Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am visiting Wilmington with my brother and sister-in-law and little nephew this weekend (they are from Iowa, we live in Durham). They wanted to maybe try an seafood restaurant in the area so I am looking for a place with a bit of local flavor/culture, good prices, and appropriate for children. Local, not imported, seafood would be a plus.
Here are some name of places we found. Could anyone opine on any of these? Thanks in advance.
there is no one dominant seafood joint in Wilmington. many of the popular places (Oceanic, Bluewater, Dockside, etc) just plain suck; fresh seafood, with boring preparation, at very high prices, with a great view. When you venture into the more difficult preparations (shrimp and grits, she-crab soup) they cut corners severely.
IMO the best things you can eat locally here are fresh wahoo, swordfish, tuna, or dolphin, which seem equally available at most restaurants in this area. (wahoo is particularly hard to find on menus)
front street brewery - good beer, but i haven't eaten there since they revamped the menu. not recommended for seafood.
dock street oyster bar - very good food
oceanic - mediocre tourist spot
catch - never tried it, heard good things.
hieronymus - never tried it, heard good things.
elijah's - average tourist spot
dockside - average tourist spot
you may also want to look into the Pilot House for seafood. For non-seafood, Indochine (asian), the basics (southern), sweet and savory (misc.) are some of my favorite local choices that won't break your wallet.
In my personal experience a lot of the seafood in the wilmington area isn't local, it isn't good, and it's very overpriced. Le Roi is right in that fish is usually the better deal to go with. I would say to just buy fresh seafood and cook it yourself, but I honestly don't know a decent place to go for fresh seafood myself!
front street brewery - good beer, regular bar food, a decent beer and appetizer place, their regular dishes can be small and often aren't all that good.
dock street oyster bar - not been, but have heard good things, the seem to have live music every once in awhile which is also a plus
oceanic - tourist spot, overpriced, nice view of the beach though
catch - not been, haven't heard of it
hieronymus - not been, but have heard good things.
elijah's - touristy, heard that they have some good dishes though
dockside - touristy, slightly overpriced, do have good specials sometimes though.
The best seafood that i've had was in Southport at Yacht Basin Provision Co. I'm not positive that it's local seafood though, and it's rather out of the way. Their food isn't anything fancy, mostly boiled shrimp, crabcakes, and cucumber& tomato salad, but its good and on the water.
Best Shrimp and Grits that i've had was at Dixie Grill, but that was awhile back, not sure if it's still the same dish, i know that they've changed their menu around some too. A lot of the places here seem to use instant grits (ahem, dockside) and you can tell, but last time i ate at dixie they had really good grits.
I also hear that the Causeway Cafe is good, out on Wrightsville Beach, but have not gone. Word of warning if you go, i've been told that they only take cash.
Hieronymus was good last time we tried it....for adults, there is a great little restaurant in Wrightsville Beach - I think it is called South Beach Grille, or something like that (reservations needed) Does anybody know anything about Wrightsville Grille? I heard it was good......Causeway Cafe is great for breakfast - very popular - they do only take cash....
Hope y'all have a great time!
If you are looking for good calabash style (fried) seafood, i'd highly recommend Jones' Fish camp. On Market Street a few miles north of down town. It's fried but not overly greasy as fried seafood can be. Great portions and kid friendly. Not pricey, not fancy and not on the water. Every out of town guest that has visited us always wants to go back when they come for their next visit. All depends on what you are looking for.
we just had dinner at The Fish House in Wrigthsville beach and
the flounder ,local, was very good.
crab cakes were outstanding.
Bridgetender at Wrightsville beach has [ according to our son] fantastic seafood, pricey though.
hieronymus is an institution in Wilmington , ate there quite a bit years ago and food was
really good.
Thanks for the many replies. This is going to be tough choice. Its helpful to have pointed out those places which are more touristy...we'll definitely being avoiding those. I'd love to go to a place that I would go to all the time if I lived in Wilmington.
If you lived here all the time, you would probably go up Market Street and buy fresh shrimp by the side of the road or to one of the local fish houses for really fresh fishies! (Or get in a boat and go get it yourself!)
Obviously locals, execpt for restaurant owners, will never ever truthfully tell you their favorite places to eat; because, they want to keep the atmosphere & prices under control. That said, I like to eat lunch at Katy's on College near Wrightsville when visiting or working in that part of the city. The fish sandwich (fried flounder) is my personal favorite. I know it is not on your list but I think the place captures what you may be looking for. Regards.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
