SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City

I know there are many of us that don't eat very often in the city anymore. So my question is why not?

There's not an option for me. I look forward to eating at SDC. I don't think it's any more expensive than Cracker Barrel or similar restaurants. Plus, the food, for the most part is great. You can get food there that you can't get anywhere else.

There needs to be a "Nothing" option...

I have 2 votes for nothing. Anybody else?

I eat at the city, you just have to be careful where to eat, because some of the portions are small...  but as a rule you get your moneys worth...

My vote.. nothing.

Considering my audience, "Nothing" will probably be everyone's answer. So let me slightly modify that question... If you decided not to eat in the city, which of those factors would most likely be the reason.

Always eat there at least once a day.  Even after you adjusted the question, I still couldn't answer.  I'll click on portion size!

"Portions"...   value for the dollar ;D ;D

Breakfast at the mill worth it.
Caught a mid afternoon lunch at Wagon works, not worth it.
Had potato on a stick, too greasy for me, not worth it.
Had the home style potato chips, greasy to me, not worth it.
Wassell at Christmas, worth it.
Dippin dots, grandkids loved it, I hated seeing it sold on park and didn't get any. If I want dippin dots, I can go to a mall.
Succotash at the ridge, good, and worth it both times.
BBQ lunch at ribhouse, good, and worth it.
Supper at the mine, good, and worth it.
Any refill in a SDC mug, good value, and worth it.
Any ice cream at Hannah's worth it.

Sadly I have not had a chance to try to the pizza joint, springhouse, or lumbercamp in recent years, but am highly interested in giving it a shot. I'm sure the mill for dinner or lunch is probably still a good choice. Still sad about Jack's Sandwich closing but if quality had gone down over the years, maybe they should have revamped the menu and way food was prepared. The Big Jack Sandwich in the early 1980's was FAB!

I like Junior's review, so here we go:
Potato on a stick - yummy both times I've had it
Hannah's Ice Cream - wonderful, but I'm lactose intolerant now so that's out
Ribhouse - YUM! YUM! YUM!
Lumber Camp and Buckshot Annies - Skillet bowls - I love all of them!
Wassail - made from a dry mix and yucky!
Hot chocolate - used to be good,but last few times it's been very watery
Wagon Works - hit and miss!  Turkey leg is good but have to share - very high in sodium
Taffy Shop - bring it on!
Mollie's and the Mine Restaurant - good value for money, but average food
Apple Dumpling - great every time but alas, no more for me - gluten/lactose  :'(
Funnel Cakes - pricing is way out of line
Sullivan's - worth it - price and quality
Delilah's - hit and miss; sometimes fresh and sometimes not!

Nothing for us. We tend to try to find local owned places that serve great food and avoid the theme park food and chain restaurants.

As for the reason I would say quality of the food. Most of the SDC food I have had is just ok. Used to love the skillets, but the quality of those has declined also. I also cannot stand a buffet of any kind. Not being mean , but I just cannot eat food other people have picked over , sneezed on and who knows what else.

How about a nice upscale restaurant in the city that serves food in a more elegant atmosphere. It has worked well for Disney. Maybe have it adjacent to the park so admission is not required , but you could also enter from the park.

Well with wife being diabetic, Delilahs is OUT!  but has always been good
Mine breakfast food is good. Generally better than on the strip, pricier, but better so we usually do that (Unless we get too full with Paiges oatmeal and waffles)
Ribhouse is mediocre-we generally dont care much for smoked meats, as it usually gives us both miserable heartburn.
Lumbercamp is terrible, simply terrible never had a good burger there.
Skillet by ribhouse used to be my dream place (especially in spring). Good ol taters, and corn on cob along with 1/2 chicken MMMMMM. But now they mixed sausage in with the taters "just ruined them". of course no corn this time of year. And chicken is real dry now.
Mine for supper is the stuff now. (when we eat supper in the city)

The older my wife gets, the less she likes meat, so basically a buffet is the best for us, I get my meat, she gets her veggies-we are happy


As far as Branson food in general, Well, Golden Corral is just nasty these days, Grand country Buffet is worse. We both like Montana Mike. We both like The Plantation. We both like Grand Country PIZZA buffet

Truthfully, here lately, we eat breakfast at Paiges place, Dinner just wherever we happen to be, and grab some frozen something, take back to Homestay and microblast it. Restaurants are just way to pricey for us these days.

I like that the idea for an upscale restaurant at SDC is still floating around out there. I say call the place Herschend's, and locate it on the second floor of the mill. Nice steaks, chicken, and trimmings, and linen on the table and linen napkins, very friendly service, and quiet, peaceful atmosphere.

I didn't vote because my answer is a combination of things. We have season passes so we rarely stay past 1 pm. It makes sense for us to then eat a big breakfast and then eat lunch after we leave the park. My son is a vegetarian and SDC has very little that is vegetarian and they are unwilling to alter things (i.e. leave meat out of something) so that you can get them vegetarian. I was actually told that the workers were told they could not "do that this year." Our only choices were spaghetti or cheese pizza (according to SDC) and franky if I want those, there are other places that do those dishes better than SDC. Price also comes into it. You're right, the price of a meal at SDC is about the price of a meal I'd get at Cracker Barrel (or Applebee's or IHOP). I'd rather go to those places and get a big meal than pay the same amount for a small chicken sandwich and a measley portion of calico potatoes. So no, we don't eat at SDC. Just too much work for us.

I think we all pretty well agree it is the "price versus portion"


If the portions were bigger, and more filling the price would not be as bad..pretty simple economics actually..
.

I am never not filled by the portions there, so I guess that's not a problem for me.

I am limited on the skillets as I can't stand squash or sweet potatoes, so the Lumberjack skillet w/out them and the new BBQ skillet are my favorites.

Springhouse fried chicken qualtiy is hit-or-miss, a quality inhereted, I suppose, from Aunt Polly's, whihc had the same problem.

I've never had a bad burger at the Wagon Works.

NOBODY does ice cream better than Hannah's!

Molly's Breakfast Buffet is our choice for the morning, and we usueally don't need to eat lunch later thanks to it.

The Mine has always struck me as a little too generic in their food, but you can eat a bunch, so it's filling.

Quote from: sanddunerider on October 17, 2013, 08:00:29 AM
I think we all pretty well agree it is the "price versus portion"


If the portions were bigger, and more filling the price would not be as bad..pretty simple economics actually..
.

I am in the minority. I go for quality over quantity anytime, but we really do not eat a lot either. I have never had any SDC food I would rate as a good week prepared visually appealing meal. Call me a food snob but presentation is part of a appealing meal.

I do miss the portion size of the past. Mostly, because we could share food items and then move on and try something else. We probably spent more money on food when we could share the larger portions than we do now. Now, we get coffee, hubs gets a cinnamon roll, I take my own gluten free treat, and we might eat a meal later. I miss the days when we could share a pretzel, funnel cake, skillet, etc. and work our way around the park.

Silver Dollar City suffers from Theme Park Syndrome. The prices are a bit high, the portions are a bit small, and the taste of the food is simply on par. Silver Dollar City is a theme park first, and foremost. Their "restaurant" services would be hard pressed to match any actual restaurants.

With that being said, since I already know what to expect, I am not as easily disappointed. If I had to chose one criteria, it would of course be the price. However, while inside the park, Silver Dollar City is the monopoly. You either pay the price, or you go hungry. Unless of course you bring your own food.

I think where Silver Dollar City really shines is the "snack" foods such as the funnel cake, ice cream, skillets, and so on.  :)

It wasn't so many years ago that the food options were what set them apart from the rest. There was a time when we looked forward to going to SDC because we knew how good the food was.  Now, we try to eat before we get there and leave before we are really hungry.  The wide variety of choices are nice, but they have become subpar and too expensive for a family.  I really think cutting back on portion, price, and quality is hurting them.  Food is not a place to cut costs when families and repeat visitors are the main visitors to the park.  As far as new visitors, I would want to "wow" them with the first bite, so they will want to return.

Giligan- good point and I agree..

Ozark, I love the "snacks", but that is where I think there prices are terribly HIGH..  7 bucks: tater twists, large kettle corn, funnel cake... 

the apple turnover is 6 bucks this year ( I think 5 or so last year), but it is big enough I consider it a meal!..

Yea I have answered this post, but still didnt vote.  I just have to agree with the other posts though. I feel the prices are high (but having worked at-and visited frequently) SFSL. I must say SDC food prices are not high at all in comparison. Food quality at SFSL is almost inedible. So in comparison SDC food is great. In reality, SDC food quality is "very" inferior compared to what it was just a few years ago.
---while on the subject---someone mebtioned good burgers at Wagon Works!!!   I could not agree more.  They have burgers as good as anyplace on the strip.

We used to love the skillet by Ribhouse, last meal there, the chicken was terribly dry, and little to no flavor.

I do agree with the junk food. It is good, but too high to buy, and now we cant really eat that stuff anyway. I must say though, I really do think the funnel cakes at SFSL are truly the best in the world.  They are even using SFSL batter for funnel cakes at the stadium events, and lots of "city owned" stands at local & state fairs.


I guess what I am saying is the same that others have said.

Quality of SDC food has gone way down.
Portions have gotten smaller.
Prices are getting unreasonably high.

I put this question out there kinda hoping that the PTB would actually pay attention.  For the stuff that tastes really good the portion size is going your way down and the price is going way up. the buffets make more sense but they're not nearly as good as Golden Corral. So my vote goes for portion size because there's still some really good food out there. 

Quote from: okiebluegrass on October 19, 2013, 07:17:53 AM
I put this question out there kinda hoping that the PTB would actually pay attention.  For the stuff that tastes really good the portion size is going your way down and the price is going way up. the buffets make more sense but they're not nearly as good as Golden Corral. So my vote goes for portion size because there's still some really good food out there. 

No offense, and you are entitled to your opinion, but I must stand up for our buffets at SDC.  Golden Corral is the most awful tasting food at any restaurant I've had in my life.  SDC buffets are not nearly that bad.  Not as much selection maybe, but the taste is better.
I will agree that the food at the buffets could use some improvements, but I'm not ready to go that far.

I don't go to many buffets, but when I do I want better than what I got at the Mine, this summer.  It's not the worst, but for the price, I expect better and more selection.  The service, however, was great - they seated my children before we even had our plates, so I had to babysit until my wife came to search us out.  We were seated at the rising table, and expected it to rise and surprise the kids, but it never did.  I like the setting, but would like to see it played up a little more to make it an experience and not just another restaurant with theme park food.

Quote from: History Buff on October 19, 2013, 09:30:38 AM
I don't go to many buffets, but when I do I want better than what I got at the Mine, this summer.  It's not the worst, but for the price, I expect better and more selection.  The service, however, was great - they seated my children before we even had our plates, so I had to babysit until my wife came to search us out.  We were seated at the rising table, and expected it to rise and surprise the kids, but it never did.  I like the setting, but would like to see it played up a little more to make it an experience and not just another restaurant with theme park food.

Convert the mine to a upscale restaurant where you can make reservations ahead of time. Good quality food over portion size wins with me every time.

I cannot stand the belly up to the bar buffets. Never had good food at one anywhere period.

ok, i will chime in on this finally.
we are usually up so early, by habit, that we eat before we get to SDC. If we do eat breakfast, i just wish they would change it up sometimes. i know they cover most of the bases, but food in a heated tray just dont appeal to me.
lunch, we rarely eat at the park because we never last very long. i guess a nap in mid afternoon is more pleasant. i would love to try some of the places for lunch, but the price is just too high. even with your discount if you have a pass.
when at SDC, our schedule is just all differant than it used to be, than when we used to stay all day.

Apparently the quailty of the food began to go down when the Executive Chef that the had in the 80's- 90's  left. They were always pushing him forward in their advertising back then.

Quote from: oldsdcer on October 20, 2013, 09:06:26 PM
Apparently the quailty of the food began to go down when the Executive Chef that the had in the 80's- 90's  left. They were always pushing him forward in their advertising back then.

Was that Chef Zader?  They used to market Zader seasonings with his picture on the label.

Quote from: Gilligan on October 20, 2013, 09:09:00 PM

Quote from: oldsdcer on October 20, 2013, 09:06:26 PM
Apparently the quailty of the food began to go down when the Executive Chef that the had in the 80's- 90's  left. They were always pushing him forward in their advertising back then.

Was that Chef Zader?  They used to market Zader seasonings with his picture on the label.

Yes.  Ever wonder where he is now?

Chef Douglas "Moose" Zader -- best I can tell from google is that he is in Michigan.  He was prominent at SDC with ads, seasonings, recipes, appearances on TV, etc.  I do think the park food started going downhill after SDC decided not to rehire him/laid him off/fired him.

Biscuit-I do believe you are right.  Well at least about the food quality going downhill. I didnt try to google ol Chef, but it sounds entirely possible.  But the food sure has been on a downhill spiral.

I still think SDC food (in general) is still pretty good, and especially compared to SFSL and the old Astroworld. (They had terrible food also).

I have been to WOF a couple times, but never ate a bite there. I dont have a clue how their food compares to SDC. (or even SFSL for that matter).

The wife and I made "Harvest Skilllet" at home last night and it turned out very very close to the original and a whole lot cheaper. :D

Quote from: okiebluegrass on October 23, 2013, 02:45:40 PM
The wife and I made "Harvest Skilllet" at home last night and it turned out very very close to the original and a whole lot cheaper. :D

Just don't bring any of it with you into the park. Those skillet cookin' citizens are a passionate folk, and might chase after you. ;)

It was really good, but after eating it for most of a week I'm ready for something else