Jul 23

The BEST Places to Eat in Wilmington

Posted by Crystal // 0 Comments »

Are you planning a trip to Wilmington, North Carolina? It’s a great place to visit and one of my personal favorites! There are so many delicious restaurants there, so it can be overwhelming to decide which ones you want to try. Let me help out with that a little and share some of my favorite Wilmington eats with you!

The Fork -n- Cork – 122 Market Street in Downtown Wilmington

I have not had one thing here that wasn’t absolutely amazing. My favorite thing to get here is there appetizers though! Their appetizers are delicious and unique and they have plenty to choose from. I love coming here with friends and/or family and ordering up a few of them to share amongst everyone.

Duck Wings – my mouth still waters at the thought of these. These are my favorite thing on the menu! They have a lot of sauces to choose from but I recommend their hot honey garlic sauce.

Fonduta – fontinella, Gouda, and blue cheese baked in a cast iron skillet and topped with walnuts, honey, and chili flakes. I’m someone who doesn’t like blue cheese at all – I can’t do the ‘moldy’ taste of it – but I absolutely adored this dish and it didn’t have that blue cheese taste, if you know what I’m talking about.

Rattlesnake Bites – roasted jalapeños stuffed with shrimp, sweet corn, bacon, cheddar, and cream cheese. Delish!

Texas Poutine – homemade fries with house made brisket, cheddar cheese, and house made bbq sauce. You can’t go wrong with this!

You can find the rest of their menu on their website – click here to go to it.

Front Street Brewery – 9 North Front Street, Wilmington, NC

This is another favorite place to get appetizers at in Wilmington. The main dishes are on point too, but your girl is all about ordering a variety of appetizers to share and the apps here sure don’t disappoint.

Their FAMOUS Chicken Nachos – our signature lightly sweetened, slow cooked, hand pulled chicken with black beans, shredded cheese, queso, jalapeños, diced tomatoes, spicy sour cream, and scallions served over corn tortilla chips with a side of homemade salsa.

Buttermilk Breaded Onion Rings – a towering pile of buttermilk breaded onion rings served with ranch dipping sauce

Grit Cakes – our cheese grit cakes served with a rich Cajun bacon creole sauce. Topped with shredded cheese and scallions.

You can find their full menu on their website. Click here to see it.

Beer Barrio – 34 N. Front Street, Wilmington, NC

The menu at Beer Barrio is described by the chef as ‘beer infused modern Mexican with a Southern twist’.

The elote here is some of the best I have ever had. The same goes for their chicharrones!

Their taco menu is super unique and absolutely delicious. You can’t go wrong with a single one of them.

And y’all – can we talk about this item on their dessert menu? They have a DEEP FRIED CHEESECAKE TAQUITO. I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely amazing it is!

You can view Beer Barrio’s full menu on their website by clicking here.

Michael’s Seafood – 1206 N. Lake Park Blvd A, Carolina Beach, NC

Ok, so this one isn’t technically in Wilmington but it’s close enough. Michael’s Seafood is located in Carolina Beach, which is about a 20 minute drive from Wilmington. Let me tell you though – their award winning Seafood Chowder is worth the drive and then some! There are no words to describe how outstanding it is.

That’s not the only delicious thing that Michael’s Seafood has to offer. You can’t go wrong with anything on their menu! Check out the amount of scallops that came on their Blackened Scallop Pasta Alfredo! These were some of the best scallops I’ve ever had too.

And can we talk about the flatbreads? This Shrimp Scampi Flatbread was out of this world!

You can check out the rest of Michael’s Seafood’s menu here.

Rebellion – 15 S. Front Street, Wilmington, NC

Rebellion is a favorite among many. Their burgers and their wings are on a scale all on their own. They also have a lot of others options than just burgers and wings such as some pretty amazing Hot Chicken that they call ‘Big Daddy Cain’.

My favorite burger? The Rebellion! It has bourbon bacon jam, crispy bacon, aged cheddar, and bourbon bbq sauce. Make sure that you get a side of their crispy Brussels! They are out of this world.

And I can’t forget about their candied bacon. I could eat a dozen platters of this stuff. I shouldn’t… but I could. 😉

Click here to view their full menu.

The Peppered Cupcake – 105 S. Front Street, Wilmington NC

No trip to Wilmington can be complete without a stop at The Peppered Cupcake!

Every single cupcake on their menu is outstanding but my favorites are the filled cupcakes, especially the berry compote & cream cheese buttercream filled cupcake. There really aren’t sufficient words for how magical it is. It’s that special!

They even have gluten free and vegan cupcakes!

You can view the rest of their flavors on their website by clicking here.

Taste Carolina Wilmington Food Tour

The best way to try a lot of different flavors that Wilmington has to offer is to take a food tour! Taste of Carolina offers a fabulous food tour of all sorts of delicious eats (and drinks!) and I couldn’t recommend it any more. It’s a walking tour but it gives you a taste of so many flavors in a short period of time.

Locally caught pan seared flounder with caper sun dried tomato cream sauce and southern succotash

I took the downtown walking tour along with a couple of friends of mine and it was such a fabulous experience. Not only did we get to taste a bunch of restaurant favorites but we also learned so much history about the town too. It was truly an unforgettable experience!