Eckert’s

I’ve been to Eckhert’s a couple times for apple picking, but this past weekend I came for blackberry picking!
It was pretty hot outside, and we took the tractor over to the blackberry bushes. It was just the beginning of the season, so a lot of the blackberries weren’t ripe yet, but we found a good three rows of giant, sweet blackberries.
Blackberry picking is so much more fun than apple picking. You get to fill up your basket with lots of huge blackberries, while popping a few in your mouth. I am just bummed that I missed strawberry season.
If Eckhert’s weren’t so dang far, I would pick those blackberries every week instead of getting the ones at the market. They are only $ 3.50/lb. and they are the best I have ever had!
Cannot wait for peach picking season!

Eckert’s is a must-​do for families. Whatever the picking season is, your family will have fun. We’ve done peaches, apples, strawberries and pumpkins, and they also offer vegetables, blackberries, and maybe more. If you’re not up for picking, they still have a wonderful farmer’s market with plenty of great local and unique food items. The hummingbird bread and apple butter are our favorites. Speaking of apple butter, the biscuits and apple butter served in the restaurant are awesome. The food in the restaurant is generally ok, but the service is top notch. Sometimes there’s live music, sometimes there’s a petting zoo, definitely a great place to go!

We were here for the strawberry picking and we picked the right day because the weather is so good. The sun is high up but the wind is a bit chilly. Strawberry picjing is a must try for a family. It’s the second time we did it and we were still excited the second time around. You can eat while inside the farm and I suggest you bring a bittled water with tou to somewhat rinse the fruit. After picking we went to their grocery store and the experience is all so good. Their apple pie us a must try, we bought the small one and we regret not buying the bigger one. We also bought some of their muffins and it was awesome. It’s something that we don’t miss whenever we get here. Their banana walnut muffin is a must try!

Service was awesome and the fried biscuits alone are worth a stop in! My wife had the meatloaf and says it was deliciously moist. I had a simple chicken tender plate that left me wanting for more.
If you’re a fan of southern comfort food, you could do worse than this place for sure.

This is my favorite restaurant when I go to St Louis area. It’s like 45 — 60 mins from the airport. All you can eat of the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.
It has a great atmosphere with plenty of room. I usually show up with 6 — 10 people and we’ve never had to wait. And that’s during lunch and dinner. The staff are friendly and helpful, even though I ask for more chicken like EVERY minute. J/​k. But they are nice.
I’ve been here 4 times now, about two times a year, and every time has been superb. I can’t wait to go back to STL just for Eckert’s. Don’t forget to check in and get your free amazing Caramel Apple pie or lemon meringue pie.

Went to this place a while back with my girlfriend and her little cousins (4 and 7) to go peach picking. I think the highlight is the picking itself. It gives you a chance for some family bonding and doing something a little different. They have nearly year round picking of all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and you can usually get a good price.
Beyond that, there’s a playground with tricycles and a few animals. There’s also a grocery/​general store. Finally there’s a restaurant, which was highly touted by Unilocalers and locals alike. I thought it was very ok. A wait with restless children probably wasn’t the best move on our part, and I’d say the food could be compared to a higher class Denny’s.
Basically, the highlight is what you go there for, the picking. All the other pieces are really underwhelming. Go, take your kids, have a good time, grab something else on the way home and enjoy your fresh picked produce with it!

I will just say, I expected better.
I really don’t think their food is homemade, including biscuits.
If it was homemade, well I not impressed.
I pretty sure it is restaurant wholesale prepared food.
I gave them a 3 because of my doubts, otherwise I would give them 2 stars.
That said, all their employees are really super nice.

Definetly tasty biscuitw at apple butter at the beginning. Otherwise just the standard family style chicken dinner. But they do it right. Chicken was good. A basic coating. Sides were all very good and we had a good server. Have had a couple of visits and left happy each time.

Great pie with their fresh frozen custard ala mode. Will definitely stop in again if we’re out that way

Eckert’s is definitely THE place near St. Louis to go pumpkin and apple picking. I went mid-​October to go apple picking with my girlfriend on a Saturday afternoon and it was a lot of fun.
When we showed up there was enough parking but you could tell they had a crowd. You head to the tractor line where they give you bags for apples and wait for your free ride to the field where you can pick your fresh produce. We got carried away and grabbed a ton of apples but who doesn’t?
After we took the tractor back and paid for our apples we realized we needed wine and other goodies to make apple pie at home. We headed to the Eckert’s Country Store on the property and bought plenty o’ wine and splurged for some pumpkin and apple butter.
A visit to Eckert’s truly is a fall staple in St. Louis. Great to with friends, family or even a date!

Went on October 17^th with my brother, 2 sisters, sister-​in-​law, 2 brother-​in-​law, nephew and 2 nieces. We went to pick pumpkins for our annual pumpkin carving.
We got to the patch and there where so may pumpkin’s to choose from.
They also had a man playing country music (to me I thought he was to loud, but I don’t like country music at all)
Ordered the pulled pork nachos and they where so good, but there was a pool of grease at the bottom of my bowl. Oh, well that’s the price I had to pay for good nachos.

We came here for my father-in-law’s birthday to pick apples and then return home to make fresh apple pie for him. The orchards are well taken care of and there are many apples ready for picking. They drive you out from the country store on a wagon behind a tractor and then pick you back up. The tractors run frequently so you do not wait very long. That being said, if you arrive earlier, there is no wait to go out to the orchard.
Check their website to see which kind of Apple is in season. In the fall, they also have a pumpkin patch to bring home a pumpkin as well as your apples.
They also have a big county store. Where they had lots of samples and many options for home made goods to bring home.

I’ve had such fun picking fruit all summer long with my husband and our friends! I would recommend going on a weekday in order to avoid the crowds. It also gives you a bit more room on the ride out to the field. I have to say that of all the fruits we picked, the blackberries were my favorite — they were huge, plump and perfectly sweet!
We’ve also eaten at the restaurant quite a few times, mostly for breakfast. My husband and I usually stick to the basics — eggs, bacon, sausage or maybe a scramble with potatoes. It does just fine, but it’s nothing special. But I think I enjoyed the BBQ Nachos a lot more the one time we went for lunch — they were pilled high and very flavorful!

Eckerts is a such a wonderful, family friendly place! I have lived in the area over the last 13 years, and have watched it develop over time. I’m so happy they have prospered over the years. I absolutely love the restaurant, with its ever changing seasonal menu. I don’t have an usual menu item I get because I am always wanting to try something new! I had the goat cheese and kale scrambled eggs this morning, and it was delicious! Lots of goat cheese on them! They always have good coupons, you just need to get on their email list. If you follow them on Facebook, they are always giving away free goodies as well! So awesome! Today I checked in on Unilocal and got a free slice of pie, can’t beat that!!! They do military Mondays and you get an extra 10% off in the store. But, my favorite thing right now is the dutch apple pie concrete. Omg! It’s amazing! Chunks of apple pie with caramel and pecans… It’s the tastiest fall treat! Oh ya, and I aways do the pick your own. Apples and pumpkins are my favorite! It’s such a fun destination!

We went to Eckert’s in Belleville over the weekend, and we were both happy and disappointed with the entire experience. Having been to the other location in Milstadt last year, we were excited to visit the «less-touristy”(so we heard) one in Belleville.
However, this place was a total zoo! Long lines to take a hayride out to the apple trees and pumpkin patch, long lines to get an ice cream cone, long lines to do anything! There are just as many kids rides and play-​area things here as the other location, but you’re charged by the ticket per ride here instead of one price to get in the door. I do like that fact better here at Belleville.
There are ponies and camels to ride, cows and goats to feed, a sandbox, live performances, and much more for the kiddos to do. As if just picking apples alone wasn’t fun enough. :) Also, the country store has nearly everything you could imagine — taffy, fresh baked goods, flowers, coffee, other produce, etc. There’s also a sit-​down restaurant and a whole botanical garden full of flowers for purchase.
This place is not boring, but it’s also not somewhere to go for a quiet and relaxed afternoon of picking apples/​pumpkins with your family.

I went for a «pop-​up» yoga event with apple picking to follow — it was a really fun day and I’ll be back to pick more apples later this year if I can! Every aspect of the experience is very well mapped out, so you don’t feel like you’re randomly wandering someone else’s farm. A quick 20 or so minute drive from Saint Louis, It’s very family friendly trip but also a good daytime date spot.
PS: get the kettle corn, you won’t regret it!

Love the fresh fruit and always go to get Loring peaches. The restaurant, well I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I ordered a turkey on a multigrain croissant. Don’t use multigrain croissants. A croissant is supposed to be soft, buttery and flaky. This was dry and just bad. It was supposed to have the habanero peach salsa but they were so stingy you could barely taste it. They sell and make it there. You would think they would want to showcase it so you would want to purchase. Burgers… they don’t ask how you want it cooked so they come well done and according to our waitress «take a long time to make.» I will continue to go for the produce but skip will skip the restaurant

Disappointed tonight.
Why? Two words: «Fresh corn». Or, rather… none.
I’ve eaten her many times and it finally dawned on me that it is very difficult to get fresh food during dinner. I had the «all-​you-​can-​eat fried chicken», again.
The chicken is good enough, but how can a place like Eckerts NOT have fresh corn? Canned corn? Look out the window in any direction and you will see corn growing (this review was just after the 4^th of July and the corn was WAY more than knee-​high.). Yet, the corn that is served is canned. Heck, I asked for some honey for my chicken, and was given a big bowl of square honey packets… as I sat under the sign on the wall that was touting «Honey». (Where was the little plastic bear when I needed him?)
I can walk to the adjoining market at get fantastic fresh EVERYTHING, but they can’t serve fresh veggies in their own restaurant… hmmm.
The fried biscuits (or whatever they are called) are over-​rated, too.
Maybe their tag line should be «Eckerts: We’re good enough for Illinois».

When I’m in Belleville and want breakfast, there’s only one place I go: Eckert’s. Hearty food, good sized portions, friendly service, and extremely affordable. I’ve eaten here 5 times now and am always leave satisfied and full.
I recommend their apple butter and homemade biscuits, grits, any fruit or veggie that they grow on the farm, and the chocolate chip pancakes smothered in strawberries.

I have been here many times over the years. I have enjoyed apple picking, pumpkin picking, peach picking and bought more than my fair share of Christmas trees here .More than A few times my family and I have enjoyed the restaurant. I have always liked the store. I could spend my paycheck in there .
Our service has always been good .
On tonight’s menu: Starters Grits sticks. Hubby and I had the All You Can eat Fried Chicken. The oldest son got the Farmers Burger, and the youngest had the Best PB&J ever.
The grits sticks are grits and pimento cheese mashed together then fried. They were served with a bacon anloi sauce. They were interesting to say the least. I could not taste the grits and the cheese did not come through well. The bacon anloi was okay .
Now the fried biscuits were delicious. The apple butter was great. I licked the cup clean .
The fried chicken was really good. Tender and Juicy. The sides were all fresh which is nice. The mashed potatoes were homemade yumminess. Very good .
The PB&J was really good. The youngest ate it like there was no tomorrow. It had bananas, strawberries, granola, honey and peanut butter. I have never seen him eat like ! He wants to make them at home tomorrow.
The oldest sons hamburger looked yummy, with a fried egg, and thick cut bacon. He told me that it was very tasty. I tried to sneak a bite, but taking food from a teenager is not safe, so I am going to take his word on it .
I really like this restaurant. I will come back again and again.

Wow folks what happened to service tonight?! This is just for tonight — previous 7 visits have been great. Very unorganized, ignored, when things requested it took forever to get it (dressing, sauce, drinks). Very disappointed.