Dienner's Country Restaurant — Restaurant in East Lampeter Township

Be aware! This place is marketed by the Amish bus tour. My experience of the place on 4/12/2022 is as follows. We entered and the place is not appetizing and more like a quick put together place, but there are lots of people inside and obviously this is a sign of good food. First, this is a buffet, with not so many dishes, but enough for such restaurant. The actual waitresses are attentive and remove plates instantaneously from the table after eating. However, the pricing structure wasn't explained to us and we ended up paying $75. This place is not worth$75, it's like the McDonald's of the Dutch cuisine. However, my main problem was quality. The Dutch cuisine is meant to be pure, excellent taste, excellent quality, home cooked, and having a great texture. This place is not nearly as good as it looks or as good as it was marketed and seemed like the bus tour agency has some stake on the restaurant because it was announced twice and we saw quite a few people from the bus inside the restaurant. The best of their food was streamed broccoli (no joke). All plates were horrible and somehow they managed to screw them up. The meat cut in cubes had a disgusting demi glace, the ham tasted like water, the other meat was another kind of ham and tasted like it was fried with chicken oil. Their mashed potatoes are quite liquid and possibly made with water and butter (instead of milk)... Disgusting! Then Luna baked beans have this sauce that you can't taste anything afterwards. Their spaghetti was great, but lacked a bit flavor. For what I've seen in other people's reviews the same menu is served, thus they should be masters cooking this food, yet there is so much to master. Note that i was tricked into this kind of food by the router agency so that was proclaimed to be "German food" (and I even asked how are their schnitzels with the reply of really good but there are none because it's not an actual German restaurant), which is actually PA Dutch food, but tastes nothing like it. If you REALLY REALLY want to try GOOD PA Dutch food then go 20 minutes away to "Shady Maple" in Blue Ball, PA. Then comparte both places and let me know in a comment comparing the food. My family, party of 5, had also the same idea as me and that's why I'm writing this review.

Now if you like this place is either you're an owner, employee, affiliated business partner, or one of the tasteless members of the Amish tour driven and delivering meaningless propaganda. Otherwise you'll share the experience as I did

Edited: corrected some phrases, McDonald's...

It is very difficult for me to leave this negative review because I use to frequent this establishment prior to Covid. The AYCE buffet was small, compared to the others, but - the limited selection was top notch! Almost as good taste wise as Shady Maple, the best in the business by far! When my partner and I stopped by several weeks ago, it was by no surprise it was slammed on a Saturday for lunch right before the 4th of July extended weekend. We waited in comfortable chairs in from the restaurant with buzzers for app 15/20 minutes. Our female wait staff was pleasant and took our order immediately, almost as soon as were placed. Unfortunately, we never saw her afterward to replenish our drinks or take our empty plates, until I got the Supervisor/Manager Ms. Rose, and we did not see her again until I waved Ms. Rose once again to receive my check and pay. Our two lunch buffet meal was app $35 plus drinks, and I would have tipped her $10, but - I only paid $5 because I was very annoyed and disappointed with the lack of service. I of course regretted it, especially because it was a slamming holiday extended weekend, and of course because wait staff do not get paid living wages, far from it unfortunately, and I felt guilty. I should have, would have, could have! They should hire more wait staff, or allow us to get our own drinks, plates and utensils like Shady Maple. The food use to be great, but - it is now subpar. The pasta with beef tips and gravy was my favorite, while the chicken and ham was good, and everything else was pretty much ok and meh! The dessert selection was minimal like everything else, but - it was usually top notch, but - unfortunately not today. Everything was ok or adequate, and my favorite pecan pie was terrible, the worst I have ever eaten. It smelled unusual, and tasted afoul! I drank an entire glass of tasty tea to remove the awful taste in my mouth. I do not know if they changed the ownership and/or chef/cook, or a combination thereof, but - we will not be visiting this once fantastic watering hole again. It is quite sad, instead of being a hidden gem, an unpolished sapphire, it has now become another tourist trap, feeding the endless messes with substandard and sub-grade food. If you still want to give it a chance, please pay the extra dollar or two and get the dinner, because you have a better entree selection and is worthwhile, while the lunch in my opinion was a tad expensive for what you received. I am terribly sorry! Thank You for...

Visiting the Lancaster area (from FL) and I wanted to find an Amish establishment that was a little away from the the Village, and Dienner's came up. This place is a regular restaurant and buffet, so don't feel like you have to skip if you're not super hungry. ((We did have to wait about 20min for a table at lunch time, but that gave us a chance to go next door and explore the large gift shop.))

The buffet food was simple and delicious - perfectly cooked chicken, veggies, yams, beets (in a sauce, makes it look like cherry pie filling), tender beef tips, and a few other comfort food options. Now, the desserts... omg... save room for those desserts! I wanted to try a few and they were just heavenly. Oreo, cherry delight, apple crisp, and pumpkin torte (in my pic)... omg... but there are more on the buffet (like amazing chocolate cakes) - as well as a tall fridge of pie slices and soft serve ice cream! There is a really nice salad bar, too, but I didn't want to fill up on that after seeing all the other choices.

Adults on the weekend are $17.50, and worth every penny, because even if you only have one plate of food and dessert (like me), the quality alone is excellent... and those desserts! Seriously, so good!

Now, if a buffet is not what you're wanting, there is also a menu where you can get normal entrées like a sandwhich, burger, etc., and my 12yo was a not hungry enough for the buffet, so he chose a cheeseburger with curly fries and was very happy with it (the fries rival Arby's, just saying).

If you are visiting the Village, or even if you're just passing through town, I highly recommend Dienner's...