This Main Street eatery will hit the spot with their creamy mac and cheese and homey desserts. If you find yourself in Damascus, stop on by!
As soon as you walk into the Hornet's Nest Grille, you can tell that this restaurant is a neighborhood favorite. The walls are full of high school team photos, jerseys, and quirky decor. The patio seating is the perfect place for a sunny day. Inside, you have a spacious dining room and a long bar, so this would be a great place for a meal or even just a drink after work.
ADDRESS: 9876 Main Street | Damascus, MD
PHONE: (301) 253-3707
PARKING: Free surface lot and street parking
SPECIALS: Sunday Brunch | Happy Hour drink specials
The menu is full of your comfort food favorites with a bit of Maryland flair. Wash it all down with their housemade sweet tea or one of their many craft beers. Here's what we had:
Buffalo Wings
Classic hot wings are served with your choice of blue cheese or ranch and a side of celery and carrots. You can also get them with different toppings like bourbon BBQ sauce, sweet and spicy chili sauce, or Old Bay.
Crab Dip
This housemade dip is cream-cheese based and full of crabmeat and spices. You get a generous portion of bread, tortilla chips, and veggies to eat it with—simply delicious!
Fish and Chips
Tender pieces of cod are lightly battered and fried to a golden crisp, then served with tartar sauce and snappy coleslaw. The hand-cut fries are the perfect, skin-on kind that you'll quickly fill up on.
Ellie's Mac and Cheese
This is clearly one of the house specialties, and rightly so. It's a gourmet four-cheese concoction that's creamy, smoky, and savory all at once. It's topped with crumbled bacon and charred, sliced zucchini—don't ask me why this all works together, but it does. You can add on your choice of protein like chicken, steak, or even a decadent Maryland crab cake. This is a must-try dish that I'm already thinking about again.
Southern Chop Salad
I love a chopped salad that blends fresh veggies and a light, tangy dressing, and this one did not disappoint. It comes in a large bowl so you can toss to your heart's content to create the perfect bite. It has tender greens, morsels of steak, corn, black beans, pico de gallo, and cheese with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette and crunchy tortilla strips. Bonus, it's more than enough to share if you want to try someone else's dish.
We were too full for dessert, but they have decadent creations like deep-dish cookie cake with ice cream and a unique namesake cake made with butterscotch chips and toasted nuts. We'll definitely try something sweet on our next visit!
If you're in the area, stop by and enjoy the homey cuisine at the Hornet's Nest Grille. It would be a great place for a family meal, a quick bite to eat, or a happy hour on the patio. If we lived closer, this could even be a good date night spot. Don't forget about their Sunday brunch!
**All of the photos in this article are by Sarina Petrocelly.
Have you been to Hornet's Nest Grille? What are some of your favorite dishes? Let us know in the comments!
