Best food in Pennsylvania Dutch Country?

The only Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant I've been to is Good and Plenty -- thought the food was excellent there. It's a "family style" spot, where several people sit at the same table and pass around platters of food to each other brought by the waitresses; both Plain and Fancy Farm and Stolzfus Farm are apparently similar places. Judging from their open hours, all serve lunch/dinner, but not breakfast.

From what I've read, Miller's is a smorgasbord style restaurant. Shady Maple and Family Cupboard are as well. Their websites state that all three serve breakfast as well as lunch/dinner.

A brief search at Chowhound's website yielded positives for Good and Plenty, Shady Maple, Stolzfus Farm, and Miller's.

Didn't see a restaurant called "Kitchen Kettle," but there is a shops, lodging, and restaurants complex under "Kitchen Kettle Village."

You'll find most of the locals at Dienner's. They are more 'home cooked' than many. A lot of the buffet and family style places get a majority of their foods from Sysco/USFoods/etc, just like any other restaurant.

For breakfast, try Jenny's Diner on Rt. 30. Excellent food, huge portions and cheap!

And if you have time Friday morning or afternoon, check out downtown Lancaster's Central Market.

For lodging, some of the better reviewed places include the Best Western Eden Resort, the Country Inn and Suites (not to be confused with the Country Inn), the Best Western Revere Inn and the Amish View Inn and Suites. Double check TripAdvisor before booking as there have been a few issues with a couple of properties around here lately. (Namely the old Days Inn and the old Holiday Inn. I'm not sure what either is going by these days, but both were stripped of their affiliations to those chains recently)

Have fun!

I tend to think of "PA Dutch" and "best food" as mutually exclusive terms. But Shady Maple is near the bottom of a really bad barrel.

well, thanks for the tips, I appreciate it.

But am I wrong? Will I be disappointed with the food there? We had heard it was extra good.

I've lived in Lancaster for 30 years and have never been to 1 of the touristy food places. There are many great restaurants in Lancaster but I have never heard anything good about the "family" food places.Lancaster is a perfect place to live, has many great drives for all kinds of scenery, several places like the American Music Theater are great, all types of shopping are available, downtown is still viable, etc. but to me the local food & Amish experience has been exploited beyond repair.

I was in Lancaster a couple of weekends ago and ate at Miller's. It was just ok. A typical buffet with mostly mediocre choices (and pretty expensive to boot). I actually enjoyed a meal at Ruby Tuesday more; I'd never eat at that chain, and I found the food surprisingly good a very modestly priced. So go figure.

Doug, You make me feel better. When eating on the cheap in Lancaster, we get a great turkey chef salad at Cracker Barrel (their only entree that I'll eat)or go to the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant which is touristy but at least fairly priced, locally owned and in a beautiful location.

A thought or two here.

It may well be that the food at many of these PA Dutch restaurants is just mediocre (though I did like the food at Good and Plenty very much the time I went, thought it was a species of comfort food done very well with some unusual dishes added in). I can't in good faith speak to the other spots, as I haven't been to them. Some people may just not think this type of cuisine is worth eating, and that's another question entirely.

It's entirely possible that one may consider going to such a restaurant an unusual tourist experience worth trying, regardless of "quality." That same day, I went to the Amish Farm and House just outside Lancaster; yes, it was surrounded by strip malls on both sides, and yes, it may not be a working Amish farm anymore, but I enjoyed the experience just the same and am glad I went. Whether nonnimouse considers a meal or two at a PA Dutch restaurant to be a similar sort of thing is ultimately their decision.

Two words...funnel cake...

I live in Lancaster. The PA dutch food is heavy, greasy, unhealthy, but if that is what you want to try, Shady Maple Smorgasbord is your place.

The Kling House restaurant next to Kitchen Kettle shops in the town of Intercourse.

A friend and I ate at Good and Plenty and the only thing I can say about that is that there was plenty. My friend said it was like Thanksgiving only with strangers and bad food!!

We spent a week there a few years back and the food wasn't one of the more memorable parts. Dienner's, Mller's, Plain and Fancy....they were all okay but nothing to write home about (I didn't). I always try to plan but nothing I chose really hit the spot. I should have read more reviews like these.

Out in the town of Gap (away from the tourist mobs) on the corner of routes 30 & 41 is the Gap Diner that serves authentic home cooked food to order. Has been there forever, fast service and friendly. Up the hill on route 41 to the left is the town clock cheese shop another good stop.

We will be flying into Philadelphia arriving midafternoon on Oct. 6. Is there s good town to stay in and also with good eats near Longwood Gardens?

Where are the best places to find fall foliage that time of year (Oct. 6-11)?