Thorndale Inn Restaurant — Restaurant in Caln Township

Thanksgiving Dinner 2024 - For years I've heard that the Thorndale Inn had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner buffet. I made a reservation by calling the restaurant and I asked what they would be serving. I was told they would have salads (plural), turkey, ham, roast beef, all the fixings, desserts, etc. Well,the buffet might have had all those things, but really it only had 1 salad, a large bowl of romaine lettuce with smaller bowls filled with grape tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, sliced red onion, cucumbers, cheese, croutons and choice of 3 dressings. The lettuce was not washed very well, I only had 3 bites of my salad which all had grit so that was that. The dinner buffet offered 1 large pan of pre-sliced turkey breast meat which was heated in a gravy. No dark meat, the sliced breast meat tasted like the pre-cooked Butterball turkey breast meat from the deli counter looked like it too. Cranberry sauce was good. Dressing - stovetop... Yep! And it still had crunchy bits of bread and un-rehydrated veggies. When I had called, they said they would have "roast beef"... When I think of roast beef being served at a buffet, I think of a carving station... My bad... It was a pan of cubed meat in gravy... Very tender and good flavor, but it wasn't "roast beef". They had a pasta dish on the buffet, not sure if it was supposed to be a lasagna, but it was a sloppy gooey mess, pasta was so over cooked and starchy and literally swimming in a sauce that came from a jar... Ragu I believe. Oh, they had ham, which was also precooked deli ham slices swimming on a fruit sauce of canned fruit. I tried the seafood Newburg which at first tasted good, but then the next few bites had a really unpleasant seafood flavor. It was also made with Surimi (fake crab). Husband tried the salmon but he said it was way over cooked and again the flavor a little too off for his liking. Green beans... Haricot Vert cooked perfectly!!!! Mashed potatoes, average, made from real potatoes not boxed, a little dry and hard to scoop, could have used some more half-n-half or milk to make them creamer. I passed on the sweet potatoes, and the gravy was very runny and unexciting... reminded me of something from a package mix. Desserts most were not house made I tried the carrot cake which I recognized as a Pellman's frozen cake, my husband had the pecan pie which was your average store-bought pie. Staff were attentive, but when we were leaving and I tried to talk to one of them, she wouldn't give me one moment of her time and told me I had to talk to my own server... So, we will not be dining at the Thorndale Inn again... Next Thanksgiving we will be back at...

One of the worst dining experiences of our lives. Came here to try a local place and we were wanting to like this place. My wife is gluten-free. Not as a faddish thing; she gets genuinely sick for days after ingesting gluten in very small amounts. After 3 separate conversations with the server and also with a host who checked on us, we were assured her dish would be made without gluten. The server was actually pretty flippant about making sure - should have been our warning sign. It wasn't gluten free of course. Large piece of bread soaking in the sauce under the scallops. We ended up leaving without eating anymore. First time in my life I've had to leave a restaurant like that.

But that was just the icing on the cake.

The whole experience was probably 2 stars anyway. My martini wasn't dirty as I ordered. The extra brine for it took 10 minutes to deliver. A soda had an overly carbonated taste at first, and the replacement drink came in a chipped glass. The shrimp cocktail appetizer costing $10 was 5 shrimp about the size of an index finger each.

And the service was very slow and she seemed very uninterested in helping us. Felt like we were bothering her. I've been a server, and I have extreme compassion for the hard work being a server is. But she was not into working for whatever reason. And the whole gluten thing... the server should be in the kitchen checking and double checking that her tables are getting exactly what they order - especially when she is told that someone at the table absolutely unable to have an ingredient.

Pains me to leave this review, because I don't like to tear places down. But this was warranted unfortunately. We ended up at Chili's and had a good dinner with much more attentiveness - and at least as high of quality of food for a fraction...

Best Dinner spot i've seen in a while If you haven't tried Thorndale Inn you need it.

If you're reading this and don't know what it is it's like a tavern but also a fancy restaurant. With a booth area, a bar, and tables with chairs to sit around.

One thing I like about their menu is that they don't have a lot of options (around 50 items on the whole menu), but they are all excellent. They have a big list of appetizers, but my personal favorite—is the loaded baked potato skins as they are warm and hot when they come to you.

The second thing I like about Thorndale Inn is how nice the waiters are, for example, they would give you advice on food options. Everyone who works here is friendly and helpful—they would say hello and they are very polite. They also are interactive and make it feel like you're talking to a real person instead of some random person who is just there.

A third reason why you should eat here is because the food comes out fast. For example, they are so fast that you can get in and out in 30 minutes if you're quick. If you don't like to stay in public places for a long time, this is a great place to go and try out.

In conclusion, This is the perfect place to eat as they have excellent food if you want to try something new. Their customer service is also on point as everyone you meet there will be nice to you and help you if you need it. Lastly, they also get your food out quickly while still keeping their...