Plain Fancy Farm - BIRD IN HAND

Although the restaurant's menu currently features BBQ, the Amish Farm Feast is still available for groups of 20+. We came here with a tour group for the latter. Amish-style food is homogeneous within this region--all of it is hearty meat-and-potatoes fare, cooked from scratch and served family-style. Our meal began with bowls of aromatic chow chow and creamy coleslaw, and fresh-baked breads with a side of apple butter. The fried chicken was perfection. Pork sausage was fairly good but the thinly sliced roast beef was tough and unpleasantly salty. The PA Dutch version of chicken pot pie is prepared with wads of thick noodles instead of crust, so it's more like chicken dumplings. The accompanying side dishes were fresh and flavorful, particularly the mashed potatoes. Our (English) servers were pleasant and gladly brought seconds when asked. For dessert, the warm apple dumpling with a scoop of Turkey Hill vanilla ice cream was sheer heaven. Afterwards, we spent some more money in the adjoining Country Store.

This restaurant that serves Amish food is right in the same area as the Amish experience tourist attraction, so I'm sure they get plenty of tourists dining here. We only chose to eat here because we didn't really plan the road trip so well happened to stop by Ronks to learn about the Amish on a Sunday, the day when Amish doesn't really work...so any hope or chance of getting any more authentic Amish food was just not present to us. At this restaurant you can opt for an all you can eat buffet or a la carte meal. My SO and I opted for a la carte because we just didn't want to overeat while on our road trip. There were just so many eating opportunities awaiting us already! I opted to try a ham loaf meal 2 sides I picked were fried corns and chow chow..e.g. pickled veggie medley and red beans) and I thought it was just ok to meh...it sort of reminded me of eating canned and not even pan fried spam...so I didn't like it : . I merely tried it because not many places offer ham loaf....but honestly I didn't finish the dish at all. Only finished the corn fritters..tho they weren't memorable either. My husband had the fried chicken and he thought it was ok. I don't think he was oo aah by that either. We also tried their shoofly pie...gotta try it since we were there right? Now, I've tried shoo fly pie before and it just wasn't my thing at all...but my SO never had it...so we ordered one too share...after one bite...I was pretty sure he was underwhelmed by the taste. I don't think I blame the restaurant for the shoo fly taste either.. Coz I think it's just that's how it's supposed to taste...just gooey and sticky sweet with a dry powder taste in your mouth. And unless you like that sort of texture or is accustomed to eating it, it's really just something to try once and take it off of your checklist. Overall, I think this place is frequented a lot by visitors...but if I were to go there on a non Amish day off..I might want to try to seek out a more authentic Amish kitchen than this place though.

They totally changed the menu and revamped the interior making this a restaurant appealing to a much broader audience of people. Although I loved the old Plain and Fancy I like the new menu and venue as well, it's just different and sometimes change is good! If you liked the Fried Chicken don't fret, it's still on the menu! The service is great and the barbecue spectacular. So check this place out, you will be glad you did!

That was the best fried chicken and sausage I 've ever had! If you are just visiting Lancaster, be sure to choose the Amish Farm Feast option instead of ordering from the menu. The family-style tables are awesome, you can sample all the good food and you may even talk with people from all over the world. My table was an International table, there were local people, telling you about Amish culture, and people from Poland, Germany, France, Puerto Rico, England, and I 'm from China. Too bad I don 't live in Lancaster, I want to go back there and have the fried chicken one more time.

Disappointed. End of an era being a perfect combo of staying at the Amish View and walking to Plain and Fancy Restaurant. Fried chicken and brown buttered noodles made my trip each stay at the Amish View Inn. Now it is Smokehouse BBQ. Tried it, didn't enjoy. Fried chicken was dark with chewy thick skin and meat was stringy and rubbery. Pulled chicken sandwich was greasy on oily bun. Mac and cheese was too smoky. All this on uncomfortable chairs. Service slow and disjointed. KFC is actually better. Go elsewhere for Amish food. They need to take Plain and Fancy off the name as it mislead us and will mislead more.