Yoder’s Restaurant

Really was looking forward to this place but didn’t live up to the hype? Food was cooked without any seasoning and their idea of bringing bread to the table were slices? Service was really good and they had a wonderful selection of desert in which if I go back it’ll be just for pie?!

Yoders is such a comforting place to come. The inside of the restaurant is homey and very clean. The waitresses are the most friendly people I’ve ever met. The food is delicious home cooking, yet elevated.
Their cinnamon rolls are amazing and HUGE. They are also home made. The building isn’t new, but it is well kept and the bathrooms are really nice and clean as well.
On one side of the restaurant is a fresh produce market and on the other side is a little retail store.

Good pie!
Can feel comfortable dining alone.

Apparently I got lucky and came at a time/​day when there was not a line out the door. I hear this can be an issue sometimes.
I came for breakfast, on my way to the airport but with enough time to spare, for a sit down meal.
I had the Southern Grilled Oatmeal, essentially an oatmeal pie. Only they served me three slices as a single serving. I was able to power through two of them and enjoyed every bite. The last slice I donated to the parking attendant at the airport.
I know my experience was atypical and I will have to return for dinner and dessert some time. I look forward to this.

Have only ever been here for breakfast but it is always great. Very friendly service with great food to go along with it

Bring your appetite and get here early. Then get ready to eat. And I mean, really EAT.
Food here is genuine home-​style cooking that tastes absolutely wonderful. This is like your Grandma’s cooking from years back: huge portions, nothing exotic or fancy and oh so satisfying.
We came for breakfast on the day we visited. All of us ordered the breakfast burrito, which comes with scrambled eggs and your choice of sausage or bacon and your choice of American Cheese, Swiss, Colby or Cheddar in it. Hash browns or grits is the side that comes with the burrito.
When it arrives, go ahead and put your eyes back in your head. HUGE. The burrito is cut in half; salsa and sour cream are also provided. Ask for hot sauce and you’ll be given a big bottle of Tabasco Sauce to spice it up if you like. No matter what you think, you end up eating the whole thing because it’s just that darn good. Hash browns were wonderful — not the usual greasy fare you get at most breakfast locations.
After eating one of these breakfasts, you have just eaten your only meal needed until dinner. Seriously.
Parking can get tight and the lines can get really long (from what I understand) if you get here later in the morning. Service is excellent.
Pay as you leave — and grab some of their cookies on the way out. A definite treat for another time because you’ll be too stuffed to eat anything for the next six to eight hours at least.
Burp!

The VERY BEST FOOD IN TOWN! AWESOME Buffet, awesome service. Always a pleasant experience eating Amish. Always cleans restaurant and clean restrooms.
Their homemade cream is AWESOME

The food isn’t great for diets but it’s excellent for good down home cooking. My family ordered a few different dishes so I was able to try the fried chicken and pot roast. Both were great.

The line wrapped around the restaurant and out into the parking lot in the rain. This made me a little skeptical, and wonder if it was just all just hype. It is well worth the wait, even with two young kids!
The line moved quickly. Once seated, the service was excellent. She knew the menu and was on top of things the whole time.
The portion sizes was excellent for the price. The price was very good for the quality of food.
I highly recommend this restaurant, even if you have to wait in the rain for it.

Happy belated 40^th Birthday, Yoder’s! In 2015, everybody celebrated Yoder’s arrival in Sarasota. From what I’ve read, at their first year holiday, Yoder’s sold 500 pies at Christmas. In 2015, it had 7,000 orders. That’s some serious baking. The neighborhood around Yoder’s is called Pinecraft. It is a vacation destination for the Amish and Mennonites of NY, PA, OH and IN. And of course, they gladly welcome us foodie interlopers. Over the last couple of years, Yoder’s added a fresh produce market, a take-​out market, and a gift shop alongside it’s perennially popular restaurant. The complex, complete with outdoor picnic tables is now called Yoder Village.
Mennonites live the simple life. Their recipes are plain and simple — As in simply delicious, as far as I’m concerned. I stopped for breakfast and had a biscuit with bacon, cheese and egg. This choice was fresh, huge, and cost barely six bucks.

Items Selected:
Sweet Bun
Fried Corn Mush
Strawberry Stuffed French Toast
Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit
Buttermilk Biscuit
Yoder’s Style Key Lime Pie
Butterscotch Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Pecan Pie Bar
Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pie
Oatmeal Raisin Whoopie Pie
Declined breakfast at 11:02am on Monday, the hard and fast dogma of «the chefs change at eleven o’clock» apparently as strict as some of the laws guarding Mennonite traditions, it was just past eight AM that a party of two was sat in the same section that was walked out on one day prior, the waitress no doubt remembering the incident but a perfect picture of graciousness with an ever present smile.
Opened in 1975, an Amish family moving south from Indiana at first serving their own needs, as well as those of the community, by way of a restaurant and grocery that has grown to the fame it sees today, Yoder’s Amish Village comprises three buildings stretching along Bahia Vista Street in Sarasota and although known best for their pies and fried chicken there is little doubt that ramped production has diminished some aspects of scratch cooking, packets from Smucker’s standing in for housemade preserves while «Table Syrup» is pure garbage for those unwilling to pay for the real Maple supplement.
Still baking breads, pies and confections each day, the market oddly selling Strawberries from California as opposed to those locally grown, it was with medium roast coffee made specifically for Yoder’s that the meal got started, the refills so rapid that one could have easily drank a gallon if not paying attention while water glasses were also kept brimming at each and every table.
Decorated quaintly, dresses and stitchery with a few knick-​knacks here and there, it was after perusing the pie case as well as the menu that decisions were made and with a sizable order to follow the only question was where to get started, the suggestion of a Sweet Bun popular for good reason given the pronounced yeastiness while liberally applied cream cheese frosting slowly melted and slid to the plate below.
Unabashedly fond of baked goods, though the other person at the table was craving something less sweet, entrees consisted of Amish Country staple «Fried Mush» with a crisp sear overlying a toothsome center lightly kissed in salt and butter, the biscuits fluffy but in some cases undermixed with small pockets of raw baking powder while the sandwich-​style French Toast was golden, buttery and perfect as a result of the custard-​infused egg bread regardless of the Strawberries’ providence.
At this point approaching the main event, some two dozen pies offered by the slice as early as 6am, it was in showing some restraint that only three were selected and although the «Yoder’s Style» Key Lime Pie was a bit unexpected with light citrus whipped directly into cream there is no doubt that the Butterscotch Pudding and Strawberry Rhubarb lived up to the legends, a trio of take-​home treats including Whoopie Pies and Crusted Pecan Bars no less delicious and available for purchase in the next door deli/​market.

Well what can you say, when people are anywhere in Florida they drive to Yoders to at leadt get a homemade classic pie. My favorite is Rassberry. Watch out as if you want to eat there there is usually a large line outside. I would suggest going during the week when you can get in without a line. Décor is same as it was in the 50s. It us Amish cooking at it’s best. Menu has all the basic Usa favorites: fried & baked chicken, hamburger, roast beef & pork, ribs pork chops, etc. prices are very modest and portions are very large. Be sure to not order to much, split a meal or something so you have room for over 50 choices of their famous homemade pies. Beware as they are made fresh when they sell out for day they are gone till next day.

Three stars for food, 5 stars for pie, 4 stars for the quaint ambiance! I was sick and tired of hearing everyone rave about Yoder’s so I decided to take the hour drive with a friend and try it myself. We went around 2 pm to avoid the lunch rush and it paid off. Parking was easy and there was no wait.
Inside, it looks like a quaint, homely diner. I didn’t really know what to expect from an Amish restaurant, but it fits. Our waitress was attentive and very helpful with food suggestions. She brought out some standard slices of bread, but the homemade apple butter on the table could have made even the stalest, moldiest bread taste wonderful. We both got the quarter fried chicken, which was too big for either of us to finish. It was lightly fried, yet tasty with good hunks of breast meat. I did not choose to get any «house dressing» to dip it in, but it would have been good with bbq sauce. Overall, not the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, but I definitely appreciated the lighter, freshly fried breading. The corn muffins on the side were hot and delicious, although the mashed sweet potatoes were fairly plain.
What really makes Yoder’s magnificent is the pies! Leave room for two desserts. They have so many flavors you WILL have trouble deciding. I ordered a slice of peanut butter creampie. The peanut butter flavor was perfect and tasted natural. I am not normally a whipped cream fan, but the way the whipped cream blended with the homemade crust and gooey peanut butter cream was something else. I can’t wait to try the chocolate cream pie I brought home! Next time I think I’ll venture into some of the fruit pies they serve. I can’t wait!

Yoders is famous, and for good reason. My mother and I stopped in on our way to St. Armand’s and enjoyed an absolutely delicious lunch. The appetite teaser of fresh baked bread and homemade apple butter was so lovely, it really reminded me of a childhood snack in a cozy kitchen from my youth.
We both decided on the roast turkey platter with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce. It was amazing and tasted just like Thanksgiving. It was belly filling and heart warming.
It was hard to find room, but I managed to find room somewhere for a slice of pecan pie. Heaven, plain and simple. Flaky crust and warm gooey filling. Perfection.
Can’t wait for another reason to travel south to stop by Yoders again!

My friend and I drove through Sarasota/​Pinecraft specifically for the Yoder restaurant experience. The line to get seated was out the door but we didn’t wait more than 20 minutes. Our server was friendly and knowledgable and the food was good but it wasn’t better than any other home cooked lunch restaurant.
My friend ordered the fried chicken with corn muffins and I ordered the roast beef with fried okra. The friend chicken was good and was served in very large portions. The flavor was greatly increased by the addition of the house french dressing that is served for dipping. Her corn muffins were delicious. My roast beef was good was but it wasn’t great yet the fried okra was crispy and fully flavored.
We both ordered a slice of pie to go (Apple Crumble and Rhubarb) but both were gummy and stuck in the throat. Perhaps too much pectin, not sure…
Our visit was not bad at all but I was surprised by the lack of flavor in some food and the pies were not as good as I had hoped. Perhaps my expectations were too high.
*please see my reviews for the other Yoder businesses (those are much better.)

Yoder’s Restaurant not the Star Wars Yoda. However they share similar age as movie and restaurant. Both the movie and restaurant are over 40 years old. This is an accomplishment to the area. Do you know this restaurant is located at the Amish village of Sarasota? Just need to swing to the back of the restaurant, you will see the community of Amish people.
The food is home made and the are delicious. Today we arrive a bit late and we saw a long line in front of the restaurant and we decided to do the carry out allow us time to get to the concert later. We have order the pan seared salmon with dill sauce and the Monday special pull pork plater. The salmon come with two side and the pull pork come with one. Bothe dishes is smell good.
The surprise is not from the food. It is the mint tea ice cold drink. It has good indescribable taste. It is all good for hot day.

They have awesome fried chicken and meatloaf!
Don’t leave without eating their banana cream pie or peanut butter pie! They will split pie slices to share! Our waitress Leanna was very good and made sure everyone was taken care of.

Great, huge portions. Like many other reviewers mentioned, the house special is southern comfort food. We checked them out for breakfast. All three of us ordered the Country Breakfast consisting of country fried steak with white, pepper gravy (think a tastier version of saw mill gravy at Cracker Barrel). It came with your choice of hashbrowns or grits, toast or biscuit, and two eggs served any style you like. I opted for scrambled eggs, biscuit (for extra gravy), and hasbrowns. My food literally filled up two plates! I included pics for doubters.
Other breakfast plates coming out that looked amazing were the raspberry cream cheese stuffed French toast, these skillet breakfasts, sausage gravy plates, and even cinnamon buns.
A couple of things to mention… they are known for their pies. People came by the whole time we were eating to get take out pies– by the slice or the whole thing. They say that the customer favorite is the peanut butter cream. They have a key lime (I mean this is florida!) and a praline pie that were calling my name. Maybe next time if I split breakfast I’ll have room for pie. Or I’ll order one to go. I left so stuffed today I couldn’t even think about which piece I would want.
I heard they go on a long wait at times. We showed up around 10 am for breakfast and sat immediately but there were groups of two on a 20 min wait or so. If you have to wait for a table, don’t worry because the food is served quickly within 10 minutes or so of ordering.

This restaurant smell so good on the inside! Everything they make here is made from scratch using the same ingredients as traditional Amish families have been doing it for generations. These families migrated from Pennsylvania to Florida generations ago.
The menu features homemade cream pies, regular pies, and cookies. They also make their famous southern/​farmhouse dishes which include, but not limited to fried chicken and associated fixings.
The staff are Amish as well and they are very friendly and welcoming. Due to its national popularity, they have efficiently organize the incoming waiting lines to prevent clashes and clutters of people funneling in. They also have a pick up window for those ordering takeout if you so choose.
I would definitely recommend this place as a nice home down family-​style restaurant for anyone local or visiting Sarasota.

4 stars for Holy cow… if you are looking for a home cooked meal like no other… look no further.
I’ve first heard of Yoder’s through my parents who travel to Sarasota often and was glad I finally got to go. First off I read through Unilocal reviews that the baked chicken was where it’s at, so I had to order it! It was a quarter chicken with 2 sides, I went with fries and warm fried apples. Before your meal is served, they give you just about a half loaf of bread for an appetizer with butter, like your meal wasn’t enough. But since I was warned beforehand I knew the meal would be large. And large and in charge it was! It could easily be 3 meals for me! My husband ordered the pork bbq with fries and mac and cheese. Hello comfort food!
All in all, it was a great experience, we did have a little bit of a wait during the lunch hour, but the waitress was quick to refill our drinks and asked how we were. And if the main meal wasn’t enough they also have a large section of pies… famous for them. So we had to get the peanut butter pie to-​go.
Also, if you have time go to their Market area, which is right next door to the restaurant. So many good looking fruits/​veggie items, as well as other nuts, honey and sweets. My only critique was the bathrooms were a bit small and i felt like the tables throughout the restaurant were a bit crammed in space.