Meding's Seafood: A Kent County Landmark Built on Family Legacy

If you were to ask owner Rob Meding and his wife Melinda of Meding's Seafood what it takes to run one of the most well-known restaurants in the state, they would make one thing clear from the get-go: Restaurant life revolves around hustle. It’s a career that demands equal parts of drive, passion and commitment from those who want to succeed within the industry, and that success can only be won through hard work. 
  

“It’s a lifestyle. It’s work,” Rob says. 
  

“You have to be dedicated, you have to be willing to give things up and sacrifice things to reap the benefits,” Melinda adds. “If you want it bad enough, you’re going to work for it, you’re going to strive for it and you’re going to make goals.” 
  

This give-it-your-all philosophy was instilled in Rob from an early age by his father Henry Meding — the creator and original owner of the restaurant — and his mother Katherine, who worked 40 years as a nurse before retiring from Milford Memorial Hospital in 1995. Together, the couple built what would become the family business for three generations of Medings. The groundwork for  the restaurant was laid when Henry, following his career as  an electrician, started  buying and selling seafood to local restaurants out of a truck in 1983. Over the next decade, he and Katherine worked to grow the operation, eventually purchasing the property in Milford where the restaurant stands today. Katherine is credited for creating many of the recipes Meding's is famous for, including the customer-favorite cream of crab soup.  With his mother having passed in 2013, Rob says he hopes she continues to watch over the family from above, proud of  the legacy he has continued to uphold and grow.                            
  

“The success of this business has definitely been because of the generations that came before,” Rob says. “I have not wasted one opportunity my parents have given me.”
  

Since its official opening in 1996, Meding’s Seafood has become a community hub where diners can sit down for a delicious meal or grab a cool drink at one of the restaurant’s two bars — their most recent addition, the patio bar, was completed last summer. Many visitors also partake in community events hosted by the restaurant, including a weekly Tailgate Tuesday event. 
  

“Tailgate Tuesday is cool because every week is a different theme,” Melinda explains. “We have anywhere from 100 to 400 cars out here. It’s family friendly, there’s a food truck — it’s just a good time.”
  

It’s that welcoming, family atmosphere — shared by staff and customers alike — that makes Meding’s Seafood more than just a restaurant. Built on the dream and entrepreneurial spirit of one generation, then fostered and expanded by the next, it has become a true Delaware destination. “It’s a well-oiled machine now,” Rob says. “I see us going on for many, many years.”