Clifton Mill - Clifton, OH

Posted By Michael Stern on November 18, 2005 10:22 PM

Hankering for a good plate of corn meal mush or buckwheat cakes with rugged-textured sausage? How about a pair of biscuits the size of softballs, accompanied by a vast bowl full of creamy sausage gravy? If those are your likin’s, come to Clifton Mill and feast. This genuine water-powered grist mill, the largest in the U.S., has a rustic dining room with a view of Clifton Gorge and the huge mill wheel turning just outside.

That mush is really good: three tiles of cornmeal fried into crunchy squares with a delicious sticky interior – great with a little syrup poured on top. The biscuits and gravy is a daunting meal … although we did watch a ten-year-old boy at a nearby table polish off the whole thing with precise strategy, mopping the last of the gravy with his last piece of biscuit. The assortment of pancakes, made from grain ground on premises, is vast, including whole wheat, buttermilk, buckwheat, cornmeal, apple-cinnamon, banana walnut, and oat bran honey. Blueberries, raisins, or chocolate chips can be added to any kind you like.

There is a gift shop attached to the restaurant where the mill’s grains are sold along with country-style nick-nacks. Christmas aficionados should note that Clifton Mill puts on a display that is WAY over the top: 2.5 million lights on the building, in the gorge, and in the waterfall itself, plus a collection of 3000 different Santa Clauses, and a live Santa who goes up the chimney every half hour. Starting the day after Thanksgiving and continuing through New Years, the lights display goes on every night at 6 and runs until 9:30, weather permitting.

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Posted By Joel Miller on September 7, 2011 3:26 PM

We too had wanted to visit for a long time. The trip up to Clifton was great, and visiting the area and the mill was a lot of fun. The breakfast, however, is nothing to write home about. The pancakes may be huge but they are dry and tasteless. The other items are also just so-so. Hit a restaurant in Yellow Springs, or try Young's Dairy Barn, not far from Clifton Mills.

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Posted By Gary Net on June 13, 2011 12:26 PM

After hearing about the Clifton Mill for years we decided to give it a try. It was clearly the worst restaurant I have ever visited.

I had a pancake which was flat, tough, and tasteless. I had to use a knife to cut it. My wife had biscuits and gravy and I couldn't even cut the biscuit with a knife. The gravy was too thick and not at all good-tasting. These were the worst biscuits and gravy she ever had.

This was also the first time I made the effort to wait and complain to the manager.

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Posted By Gregory Yoder on January 4, 2011 3:12 PM

Great comfort food. Breakfast's are pretty first rate too.

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pancakes

Biscuits and Gravy

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