Dutch Country Cafe — Restaurant in Garnett

It's been nearly a year since my husband and I visited Dutch. We went this past Saturday morning for breakfast and we were both quite disappointed with the food.

After driving 30 minutes (each way) to get to Dutch, we waited 30+ minutes for a table.

My husband had the buffet, which had been laying out since sometime way earlier in the morning (stuff was dry and unpalatable). I ordered a simple breakfast scramble and then proceeded to wait nearly 45 minutes for my plate, long after my husband finished his breakfast.

I was so disappointed to see that my scramble was made with ham deli meat - not the same ham that's offered on the buffet. And, to boot, sweet onion slivers in the mix, instead of the usual white onions.

I suppose these corners are being cut to save money on food inventory and boost profits. I know there is such a small profit margin in the restaurant business.

But still, $10.80 for what appeared to be maybe one, at most two scrambled eggs, a few bits of deli ham, a lot of sweet onions (filler), and a dose of cold home fries (with no ketchup in sight or a server to come back to ask for it) is not what I call a Dutch breakfast.

For the two of us, 1 adult buffet (cold and dry), 1 break scramble without mushrooms, and 2 orange juices = $40+ out the door with tip. The service was OK. It wasn't the server's fault that the kitchen took so long to turn orders out. All in all, we spent about 2.5 hours to get a breakfast that we could've improved upon by just driving to Lawrence to IHOP, and that's saying something.

I think the server gave up coming back to our table because once the kitchen had exceeded its usual time for getting orders out, she likely assumed there wasn't a tip to be had, which is also unfortunate. We always tip, so long as the server does the job to the best of their ability. However, writing off customers with their service because the kitchen goofed things up, well, that's not the way service should work. That's just making everything worse.

Back when Dutch first opened and Jodie was managing, the food was out of this world. It makes me sad to see and taste all the changes - and not for the better.

Now, though, since she has left that post and Sam, the owner, has attempted to manage the business, ingredients have changed, portions reduced, and prices increased. And the taste.... Has never been the same.

Sadly, we won't be back for a very long while, if ever.

We can go to Cracker Barrel for the same price and about the same distance from home. Their menu doesn't change and neither does the taste or ingredients.

I don't know why anyone would want change or mess with something that was sooo good and didn't need fixing.

Sad.

Dutch used to be an EVERY Saturday morning destination. Not anymore.

I wish the owner would reconsider his changes and go back to the way it was when Jodie was...

Wilma.... you are a disgrace to the human race. If you have working cameras YOU WILL SEE WHAT WE SAW/EXPERIENCED.

You must be proud of yourself and your disgusting behavior. If you keep your job it says everything about the restaurant and its behavior! I will be back to see if you are still employed and what that means for the restaurant.

Not sure why "W the Waitresss" couldn't care less about myself and my husband.....MAYBE IT WAS THE COLOR OF MY SKIN. This was NOT our first time there but it will be our last. We watched as she walked by the plates multiple times. Then she touched the plate by pulling it forward and pushing it back. We ordered the exact same thing and we watched the cook put both up in the window at the same time. Understand that I waited tables for decades over many states....I SEE WHAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT! We watched "W" walk past our food (shame on the cook) and go to two guys that were storing food. The one guy ate two plates at least 6 inches high. "W" went over to them to talk, then she went and printed their ticket. She brought them their ticket and the stayed their another 10 minutes or so. We were still waiting for our now "cold food!" If Ms. Wilma the Waitress has done this to us, what has she done that you know nothing about. On the plus side....she had no problem TAKING our $$$$ After this extreme disappointment we still went to the Dollar General, The Amish store(s), The metal shop, and the second hand store. "W" could puck that money up for so many others just because she cannot control her feelings/judgements. She should be ashamed...but she won't be. I do not know her in any way except the way that she MISTREATED us. If you have cameras...play them!!!! If you DO NOT have ca meras...SHAME ON YOU IN 2025!!! This post is NOT about us it's about the mistreatment by "W the Waitress"

Anytime, anywhere you find a packed restaurant in a rural town of 3500, you've stumbled into something wonderful. True today at Dutch Country Cafe! Excellent meals and remarkably reasonable prices. I got the fried chicken (2x breasts, on request) and my wife got the (not kidding) barbeque brisket salad. We didn't see barbeque, per se, featured on the menu, but the brisket was as good as any barbequed brisket I've ever had. The server said they smoke it on site. Well done! My chicken was not sensational, which is to say it was simply very, very good. We brought home two ginormous deelishuss pieces of pie (apple, cherry). Meals, sodas, and pie ran a phat $27! Really great value. I will find an excuse to go back soon! Concerns:

1. The dining area is an unattenuated hardscape. It is as loud as a high school gymnasium during a basketball game. And our young server was a soft-talker so we almost had to resort to sign language. The owners really take some basic steps to tamp down the sound. Some of the money spent on the gargantuan pavilion out front should have been re-directed to creating some ambience inside.
2. For some reason, there is only one cashier. During lunch rush in a packed restaurant, it took over 10 minutes to pay out (can't pay at the table). Dine-in, take-out, and coffee shop customers all have to funnel through this one cashier. This strikes me as a control issue on the part of the owners. They need to get over it.
3. Strangely, except for the pre-teen lad re-filling the ice in the soda dispenser, there was no male to be seen working on premises. The restaurant is, according to my sources on the internet, owned by two males. I hope they are not discriminating against males in...