The Barns at Nappanee — Attraction in Nappanee

I won't beat a dead horse by stating "its not the same as it used to be" (though that is extremely true), I will instead evaluate based on current ownership and recent visit. We ate at the restaurant and the 6 adults had the Farm Feast (each with different entrée and starters). The 3 Children each had the kids Chicken and Ham. The restaurant was not busy at all and may have had a total of 8 tables to serve... however... we were there for almost 2 hours. Service was very slow and waitress often disappeared for long periods of time. The restaurant was out of several items including lemonade and chicken soup... but we were not notified of this til after waitress was already bringing out drinks and appetizers... then just didn't bring peoples requested items (after waiting nearly 15 min). We scrambled to come up with other choices (especially for the children who ordered Lemonade and already waiting 15 min for their drink... now had to wait at least another 5 min). I ordered the Farm Feast with Ceaser Salad (after Chicken soup was out), Wagyu Meatloaf, Broasted Chicken, and finished with the XXX Root beer Cake. I also ordered the Lemon Shake Up cocktail... however I had a very negative reaction to the cheap alcohol in it and was unable to finish it. I instead went outside to get air and walk it off. Server never asked if I was ok... even after my wife informed her of the negative reaction. The ceaser salad was on par with a fast food salad. Not good. And the dinner rolls were boring, cold, and store bought.

After about an hour since being seated, we finally got our food.

First, The children were very disappointed in their meals. Their "chicken" was a very small wing with almost no meat on it, their ham was tough and flavorless, and the entire plate was covered in parsley flakes. Worse yet was their "fruit cup" came with cantaloupe and watermelon. I do not know many kids that enjoy cantaloupe. It was incredibly apparent that whoever plated the meal and came up with the kids menu/meal does not have children.

Second, my meal was "blahh". Very underwhelming, under-flavored, and overpriced for the portions. The Wagyu meatloaf was by far the best part (I would eat that again), green beans were ok, mashed potatoes were ok (though tasted borderline like store bought), but the chicken was bland and under-seasoned, the dressing was ironically too salty, and the beef and noodles was very disappointing... I couldn't tell if they ran out and had to scrape the bottom of the pan... or they seriously only give you a tablespoon worth of odd shredded noodles and beef scraps. (All of the adults beef and noodles were this way).

Third, towards the end of the meal, my father-in-law started to feel water dripping on his forehead. (It was raining outside) We could not find our waitress, so we brought the issue of the leaking roof up to a busboy who was near by. The busboy just stared at us for a min and then went back to what he was doing. When our waitress finally came back, we addressed the leak with her. She laughed and said it wasn't the first time. She said, in fact, that the roof has often leaked in many places and affected a few customers recently.

Lastly, when we finally got our desserts, I had ordered the XXX Rootbeer cake. The cake was very very dry and had no dimension to it. The little amount of icing was concentrated to the very top/edge of the slice. Had they drizzled a little icing or Carmel over the slice itself, it would have been a significantly better dessert.

Overall, the service was bad, unapologetic, and slow. The food was not worth the price, and I would not take my children back (unless there was a significant change to their menu and quality). I personally would only return if a good friend begged me or paid... and even then I would not get the Farm Feast... that was a waste of money. I would only get the Wagyu Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

I may have most been disappointed by the stark contrast The Barns at Nappanee by Lasalle was to the original Amish Acres. Would like to discuss with ownership...

My husband and I went at 2:30 in the afternoon to go and have Thanksgiving Buffet and the place was packed, which was fine but, when we went to go put our name in to wait to be seated, my husband and I were told that they weren't taking anymore "walk-ins"!?! It was 2:30 in the afternoon!!! I read their website before going and no where did it say that we needed to make a reservation, that's number one and number two, you just don't do that to a customer!!! If I had known that a reservation was needed, I would have reserved a time for my husband and I without any problem at all, but if it was needed to make reservation, than they should let customers, not to mention it's kind of embarrassing to be turned away for Thanksgiving dinner!!! This is the 2nd time I've had a problem with this restaurant, the 1st time I went by myself to have the breakfast buffet, the waitress never checked on me, never took the dirty plates away, never offered me anymore coffee, I had to ask someone else for assistance, the only time I saw my waitress was when I got the bill and I had to go find her to get that. I believe because I was by myself, they didn't take the time to wait on, more than likely because they thought I wasn't going to tip well (my opinion), goes to show that you never know who's going to sit in your station!!! I was a waitress, bartender and banquet waitress for over 25 years, so I tip really well!!! I told the waitress that she should be ashamed of herself for treating me that way and I spoke with the manager and told her what happened, all the very nasty manager said, "I'm pretty sure you made your point, she's (waitress) in the back crying. I didn't mean to make her cry, I just wanted to be treated like everyone else who comes in to eat!! So, very very long story short, this is the second and last time I try to go to and have a meal at that restaurant or do anything else at "The Barns of Nappanee"!!! It's kind odd because we live around the corner, about 3 blocks away, LoL...... The...

Bathrooms seriously need updated - the one thing you need to make less rustic! Store items are fun. Mistake to lessen the real Amish appeal at the whole property. Really appreciated the handicap seats- so much. Not selling concessions seems insane in a building full of snack loving kids. They mentioned a concern about having to clean before the next show but give me a break and pull out a vacuum. If you simply made an announcement at the end please take a moment and pick up all your containers etc and put them in the garbage can people would be more likely to comply. Additionally if you have a couple of huge garbage cans on rollers you could tuck them away and then pull them out at intermission and the end so they were in the lobby just when/where everybody was leaving.

The final disappointment was the 'woke' ELF show. Why. Just why. So inappropriate. Also the kids didn't need to see Santa coming out of the liquor store afterward down the street. Rules about being in costume should be in place. 🤦‍♀️

Even though there's some improvement needed really we still really enjoyed ourselves. Excited for the new Love Comes Softly show. Looked like a good lineup of theater including a mix of children's and traditional musicals. Again I would strongly urge you to bring back Plain & Fancy however and get back to the Amish appeal. With 4 kids we can only go once a year but I'd love to go the whole season!.

Updated. Love Comes Softly The Musical was wonderful. Thank you for having a truly family appropriate option! I'm not that big of a prude, lol, but at least avoid wokeness.

Again, have snacks and store open for kids! Or maybe have a couple store options available up at snack counter like a few magnets, soaps, candles, toys. Then you sell, but less...