Oakhurst Tea Room

Cute gift shop. Food was a disappointment. The meats were very dry and flavorless. There was a dry film over most dishes even the spaghetti squash. We mistakenly thought chicken gravy was creamed corn. Mashed potatoes were homemade but had little flavor. I suppose it was off season and hence the food quality was off but this was pretty much a write off for $ 25. Perhaps we should have had some tea.

Their mushroom soup is the best I’ve had and the salad bar dressings are very good. The mac and cheese is good.

Wow! Local landmark for a reason! Expect lots of food & traditional selections. That’s what has made this place famous. Love their Sunday brunch & Friday seafood buffet!!!
DESERTS ARE WORTH THE TRIP ALONE!
Other poor reviews make no sense to me, if you’re a health nut– why are you going to a smörgåsbord ?? How could you expect anything but meat & tater basics in this little town!!! IF YOU WANT RABBIT food, don’t go to a buffet! I agree that Oakhurst could «modernize» & offer some healthier/​lighter fare, but til then we will still appreciate all they do WELL!!! Well worth a try, great place when we have a houseful of hungry guests & everyone wants differen fare!

We had a family gathering (20 of us) today at Oakhurst Tea Room at lunch. There was plenty of food and a number of meat selections. There was ham, chicken (2 kinds), sausage, and beef stroganoff. There were two soups, salad, and 3 or 4 breads. Some of the selections were tastier than others, but I think that is typical with buffet style restaurants. There was a selection of ice cream and desserts. Service was good. Fun was had by all.

I stumbled upon this place and am so happy I did! I thoroughly enjoyed the raisin bread and soft cinnamon butter spread, the salad bar in general, and the chicken noodle soup.
The soup’s broth was amazing!!! The salad bar was clean and everything looked fresh. My only complaint is all the lettuce was iceberg. Other than that, it was perfect!

It was okay nothing spectacular just okay. The food was kind of boring. It was ham, chicken, a weird meatball sub casserole and mashed potatoes and some frozen peas. I was not impressed at all. The service was good but it was a buffet. I wouldn’t come back to this place.

We spend a lot of time in the Laurel Highlands year round and have always wanted to stop and eat here.
We were seated quickly and went right to the buffet. They call it a smörgåsbord. Lots and lots to choose from. Beef, turkey and ham are carved and very good. Actually all the dishes were good except the pastas. They looked as though they had been sitting all night and the buffet began about 20 minutes before we arrived. Dry and old looking. I just didn’t try any of them. So many choices it didn’t matter. Desserts were very good and displayed nicely. I don’t know if they are made on the premises are not but the coconut cake alone was worth the trip.
If you like a lot of food for a great price you will enjoy it.
Will we go back? Occasionally. Ate too much.

Food was bland and overpriced. Much of it was inedible and severely overcooked or dried up. Expected a bit of a wait as our visit was on a Friday evening, but that was not the case. The price difference for their seafood buffet was more than double, and only meant access to four items (boiled shrimp, clams, crab legs and mussels). As expected, all were terrible.

We found ourselves near Somerset after a day spent bicycling on the nearby GAP Trail. Our wives, who began the day running a 10K in Rockville, had snagged coupons for the Oakhurst Tea Room, and it seemed like the perfect stop: we were ravenous, tired, and a little weary from being out in the sun. As an added bonus, the place scored Nostalgia Points: my family used to go to the Oakhurst when I was a kid, more than 30 years ago, with my favorite great-​aunt and great-​uncle.
Second thoughts greeted me in the entry, which houses what I’ll generously describe as a really tacky gift shop – not quaint or cute or kitschy tacky, just tacky. Angel figurines. Gnomes. Fake Pennsylvania Dutch candies. Hallmark. One of our companions observed that everyone would be better served by a yard sale in the lobby – less overhead, lower prices, and all that junk is headed to the yard sale anyway. From a quick look at the target demographic in attendance it was headed there sooner rather than later.
It was Saturday evening, and the place was humming. We didn’t have to wait to be seated, but business was brisk. I noticed the strangest thing – out of at least a hundred grown women in the place, the two in our party were among only 5 who were not wearing white slacks. If someone had told me that we had stumbled into a convention of long-​retired nurses, I would have taken nodded my head and taken it at face value. Quite a few of the men wore white pants as well. It has to be a generational thing.
Our waitress seated us close to the multiple steam tables – dozens upon dozens of possibilities protected beneath crystal clear sneeze guards. I didn’t even take my seat, but rushed for the calories. I had a slice of ham that wasn’t bad, but that was about it. The famous onion rings I had so enjoyed as a kid were still unbelievably giant, but they were bland and soggy, along with the potatoes. i tried the mashed potatoes and found them overly processed and unrecognizable as potatoes – reminded me of baby food. There were two pastas with red sauce: the «marinara» on the rigatoni was sticky and foul, while the sauce on the penne tasted slightly better – a little zing from sausage and pepper seeds. My kids had chicken that was serviceable, but for the most part the food was bland and overcooked and/​or soggy from too much time on the steam tables. Perhaps the best way to describe the food as an ungodly hybrid of Sunday Church Covered Dish Dinner and old school College Cafeteria, with a lot more sticky sauces and gravy. Sigh.
They had fresh ice cream you can scoop yourself (the highpoint of the meal, but although the other deserts looked pretty, they were uniformly dry and boring. I am a fat man, but I didn’t finish my cake.
We sent our waitress for ketchup when she brought our water, and after she brought it to us we did not see her again until we flagged her down for the check. We never saw her stop moving the entire night, and I didn’t want coffee of more water enough to disrupt her frenzied rounds – seems like the Oakhurst could use another waitress or two at peak hours. I usually prefer privately owned local restaurants, but while I was eating my mind kept returning to the realization that the $ 50 tab would have been better spent at Ponderosa of Fire Mountain – keeping in mind that the review I wrote of Fire Mountain was so loaded with caustic negative hyperbole that Unilocal!deleted it and sent me a warning. I would have thought, on such a busy night, that the food would be at it’s peak. I’d be scared indeed if that were true.
Maybe the breakfast buffet is better?

My friends and I rented a cabin in Somerset Pennsylvania for the weekend. We would always pass the Oakhurst advertisement on a billboard. Considering that it was country food and we were in the country side, my friends and I decided to give it a try. Considering it was a buffet, it was a plus for us.
Upon entering the premises, you will see a mini gift shop with overpriced hallmark items, which can be found cheaper at a hallmark store or even online. As we entered the dining area, where we were seated by a friendly hostess, I saw the room to be empty (with the exception of two couples).
As we were on our way to be seated, I took a glimpse of the buffet. I was not impressed nor did I want to eat anything from the buffet. The dessert table looked pathetic and the cake looked rather old and crusty. I decided to order from the menu.
The menu did not have much of a variety. As a matter of fact, whatever the buffet had, the menu had with the prices higher than the buffet. Considering how disappointed I was with the buffet, I just ordered off the menu.
I order the chicken topped over the challah bread (think french toast bread) with the gravy on the side (I am not a huge fan with gravy smothered over my food). My sides consisted of stuffing and apple sauce. The apple sauce was not sweetened or warm. It was cold without flavor. They could have at least added Cinnamon. The highlight of the whole dish was the stuffing. Considering that I am picky with my stuffing, this was quite good. The chicken was not tender and it did not have any taste to it. The bread was VERY soft and doughy. I would dip the bread and chicken into the gravy, and the gravy was mediocre.
This place is a bit over priced for the quality of food they serve. Steer clear and don’t be fooled by their billboard or advertisement. We were suckered in as well and regret ever eating there.
Also, don’t expect this place to be like a tea room. They did not have a variety of tea or any tea… I don’t think tea was even on the menu!
If you have a choice between the buffet or the menu, I would say both are crappy and just go with the buffet, more variety. Though, you are being taken for a fool when it comes to dessert time, which is a great disappointment.
If I could give this place no stars or a negative rating, I would.

I went to the Oakhurst for the first time with my family yesterday afternoon and I must say I was not impressed at all!!! Everyone raves about this place and I’m not sure why. The baked chicken was extremely salty and the other meats that they had available on the buffet were dry and unedible, even the sides were gross. The mashed potatoes were too runny and the stuffing was too dry. Even the desserts were not up to my liking. (and I love any kind of dessert) Dry Cheescake!!! I think not!!! Plus, the whipped topping tasted very phony to me. Shame on the Tea room!!! There were some upsides to this place, only 2 I can think of though. The wait staff was very attentive and friendly and the only good thing about the buffet was the cherry bread that was next to the dinner rolls, other than that this place blows!!! I wouldn’t suggest this place to my worst enemy. Save your money and go to Hoss’s Buffet…

The Oakhurst «Tea» Room has been around for over 65 years. There was no «Tea» involved in this little Tea Room when gentlemen gathered together to have liquor served from tea pots and into «tea» cups, during prohibition.
They serve a smörgåsbord lunch, a Sunday smörgåsbord brunch and a Friday night seafood smörgåsbord. I was never very impressed with the food but my mother always thought it was wonderful and this is where she choose to go on special occasions.
Everything is made from scratch, nothing is ever frozen. They have a huge dessert bar with hand-​dipped ice cream.
The 1940’s and 1950’s Oakhurst featured many big bands and attractions from New York City and was often referred to as ‘The Night Spot” for the surrounding areas.
In 1933 they started serving «all you can eat chicken and waffle dinners» for 50 cents and is now is its fourth generation of family operation.