During their grand expansion throughout 2009, the Hotel Hershey added several new dining options to their property. Previously there was only the very high-end Circular Dining Room, & a cocktail lounge, meaning guests looking to have a more casual meal had to leave the property. As anyone in the hospitality industry will tell you, you want to keep guests, & their money, on your property as much as possible. They now have several options to choose from, including Trevi 5, a casual Italian grille; the Cocoa Beanery, a much needed coffee shop & cafe; Harvest, an “American” restaurant with an emphasis on local & sustainable eating, where we had a lovely dinner (BTW, I hate the description of food being “American” – what’s American? Isn’t most of our food inspired by somewhere? I digress…); & even a little snack bar by the pool.I chose Harvest as a belated-birthday dinner for my husband because of their commitment to serving local & sustainable foods. We try to do our part to help the environment when we can & always feel like a meal made out of local ingredients tastes better than one with produce trucked in from across the country. As we sat down at our table, which was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows showing off a view of the Hotel Hershey property, the waitress explained that all the dishes are prepared with ingredients within a 150-mile radius of the restaurant. The chef buys local when he can & when an item isn’t available locally, he buys organic. Such a great, refreshing attitude for a restaurant!
After a round of cocktails (please, you thought I could only sip martini’s with Hershey Kisses in them as an after dinner drink?), we started with an appetizer of perfectly steamed mussels in a beer & bacon broth, served with a big hunk of baguette to mop up all the bacon-y broth. For dinner, we were torn on what to get. Entrees include everything from Yuengling beer battered fish & chips to baby back ribs (which the table next to us got & they looked awesome) to a seafood stew filled with seafood right from the Chesapeake.
Ultimately, we both chose from their newly expanded “from the grill” menu section. I had a fantastic 8 oz hanger steak & my hubby went big (go big, or go home!) with a huge 18 oz., bone-in, cowboy steak. Along with our steaks, we enjoyed sides of bacon & scallion mashed potatoes, local asparagus, roasted wild mushrooms & french fries cooked in duck fat (someone call me a cardiologist!). Of course, being in Hershey, we couldn’t skip dessert, & shared a delightful chocolate cream pie. After dinner, we headed over to the tavern portion of the restaurant & played a few games of complimentary billiards in their adults-only game room (a rule that unfortunately, wasn’t being enforced). Regardless, it was still a fun time.
The service was great, the dinner lovely & leisurely (we stretched things out & took almost two hours to eat all that food!), & the restaurant, despite being only a few years old, blended seamlessly into the Hershey brand, with a beautiful stained glass ceiling. Harvest is definitely a place we will return to next time we’re in the Hershey/Harrisburg area.
PS I’m not perk’d or paid to write any of this – I can assure you that Harvest has no idea that I exist.
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