LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — If you believe USA Today's 10Best rankings, two of the top three buffet restaurants in the nation are located roughly 13 miles apart in Lancaster County.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord, which touts itself as "the largest buffet in America," was voted the best buffet in the USA on the USA Today 10Best Buffet Restaurant list, which was released Wednesday.
The restaurant and farmer's market, which is located at 1324 Main Street in East Earl, serves up delicious Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine on a 200-foot-long smorgasbord. USA Today said it earned the No. 1 ranking by offering "well-prepared comfort food" in a space "designed to offer a cafeteria-style ambiance."
Meanwhile, Miller's Smorgasbord, located just 13 miles away from Shady Maple along Lincoln Highway East in Ronks, checked in at No. 3 on the USA Today 10Best list.
The family-owned buffet restaurant, which is celebrating its 95th year, is praised by USA Today for its offerings of "Swedish meatballs, Lancaster County chicken corn soup, chicken and waffles, baked ham with cider sauce, and Pennsylvania Dutch shoofly pie" on its smorgasbord table.
It's the second straight year that Shady Maple and Miller's have finished in the top five on the USA 10Best Readers Choice list. Last year, Shady Maple checked in at No. 4 in the rankings, while Miller's was No. 3.
"Buffet restaurants are popular across the United States for good reason," USA Today said. "They're affordable, convenient, and offer a variety of dishes and cuisines to suit different tastes and preferences. That makes them a great option for a group outing on a budget."
To compile the list, a group of 20 nominees are selected for the USA Today 10Best Reader's Choice list by a panel of experts. Readers then vote for the top-10 winners.
Shady Maple beat out runner-up The Court of Two Sisters restaurant in New Orleans for the No. 1 ranking. Der Dutchman (Sarisota, Fla.) and Casey's Buffet (Wilmington, NC) round out the top five.
Red Ginger Buffet (Elizabethtown, TN), Tomato Cafe (Albuquerque, NM), North Country Steak Buffet (La Crosse, WI), Brooks Shaw's Old Country Store (Jackson, TN), and Cinzetti's Italian Feast (Overland Park, KS) are the remaining restaurants on the top ten list.
