Der Dutchman

I feel like this place is living off its reputation for past accomplishments. Quality and taste are not what I remember from their glory days before the Dutch kitchen closed. Rather pricey for a so-​so comfort food buffet. Keep your head in a swivel during busy periods for people wearing sweat pants and trying to balance multiple plates at the same time. A family of 5 with a decent tip is pushing $ 80. Just not a good value for a family on a budget. On a side note, the bakery is killer but most of the cookies, cakes, pumpkin rolls have lost their homemade taste and texture but the donuts are the size of your head.

We live in Dublin and had recently ate at the Der Dutchman up south of Mansfield. The only disappointing thing about that experience was that I couldn’t eat more then. I was excited to learn there was another one right here by us just 15 minutes away. Vastly underwhelming experience. Our server was horrible at making appearances. Our cups were empty several time having to flag him down. Getting the check was equally lengthy in wait. We suspect they were understaffed that night based on how all over the place he seemed. Anyhow, to the food.
First, the noodles I got at the other one were soooo good, I came to this one just for those. Seriously. Eehhh. The noodles here were like chicken noodle soup noodles. What a bummer. Mac and cheese was great. The beef was more fatty than I would’ve liked. I’m a big beef fan. Selection was good. Food was warm. However, some more qualms. The servers seem to have little regard for their patrons (or at least me). Two women nearly ran me over. One would’ve ran right into me trying to beat me around the corner forcing me to stop so we didn’t collide. No joke. Looked right at me, and said nothing. Having good manors I would’ve stopped and excused myself anyhow – just rude that she did not do the same for a customer. Another nearly backed into me paying no attention as she stepped back from her table. Pay attention to your surroundings and what you’re doing and where you’re going. You’re in a restaurant at a buffet with tons of people walking around with food on their plates – pay attention. The applesauce was great. I have Mennonite relatives and the older ones would make that chunky applesauce when I was a kid, and it is unbeatable. Also found it amusing that our server was explaining to another table who had mentioned they come for a particular dessert how they always run out of that on Saturday nights. Every Saturday night he says. Yeah? How about you have a little foresight then and make more than you usually do for those Saturday nights then? All and all, we loved the other location so much (especially over this one) that we will make the hour drive or so up north for it. We won’t be back here – the price and overall experience here just isn’t worth it to us.

I went here with a friend for my church banquet. I read reviews on Unilocal and spoke to three people who had been here before. They all said the food was average. Based on the menu I saw I did not have any high expectations. They did not disappoint. All the meat they served was cold.
Although the sides were hot they weren’t seasoned well and quite bland. Not one of the desserts looked appealing.
A few people told me that they thought I should try breakfast because the dinner is nothing to shout about. So I will go back for a breakfast one day to see if I have a better experience. I didn’t see this as any different than Cracker Barrel, except Cracker Barrel seasons their food.

Partner and I had a meeting in Plain City, we got there early and decided to hit the Der Dutchman first for lunch. Ive never been there but have heard about it all my life. What have I been missing!
I have to say that the lunch buffet was without a doubt the cleanest, well stocked, best looking food ive ever seen on a buffet line (outside of the Wynn in Las Vegas).
I had mashed potatoes, homemade noodles, chicken and ham. It was all on the same level if not higher than Mom and Grandmas!
You can bet that I will be coming back here many times in the future when Im hungry and want something warm and delicious!

Great place for breakfast. The atmosphere is friendly, the food is good, some of the breakfast buffet items were a little dry from being in the heat so long. This made the bacon extra crispy though. The donuts were amazing and included in the buffet. The prices are good for a delicious and filling breakfast ($ 9.99 a person, kids 2 and under free). It was nice to see some of the topping for breakfast, such as sauteed onions, mushroom and peppers. My toddler had some potato wedges with ketchup and cheese sauce which is her all time favorite food. The sausage and gravy was delicious, especially topped with some of the mushrooms. We got there at 8 am with no wait or line whatsoever, and when we were walking out at 9 there was a big wait in the lounge area. A small college football team had just walked in right before we were leaving, we were glad that we made it through the buffet line without any long lines. The gift/​pastry shop is fun to browse around. We walked out with a dozen huge maple glazed long johns for $ 13.50.

The food simply isn’t very good. The broasted chicken is ok, some of the sides taste ok. But other meats I’ve tried have been dry and bland. Even their pies have tasted factory-​made in recent years. The service is extremely hit or miss. Sure, it is better than any of the family-​style buffet restaurants back in the city… but this place as become too mechanized, the former charm is gone.

The food was good and bakery smelled amazing. However, the service was awful. Our waitress didn’t give me any silverware, I had to find my own. I ordered water with lemon which I never got, someone else at our table gave me theirs. We had to ask for our check after sitting and waiting for what seemed like forever. Someone else asked for a dessert to take home and didn’t get it either. Needless to say, the tip was greatly less than it could have been.

Ja das ist gut!
Visiting Der Dutchman for the first time in a couple of years, was pleasantly surprised at some the updates. Had the buffet and as always there was plenty of selection good home style food. One thing you can count on is «Consistency»
If you go at dinner time you can also expect crowds that are a mix of nice elderly folks, families and WorldWide Wrestling fans body slamming someone to get a drumstick. Actually that is an exaggeration because they do keep the food stocked.
So if you’d like a nice homey restaurant and a little bit of shopping in their craft store and bakery you won’t be disappointed.

Awesome donuts and other baked goods.
Gift shop is legit for finding a Mother’s Day or Christmas gift.

Went on Saturday morning for the breakfast buffet. Typical breakfast buffet food… eggs, sausage, hash browns, assorted fruits, muffins, biscuits and gravy, bacon etc.
What I love about amish food is you can taste the naturalness. The sausage did not taste processed and same with the bacon. When I finished breakfast I really felt like the meal was made with love.
The fruit was super fresh. Even had kiwis with skin still on them.
Atmosphere was clean, friendly wait staff. Didn’t have to wait for seating and we arrived at 10:30. They were setting up the lunch buffet that also had salad buffet and the waitress said if we wanted to part take in all buffets she would just charge us for lunch buffet. The idea sounded awesome but we were stuffed!
Definitely worth the drive from columbus. I have never been to this one, only the one in mansfield. The store was very exciting, nice products to purchase for the home. The bakery was amazing, we had to look at all the fresh cooked breads and desserts. I purchased some cheese spread because my roommate brought some home one time and it was amazing.
Restrooms were clean and nice. Overall great experience! Loved the drive through town.

I realize that you have MSG in some of your food. But I never but those foods on my plate nor order them. I see list at the tables.
But… Every single time that I eat at your restraunt I feel sick to my stomach even sometimes before I get up from the table.
Then I go lay down at home but I feel sick for a couple more hours.
So I’m just wondering if MSG is getting in my food or bacteria ???
Also where I use to live The Dutch Essenhaus. In middlebury, IN. The have basically same food. I never in 23 plus years have felt that horrible. Horrible as in headache, sick to my tummy, and just terrible inside. There’s something in your food. I’ve heard same complaint from other town folk. Please look into why this is please

We were so excited to try Amish food, since we’ve heard so many great things about it.
After a visit to Der Dutchman, unfortunately we still don’t feel we’ve tried Amish food.
We had the buffet which had broasted (looks like southern fried) chicken, ham, slow roasted shredded beef, ribs, etc.
All the meats were dry except the ribs. The meatloaf was not on the buffet but we were able to add it for $ 1.00, on top of the $ 14.99 buffet price. It came with some sort of cherry flavored sweet and sour Karro Syrup all over it, and the meat tasted like TVP (Vegan textured vegetable protein). BLECH!
Everything also seemed to have an excess amount of sugar in it.
The macaroni and cheese tasted like it came out of a can, mashed potatoes tasted «real», but were missing the buttery richness of homemade.
After being told by plenty of folks that Amish food is delicious because it’s made from all natural Amish farm fresh ingredients, and then seeing the «Peanut Butter Spread» (on every table), has high fructose corn syrup in it, and they had single serving industrially packaged butter and margarine packets on each table — not home made.
For dessert we tried the Peach Pie. The filling was very close to, if not exactly like, the canned pie filling on any grocer’s shelves, and the crust (which was obviously mass produced in some food processing kitchen) didn’t appear to have been baked!
The surprising thing is there were a hundred people eating there and a hundred people waiting to get seated, but these were not people with discriminating palettes, but more the type that frequents Golden Corral, and would most likely say «The food is mediocre but they give you a lot of it!»
There is also a bakery, but I highly doubt they are making anything from scratch, and receiving premade bakery items from a central processing facility and just finishing the baking onsite. A large gift shop onsite helped us pass the 45 minute wait for a table.
My advice to anyone wanting Amish food, is to see if you can offer to help an Amish family build a barn and stay long enough to partake in a meal.
While the service was great, waiter extremely courteous, I don’t recommend Der Dutchman for good food, much less, authentic Amish food.

My family and I have been here several times. This is by far the CLEANEST buffet I have ever been to. They keep the food stocked. I don’t think I have ever been here and they had ran out of something.
The fried chicken is pretty good. The bigger pieces are not as crisp as the smaller ones sometimes… they need a little more cooking time, but that is the only complaint I have about their buffet food.
Their dressing is absolutely the best dressing I have ever had in my life (please don’t tell my husband I think theirs is better)!!! I can’t get enough.
Their pies, however are another story. I think they are yucky. I can make better pies and I am no skilled pie maker. If you want dessert, get it somewhere else, not here.

Alrighty I remember the days when you waited forever for a coveted seat at this place. I used to love sitting in the Amish buggy to eat. I was running some errands with my Mom and she asked me to lunch here. I’ve always had a liking for the broasted chicken so I happily agreed to go. Well they’ve vastly expanded so there’s no waiting it appears. We are seated immediately and we both opt for the lunch buffet. I got a salad before hand and it was very good as everything was fresh. I then got the broasted chicken mashed potatoes corn green beans and Mac and cheese. Boy it’s the first time I remember ever thinking that the food was just meh. I mean MEH with a capital M. Yikes how did this happen where oh where did my yumminess go???

7 WORDS: Grand Buffet, Updated Amish Feel, Homey, Pricey
When we arrived, the parking lot was reasonably but the wait was non-​existent and we were able to help ourselves to the buffet immediately.
.
The long bar included the usual «Amish-​Style» cuisine: Fried Chicken, Chicken and Noodles (not dumplings), dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, macaroni and cheese, bread pudding and complete salad and dessert bars.
Everything was a small step above standard buffets and the seating area itself was clean and well-​kept. It always gives the feel of Americana — comfortable booths with heavy padding or dining tables with all-​wood hoop-​backed chairs.
Most of the food was great. However, I’ve noticed the problems with the cooking of the chicken is a trend with Der Dutchman. The chicken is either a little high in grease content in the breading or the grease itself hasn’t been changed. This time, however, it was the former and not the latter.
Next time, I think I will limit my chicken intake to one or two pieces and see how that goes. The service always has the perfect ‘feel’, the ambiance is always ultra-​pleasant, and the buffet choices are truly buffet.
Our bill came to 15.50 each and that very fair considering what we got to eat.
Would I return to Der Dutchman? Always, unless I was trying to discover a new restaurant, good or bad… which is always my preferred method of dining out.

Fruit pies. I’ve tried over and over to get a good cherry pie from Der Dutchman. What is supposed to be cherry filling is mostly gelatinous filler with very few cherries hidden inside. I have even asked a waitress to see if she could find me one with a lot of fruit and it came back nearly the same as all of the others I have eaten there. I’m surprised that people drool over these pies. My experience is based on several years of trying the pie. I won’t be eating their fruit pies again.
The rest of their food is very good.

I have been here countless time because this seems to be the only place my parents want to go to while in town. I can’t seem to get them to go any place else. Hey, you should try Bravo, it’s like Olive Garden but more.. . Der Dutchman. Since you are shopping in Easton you we should eat at Bön Vies, they gave the best lobster.. . Der Dutchman. Well since you are getting a check up at tOSU, The Fish Market is just a block.. . Der Dutchman. Face palms. I pretty much just start heading up 33 before they finish asking, «want to meet for dinner.»
I am not complaining though, the Der Dutchman has pretty good typical American food – though nothing really for the vegan, vegetarian, health conscious out there. We are talking juicy roast beef, perfect mash potatoes, scrumptious stuffing, thick gravy, sometimes juicy chicken, and fresh salad. Served with delicious and fresh homemade bread, the place can fill a empty stomach for us who don’t watch calories, carbs, or cholesterol intake. They also have ‘family style, for large groups, and of course you can order dishes on its own.
I’ve been coming here since I was in 8^th grade. I remember when it was smaller and you waited outside on rocking chairs. It has since ballooned up into a megaplex building that rivals tourist traps in tourist busy cities. Billed as an Amish restaurant, the place seems more corporate chain now than it did then, losing some illusion of authenticity as it became more popular. With stores all over Ohio, and similar concepts popping up in Indiana, Plain Cities’ spot has lost some of its destination appeal and novelty. Who know how much my memory is warped by time, but it seems that Der’s food has lost some quality since the ‘80s, dropping closer to Crackle Barrel than it once was. It is still good, but I think Nancy’s in Clintonville has them beat Chicken and Noodle wise.
Still, the place is popular and can be crowded on the weekends. My last visit was during the week and it was pretty dead. One knock, the atmosphere can be boring, with the wide space, no music, and walls the reflect the sound of every spoon click, murmur, and squeak of shoes, the place lacks a cosy comfort. Though they are now adding walls that help this somewhat, a better experience environmentally is still needed.
Of course they have a world class bakery; pies, crisps, scones, cookies are all well, well done. A gift shop is attached and has more than just county cornball crafts – there is actually some great stuff there.
If you haven’t been there and dig standard American, kitchen table fare, visit. It is a nice change.

We had just finished with a long day at the Columbus Zoo, and our GPS was taking us on a scenic/​random route towards our next destination. We ended up driving by Der Dutchman, we were famished, and decided to turn around & try it out.
As a breakdown of my scoring:
For the restaurant alone: 2 – 3
Factoring in the awesome bakery: bumps it to 4
I’m a «homestyle food» snob, as I come from a line of very serious country cooks. My husband & I both opted for the buffet for dinner. It was «ok.» The food on the buffet included things like mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, noodles, fried chicken, roast beef, & biscuits. There was a salad bar, which offered pretty standard foods as well. The fried chicken was good, a bit under-​seasoned, but that was easily remedied. Personally, I was NOT a fan of the noodles. Maybe they had been in the broth too long, but the size/​taste reminded me of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup… gross! I also found to stuffing to be a little too carrot-​heavy, which is not something I’ve ever had to say in regards to stuffing. They serve you fresh bread with this interesting peanut butter spread (don’t read the ingredients or nutritional information). The peanut butter spread was one of those things that I simultaneously managed to love AND hate at the same time. It’s so bizarre, but yummy. Their iced tea was perfectly steeped, which is something many places can’t manage to achieve.
The restaurant itself was interesting. Parts of it had extreme character (dine in a buggy? awesome!)…but the rest reminded me of a hotel conference room. And not a nice hotel, but like an airport Holiday Inn conference room.
Service was REALLY friendly, and a major positive of this place.
We couldn’t help but to browse around the bakery on the way out. Our jaws hit the floor when we saw the Fritters. I *love* fritters, and they aren’t an easily-​found item at home. When we were there they had 2 varieties left, blueberry & cherry. They are HUGE and I consider them to be a steal at $ 1.30-something per fritter. We tried them out once we were back home, and they are AWESOME. I was afraid it would have a fake/​chemical blueberry taste like many blueberry baked goods have, but these tasted like real blueberry. They were outstanding, and I will probably find myself craving these in the future… from 3.5 hours away.

Der Dutchman is review-​proof. Seriously. How do you review a place like this? Dutchman is a local institution, one of those places you go with the family and pile into the car with friends to go hit up. My only quibble is that I always seem to get the urge to go here on a Sunday, when they are closed. I’ve been here dozens of times. It’s simple, uncomplicated but delicious comfort food. I don’t think I have ever ordered off the menu, I always get the buffet. How can I choose between chicken and noodles, or fried chicken (so good, that fried chicken), or pot roast, or whatever else is cooking?
And THEN you can go into the bakery and take home some cookies or doughnuts or pie. Oh my, the pie. And I don’t know what they do to their green beans but they’re crazy good. The homemade bread and rolls are breadlicious.
I just love Der Dutchman. It’s like a big snuggly hug under an afghan, with mashed potatoes.

*This reviews the bakery only*
Wow! Big sized doughnuts! As soon as you walk in, you see a nice waiting room and past that is the bakery. But so far of the doughnuts I’ve ate, I was not impressed. The hype is the size, but the taste does not equal up. That’s my opinion!!! I was more surprised when I asked for a custard doughnut, she said they don’t have them. Only cream filled. That let me down. I did not get a chance to eat in the restaurant, but I hope to sometime.