Restaurant Review: Harry's Seafood Grill

 

By Theresa Smith
   
     When you are visiting a place alongside a waterfront or an ocean, you naturally tend to want to indulge in some seafood. Finding a restaurant that is well-versed in preparing seafood dishes that highlight the natural flavors of the water’s treasures is imperative.

     We decided to enjoy a meal at Harry’s Seafood Grill which is a staple along the Wilmington Waterfront. Harry’s is a beautiful restaurant with a dining room, a bar and outside seating. The décor is amazing, especially the giant starfish on the ceiling lit by tiny LED lights. Your attention is just drawn to this starfish. That is until your meal is served and then you kind of forget about it.

    Before I get into the actual meal, I would just like to say that our server, Kim, was absolutely amazing. She is, hands down, the best server we have had anywhere so far. Kim knew the menu and the different flavor profiles and knew what dishes to suggest.

     We started our meal with a customer favorite suggested by Kim - Crispy Fried Calamari.

     This was an adventure for me as I had never had calamari before. I’ve wanted to try it but hadn’t. I’m glad I did! It was easy to see why this is a popular dish. The calamari were cooked wonderfully. They were tender and had just the right amount of “ocean” flavor. They were not tough at all. The coating was not overpowering which allowed for the ocean flavor to shine. The pickled jalapeños and pappadew peppers added a kick of spicy and a hint of sweetness to the dish. The red curry crema complimented the calamari well.

     Jason ordered the Shaved Brussels Sprouts salad which comes with a sherry vinegar noisette, chopped egg, toasted pistachios, vine-ripened tomato, and reggiano. Each ingredient was fresh and had a great crunch which is what you want when eating brussel sprouts.

     For our entrées, Jason chose the Fire Roasted 12oz NY Strip and I decided on the Fire Roasted Hawaiian Monchong with a little guidance from our wonderful server.

     The NY Strip comes with sunchoke & parmesan chips, pesto spaghetti squash and smoked cauliflower purée. In case you have never heard of sunchoke, it is a root vegetable that is part of the sunflower family. It tastes very much like potatoes so it was a delicious choice for the steak. The spaghetti squash was well seasoned and played well off the smoked cauliflower purée. 

     The Fire Roasted Hawaiian Monchong is served with sautéed snap peas & wax beans, miso roasted eggplant, pickled vegetables and a sake plum sauce. The Monchong, which is a white meat fish, had a mild, slightly sweet flavor profile that was enhanced with the sake plum sauce, which was amazing. It was perfectly cooked and just flaked apart into perfectly sized pieces. The miso roasted eggplant had a great mouthfeel with a slightly smoky, slightly sweet flavor.

        For dessert, I chose the Passionfruit Cheesecake and Jason went with his favorite fruit and decided on the Bananas Foster Tarte Tatin.

      Kim brought us a couple of extra spoons with our desserts in case we wanted to share. We happily used the spoons, trying to decide who had the better dessert. But no consensus was reached.

    The Bananas Foster Tarte Tatin has the banana slices baked into the tart which allows for a banana in every bite. The house-made vanilla bean gelato was wonderful and the rum caramel layered between the tart and the gelato and then again over the gelato was pretty near to heavenly.

     Having had a Hawaiian fish for dinner, the Passionfruit Cheesecake was the right choice to end my meal. The passion fruit flavor was not overwhelming and balanced the sweetness of the cheesecake with a hint of tart citrus. The cheesecake was light and fluffy and plated beautifully.

      Harry’s Seafood Grill is located along the Wilmington Riverfront at 101 South Market Street. You may want to call for reservations, especially on the weekends. You can reach them at 302-777-1500. Visit their website at harryshospitalitygroup.com/harrys-seafood-grill to view their available menus which are updated as their fish selection changes.