Fire & Grain at Hershey Lodge

the food was delicious, and my partner and i got free breakfast with our room package. I eat gluten free because I have celiac disease, and the staff was knowledgeable about my food allergies and informed me about the foods I was able to eat. They make the gluten-free toast/hashbrowns/pancakes in the back away from the other food. I had no issues and was not contaminated. A plus was that the gluten-free options were not an extra charge, very nice to see. My partner loved the buffet food as well, and the overall ambiance was great.

Not what I was expecting for what at first appeared to be a nicer place to eat within the Hershey brand. The floors were sticky and dirty, there were little cobwebs on the light fixtures over the booths, and out server was almost non-existent. The food may have been great, but they need to do some serious work on the front of the house there. We went in at a little before 9pm on Saturday the 18th after spending the day at the park. Having worked in restaurants for a long time I always make sure to show up at least an hour before close and order quickly, and I know things will be winding down at bit by then as they’re doing their side work and cleaning up. That said, this place was a disaster. Because there were still a few other filled tables I couldn’t get a lot of pictures without others in them but you can see from the picture I got there was stuff all over the floors. The place wasn’t crowded, maybe only 6-12 other tables full, but they were spaced around so I couldn’t take pictures easily. That was like that from the time we walked in, until we left and no one got a broom or anything to clean it up from there or under the other tables/booths. The floors were also sticky. I know spills happen and it’s tricky to mop with people in the restaurant but the floors from the front door to our table were sticky so it wasn’t just one spill. It felt like someone mopped the floor with soda. My wife noticed little cobweb strands on the lights. Not decorations, but legit little strands so no one has run a swiffer across those in a while. There were a few servers setting out silverware and coffee cups on the table like they were preparing for breakfast. That was really odd considering I’d usually flip the chairs up onto the tables at night in a place like this to clean the floors, before I setup the tables, so it just proves those floors aren’t getting really cleaned any time soon in my mind. Our server though was a ghost. She only had one or two other tables from what I could tell, and I didn’t see here setting up tables with the others, but she just kept disappearing for long periods in the back. Maybe she was rolling silverware or something but she completely ignored us and left our drinks empty many times. I’d ask for a refill and it would take forever just to get a soda refill. My wife’s few mixed drinks were coming out quicker. The server just kept seeming to forget when I did ask. The food was amazing. I had the lamb, my wife had a gluten free pasta dish, and our daughter had a kid’s pizza (far too big for any kid I know, but that’s not a bad thing) and it was also good. My wife said the mixed drinks she tried were good. There were people seated after us, and many still there when we left so we weren’t holding them up on closing or anything. My wife had a good point that either the manager on duty came up through the kitchen and is only focusing on that side, or they just didn’t have anyone on duty out front that night. It was pretty bad to be that dirty all through the dining room. I haven’t seen that much stuff on the floors, and the floors that sticky, in an actual restaurant, anywhere I can remember except for a really bad Chuck-e-Cheese a few years ago. We will probably be staying at this hotel next season so I’ll at least look in here again because the food was good, but if the floor is anywhere near that dirty I’ll just turn away and go to the Mill or somewhere like that nearby.

Awesome food! Service was great. Had many gluten free options.