Ehrhardt’s Waterfront Restaurant
Route 570, Hawley, PA 18428
570/226-6721
www.ehrhardts.com

The Waterfront Restaurant overlooking Lake Wallenpaupack at Ehrhardt’s Resort is an exclusively buffet style, family friendly eatery. The preparation and presentation of the food, like the physical surroundings, is meticulous and enticing, and the ingredients appear to be of excellent quality, but the over-all effect of the selections, at least at lunch, is of a school cafeteria. That would be the best school cafeteria you ever ate in, minus the blue haired lunch ladies, but a school cafeteria nonetheless.

The well-appointed, well-tended resort grounds and buildings had prepared me, perhaps, for something a bit more sophisticated than what the dining room delivered. The daily lunch buffet always offers a salad bar, two homemade soups (a salty potato-cheese and a variation on minestrone on the day of my visit), a breadboard, “hero heaven,” a cut your own board with two choices of hoagie, and a sundae bar featuring Hershey’s ice cream. It was the hot selections, though, varying with the day of the week, which really brought me back to the old school daze. Monday: a choice of pizzas, macaroni and cheese (orange, in the style of Velveeta), chicken tenders with BBQ sauce and frankfurters with all the toppings.

My husband and I disagreed about the salad. I thought it was O.K.; he thought it could have been a bit fresher. On all other counts we concurred. The frankfurters were plump, good quality knockwursts rather than hot dogs, the salad bar choices, other than the disputed greens, were numerous and scrupulously fresh, and the three kinds of rich, moist cookies included in the well-stocked ice cream bar were very good. One of the hoagies rose a bit above the creativity of the rest of the occasion, ensconcing tender roast beef with a surprisingly sharp cheddar, accompanied by some unusual condiments—a gherkin mustard and a cranberry mayonnaise, among more predictable spreads.

The largely college age wait staff here, although perfectly professional, contributed to the resort atmosphere.

For the general public as well as Ehrhardt’s guests, the restaurant is a desirable spot for a good quality, if not imaginative, reasonably priced lunch, especially for a large party, or for one of any size with children. The variety of popular dishes, many of them in the guise of fast food, must appeal to kids, and at under $4, the children’s price certainly must appeal to parents. Our bill, for two adult buffets, a wine, an iced tea and two coffees, was $25 without tip.

The restaurant serves a dinner buffet which, like the lunch buffet, varies entrees by the day of the week. Each day also features a carving station or a made-to-order station, such as fajita or stir fry, as well as an impressive variety of main and side dishes. Some, such as apple demi glace chicken, honey walnut crusted pork and green beans with bacon and beer, sound intriguing. Others, even for dinner, evoke the cafeteria for me—chicken in pineapple sweet and sour sauce, or batter dipped cod. As does lunch, dinner includes a spectacular view of Lake Wallenpaupack along with the soup, salad, bread and dessert bars.

I would visit Ehrhardt’s again on an occasion requiring ample good food in a wholesome setting, but I wouldn’t recommend it to an adventurous or imaginative food aficionado.

Hours:
Monday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday – Saturday, 11:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sunday breakfast buffet, 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Sunday dinner buffet, 1:30 - 9:00 p.m.

Banquet facility available.