I was able to come to the shady Mabel booth at the Bird in Hand farmers market in Lancaster. There…read morewas a large variety of items, and this booth had a line compared to others! We could tell it was popular! I ended up trying a Whoopie pie, as I am from out of town, and have not tried them before. It was well-made, although I expected whipped cream instead of frosting as the filling, so that was a surprise!

Smörgåsbord (noun) is a traditional Swedish buffet-style meal featuring a wide array offering a…read morevariety of foods and dishes as hors d'oeuvres, hot and cold meats, smoked and pickled fish, cheeses, and salads. This location is certainly gargantuan size for dinning hall, buffet counters and queuing for payment and waiting for table. The line moves moderately for payment and waiting for a table. There are some benches available for customers who are mobility impaired unable to stand for long times. Senior citizen and children discounts are available. My party experienced authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. It was an experience with an open-mind without judgment. Dinner prices for one adult range $23.99 to $33.99 depending on the time of day, meal, and day of the week. Tax and a 12% service fee are additional, but beverages and desserts are included. Shady Maple Smorgasbord practice penny rounding when meal payment is cash since the initiated and followed by executive directive from No. 47 of the discontinuation for the U.S. penny (utterly despondent). I did obtain my sales receipt which indicate the penny rounding implemented. The sales receipt is attached to a blue slip which upon meal completion customers are to turn over signaling table clean-up. Shady Maple Smorgasbord offers a 20% discount coupon for their nearby gift shop during meal payment. This 20% discount coupon, my party gladly utilized which is a very good marketing promotion to lure customers. Restroom facilities are large with a restroom lounge. The facilities' sink is very modern as it is an "all-in-one" sink golden faucet mechanism: L (soap), middle (water), R (hand dryer). Ergo, no excess soap is dripped on the sink counter for clean-up and no water will be spilled or splattered on the floor. I have never seen this modern sink faucet. I think it is a modern convenience innovation for progress with technology always improving. Shady Maple Smorgasbord's air conditioning is rather weak during our pre-Independence Day 2026 visit as I felt warm during the Northeast heat wave oppressive humidity. The food quality is good and the selection is gargantuan. I wished there were more meat offerings as Ribeye which contains the most flavorful cut of beef. Hanger steak is my default favorite. I also wished for more seafood offerings as shrimp, salmon, Tilapia or striped bass fishes. The vegetables were a good selection. I like the baby carrots which were boiled cooked soft and fresh. The red onions were extremely strong. I wished for Caesar salad lettuce as my default vegetable, but iceberg lettuce was quietly yet noticeably substituted which did not agreed with my stomach. I despise iceberg lettuce. I did not see any chicken. There were abundant baked potato of red skin and home fries. I highly prefer potato au gratin, but to no avail. I have a predilection for chocolate lava cake and soufflé as desserts, but again, to no avail. I was hoping for ice cream as dessert, but to no avail either. Nota Bene: Shady Maple Smorgasbord is family oriented style, ergo do not expect any alcohol. Lemonade, root beer, cola, soda, ice tea, coffee, hot tea, cold water and hot water are abundantly available as beverages. Disappointedly there is no ginger ale soda available as a beverage option which would greatly reduce my anxiety and motion sickness of being in a car for four continuous hours on the road driving. Shady Maple Smorgasbord also has a gargantuan gift shop adjacent on the grounds. This gift shop is old school traditional where tourists and non-Pennsylvanians (like myself) can purchase key chains, post cards, magnets, and T-shirts. Parking is abundantly available and free. Upon promptly exiting our car the air had a high functioning stench of horse manure to high heaven! The noisome horse manure odor emanating from nearby unseen horse stables made it difficult for my party to enjoy the grounds, amid the dangerous excessive heat wave of Independence Day 2026 holiday weekend. We were among the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The buffet: 3ish stars. The lemon meringue pie: 5,000 stars…read more The restaurant seems clean, the service is fine, the buffet is nothing to write home about...like it's not bad, but nothing stands out....until you get into the pie case. All the pies we tried were delicious. The stand out: Best Lemon Meringue pie I have EVER had, and I LOVE lemon meringue pie. I made my husband go almost an hour each way (so 2 hours) so I could have this pie as my Easter dessert. He didn't mind, we ate breakfast while we were there, lol. Note: breakfast doesn't include pies, but for less than $5 you get a slice of pie to go that is really 2 slices worth. The only reason I wouldn't get a whole pie, is because I would eat the WHOLE pie. I would love to post a picture of said pie, but I ate it. (I'll try to update with some pics the next time we go!)

I was passing through the Lancaster area and I knew exactly what I wanted for dinner. But, I…read morecouldn't find it on any regular restaurants' menus. I looked at Dienner's and found it, so I decided to go there. Turns out, they call chicken & noodles "chicken pot pie"! The buffet was better than I had expected. A good salad bar, lots of desserts and, of course, the chicken & noodles I was looking for.

We stumbled upon this buffet when Shady Maple was closed, and it turned out to be a pleasant…read moresurprise. While it wasn't quite as elaborate as Shady Maple, the staff was friendly, the food was good, and the homemade ice cream was a delicious bonus to finish the meal. If you're looking for a great alternative to Shady Maple, I would definitely recommend giving this place a try.

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS…read more We've come here in the past, and it's gone downhill. They really try to rip off customers and should be reported for health code violations. We came in last weekend for breakfast before going home. However, before even getting a second plate, the buffet was switching over to lunch. The one hot section was empty with the remaining breakfast items sitting uncovered on a cart. Normally, at a buffet, you can just get more food and it's not an issue. But they tried to tell us that we had to pay for the lunch buffet. We were confused since we had just came in during breakfast, and we thought it was ridiculous to expect customers to pay $60 for one plate of food. It was also ridiculous because no one had said anything before seating us. We explicitly told the hostess we were there for the breakfast buffet. If we weren't going to get more than one plate of food out of breakfast and would have to pay substantially more for when there was nothing else from breakfast, we would've gone somewhere else. However, no one said a thing and there were no signs that explicitly stated it. When the manager came over, we explained the situation. She stated that we had to pay lunch prices. In fact, she tried to tell us that we could've just taken the breakfast items sitting on the carts. EXCUSE ME?! That is so unsanitary and disgusting to expect customers to take food off of a dirty cart. I work in a restaurant as a manager. When we are taking away food, it's the same carts we use to hold dirty dishes. It's not meant to serve food off of. This violates basic health codes, and I will be reporting it. No wonder this place was so empty. They're charging Shady Maples prices with quality of food that wouldn't even compete against Golden Corral's. Don't come here if you don't want to waste your money.

I visited this buffet today with my wife and kids and extended family and we all loved it!! We were…read moresurprised how good it was! I thought the food was excellent and I think that's saying something as I'm Chinese. I especially liked the fried fish and the personal ice cream cups. The cost was $15.99 for a Saturday lunch. We're definitely coming again and I'd recommend you come again. The food was very fresh, the place was very clean, and it was just a very refreshing, pleasant experience. This was all of our first time coming here but hopefully many more times.

We've been to numerous Buffets throughout the area. Dragon Buffet's hibachi bar was kind of…read morelackluster. The sauce options weren't very good and they use sliced frozen beef and chicken (similar to that of a hot pot place). The counter food was pretty bland in flavor and most of it was sitting out for long periods of time. I wasn't a fan of general tsos, the honey chicken or the fish. Most of the chicken was overcooked that was sitting out. The chicken and broccoli was the best item up on the hot bar. The soups were good as well. I enjoyed the Pork Buns and the Dim Sum as well. Cleanliness was an issue, numerous dirty soda cups and dishes. The lady working the register didn't even say hello upon entering. She just turned the card reader towards us where it read 42 dollars. She didn't say thank you, enjoy, have a nice day or anything. If you are in the Lancaster Area and looking for a buffet style restaurant, definitely check out Bird In Hand, Hershey Farms, Manor Buffet or Shady Maple.

Everytime We go see a play at Sight and Sound we try here…read more The stay is amazing. The very frist time that we stayed here the restaurant had just burned down. So we had all you could eat breakfast in the main hotel. It we as nice we did that twice. This time we were able to stay at the Carriage House on the platform it was so nice. I think that it was a new section. We normally stay in the carriage which is equally nice. We had breakfast in the new restaurant it was amazing it was all you can eat. The food was great the staff was friendly. There were stores in the foyer area outside the restaurant. If you go to Sight and Sound definitely give it a stay you can Literally walk to the theater from the hotel. I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

We came here on a Saturday. $35. For that price, I would say a few other Amish buffet establishment…read moreoffers more variety and delivers better flavor. Their fried chicken is nice. Soup looks clumpy but cream of potato and tomato bisque taste better than they look. housemade bean burger is mushy mealy flavor. I have higher expectation for a 'resort' food. Otherwise, great service and decent ambiance. Away from crowded establishment that are more of tourist traps.

Extremely friendly staff. Delicious foods. Homey. If you're…read morein the Lancaster area, this place is a must-try. The food is always delicious, and there's a lot to choose from. You can enjoy anything from breakfast to dinner. It's conveniently located inside a grocery store, so you can dine and shop at the same time! Tip: This place can get busy sometimes, so I recommend calling ahead before visiting to check the wait time.

First things first; Bird-in-Hand; I still love ya and please take this review, as words for…read moreimprovement. Note to those navigating the Bird-in-Hand restaurant website, there is a section for coupons and "specials," that is a must to check out. I need to take a moment to emphasize the customer service, which far exceeds nearly anything I've encountered elsewhere. My hands shake and this was seen while at the hot food area (eggs/ham). The gentleman behind the bar, offered to hold my dish, scoop my food and bring the food tray to my table. Our waitress, spoke to us as if we were friends and her smile, seemed genuine. The breakfast offerings, unfortunately, were a let down. Eggs were lukewarm, scrambled hard, boiled ham, flavorless, pancakes, spongy discs, homefries, potatoes from a can (noticeable corners were cut in many food items), continuing... mini sticky buns, crisp, hard, fruit - lacked variety, baked oatmeal, toothsome, dry, unremarkable. I plan on coming back for lunch - Wednesday, for your chicken potpie; it's so good and to be treated like family.

Who would've thought that this very plain looking restaurant attached to a grocery store would have…read moresuch savory, delicious comfort food. The inside of this place literally looks like a college dining hall but the food is like something out of a loving grandmother's kitchen. We were in the area to inquire about building something for our home at a nearby business and the business owner recommended we come here for lunch-and we were glad because it's our family's new favorite! We love it so much we came back and ate here a second time. The first time we came I had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was probably one of the best meatloafs I've ever had: tender and beefy. My son had the chicken and cheddar quesadilla with waffle fries which he loved. My husband had chicken soup and a lemon blueberry pie that was so good (he shared some with us). The second time we came my son and I hit Philly cheesesteak quesadillas and my husband got a club sandwich. Fast friendly service and the definition of comfort food. Come get some!

We stopped in for lunch today and it was very friendly here. No wait, and sat immediately. Our…read morewaitress was attentive and friendly. The restaurant was casual and comfortable. We had the chicken pot pie, Turkey platter, and a hamburger. Everything was very good. I thought the turkey was the best. Looking forward to returning sometime soon.

Food excellent Service, outstanding…read moreVery friendly The portions were large. The food was all very fresh. The employees were all very nice, helpful, polite, and outgoing. I have been there many times and I'll be there many times again

They're advertising is deceiving they make it sound like a place where you can go at any random…read moretime this is not so it is strictly a banquet hall.