Avery's Maryland Grille — Restaurant in Maryland

Edit/Update for 2025

After 4 years away I needed a crab fix. Decided to make the drive and give them another shot.

Line outside at opening is always a good sign. Greeted and seated quickly. Our server was immediately by for drinks and orders.

Thinking back to the last visit I decided rather than getting XLs. "Lets do the AYCE." There were only the 2 of us so it was kind of a wash on prince, but you get sides.

Frist tray arrived quickly with 12 crabs, hush puppies, fries, corn and corn bread. Lets get to it! "Wow these are hot."

1st crab... over steamed mush. Meat just fell apart. Annoying to work through. 2nd crab... swamped and smelly. But a better steam. Ugg. 3rd crab... Dried out like I have never seen in eating crab. After breaking away the shell... the leg meat was like jerky. Lee tried it and asked if it was shell.

I was just about to complain but then I opened crab 4. PERFECT. As was the rest of the tray. Server was quick to refill drinks and clear the bucket. Never made us feel rushed. "Ready for more?"

Second tray was 12 perfectly steamed crabs. Hush Puppies were a hit. water melon to clear the pallet. If not for the first couple of crabs... would have been perfect. Which was a reminder to me... with AYCE, "Don' bother with the bad ones. Just throw them in the bucket and ask for more." Since I had only bought XLs and Jumbos for the last few years... I forgot this strategy. No longer making that mistake.

Our server was great. Highly recommend. Even tried to get us more crabs when we were way to close to the time limit. Drinks stayed full and bucket stayed clear. Will not be going several years again, before our next visit.

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2021 Driven by a bunch of times and seen good reviews. Checked the menu and made plans for dinner. Ryan really liked the hush puppies. But didn't care for his ribs. The ribs slab is huge and looks good... Will have to try the left overs.

The wings are pretty big. But a bit over cooked and lite in the sauce. The server brought me some atomic sauce to try and it's pretty good.

Crab soup and fish tacos were a hit with Lee and Grandma.

The crabs were really dried out. I am guessing they steam them earlier and sit them in an oven until ordered. I mean devoid of moisture at all in the legs and the claws. They didn't have XL or Jumbo, so we got a 12 Larges.

Ordered a few beers and Lee even had some Funnel Fries. I still had 3/4 of a beer in the table when 3 separate staff members nudged us to leave. First leaving the check. Then with in a few minutes... "Can we close this out." Then is there anything else.

Really felt booted out the door.

Might give them another try... But not...

Outstanding dining, without a doubt! Avery's is the best in the area, by far!

I shared a meal there this past Saturday evening -- a birthday dinner for my wife, Vera. We were joined by my sister and brother-in-law, all of us were repeat visitors.

My order of their December Special of Surf and Turf included a half-pound of King Crab leg (gigantic!) along with a flame-broiled cut of beef tenderloin, and the ubiquitous two sides. I started with another December Special, their oyster stew (a full bowl) -- creamy and delicious with at least a half-dozen bivalves.

The crab leg was delicious but was a struggle to eat, having to pull-apart the shell which had been previously sliced down the side. The crab meat was hot and very tasty, however the leg shell was very pliable and seemed like it had been from a frozen piece.

The tenderloin was the surprising star of the show! I've dined all over the world and had many and various steak cuts. But I had to admit that this piece was the most tender and delicious piece of meat I have ever consumed! Melt-in-your-mouth consistency, but cooked as asked -- to perfection -- medium-rare, with a beautiful red center and a gorgeous flame sear on the outside. Absolutely mind-blowing that this cut of meat had come from a seafood-specialty restaurant!

My sister -- crab-leg aficionado that she is -- had the "Option D" all-you-can-eat, which included all the other seafood selections on their menu. However, her primary concern was to consume as many Snow Crab legs as she could tolerate. And after four full trays of those spidery legs, she was done! Amazing!

My brother-in-law selected (with my sister's urging) Captain Avery's Pick-4 - which included soup, a full rack of ribs, three blue crabs, and a half-pound of steamed shrimp (and they were huge). He also ordered a half-dozen fried oysters -- juicy and hot.

My wife's birthday selection was an a-la-carte order of a half-rack of ribs and a full pound of Snow Crab legs. She managed to eat all the legs, but only a couple of ribs before she surrendered.

We all took home doggie bags!

Finally, let me repeat, Avery's has always proved to be a winner. It's the finest restaurant for seafood and beef gourmets and gourmands, at least in the central PA and...

Called and made a reservation for 12-14 members of my family for Saturday, May 17. We showed up at a little after 12pm and were seated right away. There were no people waiting in line to get in. Our table had two empty salt shakers, an uncapped, almost empty bottle of Tabasco sauce, as fly bait, and one waste bucket for shells. We were given 4 menus so I asked the waitress (Chelsea)for extra menus as having 4 menus for for 9 adults to share created an annoying and frustrating experience as people had to wait for others to decide what they want to eat. I told the waitress (Chelsea) that we only had 4 menus and instead of just apologizing and providing more menus - Chelsea said, “ Well, that’s what happens when you have 50 people walk in” and managed to provide us with one more menu. We noticed multiple empty tables, in just the one room we were sitting in, there were potentially more empty seats and tables in the other various rooms. If a restaurant opens to a long line of people, or routinely develops a wait for seating, meaning you fill available seating and you still don’t have enough menus for seating capacity, that is an establishment problem, not a customer problem. If people like Chelsea keep showing such unprofessionalism, the lines won’t be a problem for long. Thankfully, Chelsea did not end up taking care of our table as my husband was livid at her RUDENESS and MAJOR ATTITUDE. As far as the food, the crab soup tasted like sugar and raw flour; the fried oysters were bland and the fried clams were rubbery and did not taste like clams at all. The drinks from the bar were good. We ordered orange crush, bloody Mary and orange dreamsicle. I would like to point out that the waitress (Estephany) who took over our table provided a much more pleasant and refreshing ambiance. She was very attentive and was very polite and respectful toward my family. Fortunately, I will not be bringing my family back or recommending Avery’s to any friends, colleagues...