The Best of the Best

Our pick for the Best Buffet for 2014 was Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA. We have been there a number of times this year and find that the night that I like the best at the Best Buffet is Tuesday nights. All of the nights are good - but I particularly enjoy dinner there on Tuesdays the best.

This is the night when I find the most Pennsylvania Dutch foods mixed in with always good standards. We were the area again recently - and picked Tuesday for the night that we would go to Dutch-Way. The feature on Tuesday nights is not fancy - it is burgers made to order topped the way you like them and also hot wings, both at the Grill. On the buffet on Tuesday's there tends to always be Chicken Bot Bie (Chicken Pot Pie - stewed with large noodles, not baked in a pie shell), Dutch Loaf, Ham Balls, Pork and Kraut, and more. Simple. Plain food which this region is known for - Pennsylvania Dutch cooking of the Plain People. The burgers are an extra thrown in for a very enjoyable meal.

Back to Lititz Family Cupboard Restaurant, Lititz, PA

Even though our last article on Lititz Family Restaurant appeared this past April, it has been about a year since we actually were there and we returned recently for dinner. We have been trying to go to some of the smaller, local PA Dutch buffets on recent visits. We were looking forward to getting back to this one.

Saturdays At Yoders

I have written about Yoders Restauant and Buffet in the Yoders Country Farm Market in New Holland, PA many times. The last time I wrote about it I said that things were inconsistent there. I have since have within one month had three very good meals at Yoders and they were all on Saturday nights.

Oregon Dairy Country Restaurant and Buffet, Lititz, PA

It has been a year since we have been at Oregon Dairy Country Restaurant and Buffet and this was only our fourth visit to dine there. When we get to Lancaster County that likely hosts more buffet restaurants than anyplace else in the U.S., it is always a challenge to decide which buffet to go to - and you know we have been to most, if not all of them. We were recently there and would be there for six dinners and my first thought was to go to Oregon Dairy's buffet. In case you wonder about the "Dairy" in the name - the restaurant is part of a complex that includes a dairy and ice cream stand, a supermarket, and this restaurant. The location is off away from where the tourists will notice it and it is up on the top of a hill from the route that runs in front. From the road you can not even see what is above and you may pass the sign at the entrance road without even noticing. This does not seem to bother the people who own this complex as it is a very popular place with the local people in this area.

Bird-In-Hand Restaurant and Smorgasbord, Bird-In-Hand, PA

The Bird-In-Hand Restaurant and Smorgasbord in Bird-In-Hand, PA is a restaurant and buffet that has been around for many years. It is a buffet that we go to perhaps once a year just to see how it is again - and also when it is the only buffet worth going to that is open when others are closed. This past Memorial Day this was the buffet we had dinner at. It was one of the few that was not closed at dinner time for the holiday. Another buffet that is one of the top on our list of buffets in this area was also open (which we learned by surprise) but we had been there two nights before and decided to give Bird-In-Hand a try again and I was happy that we did.

Yoders of New Holland, PA Has A New Look

Yoders Restaurant in Lancaster County, PA is one of several supermarket located buffet restaurants in this area. The restaurant has always had a coffee shop appearance with long rows of wooden booths filling the room. In 2014 the restaurant renovated its dining room and removed all of the booths and replaced them with tables for four with the walls surrounding these with booths. The restaurant has taken on a completely new look and it is very much for the benefit. The walls are still being decorated with mural sized photographs of the farm that is Yoder's dairy. These photos are being taken by season and the Spring photo is missing at this point because with the odd weather here this year, photographic Spring has not really begun yet even though I am writing this a week from June.  It is all very nice and very pleasing.

Lititz Family Cupboard, Lititz, PA

We very much miss the Family Cupboard Restaurant and Buffet that was located in Bird-In-Hand, PA. That restaurant is now a Colman Store and the owner has gone to help run his parent's restaurant in Lancaster, Dienners.  Dienners is nice but it is not open past 6:30 pm on any night but Fridays. Several years back we found another restaurant that had been in this family - and sold to the Fisher family that retained the name and much of the buffet menu that it had when owned by the Dienner family. The Fishers are from Amish and Mennonite backgrounds and well know local cooking. That restaurant is the Litiz Family Cupboard.

TOP BUFFET 2014 - SHADY MAPLE SMORGASBORD, East Earl, PA

Our pick for Top Buffet of 2014 goes to Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earle, Pennsylvania. Shady Maple has been on our picks for Top and Best Buffets since our annual awards began. Allow us to explain why Shady Maple is the Top Buffet this year. We get many requests from readers and those who just stumble upon this website asking what buffet would we recommend in various locations. When it comes to Lancaster County - where there are more buffets than anywhere else - and I am talking privately owned, local buffets and not casino buffets - the first recommendation that we always make is Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Shady Maple is at the top of our "recommend list". When people ask for such a recommendation, they want to be "wowed" and Shady Maple is going to wow them. And when we do send someone there we always hear back about how wonderful it was and that they could not believe it -and there is always the comment - "We will be going back!".

BEST BUFFET 2014 - DUTCH-WAY FAMILY RESTAURANT, GAP, PA

The Dutch-Way Family Restaurant located in Gap, Pennsylvania has been named Best Buffet for 2014. This is a buffet that we have been following for several years and have dined at several times in the year 2014 and it has consistently met every one of our criteria for a best buffet. This buffet has been consistently highly recommended in every one of our reviews.

BEST/TOP BUFFETS OF 2014

It is time once again to name this site's best and top buffets. The results this year will likely surprise many of our regular readers. The criteria for being a Best or Top Buffet are, as they have been, the buffet must give excellent value, it must serve quality food, the food must be prepared properly, consistently, the restaurant must be managed properly, and the service must be good to excellent. And all of this must be consistent - meal to meal, visit to visit.  Then it must be a buffet that comes to mind to go back to whenever possible. When the process gets narrowed down to a few choices, they get ordered in priority of the criteria - and what starts to be examined is how consistent were they. Consistency is an extremely important factor and in the end becomes the deciding factor. A few favorites every so often disappoint. Some never disappoint. Every restaurant considered for best or top buffet has been visited several times over the course of the year.

Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Myerstown, PA Once More

I want to start right off saying that this article is about the Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Myerstown, PA which is NOT the Dutch-Way Family Restaurant in Gap, PA which I have written so complimentary about many times now. Myerstown is not in Lancaster County. It is north of Lancaster County nearer to I-78. We are in this area once a year and for the past three years we have gone to this

Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord, Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania

Less than a year ago we went back to Bird-In-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord in Bird-In-Hand, Lancaster County, PA. We went then on a Wednesday night and I was impressed with the featured food for that night being very well prepared Pennsylvania Dutch favorites. I was also impressed that the price for this meal was $15.99 which included the beverage.

Fast forward to this year and we

Back to Oregon Dairy Country Restaurant and Buffet, Lititz, PA

This is the third time that we have been to Oregon Dairy Country Restaurant and Buffet in the six years when we first found it. This is a small buffet that shares a building with a supermarket in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Since our second trip there a year ago, it has been in the back of my mind to go back again and since we were in the area for several days we could go here and go to the "

Another Visit to Yoders

After my previous visit to Yoders, we made another trip to the area several weeks later. We had several nights that we could go to buffets and the last night was open - we had not gone back to Yoders yet. I was not sure that I wanted to so soon after the last somewhat disappointing visit. We could go to Yoders or go for a second dinner in the week to Dutch-Way. I was feeling that after so many

Shady Maple Smorgasbord, East Earl, Pennsylvania

Eight months has been too long to not have had dinner at Shady Maple. The snow this winter and the rain this Spring has kept us from traveling but we finally managed to get a passable weekend to make the trip. We went on a Saturday night in the beginning of June.

Arriving at the parking lot I said a loud, "Oh Boy!". The lots were jammed. I do not remember seeing the parking lots - yes, lots -

Dutch-Way Family Restaurant, Gap, PA

Dutch-Way Family Restaurant's buffet in Gap, Pa was our "Top Buffet" for 2013 and I explained then that a top buffet is one that is a must go to whenever in the area of that restaurant. On our recent return to Pennsylvania in June, there was no question that we would be dining at Dutch-Way.

What I like about Dutch-Way aside from good quality food at a very reasonable price, is the many different

Yoders Restaurant, New Holland, Pennsylvania

Two years ago, Yoders Restaurant in New Holland, PA was one of our Top Buffets. It was not in 2013 because of a visit in that year in which the buffet was a bit inconsistent with past great visits.  On a recent visit to Yoders for dinner, I experienced another inconsistency at Yoders. I have to say that all of the food is still great. The overall service is great. This time it was the grill that

THE BEST BUFFET OF 2013 - SHADY MAPLE SMORGASBORD, EAST EARLE, PA

We have yet to find any buffet restaurant in the US that tops Shady Maple Smorgasbord. I don't think that anyone can find another buffet that does when it comes to quality of food, quantity of offerings, value, consistency, size of the restaurant, and price. It is just that good and try as we can to find another buffet that even comes close, year after year, we always come back to Shady Maple as

TOP BUFFET OF 2013 - DUTCH-WAY FAMILY RESTAURANT. GAP, PA

We have announced a Top Buffet and a Best Buffet for 2013 and we will start here telling you about the Top Buffet. A top buffet is a buffet that is on list of must go to when traveling through where the buffet is. This is a buffet that we think frequently about returning to. It is a buffet that when we are not traveling in the area, we miss going to.

The TOP BUFFET for 2013 is Dutch-Way Family

Shady Maple Smorgasbord Off-Season Special Theme Dinner Weekends - East Earle, PA

If you are a regular reader of this site you know about Shady Maple - our top buffet pick for a number of years now. You may not know that when the winter comes, Shady Maple features special theme weekend dinners on Friday and Saturday nights. Those dinners started tonight but this weekend's special continues tomorrow. I am going to list those theme weekend specials and their dates here for your