Amish Country is one of the favorite destinations that my husband, Bobby, and I always enjoy visiting. If we are free on a Saturday, we might spontaneously decide we want to go explore Holmes County and the shops that are there. When we first moved into the area, we made a trip to Holmes County and ended up in Mount Hope. That was our first time there, and I suggested that we go to Mrs. Yoder’s for lunch. Bobby had said it looked “too touristy.” So we didn’t stop.
When Bobby went back to work on the Monday after this trip to the Amish Heartland, he asked one of his fellow co-workers who had lived in the area his whole life, where was a good place to eat in Holmes County. This fellow said, “Mrs. Yoder’s is good.” (Just goes to show you that Bobby should remember that I’m usually right about things.) Needless to say, the next time we went to Mt. Hope, we enjoyed a meal at Mrs. Yoder’s.
That was in 2003 — or maybe 2004. Now almost every time we are in the area, we go stop there for a meal. So when Bobby’s friend, Jeanine, invited us to go with her to Mrs. Yoder’s on Saturday, February 17, we wholehearted accepted the invitation.
Jeanine wanted to go for the breakfast buffet. Bobby enjoys their fried chicken. So it was decided to get there at the end of the breakfast and the beginning of the lunch buffet. We got there around 10:40. The waitress said at 11a.m. the kitchen staff would switch the hot bar from breakfast food to lunch. She encouraged us to fill our plates before that happened. So off we went!
Jeanine loves fried mush, which is one of the main reasons we traveled to Mt. Hope. Since neither Bobby nor I have eaten fried mush, we weren’t sure how to do it. Jeanine puts butter and syrup on hers. She likes the crispy outside and the creamy inside. She said it tastes a lot like cornbread. I like cornbread, so on Saturday, I decided to give fried mush a try.
I mimicked Jeanine’s style with putting butter and syrup on the mush. (Maybe the sound of the word makes it kind of unappealing.) It tasted O.K. The slice I had was pretty thin, so perhaps I didn’t get the full spectrum of what Jeanine grew up loving. That’s O.K. because there was plenty of other breakfast fare to enjoy — and we did! Jeanine got her mush, bacon, eggs and what looked to be a breakfast casserole with hash brown potatoes.
Along with the mush, I filled my plate with bacon, pancakes and french toast sticks. Plus a I got a small piece of a cinnamon roll. I splurged and got a hot chocolate with whipped cream. They put chocolate syrup on the top of the whipped cream. That was something I didn’t expect, was pleasantly surprised to see. You can never go wrong when you add chocolate syrup to something that is already sweet.
Bobby, not a big fan of trying new things, went with bacon, home fried potatoes and sausage gravy. He put the gravy over the potatoes instead of a biscuit. Bobby had been wanting bacon for a while, but he told Jeanine he is too cheap to buy it in the grocery stores because it costs around $5.99 a pound. He made up for it at Mrs. Yoder’s.
Though we tried to keep our eye on the buffet, they changed it out before we were able to get up and get more breakfast. The waitress apologized for not letting us know they were making the switch (which seemed a little earlier than 11 a.m.). She asked if she could bring us anything that we might have missed. Jeanine asked for a little bit more mush. Bobby’s mouth was watering for the fried chicken, so he declined and I did, too. The waitress brought out a big bowl of fried mush for Jeanine, which we all thought was very nice of her.
While Jeanine was satisfied with the breakfast buffet, Bobby and I could not resist enjoying items from the lunch buffet. Of course fried chicken was on Bobby’s plate (he didn’t get pictures of our plates from the lunch buffet on this visit, but he had one from a previous trip to Mrs. Yoder’s). He had two large chicken breasts, mashed potatoes with roast serving as the “gravy.” I got a fried chicken thigh, mashed potatoes and gravy and meatloaf. I had also gotten a small cup of their broccoli and cheese soup.
The one thing I will say about going to Mrs. Yoder’s that is a little disappointing, is that my eyes are always bigger than my stomach! I would love it if I could eat more — I missed out on the roast and the beef and noodles because I was just too full. Everything was so good!
While we always get the buffet, Mrs. Yoder’s does offer a full menu of good old-fashion comfort food. If you leave there hungry, it is your own fault.
I think because we were there kind of during the transition from breakfast to lunch, we didn’t have to wait for a table. But I will warn you, it is not unusual to have to wait for a little bit before being seated. Mrs. Yoder’s is just that popular. Since the last time we were there, they added an enclosure to their porch, I assume to add more protection for the patient customers who have visited Amish Country on a busy Saturday. If you pull into the parking lot and it is full, do not despair. You might have to wait awhile to be seated, but it is well worth it.
