft drinks and went up to start our meal. I still did not look at the hot buffet servers.

The buffet area is made up of two round, cold buffet servers, two small, double sided hot buffet servers, a wall with two soups and rolls, a small grill area, and another corner wall with desserts. The price of the buffet including beverages is $18.99, Sunday through Thursday and $22.99, Friday and Saturday. We had a coupon clipped from a visit Lancaster County magazine that gave $4.00 off each adult meal. There are coupons on the Lancaster County tourist website for $3.00 off each adult meal.

There were two soups. One was seafood chowder and the other was beef vegetable soup. I tried the seafood chowder. My wife had the beef vegetable. I found that the seafood chowder was overfull of potatoes. It was a white cream chowder with chunks of some type of fish and small, over cooked shrimp. The taste was more like a bisque (sharp) than a chowder. My wife found the beef vegetable soup to be salty.

The salad bar and cold servers had the makings for a lettuce salad with toppings and a few dressings. My wife commented to me that the "fresh" cucumbers that she took were just on the edge of going bad. There were prepared salads that were typical macaroni salad, potato salad, and coleslaw. There was a good tasting chicken salad, that I eventually took as part of my entrees. I will explain why as we go along. Up to this point we were pretty much fine.

We then went up to the hot servers for entrees and side dishes and we were in for a surprise. There was not very much to be had and what there was certainly did not justify the price that they were charging for this meal. Several of the dishes were almost duplicates of each other. There was stuffed cabbage and stuffed peppers - the same meat and rice stuffing in a tomato base in different casings. There were McDonalds-like boneless riblets - really, just like the boneless ribs that McDonalds serves on their rib sandwich. These were over done and were covered in a thick commercial barbecue sauce. There was pulled pork barbecue that was over sauced. There was barbecue chicken that were over done pieces of chicken covered and cooked the same commercial barbecue sauce. There was also fried chicken. Over on the side wall next to the desserts there was a small hot server with macaroni and cheese, potato tots, and chicken nuggets - obviously meant for the children. On the grill they were slicing ham with a pineapple glaze and roast beef. This was it as far as entrees. There was no fish of any kind (hot or cold). There were some side dishes and these included kernel corn, carrots, stewed tomatoes, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, red potatoes, baked beans, and what was labeled as buttered noodles but was actually ziti swimming in butter (or some butter like substance).

This is Lancaster County - bountiful and plentiful This was not a typical Lancaster County buffet. There also were no local dishes on the buffet at all. None of the usual things that are found on many of the local buffet restaurants. My wife described the buffet well - it is a typical hotel restaurant buffet.

As I walked around deciding what to take I decided that with the little that there was I would take a tasting of some of the things that I could eat. I did not take the stuffed peppers or the stuffed cabbage. I did take the riblets and the pork barbecue. The riblets were dry and over cooked. The pork barbecue was too sweet. I passed on the dry looking bbq chicken. I did take a piece of fried chicken. It did not stand out in any way. It was OK but I have had better at OCB. The selection of pieces of chicken was limited. The ham was dry and the roast beef was well done.

The vegetables were all covered and drowning in butter (or as I say, some butter type substance). They were really not edible this way and rather than give them taste, this "butter" sauce just made them oily. The ziti in "butter" was the same way - too greasy to eat. The red potatoes were not only covered in butter but also some type of hot seasoning.

This is why I went back to the salad bar and took the chicken salad - which different from the rest of the meal was not bad - though at one point I was not sure if it was chicken salad or tuna salad - had some tuna salad found its way into this serving bowl - there was no tuna salad out to be served. I also took some macaroni salad and some potato salad as I could not take any more of the greasy side dishes.

My poor wife, as my regular readers know is a picky eater and she was trying to find things to eat. Her meal mostly consisted of ham, potato tots (which actually are her favorite- and saved the meal for her), and rolls. At one point she went back for more beef vegetable soup which must have been refilled because this time it tasted very spicy. I tried a taste and it was spicy and was seasoned like clam chowder is in NY.

As there were few diners, there was not much being taken - and no one was coming around to make sure that what was out was not drying out. No one was tending the buffet - and the food was looking like it was not tended.

I looked over the desserts and there was two types of layer cake, a few different pieces of pie, pudding, and jello. There was also soft serve ice cream with a big sign on the machine that said Turkey Hill. Turkey Hill ice cream is a large brand on the East Coast and originates in Pennsylvania. I thought that this might be the one good thing here. I tried a sample and it was custard-like rather than like soft serve - but not in a good way. The pieces of pie and cake that were out were all falling apart - all split in the center - not intentionally. I wondered how long they had been sitting out.

I have had better dinners at Old Country Buffet - and after this meal I wished I had gone instead to the Old Country Buffet in Lancaster. The dinner that we had here was not good. Aside from the cooking - even if it had tasted better than it did - there was no value. You should not be paying $19 each for McDonald's riblets, chicken nuggets, and fried chicken. This was not like this the last time we had come - the selection was much better and so was the cooking - but that was many years ago. Times change and so do restaurants.

Thank goodness I had the coupon so that the meal came down to $15 each - which was still to much to pay for what we got.

I should mention that service was fine. Our server made sure there were drink refills and some of the time did not let the plates pile up on the table.

We left and drove back through the city. Remember that I said that we had stopped coming here because the food made my wife's stomach upset. Well, it did not this time - it made my stomach upset - and it only took about half an hour after the meal to send me running.

No - I do not recommend Willow Tree Restaurant and Smorgasbord. Even on a Sunday there are much better places to go in Lancaster if you want a buffet.

I will list the location of this restaurant just so you know what to avoid. I will not link the website at the side of the page - though they do have one. Willow Tree Restaurant is located at 2416 Willow Street Pike, Lancaster, PA.

A SECOND VISIT TO DUTCH-WAY FAMILY RESTAURANT - GAP, PA.

It was last November when I first found Dutch-Way Family Restaurant located on the far end of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Like Yoders, this is another restaurant that is part of a supermarket. Also like Yoders, the restaurant is in the same building but separated by a hallway, and in this case, that hallway has a snack bar with some very tempting treats. But it is wise to pass the snack bar and keep going to the restaurant - in fact, just enter from the parking lot to the door for the restaurant.

This buffet is fancier than Yoders. There are tables and booths and a carpet on the floor. The dining room is divided in sections by low level walls and the buffet servers are at the rear of the room along with a large grill area.

This restaurant is well out of the tourist area and it is unlikely that you are going to encounter anything but locals here - though I must say that the night we were there a bus group was just leaving. Happily, we missed the bus group. There are also two banquet rooms that are off to the side of the buffet area. We were there on a Saturday night and the restaurant was only moderately busy. As I have noted, this is out of the tourist area. Like almost every other buffet restaurant in Lancaster County, Dutch-Way is closed on Sundays. Monday to Friday they are open from 6 am to 8:00 pm.

Dinner here varies by the night and we were there on a Saturday night. The price of the dinner buffet was $12.99. Unlimited soft drinks are an additional $1.39. Dinner price was two dollars more than it had been during the week in November.

The feature for Saturday night is Prime Rib and ham at the grill. Thursdays is seafood night. Tuesday is now make your own burgers at the grill and wings. In addition to the feature there are two hot buffet servers filled with entrees and side dishes. While this restaurant is larger than Yoders, it does not feature as many selections, but there is plenty here to choose from.

There are four soups and on this night these included chicken corn chowder, vegetable beef, chile, and chicken noodle. I tried the chicken corn chowder, as I have not had this before. It was full of potatoes and a thin white cream base with chicken and corn. It was tasty. My wife had the vegetable beef and she enjoyed it.

There is a very large salad bar here and you can make a tossed salad with a wide variety of toppings. There are also a number of local prepared salads and in addition there was a very excellent chicken salad. This chicken salad would have made a satisfying meal on its own. To top your salad there were small pieces of real fried bacon strips. Very different from the usual bacon on a salad bar. Everything was fresh.

Walking around the hot buffet servers I spotted a local dish that is different in Lancaster from how it is served in soul food restaurants - chicken and waffles. This is not fried chicken on top of a waffle. This is a creamed chicken put over waffles. I took this along with meat loaf on my first plate. The chicken and waffles was very tasty - but unlike others that I have had in this area - there were no chunks of chicken. The chicken was blended into the cream sauce. It made for a very tasty and interesting dish. The meatloaf was thick and rather than the usual ketchup that is put on top of meatloaf in many buffets this was covered in brown gravy. This is my wife's favorite type of meatloaf - and like everything else here - it was good. I also took a small spoon of potato filling - which I have described in articles about other buffets in this area. This one had a distinct potato taste and texture. It was like stuffing and mashed potatoes blended together into a unique dish. It delightfully surprised me when I put it into my mouth. I have had all different types of potato filling and not all have been the same. This one had a differently nice texture and taste.

Of course, there were a number of other dishes. There were ham balls in pineapple sauce - this is chopped ham made into meatballs - turkey in gravy, roast beef in gravy, Salisbury steak in brown gravy, seafood lasagna, pork and sauerkraut, Cajun haddock, and a very good fried chicken, in fact this was one of the better fried chickens that I have had and the sign called it "henny penny" fried chicken. I, later, looked up what henny penny fried chicken is. Henny Penny is the name of a company that makes chicken pressure friers. Similar to "broasting", the chicken is deep fried under pressure. I have had broasted chicken before. This was my first time having "Henny Penny" fried chicken.

There was supposed to be ham on the carving grill, there was only Prime Rib. Well, Prime Rib is not an only. I was cut a thick slice that was nicely cooked - a little medium rare and a little better done all on the same piece. Perhaps some who only like their beef one way or the other (as I usually do) would not like this, but I liked the contrast in tastes and textures. It was good.

Side dishes included mashed potatoes, carrots, macaroni and cheese - in a thick white cheese sauce, stewed tomatoes, mixed steamed vegetables, a mixed vegetables that was in a thick cream-like sauce, and there was string bean casserole - that was called green beans and bacon. The bacon was evident in taste and it was thick with cream sauce and covered in fried onion rings. This is very much like the popular Thanksgiving dish of creamed green bean casserole covered in fried onion rings, but much better. It was "kicked up a notch" as Emeril would say, but not spicy - kicked up a notch in taste and texture.

For the most part, this is local Amish and Mennonite country cooking. With this there are more worldly dishes mixed in so it is not all farm fare, but the blend is done well - and there is something for just about anyone.

There is a section near the soups that has an assortment of different breads. There was bread with cranberries swirled through, bread with blueberries, pumpkin bread and banana bread. There were also white and wheat rolls. On the hot buffet there were hot rolls. With the bread there were also half donuts covered in chocolate, coconut, and nuts. Dessert or bread? You decide.

There is a nice dessert bar here. In addition to those donuts, there were layer cakes including party cake, chocolate cake and yellow cake with chocolate frosting. There was an assortment of pies including sugar free pies - and then like all of the other buffets in Lancaster County there were the local prepared desserts - of which there was a very large selection. There was fresh fruit salad and grapes. Over on the hot buffet there was a tray of hot desserts in little foil cups. My wife tried one of these - a chocolate cake. She said that it was not really hot - it was warm - and it was nice. I, who should not eat dessert, could not resist one of the half donuts. It was very good - but then again, I really like donuts and I very rarely - if ever, any more, have them. There is also an ice cream sundae bar with soft serve ice cream. The ice cream looked really, really good - really creamy. I was tempted, but not after eating the donut - not to mention the chicken and waffles.

Service was very good. The young lady who was serving our table made sure the plates were taken away and kept offering and bringing refills of the drinks.

I have looked forward to coming back to Dutch-Way for a year and I was very happy that I went back and look forward now to the next visit. In fact, I keep thinking since this meal, that this has to become one of my regular dinners when in Lancaster County. I find it interesting that the restaurants that are the least presumptive stand out so highly. After all, this is a restaurant buffet in a supermarket- but it is one of the better buffets that I have been to.

As I did six months ago, I still highly recommend Dutch-Way Family Restaurant!

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 and that is linked at the side of this page. The phone number is 610-593-6080.

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.