Clair's Restaurant 3rd Gen — Restaurant in Penn Township

TLDR: Time capsule family restaurant whipping up delicious home style meals for a reasonable price. Come for the broasted chicken!

Vibe: 5/5. Located on the outskirts of Hanover, Clair's has been a cornerstone family restaurant for the area since the 70s. Back in the 90s, I have fond memories of going to Clair's with my family for Friday night dinners. The restaurant itself has mostly left unchanged from what I can remember, but in a good way. The bright yellow sign out front, the ice cream cold display case at the entrance, to the charming booths with the removable partitions between each just play into childhood memories of simpler times. With how old the overall restaurant is, everything is well maintained and very clean. A testament to the hard working staff and devout ownership.

Service: 5/5. We went on a Saturday night around 6pm for dinner and had a wonderful service.My party of 4 arrived to a fully packed restaurant, however we were fortunate to get a booth table after a brief 5 minute wait. The restaurant does not take reservations, but you can have Google call the restaurant to check on the wait time, a nice convenience. Our waitress was outstanding from start to finish. She was very friendly and did an excellent job keeping our drinks filled. Food came out punctually and piping hot. Overall, Clair 's staff has their service down pact and truly makes you feel at home.

Food: 5/5. Exactly how I remembered. The core menu has remained mostly unchanged from what I remembered coming as a kid. From your classic turkey and gravy to Salisbury steak, all your classic family restaurant favorites are here. On top of that, they have daily specials that have a more modern/seasonal twist on the classics. At the time of my visit, they were serving Yuengling beer battered haddock which I decided to order. The fish was perfectly fried and had hardy portions. Speaking of portion size, each dinner included your choice of 2 side items from a dozen or so items. Highly recommend the breaded zucchini as well as the fried corn fritters, both of which were childhood favorites of mine that lived up to my nostalgia hype. Dinner prices range between $10-15 per platter, which is very reasonable for the amount of food you receive. Don't forget to save room for dessert, as Clair's dishes up lovely hand spun milkshakes and sundaes using Hershey's ice cream. Overall, Clair's offers up the perfect casual dinner for those that just want to kick back and remember...

I come her usually during lunchtime on the weekend with my grandparents. A couple times its been to crowded so we went elsewhere but usually we can go and get a seat immediately. I will say the restaurant is quite small and if you have trouble getting around and use a wheelchair or mobility scooter this might not be a good place for you since the spaces are not very wide and I believe there is only one booth that is for disabled folks. There is a dip on the sidewalk so you can get onto it with a wheelchair but there are two pull doors that require for someone to hold open for you if you need help with that. Besides mobility issues- I would say overall the food is okay. Its very all very plain diner ish fare such as homemade soups and sandwiches. I typically get a half a turkey sandwich with a cup of soup (cream of crab is pretty good but sometimes a little too thick for my liking). Then for desert they offer homemade pies or icecream except for the sugar free icecream they sometimes carry which is store bought but they do not regularly even carry this so if you are diabetic you might be out of luck. Food is very cheap I will say. You can get a cup of soup and sandwich for around 6 or 7 dollars. Staff is friendly enough although not always the quickest. Environment is...

It's a family restaurant for sure. The staff was very welcoming. Our server was polite and easy to talk to. She did her job well, she didn't hover over us even though we were only one of a few tables. She knew when to check on us, and when to leave us I gave the food only four stars just because my meatloaf was kind of mushy. I will say I have never had meatloaf it was faked and then seared on the grill. Didn't know what I was missing until then. I had a cup of chili for an appetizer, if I knew it was going to be that good I would have gotten a bowl. It was hearty and had a little Tang , just the way I like it. I hate it when restaurants try to make it"authentic" by making it so hot it turns your mouth into a three-alarm fire As for of the three-star that I put down, if you want "atmosphere" then drive to York and spend a hundred bucks on your meal somewhere. All in all, for me, a...