As many other reviewers posted, the options on the buffet are limited. I'm originally from southcentral Pennsylvania, so I'm well-versed with both Amish cuisine and hospitality. No, the employees here are not Amish. I noticed a few young ladies with heavy make-up covering their tattoos (who knew they could get down in Berlin?!), so I'm 100% positive. I doubt the cooks are Amish either, but isn't that kind of par for the course when eating at a themed restaurant in a tourist area?
I avoided the buffet, as there weren't enough options that appealed to me. I ordered the meatloaf and had sides of mashed potatoes & gravy and applesauce. Here's where ya lost me, Farmstead... The waitress brings my applesauce before my meal (weird, but whatever. Maybe she thought I wanted it as an app?) and I decide to have a taste while my dining companion hit the salad bar. This was absolutely, positively, definitely canned/pre-packaged/grocery store applesauce. I'm talking Motts. Seriously?! Color me disappointed.
The meatloaf was tasty, tender, and moist. The mashed potatoes were your run of the mill variety (potentially from flakes, it was hard to tell) and the gravy was pretty standard. Overall the service was terrific, but I can't get past the average (at best) quality of the food. The prices are reasonable, but the fare isn't much better than your run of the mill family style chain.
**Warning: be prepared to wait. A long time. We had roughly 7 parties in front of us, several of which had greater than 8 people waiting. Rather than take names, move to the next group, and seat as tables became available, they waited between EACH PARTY before even taking the names of the next customers. I was in a party of two and we waited behind all large groups, only to find that when it was our turn there was immediately a 2-top available. Restaurant service 101 was clearly skipped for the hostesses.
Not sure why this place gets the negative reviews, it is just fine. Stopped here for breakfast and was seated immediately by a cheerful Amish server. Â Got the suasage gravy with biscuits. Â Outstanding gravy with big chunks of sausage. Â The biscuits were big and fluffy. Plus, it has free wi-fi (yes, a little unexpected in an Amish restaurant.) I would come back.
Review Source:My wife and I had dinner and it was decent. Not a lot of options in Berlin so we  decided to have breakfast there the next day. For dinner we did the buffet. The broasted  chicken was great as was the salad bar. The ham and roast beef sat in a broth/au jus that was less than appetizing. Potatoes were not hot.  Service was very good at dinner. Breakfast was very good in terms of the food. I had a ham and cheese omelette which was very good. My wife had a decadent cinnamon roll. The buffet did not look too appealing. Had ok service at breakfast if that. The Der Dutchman is a better choice.
Review Source:Another Amish Country Tourist Trap Restaurant...except there aren't many Amish people working inside. Â Right inside the door there is a sign that says, "Bus drivers, you must bring at least 20 people in for the buffet to have your meal comped." Â So be prepared for long lines inside this serve yourself eatery. Â
Basically this is one of the many buffets in the area serving the same thing--homestyle food such as fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and of course apple butter and peanut butter honey spread for the rolls. Â The only difference between this restaurant and say Der Dutchman is that they have a few desserts on the bar for free where as Der Dutchman and others charge for the privilege of an after dinner sweet. Â Honestly I'm not a fan of these type of restaurants and I think they're overpriced when compared to say Hometown Buffet in Columbus. Â
The food is bland, obviously made from bulk processed ingredients. Â I am not impressed. Â If you are visiting Amish country I would skip the mediocre Amish style restaurants (even Der Dutchman) and head to somewhere with local flavor such as the Berlin Hickory Smokehouse and have some ribs or pulled pork full of flavor at a similar price--and there you don't have to serve yourself!
So... two stars. Â I don't want to give the impression that this place is terrible, but I have to consider this: not only have I had better, but there are WAY better options within 15 minutes. Â Look, you're in middle of Amish country, so you have better choices like The Amish Door and Der Dutchman minutes away. Â I've also heard good things about Boyd & Wurthmann right in Berlin. Â This place isn't awful, but why waste a meal here when you can go to better places? Â
I'll give you a quick rundown of the reasons this isn't your best option. Â First, if you're looking for an authentic Amish meal, this isn't it. Â This is just homestyle fare in a modern restaurant, and the food is only so-so. Â We had the buffet so we could try a lot of stuff, and there were hits and misses. Â The broasted chicken was pretty good, but not great. Â The roast beef was kind of dried out. Â The stuffing was not good. Â The mashed potatoes were good, as was the white gravy, but the brown gravy was just gross. Â The salad toppings were limited, but there was a Parmesan dressing that was really good. Â If you pick the right stuff, you can have a good meal.
All in all, it is a mixed bag, which you don't really need to settle for when you are so close to several better options. Â You might be staying really close to the Farmstead and want to go there for convenience, but just know that you're almost certainly missing out on something better that is just a short car ride away.
I grew up going to Der Dutchman (which is closed on Sundays) so we decided to check this place out. Given that they're open on Sundays, the best you can really hope for is fake-Amish food (Amish don't work on Sundays, as far as I know) so they're not -actually- in the kitchen or serving. The buffet looked like the only reasonable option (buffett or sandwiches), and the buffet was OK. The salad bar was up to snuff, but the chicken wasn't the classic Amish chicken I love. Better than KFC no doubt, but not the best Amish country has to offer.
Review Source:We were in the Berlin area between Amish experiences at Heini's Cheese Chalet and Yoder's Amish farm and we wanted to stop for lunch. We were too far from my usual fave of The Amish Door so we opted for something I'd never tried. Per usual there was a buffet of broasted chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, various salads and desserts. The food looked really dried out and tastless. So instead I had the chicken noodle casserole with mashed potatoes. The stuffing in the casserole was burnt, the noodles were dry and stuck together and laid overtop was a slice of processed cheese, chicken gravy and peas. It tasted a little better than it looked, but not much. The mashed potatoes were heavenly and so were the homemade rolls. I think I'd take the extra time and go to the Amish Door next time. Since this restaurant is open on Sunday there aren't many actual Amish there.
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