Where to eat in Lancaster

[Anonymous]

We are going up there next weekend and staying at the Willow Valley. Going to Dutch Wonderland on Monday. We have a 9 mo old and a 2.5 yr old. Does anyone have recommendations on good, local places to eat that have good, fresh food?

[Anonymous]

We tried one of the Amish smorgasboard buffets (I forget the name). You'll see advertisements for them around. Lots of tasty food, but go early to avoid long waits. Tried the buffet at willow valley (where we stayed too) but was not impressed. There's a bunch of chain restaurants near the outlet and dutch wonderland, but we didn't go there.

[Anonymous]

We ate in downtown Lancaster (short drive from DW and nice "break" from the park atmosphere). We ate at a little restaurant with great fresh salads and fruit which is what we were craving after eating 3 amusement park meals. I don't remember the name of it but it was right next door (to the right of) the new local ice cream parlor. Had little tables out front.

I think the ice cream parlor store front was painted some bright color -- like maybe lime green. Anyway, the downtown was pretty cute and small.

[Anonymous]

Miller's is probably the biggest 'smorgasbord' type places that is very well advertised. Overpriced and just your regular buffet in my opinion. But one of the better downhome places is Good'n'Plenty which has communal style seating and basic simple food that tastes great. Walking around the parking lot, you'll see license plates from all over the country. There's also a place that I want to say is called Oregon Dairy but they make their own ice cream.

[Anonymous]

If you are a AAA member, go get your Penna. guide. They do a very good job of listing and rating some of the restaurants.

[Anonymous]

OP here ... We just got back Monday from our trip and I wanted to put a follow up post about where to eat. Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant: http://www.ironhillbrewery.com/lancaster/

We stumbled across it going to our hotel and had lunch there. It was GREAT, so much so that we went back for dinner the next night.

[Anonymous]

We found a lot of the choices near Dutch Wonderland to be total dog food. We liked the place the PP was talking about next to the ice cream shop. That's funky, casual and nice. We also liked the Pressman. It's a more "upscale" place, but if you can get seating outside near the fountain, I don't think it will be a problem with kids. You need to call for reservations. The food was excellent.

[Anonymous]

Would Iron Hill be okay to go with two young kids (toddler and preschooler)?