Imagine a buffet with hundreds of choices like prime rib, fried shrimp, smoked brisket, and 46 options at the salad baralone. Add more dessert than even a wide-eyed eight-year-old could possibly scarf down, including a sundae bar, and you’ve got America’s largest buffet. That’s what you’ll find at Shady Maple, which can seat 1,200 people at a time and serves 1.5 million people every year. The kicker that it’s cheap, with prices ranging from $145 to $35 for adults depending on the meal, with discounts for kids, seniors, and military. Plus, people celebrating their birthdays eat for free. Oh, and tipping isn’t allowed, but there’s a 12% service fee.
Where is this hungry person’s nirvana? East Earl, Pennsylvania. This tiny town with a population of just 1,144 is 90 minutes west of Philadelphia, four hours east of Pittsburgh, 1 hour 40 minutes south of the underrated Switzerland-esque town of Jim Thorpe, an hour east of Hershey Park, and 40 minutes northeast of Lancaster. It’s in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Note that “For more than 50 years, Shady Maple has been a company based on faith in God,” according to its website, and as such, it’s closed on Sundays and has a dress code that requests no “revealing clothing.”
Many of the options in Shady Maple’s buffet reflect local simple preferences — think barely-spiced meat and potatoes, not ethnic food or haute cuisine. Some of the more regionally reflective dishes are scrapple, mush, whoopie pie, shoo-fly pie, and long johns. For doughnut lovers: Shady Maple makes 53 varieties and sells 3 million donuts a year. Before you approach the smorgasbord, you’ll want to take a read about buffet etiquette.
What else is at Shady Maple?
Walk off your meal on Shady Maple’s 11 acres that include a 40,000-square-foot gift shop. The Amish people are known for making high-quality, handcrafted furniture, like rocking chairs, which are sold here. Quilts are another regionally-known specialty item to consider purchasing. They’re handmade by Amish and Mennonite locals in a range of styles and colors that reflect their traditions…