Alstede Farms Review

The most beautiful farm I've ever been to and I'm so blessed that it's local! My children get to go several times a week. It does get crazy on the weekends, but that's because everyone in NJ wants to be there and they should want to be there! It's amazing! I love the Easter baby animal tour and have gone every year even before we had our children. The farm is clean, and the owners and staff are wonderful. Thank you Alstede Farms for all your hard work!

Good for the kids for sure and def the closest pick your own veggies and fruit tray Bergen County. A little overpriced in my opinion, $19.99 for a bag of candied nuts for example is just crazy. Overall an enjoyable experience between the hayrides and animals.

What a BEAUTIFUL farm!! I use to drive over an hour to go and visit before I moved closer to the area and attend weekly. Friendly animals which my daughter loves, delicious home made ice cream, beautiful farmland and friendly staff! We are so grateful and blessed to have found this farm!

Love this place. Awesome shop selling locally produced foods.

Has great country feel that draws lots of families. The produce is immaculate and as fresh as it can possibly be.

Great place to spend a day picking fruits and veggies.. the wagon rides are so much fun.. Having jersey peach ice cream is a must.

Huge place. Plan the day and pace yourself. And follow their very-reasonable rules.

I apologize for my previous review, I got confused with Hacklebarny Cider Mill.
This is a wonderful place full of pumpkins and very colorful fall decorations. We did purchase pumpkins there.

Gray experience the kids always enjoying coming here.

Had a great time pumpkin picking and doing the corn maze.

My husband and I took our two children here on Sunday looking forward to a nice family day. We were fully aware we were going at the height of the apple picking season, so the crowds did not surprise us. What did surprise us was the prices and rudeness of the staff! This place has gotten too big for its britches and has forgotten that the customers are what made them successful.

1. Price: It is $5.00 per person to just get into the place - not per family. It was me, my husband and my two children. So when we checked in, we paid $20 off the bat before we even got to do anything. So even though we were picking as a family and putting our stuff in one box, we all had to pay the $5, even my kids (one of which was not even picking anything). Then it is $1.99 per pound for the apples and boy can that add up! I didn't even check out the prices for the corn maze or the hay ride - it is all extra cost.

2. Staff: we encountered two very rude people who worked there, both of which were driving around on ATV's. One came barreling down one of the paths that we were all walking on going way too fast and kicked up dust on everyone. I had to shove my kids to the side of the road quickly because this guy was not slowing down. The other tried to cut through the VERY LONG checkout line with his ATV and was getting visibly annoyed because people weren't getting out of his way.

3. Crowds: If you do not like crowds this is NOT the place for you! The lines are very long and to add insult to injury it took us 45 minutes just to exit the parking lot. It was a nightmare. Again, I am aware we went at the height of the season, but it sure sucks the fun out of your day when it is that crowded.

Next year we will be going back to Penning's Orchard up in Warwick. They charge a flat fee of $27 and you can fill up a 1/2 bushel bag for your whole family and then some! And, they are friendly and the crowds are more manageable.

That s a rip off! We paid $70 for 3 admission tickets and small box of picked apples. No option for picking only. We have been there last year and today and that was the last time. Too expensive for this poor entertainment.

The ONLY pick your own farm that charges a "pick your own admission fee" in addition to a per pound fee. HUGE rip off, overcrowded. If you're not from New York, avoid at all costs!

We went on a weekend during the buddy season and the place was packed. Good fruit and pumpkins but very expensive. I'd go during the week next time.

**** UPDATE**** Investigation was closed on my favor. Justice Served! If you would have done something the same day I called, this fraud would have never happened. But you decided to play stup** and wait for the outcome. You got what you deserve I got my money back and you lost your money!!! Wohoooo!!!! ****** I don't know the place never been there. However I was victim of ID Theft and someone made a purchase using my CC info on Saturday 10/13/18. The next day when I see the charge on my bank account I called the farm and boy this people gave me the run around. To busy to attend my issue. Meanwhile as of today Wednesday 10/17/2018 I have called numerous times every day, and today I was told the tickets were used. I called you guys with time, you guys could have stop the FRAUD but you fail to do so. Wait for that charge back you are as guilty as the people who stole my identity for letting pass so many days without doing anything. I'm sorry but I do not accept the excuse that you couldn't do anything because this is your busiest time of the year.

A real cool experience... A Farmers Market that has a little animal farm right in back and around it.... Real Cool... Real Cool...

Loved it staff are professional and they let you enjoy your stay with no hassle or too many restrictions.

Very good place to visit especially with kids. They have lots of fun activities apart from fruit picking such as hay ride, pony ride etc. Planning to visit them again soon.

My family and I went this weekend to alstede farms and although we had a good time we also had an expensive time. When we got there we found a good parking spot so that was nice. We loved that our dogs were allowed (leashed obviously). We then had to pay $15 each person just to go where the farm, mazes, and pick area were but if you wanted the kids to enjoy the kid activities it was $25 per kid! If we wanted a box to put our picking that was an additional $2ish. The farm was nice, a lot of different pickings but because there were so many people a lot of places barely had any vegetables / fruits to pick from. The map they gave wasn t too accurate since it didn t show the whole farm nor exactly where difference vegetable were, I think that could be improved. It was packed , so to get on a tractor to come back to the main entrance it look half an hour . Once we actually got back, we had to pay $40 for not even a whole full box of vegetables & a pumpkin. We had a good farm day and it was nice for the kids to see how the vegetables grew as well as all the animals they had but it was very pricey especially with a big family.

Very cute for my two year old. There are ducks, chickens, goats, horses, and rabbits which you can feed. She loved the pony ride and the tractor ride.

We had an absolutely awesome time, lots to do at this farm and it s beautiful. I want to give this place 5 stars but to be completely honest at the end of our visit here a few of the workers were completely rude and nasty (one in particular). It was our first time there and we wanted to walk back to the market/food area. When we got there earlier in the day there was A rope set up for admissions and on the other side of the rope you could walk back to the market. When we were done with all the picking of food and sunflowers there was a rope up blocking the way to get back to the market. Again our first time there we didn t see the rope at the time when an employee started to yell at us that is not an exit and that we had to pay for the sunflowers which we knew that and tried to follow signs to the market. Of course did not know to pay for sunflower and such is actually behind the admissions both - which you CANNOT see unless it was directly pointed out to us. We tried to ask him where to go and he continued to be nasty and get loud with us, just yelling that s not an exit and said we had to go all the way around. When reality we just had to walk to the other said of the admissions booth.

I liked here is Peach Icecream, tractor ride and the friendly horse. Veggies no good. Way too overpriced entry fees for PYO.

Great farm for exploring the seasonal harvest; Must try the Apple Cider Donuts!

We went for the peach festival and spent $$ for fuel expenses + $20 per person for a simple breakfast + $50 for 6lb of peaches that went bad before we could get to the register and 1lb blueberries which are either sauer or almost rotten. + You need to pay for the boxes and then pay for it again with the fruit in it.
The plants were in general in a disgusting shape, left without water, blackberries had sickness and if you were lucky to find any they were dried, tasteless or very sauer. The stuff was not helpful at all and mostly very unfriendly. Everything was only profit oriented, that even the animals were looking bad.
We love farms for self picking but stay away from this overpriced and non healthy place. We went to different farms in Long Island had fantastic experiences: great playgrounds (not this tiny something), unbelievable tasty fruits of all kinds, friendly stuff and really special little treats from the FARM!

Had a great time, cows, donkeys, goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, sheep, all to feed. Tasty cheese burgers.

I'm having a blast. Wine tasting, hay rides. What more can you ask?

Great place to bring the kids for the experience. Their fruits and vegetables are great but very expensive. It's more expensive than buying organic items from wholefoods.

I was out there with my family when apple picking and we purchase some pies what was a wonderful time now I called them on holiday events to buy pies great pies at all states so I can give it a top 5 rating

Very big farm, clean. But will rip you off. When we entered and paid the admission 15$ each for adults, gentleman on admission asked how old is the kid and didn t give him the ticket, I asked if he can go on pony rides he said yes. Later we waited on line for 20 min for pony ride just to find out he needed 15$ ticket too to ride the pony and that we have to go back in line wait to get the tickets again. Very misinformed.

A wonderful place where you can spend a very special time with your family.

I love. It it needs a little bit of morr atracction for the kids

Except high entrance fee $11, it is worth Pick Your Own. It was nice to see the sunflowers in this farm.

I totally loved picking fruits and vegetables at Alstede Farms. They charge you for boxes and containers but they have a large variety of fruits and veggies to pick, so fill those boxes up. lol. Remember you will be paying by the lb on the way out. The kids and I loved it! It was a memorable family day.
I will be back.

Alstede farms is one of my favorite places ever!! My friends and I take our kids there every season for a ton of fun! The kids love the tractor ride, the adults love all the clean, delicious, fresh produce and there's often a campfire in the evening and live music.
If you visit you MUST try the apple cider doughnuts! Absolutely amazing!

So annoyed at the way they handle customer service, we brought a group of people with us and one of our friends purchased the wrong ticket time and they couldn t accommodate a 30min difference. I understand Covid has a lot to do with this but we re outside like come on one more person is really gonna make a difference, seriously ? We drove up from an hour away to support this buissness just to get turned away!!! So if you guys have any issues trust me don t bother calling because they will not give you a single solution and the lady was very rude.

Worst apple picking experience ever. Never in my life have I gone apple picking, pay top dollar just to enter, pay for boxes, only to walk up and down the apple trees to find no apples. The 3 or 4 trees that had apples left were rotting. I don t know who manages this place but selling people boxes and charging admission to pick apples when there aren t any apples to be picked is pretty much steeling. Selling admission under false pretenses. Now to the pumpkins. All the bigger sized pumpkins had no stems. I bought 2 boxes to put all my apples in and I was gifted enough to walk away with two empty boxes that cost $4. I would have requested a refund there but I m not waiting 30 more minutes in another line that was filled with people getting ready to pay to pick apples that weren t there. Thanks for ripping us off and we definitely won t be back.

Nice farm with a lot of activities to do. Great time with kids. Quite Pricey though.

You have to pay for pick your own, which is a turnoff. Other than that a fun farm day for the family.

Today my famiy of four went to Alstede Farms to pick apples. We were charged $5.00 each to enter plus tax which added up to a little over $22.00. They give you a coupon with each ticket for $2.00 over your order. We picked enough apples just to cover the bottom of the box and at check out with our coupons we had to pay an additional $6.00...so the bottom line is we payed $28.00 for a small amount of apples...definitely not worth it....What a RIP OFF. We will not be returning!

Extraordinary destination pick your own farm experience. It is not inexpensive and can get extremely crowded but it is a really special place. Best hay ride through hundreds of scenic acres, pony rides, and of course lots of amazing produce.

Many local teens including both of our sons got their 1st work experience there, and that has been very valuable for our family and community.

Over priced. You pay $7 per person to enter plus more for the produce you pick. Everything else is extra. And mismanaged. We were given conflicting directions on how to get on the tractor trailer ride back to check-out. People and kids were standing in the sun looking miserable not knowing where/how to get their ride back. Bathrooms were filthy too.

Came here for a day out with a friend and the kids! Really great place! We had a great time picking vegetables and exploring the farm! It s a lot to walk, but there is a tractor that makes stops at the various locations if you change your mind and don t want to walk anymore! Definitely want to come back for pumpkin and apple picking!

$8 admission and extra fees for buckets. Fruit by pound at checkout...

This place is a ripoff. The entry fee is $12 per person just to get into the picking area. You also have to pay $2 per container to carry what you pick. At $2.79 a pound, the peaches were incredibly expensive. We were in it for over $50 for a few peaches. We took them home and two days later half of these peaches were rotten! Also, we bought a berry pie for $18. That night we had a slice and though it tasted strange. The next morning it was completely covered in mold! Everything we purchased was rotten within two days! It was a complete waste of money. We won't we going back. Sad because places like this are a dying breed, but its not worth it.

Go back year after year. We'll run, great quality and experience every time. .

Amazing pick your own spot. Vegetables last forever because they re FRESH! During Halloween their pumpkin patches can t be beat. Also, get the apple cinnamon doughnuts. You can t go wrong.

Had fun picking strawberries, hay wagon ride, petting animals. The store & farm market were also good. Just that the entire event was a little unorganized hence found it difficult to understand.

Fun day ... Great produce ... scored a 9lb head of cabbage for $1.99. PYO pumpkins, flowers, apples, peppers etc.. Buy the $2.oo bag of produce to feed the animals - they loved it! Bring a picnic lunch and treat yourself to their homemade ice cream.

All the activities were fun.My son enjoyed pony ride !its good ...

I have to agree with L the prices are outragus. As two seniors taking their four year old grand children

My sister works there...
Hope to visit you soon from South Africa.

It was a great experience vising the Alstede Farm. We had a very good time there and especially my son enjoyed it a lot. I'd love to go there again.

With a lot of farms to choose from in the NJ area, this is by far my favorite. This is a true farm that makes you feel at home. We came for the apple cider donuts and pumpkin picking and got more than we could ask for. The hay wagon is the easiest way to get around the property and it runs consistently. The corn maze is the best I ve ever done, and that comes from a Midwest lady who has played in lots of cornfields. Now that we know we can pick our own for produce in season, we will be back! Staff is friendly and come from near and far to work here.

My 10 year daughter loved looking at the Bunnies and Animals.
My 8 year old daughter loved playing around. It is a great place to look around.I feel like the shop could be expanded a bit it was over crowded. The admission is expensive and I would not pay 30 $ for a pumpkin so it is better just to look around. I recommend this place for kids 12 and under. We will be back to look around

Very nice place to bring your family at all times of the year. There's pick your own fruits and vegetables, a petting zoo area for the kids, and during the winter they have brunch with santa on the weekends. There's plenty of parking and a shoppe where you can buy all kinds of farmers market type of goods

The farm is huge and beautiful, but there isn't enough available to pick. We came to pick apples and vegetables and berries and there were so few that we barely filled a small bucket.

Parking is good. Admission fee and the price you pay is not reasonable.You get better lot better deals at your local store. Not good quality. Care of the farm is sub standard. Transportation is tight. Too much waiting for your return to parking area.

We visited Alstede Farm recently during Easter event. We had two young kids with us and they really enjoyed all the activities - the pony rides, wagon train ride, bounce house, egg hunting, petting farm animals, and roasting marshmallows over camp fire. I expected the activities to be somewhat lame but everything was very well organized and impressive. I also enjoyed the fact there were not huge crowds on the day we went. We were able to find parking easily and did not have to wait in line for activities for too long. Looking forward to returning to the farm for fruit picking and activities for the kids!

Worst corn picking path ever; got lost several times.

Family oriented as well as being very organized despite covid_19 pandemic. Planning take 12 yrs old again before it gets cold.

Amazing place to spend the day with the family. We had a nice breakfast, picked our own tomatoes, berries, apples and peaches and also enjoyed both a pony and a tractor wagon ride. The homemade ice creams and smoothies are also delicious.

This place has great potential but fails on execution. Great atmosphere, lots of animals, good farm stand shopping, wine tasting, apple picking, etc., BUT, they make it impossible to enjoy. The lines for everything were so long we had to just give up. You have to wait in line from scratch for each wine in you wine tasting... we skipped our last wine because the whole experience became so onerous. Went to get food but had to give up after waiting for 20min all the while very few people even got served. Gave up on the line for the bathrooms and had to find a gas station on our way out instead. It would also help to spread things out more as it became obnoxiously crowded. Live music was nice in theory, but the band was painful to listen to that we had to go to the orchard to get away from it... and also gave up waiting in that line. Number one problem is that they have not put any emphasis on operations.

Great farm for the family adults and kids.Theres a lot of activities to do and the staff is super friendly. Yes you get charged and admission to pick fruits and vegetables but it's worth it the farm is clean theres more stuff to do than in other farms I've been to and the apples are the best.

Easter egg hunt and event was perfect. Waiting to go back for strawberry picking

Awesome place, lots of well kept animals and fruit and vegetables to pick! Love it!

Great experience and crew running the farm. My seven year old daughter loved the corn maze. The wife and I loved the pick your own vegetables and berries. We both come from farm backgrounds in our family and it was a breath of fresh air to find a place like this less than an hours drive from home. Highly recommend. Especially for the young ones

Went for apple picking . The front area of the farm was super crowded as well as the farm store but the lines moved quickly. I was a little surprised at the price ($21 just to get boxes and pick apples for 2 people) plus the cost of what you pick. All in all it was a good day and I would go back (with the early bird discount that gives you a significant discount). Apple cider doughnuts are amazing!

On web site shows dogs are allowed. We drove 2 hours to the farm. Results : dogs can walk near shop but nor on farm. My family had horrible day because of this farm.

Love bringing my toddler here to feed the animals! It is so much fun, they have $2 bags of mixed veggies in the front of the store to buy, don't forget about the horse and sheep on the other side!