Dobbin House Tavern — Restaurant in Gettysburg

The restaurant was far less than desirable. We are visiting Gettysburg and dined here because of the online reviews. Big mistake.

I want to first off talk about the positive aspect of our experience - Paige that waited in us downstairs in the Tavern. Sweet, friendly and knowledgeable. She had food and drink recommendations and was on point with service. Go Paige! The bread and Philadelphia House Punch was delightful. Here is where the great experience ends.

We arrived late afternoon and while waiting to be seated, we went to the outside bar. The bartender, Zach, was the worst representation for this business and Gettysburg as a whole.

As my husband parked, I walked up to hear Zach chastising a customer waiting at the bar. He said, “ Can’t you see there is a lot going on here?? I’m busy! The hostess couldn’t find a table and I had to help her!” The customer looked embarrassed and perplexed.

Next, Zach loudly and quite unprofessionally “cut off” a couple at the bar by chastising them openly by saying, “You’ve had enough! I know you’re not staying here!” I felt so uncomfortable I wanted to melt int the ground. I’m not going to interfere with a bartender not serving people, but this was not handled well at all. Very unprofessional. Saying that, I had a conversation with said couple. They were not boisterous or slurring speech, instead they were friendly and quite normal.

My husband walked up and we tried making friendly banter with Zach, asking about the specialty drinks. I asked if the specials were developed long ago, when Gettysburg was young. No answer at all. I was uncomfortable and unsure what to say next. Zach finally gave a flat rendition of the drinks (incorrectly listing the WRONG ingredients according to the menu). We had a drink, tipped and left for the restaurant. What a horrible welcome.

The food is NOT outstanding as reviews claim. I’d give a 5 out of 10 rating at best. The tuna steak was horrid - dark gray and tasted rotten. My husband’s steak sandwich was really not good at all. Saving grace was the baked potato and the bread.

DO NOT RECOMMEND. Horrible representation of Gettysburg and horrible food. Except for sweet Paige, the service (including hostesses) was atrocious. How this place has high rating, I do not know.

Avoid...

My wife and I stayed here from this Thursday to Friday. When we arrived, Immediately I was blown away at the beauty of this place. We entered to go check-in for the night. We had to check in at the store and the 2 VERY nice ladies were working, Mrs Mary and Mrs Barb. They were so kind and made our experience so good. The room itself was beautiful and also extremely cozy and comfortable. It was chilly that night so it made it even better. We had gone to the Tavern for dinner and we were also blown away at how good the service was, how good the food was (especially the French Onion Soup!) Our male waiter and younger female hostess were very polite and kind. I did not realize how much people could fit in this place but I mean, it was absolutely flourishing with people, but you can't tell because there 3 floors to the house. The food and service is just THAT good I'm guessing! My wife and I are 26 and 27 years of age, so we like to adventure at night. So, we brought boards games and went to the common room and played. After, we just wanted to walk around everywhere and adventure and we were able to do so! Also, this is within 100 feet of the cemetery where Abraham Lincon held the Gettysburg Address, which we also walked to at night haha. In the morning, we woke up and decided to go for breakfast, we showed up to this stunning room with great colonial music playing. Sat down and within probably 30 seconds our server/cook, Mrs Bonnie came to us. She was so incredibly nice, personable and timely. All the tables were organized and the food was just like the night prior, OH SO GOOD!! I left with a bittersweet feeling because everything was literally better than we could have asked for, plus more, but we wanted to stay another night and unfortunately there was no availability....(for obvious reasons) Once again, this place for the price, amenities, service and rooms is the best around. We could not be more thankful for every single one of the employees. We WILL be returning here, thank...

We were recommended this place by the front desk folks at the Hampton Inn Gettysburg (highly recommend you stay there as well!). They said they offered great food by people in period clothing. Very easy to get to. Everyone was great. There was about a 30 minute wait for the tavern downstairs but it went by quick. There is. Gift shop right next door that we spent most of our time in. The Springhouse Tavern was very small and very quaint. Our waiter was in period clothing. Nice guy. Kinda looked like Dwight Shroot from The Office.

I started off with the Rum Bellies Vengeance, mostly for the glass. I did not enjoy it as it was way too stong for me. I got the french onion soup. It was amazing! Very flavorful and fresh. The cheese pull was incredible! I wish I had gotten a photo of it. It was so good, I was sad when I had finished it. Next was a small side salad. It came with the best blue cheese dressing I've ever had. Wow! So creamy and fresh and flavorful. Last came the spit roasted chicken. I was incredibly full by this time so I only had a few bites but it was so delicious. Very flavorful. Everything came hot and fresh and absolutely delicious.

We stopped by to see the spring and slave hide out on our way out. There was a little museum you could see artifacts in up stairs. It was very cool. As we were coming back down, the front desk guy told us to walk around the main tavern. So we did. The whole restaurant was in a house. They put people in every nook and cranny. The best part were the tables upstairs. Some of them were in the bed canopies! What an amazing idea! We absolutely loved it there. Highly recommend! They even had great vegetarian options for my husband.

One thing to note is that it is very dark in there. Everything is lit by old timey candlelight. It is kinda hard to see and take photos in. Also, the downstairs Springhouse Tavern is not handicapped accessible, but the upstairs portion is. That is where they have fine dining. Definitely...