You don’t generally equate good seafood with Hershey, PA. Chocolate obviously. Probably a good steak house as well, but seafood? Imagine our surprise when during a recent visit to Hershey we stumbled upon Devon, a classy, first rate restaurant which knows how to do everything right, but is focused on seafood. If you haven’t guessed yet we were impressed. Here are the details.
Devon is in a building right on Chocolate Avenue and next to the Hershey Experience museum. The restaurant is modern but comfortable, with a large bar and lounge area. The wine list is impressive. This is the seafood equivalent of the high end steakhouse chains, such as The Palm, Ruth’s Chris and Fleming’s, among many. There are Devon Seafood Grill’s in Milwaukee, Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami as well. Hopefully they all present the same level of quality we experienced.
Right away we’ll voice our one complaint and get it out of the way – the place is too dark. We had 7:00 reservations, and arrived early. They were on time, so a stint at the bar was quite enjoyable and I had one of the better Cosmos I’ve ever encountered. Cheri had a glass of the 2013 Tamarlane Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, and it was medium bodied, very smooth and full of berry flavors. The bar is huge, and that works as the palce started to fill up and the lounge appears to be a popular spot.
We were seated at dinner right on time and the outside light was beginning to fade a bit. The tables were
The lounge area after dark
illuminated with one small overhead light suspended about ten feet above the table. It was hard to read the menus. I would crank up the light a bit here. We really enjoyed the ambiance, but I don’t think it would have suffered had there been a little more light.
It’ a pretty excellent menu, with many appetizers and entrees I would like to have tried. In the end I got prime rib, just because it felt right. Surrounded by all the great seafood choices it was a fairly strange choice, but it’s always interesting to sea if a restaurant does a good job with something that isn’t its specialty. Besides, we ordered the seafood sampler tray for an appetizer, so I did get to try that as well. We also had one vegetarian in the group, and there was a veggie platter option for him. The other two members of the party both got the special grilled halibut. Sides were by choice and there were lots of options. We ended up getting (between us) the lobster mac’n’cheese, haricort vert, asparagus, lemon and asparagus risotto, zucchini sautéed with red peppers and garlic mashed potatoes.
So what can we say about the food? It was excellent, every bit of it. There was not a single thing anyone took any exception to, and that applies to the sides as well. Standouts included the shrimp scampi on the sampler tray, as well as the grilled toast. We ate every last little bite of everything. The halibut was great, the prime rib was pretty great too. Our vegetarian liked his veggie platter, but it did need some kind of protein to go with it. Over all this was outstanding.
Did we mention that the service was on point as well?
We initially thought that the wine list was good, and it is. There is a bit of everything on it, with deep selections of the major reds as well as Chardonnay. The Cab list is basically Napa, and while you can drop $375 on a bottle of Shafer, there are options in every category well under $40. Many are available by the glass.
When the final bill arrived I was very happy with the value we had received.
Our wallet is out at Devon Seafood Grill whenever we happen to be in Hershey. We’ll keep a lookout for their other restaurants as well. This was an excellent dining experience.
A votre sante!
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