Mendenhall Inn Restaurant — Restaurant in Kennett Township

I have been coming to the Mendenhall Inn since the 1980's. In the past, it has ALWAYS been the most pleasant experience. I have made at least 35-40 dinner reservations per year. However, I am sad to say that my last visit to celebrate Easter Sunday to the Grand Buffet was very disappointing. When we arrived and as we waited to be seated, we asked the Maitre'D (who knew us from the years he has been working at the restaurant!) if he could give us a "private" table as we usually requested. We said we were willing to wait for a table that was along the wall....somewhere a bit quiet as I was with my fiance and a family member. There were only two other couples waiting for a table. They were seated. But, when we were called to be seated, our table was right by the door as you walked into the Ballroom....right in the MIDDLE OF THE ROOM!! I reminded the Maitre'D of my request and his response was "this is all we have"! So, we reluctantly took the table. When we sat down, the wait staff immediately came to our table to take our soft drink order. I ordered an ice tea and my fiance ordered a diet coke. The wait staff did not have any idea what we wanted as they obviously did not understand English. They brought an older male waiter to our table to interpret what we wanted. The crab cakes were wonderful, as usual!! My fiance does not like seafood so he was looking forward to having the prime rib. He was unable to do so as the roasted prime rib was only cooked to "rare" or "medium rare"!!! The meat was VERY, VERY uncooked and my fiance was VERY DISAPPOINTED!! In fact, the older male waiter even made a joke of the situation by pushing on the piece of beef and saying "Mooooo"!! Then, to top everything off, there was no cake for dessert...only little petit fours of varying types of desserts and dried-out mini cannoli's that were soggy and awful!! The cost for the three of us was just over $160.00. We were so disappointed and actually saddened as this was the first time this had happened to us, it happened on a holiday when we were celebrating a very special day, AND we were afraid that the Mendenhall Inn (as we always KNEW IT!) was not ever going to be the same again!! I normally write glowing reviews for this restaurant...but, honestly, could not do it this time! I just hope that my review does not fall on "deaf ears" and that the management recognizes that there needs to be changes made!!! Thank you for your kind attention. I hope this was...

My wife and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner on May 22, 2024. The Wednesday special was surf and turf. The price of the meal included an appetizer, two sides and dessert. We both enjoyed Snapper soup for the appetizer. My wife is Brazilian and did not know what Snapper Soup was. I was trying to explain to her that typically snapper refers to Red Snapper. Boy was I mistaken! The soup was absolutely delicious!... but it certainly wasn't fish! It had an uncious, beefy flavor to it. 🤔I was quite perplexed, but totally loved the soup. I sent my compliments to the chef and the maîtree (Mario). It wasn't until I returned home and did a Google search on 'Snapper Soup' that I realized snapper was referring to snapping turtle😏. It can also refer to a beef version (sans turtle, sans fish). I'm pretty sure this version was made with beef... but it was absolutely delicious!

For the main course we both had filet mignon. We ordered it medium-rare. Perfectly cooked! My wife had stuffed lobster tail. She said it was delicious. The presentation of the stuffed lobster tail was excellent...grill marks on the shell. I had a crab cake. It was very tasty and very well prepared, but the meat size was small...not jumbo pieces like the best seafood houses use. This is only a minor point....it tasted excellent! The main course was served with a green vegetable. My wife had asparagus and I had broccoli. The vegetales were prepared well. The second side was generous slices of roasted herb potatoes. Very tasty. A very nice touch was a sachet of lemon tied with a ribbon....several other nice details to the presentation including the style of plates used. The meal was also served with warm rolls and butter.

For dessert my wife snd I had Bannanas Foster. Mario, the maître/manager (prepared) flambêed the bananas at table,-side and served over vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

We both had a mixed cocktail, which were also expertly prepared.

All-all-all this was a four star meal at a place you wouldn't expect to experience...

My husband and I just recently had our wedding in Mendenhall Grand Ballroom on 9/18 and it was absolutely perfect and a dream come true! Gianna & Dottie were both amazing to work with before the wedding day arrived. They answered all my emails & calls efficiently and always had an answer for me! We mainly worked with Gianna before the wedding and she was absolutely fantastic in responding quickly and always having a second option if we were unable to do something. The day of the wedding Dotti always showed up at the right moment to drive me down to the venue so no one would see me or right before the ceremony to fluff my dress! She always appeared at the right time somehow! As for the hotel staff- they were absolutely amazing! We rented a banquet room to get ready in, and all the staff jumped to help! We needed ice and someone offered to go grab it! Closer to the ceremony we were working closely with Mario! He was the real MVP of the whole wedding! He made sure we had everything we needed and everything was on time! He did an amazing job the entire night to make things go perfect. During cocktail hour I realized I forgot the sparklers under the table in the banquet room- somehow he managed to get them without me noticing and when the photographer asked for them he had them and a lighter ready to go! As for the bartenders- well they kept that party going! They were awesome! Billy was awesome and fun to be around when you were hanging by the bar! Hands down just an overall amazing and 10/10000 experience with all the staff there! I have no complaints for this team and would recommend them to everyone! It was an amazing and...