Park Place Diner
A step up from an ordinary diner, this spot along the main antiques drag serves breakfast all day as well as a wide array of sandwiches, salads, and burgers. Dinner plates are especially well-priced.
43 Best Restaurants in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Pennsylvania
Like the German cuisine that influenced it, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking is hearty and uses ingredients from local farms. Though their numbers are dwindling, there are still a few traditional Pennsylvania Dutch restaurants where you can dine family style. Lancaster County has numerous reasonably priced family restaurants, along with a number of eateries offering more exotic fare. The cuisine is changing and expanding to include many flavors beyond traditional Amish. Unless otherwise noted, liquor is served.
Rachel's Cafe & Creperie
Tucked away on a quiet corner, Rachel's offers perfectly light crepes—many can be made gluten-free or vegan—stuffed with a wide variety of breakfast, lunch, and dessert combinations. Whether you sit in the cozy dining room or on the covered deck, you can build your own crepe from the long list of fillings, from feta to bacon to Nutella, or enjoy a latte with a chef's crepe such as The Blackbird (chicken, roasted corn, and black beans).
The Ragged Edge Coffee House
This homey café is a popular spot for locals to start their day with a cup of joe from locally roasted beans. The menu offers egg sandwiches and wraps for breakfast and a changing lineup of soups, sandwiches, and salads that are served all day.
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Railroad House Inn
The restaurant in this elegantly revamped 1823 building serves classic and creative American dishes such as saffron-pea risotto and pan-seared salmon. Evoking the age of luxury rail travel, the main dining room is furnished with intimate booths and tables, while the rear room has a fine-dining feel. Downstairs, brick-floored, wood-beamed Perry Street Cellar vibes rustic tavern (good burgers); upstairs are 10 bright guest rooms.
Slate Cafe
In the heart of Lititz, this local fave is the perfect spot for fueling up on locally roasted coffee or grabbing a quick nosh. The kitchen serves up a variety of breakfast options, from baked oatmeal to an open-face egg sandwich on ciabatta, while lunch options include quesadillas, salads, and soups. If coffee's not your thing, they've got local kombucha and smoothies.
Southern Market
A few blocks from Central Market, this one-time farmers' market built in 1888 has been repurposed as a food hall. Whether you're in the mood for sushi or bratwurst or just a cup of coffee, you'll find a wide variety of global cuisines at the 12 stands. Order at the stations of your choice and bring your food out to one of the tables or the central bar. A pizza place operates off one end of the hall.
Speckled Hen
Even on a rainy day, this homespun café feels sunny. Decidedly unfancy, the menu—burgers, salads, soups, and all-day breakfast—incorporates many local ingredients. Coffee and homemade lemonade make it easy to linger awhile, and there's a taproom serving craft beer, wine, and cocktails. You might even catch live music at Sunday brunch.
Springhouse Tavern
Springhouse Tavern is an informal wood-beamed cellar beneath the fine-dining Dobbin House Tavern. Diners gather around tables with mismatched Colonial chairs to enjoy steaks, burgers, sandwiches, and local craft brews. Pull up a stool at the old wooden bar and enjoy a Yuengling lager or Philadelphia Fishhouse Punch.
Square One Coffee Roasters
Owned by a local roaster, Square One serves exceptionally good brewed coffee and espresso that you can pair with a selection of local pastries and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch fare. It's a favorite among regulars who wander in for their first cup of the day and linger to check their email and do some reading.
Three Sisters Park
This unassuming storefront on the main strip of Ephrata serves a variety of Khmer–Thai dishes. Prepare for the heat of the various curries and rice-noodle dishes, which aren't dumbed down for Western palates; there is pad Thai for those seeking something familiar and it's BYOB. Interesting beverage choices include Thai iced coffee, winter melon juice, and hot roasted coconut tea.
Tin Roof Cafe n' Sweets
A broad menu of savory breakfast, lunch, and dinner items—not to mention coffees—draws regulars and visitors to this wood-beamed, stone-walled café. Relax on one of the couches or sit at a table to eat your scrapple, egg, and cheese sandwich, cranberry-almond-chicken salad, or super-rich ice cream.
\nTomato Pie Cafe
At breakfast and lunch, the stools fill up at the diner counter in the front room and the tables are taken in country-cozy rooms toward the back of this gingerbread Victorian house as it seems everyone loves Tomato Pie---the restaurant as well as its eponymous signature dish. Dishes like maple-spice French toast or curry chicken salad will also hit your hunger spot, topped off with a vanilla latte or strawberry smoothie.
Tröegs Independent Brewing
It's possible you might need a break from chocolate, and if you do, you can rest assured that the Tröegs brewery will be the perfect antidote, with its creative menus and multiple draft beers (some you can only get here) available in 4oz., 10oz., and 16oz. sizes. Menu options, which sell out fast, include starters like the pickle plate and tabbouleh salad and mains like fluke crudo, crab lasagna rotolo, red lentil daal, and the meatloaf sandwich---yes, at a brewery.
