Knoebels food and beverage?

NitroRider said:

If I lived anywhere close to knoebels I am sure I would be at least 350 lbs.

I'm sure you saw a few of those while you were there.

My first encounter with pork chop on a stick was last week at the Iowa State Fair. It was a huge chop, smokey roasted, and they did a clever thing by frenching the bone so you held onto it as the "stick" while you walked around and ate it. So yummy, and it's huge business there at the Iowa pork producers restaurant, thousands a day. I turned to my partner and said "I wish I had people lined up down the block to hand me 6 bucks for something!"
My visits to Knoebel's are few and far between, sadly. (I've kind of been waiting for Flying Turns... dum de dum de dum...) but everyone's talk of the chop makes me want to go NOW. That caramel apple treatment sounds delish.

NitroRider, I'm just glad to see you went to Knoebels as well as Hershey! Awesome!!

Yea they are both great places, I wish I lived closer because its a perfect balance since the Parks are polar opposites but both great in their own way. I'm trying to plan a trip in October to both again.

I finally got the chance to visit Knoebels! Here was my food tally, thanks to some tips here:

--I tried to order a "Famous Knoebels Banana Split," but the employee told me it was too near close, and I had to order something simpler. Okay? A vanilla soft serve cone it was! Surprisingly, it was easily the best soft serve vanilla cone I'd ever had...very rich and creamy.

--Next up: pierogies and tri-taters. The pierogies weren't bad, but not really my cup of tea. The tri-taters were delicious, but somewhat comparable to Arby's.

--It was about 9PM, and I went to try the famous Knoebels pizza that people either love or feel meh about. They only had taco and hoagie pizza available. I debated skipping it, as it'd never be a fair pizza to judge, but I went ahead with the taco pizza anyway. The presentation was horrible. They grabbed a slice from the back, put it on a paper plate, and heated it in an oven in front of me. It was still only semi warm when given to me, and it was pretty meh -- you could tell it had been sitting for awhile. At least they heated it up though?

--I had the frozen apple cider, and my friend had the green apple cider. We both loved them -- a definite hit.

--Birch beer: I initially thought it was just clear root beer, but then it morphed into a more sweet wintergreen taste. Not bad.

--Vanilla ice cream waffle sandwich: Not bad, but nothing special. The waffles were kind of soggy and rubbery. The presentation was also a turn off. Seeing someone rip open a processed square of ice cream and throw it onto 2 waffles didn't feel special. I wanted to see some fresh waffles being pulled off an iron and some hand-dipped ice cream action...on a plate made of gold with a parsley garnish. No dice.

Overall, I wish I had the chance to try the food earlier in the day, rather than from 6PM until 9:30PM. I'm sure it would have been better. Still, I'll be craving that frozen apple cider. I wonder why more places don't have this?

Jeph said:
They grabbed a slice from the back, put it on a paper plate, and heated it in an oven in front of me. It was still only semi warm when given to me, and it was pretty meh -- you could tell it had been sitting for awhile. At least they heated it up though?

To be fair this is how any pizza shop that sells slices operates.

I'd hope the selling velocity would be high enough in the afternoon such that fresh slices would be cut and quickly distributed before needing to be reheated.

For future reference, if you buy a whole pizza, do they generally make it on the spot with a wait, or are they pre-baked and put on holding shelves, Little Caesars-style?

Jeph, I believe if you order whole pies they bake the entire thing while you wait.

To add to the discussion, since the weather was so beautiful on Sunday, I asked my mom if she wanted to go to Knoebels just to walk around. For supper, I suggested going to the Alamo (sitdown) restaurant, since we hadn't been there for a few years. We went in right before they stopped seating people around 6:00.

We both ordered the roast turkey platter, which included 2 slices of white meat layered over chunks of dark meat, bread filling, choice of potato, choice of vegetable, small serving of cranberry relish, and gravy served on the side. We both ordered coffee, which they brought in a pot so Mom had one refill and I took two. For less than 2 bucks a piece, we could have ordered "dinners", which would have included an appetizer and salad in addition to everything else.

Our bill came to $26 and change, so less than $16 a person with the tip. I've spent that much for burger/fries/drink at other places.

I suddenly feel very hungry.

Sadly, I didn't make it to Knoebels yet, and I will be most likely going to PPP, but that's a limited menu, so...

Probably better that way anyway. I have lost 20 pounds, nearly two pant sizes, and two shirt sizes. I'd probably gain half of it back if I ate all these goodies...

I really wanna drink the frozen cider though.

Bunky, did we mention that at the craft fair at the entrance to the park, there are at least 50 food vendors? BTW, good for you on the weight loss.

RGB, my niece's sixteenth bday party was this weekend, so I ate way more than I should have...gotta be good now afterwards...so thank you for pointing out the wide variety of food vendors that are gonna be there. If I didn't like you, I would hate you. Tee hee...

We are heading over to the park today. It is the last day of regular operations and the last chance to get the great park food until Spring. I am going to fill up on eggplant fries :)

Holy cow! Pork chop on a stick? I'll be trying that at PPP. Everything taste better on a stick.

I'm a fan of the fried pierogies sold at the Round Stand. That location is closed for PPP, but you can still get the same product from a stand within the covered bridge festival. There's also Monte Cristo at a sold somewhere near the bandstand, but it's always closed up for PPP too.

I'm a fan of Knoebels's think crust pizza. The thin slices served up during PPP are served up so quickly, I think they lose a lot of the quality. Still, it's not bad though.

^^Yeah, I LOVE that "Think" crust pizza. The official pizza of Knoebels,Mensa, and Jeopardy!

At least he didn't type "pork chop on a stink." But yeah, the Monte Cristos are served at the Roaring Creek Saloon stand.

Oh noes. I didn't know the park wasn't going to be full-throttle with the food during PPP. I mean, with all those people there, how do they feed em?

With free pizza?

Mike Gallagher said:
^^Yeah, I LOVE that "Think" crust pizza. The official pizza of Knoebels,Mensa, and Jeopardy!

I liked this so much I just wanted to repost it for everyone. FTW, Mike.

If we both make it to PPP, I'll buy you a slice, bunky.