Hershey Farm Restaurant

7 Reviews on “Hershey Farm Restaurant”

• Unorthodoxepicure

  I’d really like to give this place more than two stars –and I’d likely stay at the Inn again in the future. Let me explain.The Inn (3 stars)The folks at the Hershey Inn — and I mean everyone who wears the uniform — are as polite and accommodating as can be. Everyone greets you and genuinely seems to hope that you are enjoying your time there.The rooms (in the Carriage House section) aren’t so accommodating, or at least they weren’t what I expected. Sure, there is a refrigerator, microwave, work desk and comfortable bed in every room. And the housekeeping folks know what they’re doing. But I’ve had more room in an RV. And I’ve had better water pressure from a dry well. The good: Clean rooms. Excellent housekeeping. Manicured grounds that are far enough from the highway that you can get some peace and quiet. Polite staff. Air conditioners that work like a dream. Nice flat-screen TVs. An arrogant turkey who wanders around in a fenced area near the rooms.The bad: Poorly laid out rooms with no place to plug in a USB charger (c’mon folks, it’s 2015) and electric outlets that require an acrobatic feat to reach. Toilets that were built for Munchkins (I’m only 45, but getting up off that toilet was like trying to do situps). No ironing board/iron in the room (had to request it). Water pressure in the shower is akin to poking holes in a can and letting gravity do the rest of the work. And finally, there are two large trash Dumpsters facing the end section of the guest quarters. The management here goes all out to display their hanging baskets everywhere (all of them for sale), place comfortable benches beneath shady trees with the view of a meadow and pond. Then, there’s those bright blue oft-filled Dumpsters. Hmmm.The Restaurant (1 star)First things first. I’m in the minority here because this place is packed to the gills at all times. So be it. The service: Albeit polite, the hostess (manager?) is not personable. She works her butt off and can constantly be seen giving orders as she chomps on her gum. I prefer a friendlier host … especially in a venue such as this. Her demeanor is more appropriate for working airport security. Our servers on the other hand were always friendly and helpful. Period.The food: Keep in mind that I’m a bit of an aspiring food snob. Though this place bills itself as a smorgasbord, I still expect quality. I experienced quality in some areas and total failures in others.The good: The grill (for breakfast and lunch) is the spot to get your most freshly cooked options. Just keep in mind that they are line cooks –not chefs — and your over-medium egg might as well be called over-easy. Not a deal breaker though. — There are some food items that hold well under heat than others. Bacon, sausage, potatoes and even the creamed chipped beef held up well over the burners. The available fruit, oatmeal and other bread items also held up well. On the lunch/dinner side of things, there are plenty of vegetables and meat dishes (I was particularly fond of the ham balls). The bad: Of all the meat dishes on the lunch/dinner smorgasbord, only the ham balls were tender and fresh tasting. The pot roast had the consistency of beef jerky (no exaggeration); the baked fish was way overcooked; the fried chicken (supposedly the specialty of the house) tasted like someone cooked it and placed it under a warmer for a few hours. Also, being from the South, I can tell you that there’s superior fried chicken at about 8,000 restaurants elsewhere. Finally, and this is the thing that bothered me the most, there was no scrapple on the weekday breakfast menu. This place advertises scrapple in more than one medium, but it wasn’t to be seen until Sunday morning. And the scrapple itself was among the most overcooked (looked like brownies) and oversalted concoction that I’ve ever had the displeasure of sampling. A complete fail.Remember those Dumpsters I told you about? Well, on Saturday morning they were overflowing with trash — mostly containers of all the pre-prepared and canned food served on the smorgasbord. I understand the need to go to cans and other foods when you’re serving in such bulk, and I guess my sights were set way too high to expect a restaurant that was better than your average school cafeteria. But, alas… They serve the same foods to their patrons. Except this place charges you an arm and a leg for it so that you can gorge on it. If there’s a next time, I’m taking a 10 minute drive to civilization and eating at a mom & pop place.

  November 3, 2015, 10:32 am

  Log in to Reply
• Brown

  So my wife & kids & myself were staying at the Hershey Farm Inn this weekend because the hotel we normally stay at was sold out. On our first morning we had their buffet breakfast. To our surprise the food pretty bad. My wife my son & myself each had omelets. All tasted the eggs were not fully cooked. The bacon tasted like a giant salt lick . There regular scrambled eggs had a green tinge to them. The fruit was ok , so was the French toast . Coffee was so so. Overall breakfast was very disappointing. The food in general was just not good . For some crazy reason we decided to have dinner there because on our first night at the inn we bought their fried chicken and biscuits to go and found their fried chicken very good. For some reason we thought the dinner would be better considering how good the fried chicken was. Once again we got their dinner buffet. Aside from the fried chicken the food was horrible. Sorry it was more like disgusting. My wife got the beef tips . It was dry. I got a piece of sirloin steak. The person dipped the steak in a container of heat fat and gave it to me. I never tryed it since it grossed me out. Their Mac n cheese was bad. Salad was so so. Corn the cob was ok. Their chicken pot pie looked liked anything but a pot pie. Overall it was a bunch a sloppy terrible food that’s not cheap I might add. The folks who cook this food should be embarrassed. I don’t know what the attraction to this resturant is when the food is so bad or people just don’t care since they have buffet. Needless to say we will never eat here again. Save your money go somewhere else.

  December 15, 2014, 1:35 am

  Log in to Reply
• Phil

  Overpriced and many dishes were overcooked. Chooses were Ok. service was great but after a unwarranted wait in gift shop.

  July 16, 2014, 11:27 pm

  Log in to Reply
• Josh Manning

  I liked the food here – I had the sour kraut and pork – however the price here is deceiving. Most menu items are well over 10 dollars, with the lunch buffet at 17. Only things under 10 are some of the burgers and soup bar. Food was really tasty – home made.

  March 30, 2012, 6:10 pm

  Log in to Reply
• Allorange

  Poor value for money. We stopped by for the buffet lunch. The food ranged from poor to acceptable. The buffet had a large selection items, but none of the items were really a standout. The grill station also had some items that could be requested and were made to order. I asked for a BLT. That’s a fairly straightforward sandwich. The bread was barely toasted, but the worst part was some of the bacon was burned. I broke it off and it turned to carbon dust. For the price charged, the value just isn’t there. Dienners is better choice with better food at a better value.

  November 13, 2011, 1:50 am

  Log in to Reply
• KAREN JS

  Great Breakfast. We stayed at the hotel and got the complimentary breakfast buffet. One of the better breakfast buffets I have to say. They had a make to order omlet station, with a variety of meat, veggies and cheeses; Belgian waffle irons for you to make your own, tons of toppings, breakfast meats, pancakes, breads, cereals. It was unreal. My favorite thing was the French Toast….really superior. I will go back and pay the $10 for breakfast…well worth it.

  December 14, 2010, 11:26 pm

  Log in to Reply
• Kalen Bruce

  Amazing Food and Selection. When we went to Pennsylvania this was the best meal we had. Huge selection, very clean and good service. I tried almost everything and it was all good! The only downfall is that its a bit pricey.

  November 30, 2010, 7:45 pm

  Log in to Reply