Do you know how hard it is for me to narrow down Wilmington restaurants to the top 10? It’s so hard because Wilmington is full of many great places to dine! The following list of top 10 are based on a combination of food quality, menu selection, price, atmosphere, and specials. They are not ranked in any particular order.
(1) Fat Tony’s Pub
If pizza and good cold draft beer are what you want for dinner, then Fat Tony’s is the place to go! Fat Tony’s Pub is located downtown on Front Street. On warm days the best seating is out back on their deck porch. It overlooks the beautiful Cape Fear River and waterfront. Sitting indoors is not bad either. It is dark and you do feel like you’re in a real pub. In addition to their large list of regular drafts, Fat Tony’s has their own Haunted Pub brew which is pretty decent.
Every Thursday at Fat Tony’s you can order all the pizza you can eat for just $6! This starts at 5pm and ends at 10pm. You order two slices at a time, but you can order as many times as you like. Each Friday and Saturday Fat Tony’s hosts a dinner special.
There are always fun events happening at Fat Tony’s. For instance, Fat Tony’s is throwing a Super Bowl Party with food specials, a Mardi Gras Party with beads and food, as well as a Saint Patrick’s Day Party featuring Guinness and free stuff.
For a complete list of their menu and events, log onto their website.
(2) P.T.s Grille
Skiddish of fatty foods? Then stay away from P.T.’s Old-Fashioned Grille. I’m just kidding. They do have salads for the healthy eaters. P.T’s offers some of the best burgers and fries in town! There are 3 locations so no matter what side of town you are on, there’s a P.T.’s down the street. They are on Fountain Drive, South 17th Street, and Military Cutoff.
When you walk into P.T’s you walk up to the counter and tell the waiter what you want to drink. While he’s getting your beverage, you fill out a card of what you want to order. The menu is listed on the paper, you just select what you want and check off what you want on it like pickles, onions, ketchup, etc. The waiter picks up your paper and you go have a seat at one of their bar tables while it cooks up. When your order is done, the waiter will call the name you wrote down on your order slip and bring your food to your table.
Refills are free and napkins and ketchup are on your table – you will use plenty of all. The food is so good! I recommend the burger or hot dog and fries. Their burgers are huge and juicy, and their hot dogs are unique to say the least- they are huge dogs sliced in half the long way and put on a sub-style roll.
Lunch time is pretty busy at P.T.’s so I always go for dinner.
(3) McAlister’s Deli
McAlister’s Deli is also a busy restaurant to visit at lunch. Their restaurant is located on South College Road, across from UNCW. They have a large menu of salads, soups, sandwiches (you choose the bread type), and baked potatoes. This is no Subway or Quiznos either – McAlister’s is so much better. The sandwiches are full of meat and vegetables, the soups are hot, and the loaded giant spuds are, well, giant!
Their prices are a little bit pricey, but when you bite into one of their deli sandwiches or take a spoonful of their potato soup, you will forget all about the price! When I do go to McAlister’s for lunch, I order off the cafe menu. With that, I get to choose two of the following: side salad, cup of soup, cafe sandwich of either roast beef, turkey, ham, or corned beef. The cup of soup is small and the sandwich is small, but for me at lunch, it is filling and enough.
McAlister’s lets customers eat inside or eat on their front porch which provides you with the view of busy South College Road. I enjoy dining inside. The atmosphere is simple, but classy. There are no waitresses checking back up on you or refilling your drinks, but you can go up to the counter and someone will gladly help you.
(4) Cubbie’s
Cubbie’s is another top-selling burger restaurant for Wilmington. Their old-fashioned burgers are juicy and sometimes they slide off the bun which can get pretty messy, especially if you order yours covered with mustard, ketchup, chili, onions, and slaw like I do. Their cheese fries are another of my recommendations!
Cubbie’s is located on South College Road as well as on Carolina Beach Road in Monkey Junction and on Market Street in Ogden Commons.
Cubbie’s cooks up wings, BBQ plates, shrimp, hot dogs, corn dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheesesteaks, fries, and hushpuppies to name just a few items! In addition to these, Cubbie’s has a low carb menu featuring a bunless burger, bunless cheesesteak, BBQ platter, grilled chicken platter, or hamburger steak plate served with slaw, sliced tomatoes, or a side salad.
Cubbie’s is very affordable, and their dining area full of local sports team memorabilia provides a welcoming environment for families.
Buffalo Wild Wings, on Van Campen and Carolina Beach Road, gets a lot of business from young people and sports fans. The famous chicken wing restaurant is filled with TVs of all sizes that are broadcasting athletic events as well as trivia games for customers to play along with. I have to admit, I am guilty of going to Buffalo Wild Wings some nights just to sit back, relax, and play trivia! I recommend Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesdays for Wing Night where you get all the wings you want for just 35 cents a piece, and Thursdays for Boneless Wing Night where you get all the boneless wings you want for 50 cents a piece.
For your order of chicken, you get to choose from 14 signature sauces ranging from mild BBQ to Medium to their hottest, Blazin sauce. I warn you now that Blazin is h-o-t. I can’t make it past the Medium sauce myself! Other than wings, they do serve salads, sandwiches, burgers, appetizers, and dessert. The restaurant also has a bar area if you rather sit there and enjoy a few cold beers.
If you rather go for lunch, Buffalo Wild Wings has a small list of specials to choose from along with their full menu.
(6) Smithfield’s BBQ
Smithfield’s BBQ, on 17th Street near the South College Road intersection, serves up tasty eastern North Carolina BBQ and chicken. In addition they cook up some of the best potato salad! You can eat in, take out, or go through their drive-thru. Two of their more popular platters are their BBQ and slaw sandwich and fries and their BBQ platter with potato salad, slaw, and hushpuppies. On your BBQ platter, you can also get chicken. Both are excellent choices. Don’t forget the delicious sweet tea and banana pudding for dessert.
Service at Smithfield’s BBQ is fast and the staff are friendly. If you dine-in, a waitress will happily come around and refill your drinks and get you anything else you may need to better enjoy your meal.
(7) Elizabeth’s
Elizabeth’s Italian restaurant, owned and operated by a nice local lady named Elizabeth, is located on Market Street just beyond Kerr Avenue and is open from 10am until midnight. If there is one place I miss since moving to Florida, it has to be Elizabeth’s!
The small restaurant features mouth-watering pastas, pizza, calzones, stromboli, salads, as well as burgers and sandwiches for the non-Italian-lovers. I strongly recommend ordering pizza or Elizabeth’s Fettuccine and Broccoli. Garlic bread and cheese served with marinara sauce for dipping is also good.
Prices at Elizabeth’s are very reasonable, especially for what you get. My husband and I can share a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo and still have some left over! Furthermore, the restaurant is always clean and the service is fast and friendly. Elizabeth’s is a local favorite and it usually busy at dinner. I suggest going at 5pm or earlier to beat the bigger crowds.
(8) Antonio’s Pizzeria and Ristorante
Antonio’s in the Wal-Mart shopping center in Monkey Junction is a great place to take your family for pizza! The small restaurant bakes up more pizza than anything else on their menu, but they do have salads, bread, calzones, subs, and pasta. For their pizzas, you can order one of their signatures or make your own. Sizes are medium, large, and square Sicilian. Prices for Signature pizzas range from $10.95 for a medium to $15.95 for a large and $17.95 for the square. If you rather choose your own toppings, the medium pizza is $8.95 and the large is $11.95 and the square is $13.95. Each topping will then be an additional $1.50 – $2.00.
Pasta dishes at Antonio’s come with bread and either a salad or soup.
Antonio’s is sometimes busy, especially at dinner times, but you can either wait for a table or get your order to go. Antonio’s also delivers.
(9) Nuevo Zarape
Nuevo Zarape on Carolina Beach Road in Monkey Junction has the best deal in town for lunch. They offer an all you can eat Mexican buffet!
On the buffet at Nuevo Zarape, you choose between beans, rice, sauces, enchiladas, tacos and taco salads that you make yourself, salad, quesadillas, burritos, and taquitos. Now, the burritos, quesadillas, and enchiladas are not as big or loaded as the ones in the menu, but they are still usually filled with the basics of beef, chicken, or cheese. Nonetheless, you will leave the restaurant holding your belly because you will get stuffed! For this reason and price-wise, Nuevo Zarape is another of my favorite lunch restaurants in Wilmington.
If the buffet isn’t what you want, you can order from many great items on their full menu. Also, they have a lunch menu available. The lunch and dinner plates are large and feature all the normal Mexican dishes like burritos, tacos, taco salads, enchilada dinners, steak, seafood items, etc. If you are dining in, you can either sit in a smoking or non-smoking section – which is great because I don’t want to be eating my quesadilla and start sniffing because the person sitting behind me is puffing away. At each table, Nuevo Zarape waiters, who are Hispanic, bring you tortilla chips and salsa as well as keep your drinks refilled. I order their cheese sauce sometimes to dip my chips in.
(10) Hibachi Express
The Hibachi Express on South College Road is a small Japanese dine in or take out restaurant. Their simple menu features Hibachi vegetable, steak, chicken, and shrimp choices, as well as teriyaki chicken. All those come with your choice of fried or steamed rice and onions and zucchini. My mouth is watering just thinking about a $6.59 large plate of Hibachi steak with steamed rice, onions, and zucchini! Other choices at Hibachi Express are tempura, hibachi bowls, noodles, sushi, and salads. Nothing on the Hibachi Express menu goes over $8. The average meal with a drink will cost between $5 and $8.
The Hibachi Express gets a little busy at lunch time, but the restaurant has a large open area dining room that accommodates a reasonable number of people.
