New Soul Food Restaurant Opening in Wilmington

Philadelphia-based Tasties, a Southern soul food eatery, is expanding to Wilmington with Tasties 302.

Tasties Delaware Restaurant
Courtesy of Tasties 302

After putting plans to open her new restaurant on hold, Barbara Devan felt the time was now.

Tasties, a Philadelphia-based soul food restaurant, is coming to Wilmington’s Market Street and will open on Friday, May 15. The eatery is known for the classics like fried chicken, collard greens and macaroni and cheese. Plus, its pasta and beef short ribs.

Devan has lived in Delaware for about 13 years and for the past five or six years, her sons have been begging for her to bring her Philly restaurant to the First State. She began searching for a location and found the perfect space at 825 N. Market St.

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The eatery already has locations in West Philadelphia and Germantown, Pennsylvania.


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Devan felt the city didn’t have a lot of true soul food options and wanted to bring something fresh to foodies with Tasties 302.

“This would be something new to Delaware,” she says.

However, dining restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 postponed her March opening. Devan says she told her staff they would hold off and hoped Gov. John Carney’s emergency orders of takeout and delivery only would lift sooner rather than later.

“We didn’t think it was going to be like this,” she says.

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But as time went on, she saw the restrictions would be in place for an extended period of time and wanted to start bringing in revenue. And as Carney announced plans to possibly begin lifting some restrictions on June 1, Devan says it was the right time.

Devan spoke with the staff about heightened health and safety measures including extra disinfection of surfaces, wearing masks during work and social distancing.

The restaurant owner hopes the reputation Tasties in Philadelphia will bring people to its Wilmington location regardless of the dining restrictions. And as day-to-day life returns to some sort of normalcy, she hopes to see the success continue.

“Hopefully we survive through this,” she says.

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Tasties 302
825 N. Market Street, Wilmington
482-2584, 407-5110
Instagram: @tasties302

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