I’ve been on vacation all week & took a drive down to Sarasota for the day.  On the way home, I got some take out pie from Yoders.  There are no photos because once I took the first bite, it didn’t last very long.  The mixed berry was really good, but the blueberry cream pie was probably the best blueberry pie I’ve ever eaten in my life.  I don’t know that I’ve ever had a blueberry pie with blueberries that were so fresh and crunchy.  Sadly, all the blueberry pies I’ve ever eaten were just mushy inside.  And Yoders makes some of the best pie crust around too.  Mmmm… I think I need to take another trip to Sarasota soon.

Two pieces of pie & a side of mac & cheese that was awesome, creamy and yummy ended up being the most well spent $13 to date.

Yoder’s Restaurant
3434 Bahia Vista St
Sarasota, FL
(941) 955-7771

Since the line at Yoder’s was out the door, we drove over to Troyer’s Dutch Heritage for dinner instead.  This place is huge!  Besides the restaurant, there’s also a bakery and gift shop.  From the moment we walked in, it had a very corporate, commercialized feel to it. 

We were able to get a table without a wait.  Our waitress was very prompt about taking our drink orders and then returning quickly to get our dinner order.  They had a buffet, but we both decided to order off the menu. 

Loren chose the roast beef dinner and for his two sides he got mashed potatoes and gravy and the salad bar.  As soon as he sat down from filling his plate at the salad bar, our entrees arrived.  This place is all about moving quantities of people through quickly. 

The fresh rolls were probably the best part of the meal.

They had a pretty big salad bar.  Loren said he just had to try a mustard egg.  He didn’t think much of it.  Said it was pretty dry. 

As for the roast beef and mashed potatoes, he said they were ok, but nothing special.   They touted their mashed potatoes as “real” mashed potatoes, but I swear they had something other than just potatoes, milk and butter in them.  That’s my definition of real mashed potatoes.  If you add dried potato flakes or anything else to them, the consistency, taste, and texture is altered past the point of them tasting like real mashed potatoes.

I ordered the 3 piece dark meat broasted chicken with creamed corn and sweet potato casserole.

I didn’t really like either of the side dishes.  The corn was very bland and tasteless.  The sweet potato casserole had a flavor in it that I couldn’t quite identify.  It just didn’t satisfy.  The chicken was ok, but I didn’t like the taste of the coating on it.  Healthier that way, since I didn’t feel compelled to eat the skin, but I would have liked more overall flavor.  Honestly, I think the chicken from the deli at Publix tastes better.

We got a slice of apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.  The waitress split it into two plates.

The pie was ok, but definitely not sweet enough.  The top crust was pretty good because it was sprinkled with sugar, but the filling was bland and the ice cream was soft serve.

Total dinner ran us $31.  While we were eating, Loren said the food tasted like what you’d get at the old Morrison’s Cafeteria restaurants.  It was all just very bland and tasted like it was just being churned out in large batches to feed the masses.   I didn’t feel like I was eating at a down home restaurant, but rather at a corporate franchise.

Troyer’s Dutch Heritage
3713 Bahia Vista St
Sarasota, FL
941-955-8007

We had planned to eat dinner at Yoder’s in Sarasota on the drive back home from Naples; however, the line was out the door when we got there.  Knowing we still had another hour or so to drive home, there was just no way we were going to be able to wait in that line for dinner.

Instead, I ordered a couple of pieces of pie from the carryout window.  They aren’t joking when they say get there early if you want pie because I finally had to ask the lady which pies they actually still had after running through a few that I wanted and being told they were sold out.

I ended up with a slice of chocolate cream pie and a slice of black raspberry pie.

I didn’t find the chocolate cream pie to be anything special, though the crust was very good.  The pudding and cream were just very generic and didn’t have any outstanding flavors.

The black raspberry, on the other hand, was quite amazing.  The crust was light and flaky and the filling was perfectly sweetened.  I took one bite and scarfed the rest of it in short order. 

I’d love to go back down and try the food.  The baked pies are definitely the way to go.  Two slices was almost $10, so a little pricey, but the black raspberry was definitely worth it.

Yoder’s Restaurant
3434 Bahia Vista St
Sarasota, FL
(941) 955-7771