The Best Restaurants in Wilmington, Delaware

And while many locals have never been to the small Delaware city to the south, there’s more reason than ever to visit. Even celebs like pop star Nick Jonas are passing through Wilmington for an impromptu bite.

Long known as a business and legal center, Wilmington has been undergoing a transformation, growing its population and revitalizing its once-sleepy downtown into a destination filled with elements that make a city great: live music venues, coffee shops, beer gardens, sports venues, bike trails, and, of course, restaurants. Between an influx of young new residents and an old-money population (this is still the land of DuPont, after all), Wilmington restaurants have a steady stream of sophisticated customers seeking Philadelphia- and New York-style dining, and the food scene has taken off.

Read on for a taste of Wilmington’s best restaurants and bars, featuring family-friendly fun and casual food halls as well as high-end dining. From certain parts of Philadelphia, Wilmington is a quicker trip than many Philly suburbs.

Hop on I-95 in West Philly and make it there in 35 minutes by car; on Amtrak’s Acela train from 30th Street Station, the ride can be under 20 minutes. And while many locals have never been to the small Delaware city to the south, there’s more reason than ever to visit.

Even celebs like pop star Nick Jonas are passing through Wilmington for an impromptu bite. Long known as a business and legal center, Wilmington has been undergoing a transformation, growing its population and revitalizing its once-sleepy downtown into a destination filled with elements that make a city great: live music venues, coffee shops, beer gardens, sports venues, bike trails, and, of course, restaurants.

Between an influx of young new residents and an old-money population (this is still the land of DuPont, after all), Wilmington restaurants have a steady stream of sophisticated customers seeking Philadelphia- and New York-style dining, and the food scene has taken off. Read on for a taste of Wilmington’s best restaurants and bars, featuring family-friendly fun and casual food halls as well as high-end dining.

Charcoal Pit

This iconic burger shack in Wilmington has been impressing local residents and tourists alike since 1956.

A longtime favorite of our former U.S. President Joe Biden, Charcoal Pit has one of the tastiest burgers in the region — a juicy bison burger that’s served on a potato roll.

Blackwall Barn & Lodge

The rustic restaurant out of Maryland broke into Wilmington last winter with a rustic dining room serving New York strip, house-made pastas, branzino, and braised lamb shank.

Weekday happy hour (3 to 6 p.m.) spotlights half-off pizzas and $5 wines.

Snuff Mill

This steakhouse is in a surprising location: A strip mall with a massive Independence Hall replica. Snuff Mill is becoming a destination on its own thanks to its dry-aging prowess and on-site butchering.

Superb cuts come with playful twists on classic menu items, such as truffled cream corn and beef marrow butter. For drinkers and abstainers alike, the beverage menu offers plenty of choices, from a zero-proof cranberry mojito to fine French wine.

La Pizzeria Metro

This family-friendly pizzeria, from Michael Tumolo and his son Daniel, slings wood-fired Neapolitan-inspired pies cooked to charred, blistered perfection in a showpiece Forza Forni oven.

Situated a bit north of downtown, and conveniently located next door to Wilmington Brew Works, La Pizzeria Metro also makes stromboli, calzones, pasta, nachos, and for dessert, s’mores pizza with Nutella.

The Post

Open since 2024, Dan Sheridan’s airy love letter to the Forty Acres neighborhood he grew up in offers brisket panini, lamb gnocchi, shrimp and grits, and ribs, with dishes filled out by fresh veggies plucked from its on-site garden.

Smoked meats on the menu nod to his former Wilmington restaurant, Locale BBQ Post, which was featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. On Tuesdays, head here for $1 wings.

The Chancery Market

Following in the footsteps of Wilmington’s popular De.co food hall at the Hotel Dupont, the Chancery Market opened a few blocks away. The 12,000-square-foot setup offers a diverse lineup of eight vendors from near and far.

Try Nikita Thomas’s fast-casual vegan stall, Rooted AF, and Indian street foods spot Kati Roll Wala.

Le Cavalier

The historic restaurant at the Hotel Du Pont got a glow-up a few years back as a picturesque, high-ceilinged modern French brasserie.

Now Le Cavalier is the place in town for elegant omelets at brunch, smoked salmon tartine at lunch, coq au vin wings for happy hour, and steak frites at dinner. The gorgeous bar well-stocked with natural wines at Le Cav is worth a visit on its own. A tiny new cafe off the lobby called Spark’d Creative Pastry + Coffee offers bourbon blueberry doughnuts and Philly-inspired cheesesteak croissants from executive chef Leah Ferrara.

The landmark property built in 1913 is also undergoing a lobby renovation this fall and has just added a posh new private dining room.

Wilma's

Wilma’s offers four lanes of duckpin bowling, which is similar to regular ten-pin bowling with smaller pins and balls. Inside a stunning former downtown bank building, this fun spot serves a New Orleans-inspired menu with jambalaya, short rib mac and cheese, po’ boys, and red beans and rice.

A long bar offers a serious cocktail menu, plus mocktails like a lavender French 75.

Bardea Food & Drink and Bardea Steak

Bardea and its chef, Antimo DiMeo, have each been a semifinalist for a James Beard Award thanks to the incredibly creative cooking here that recently drew the attention of drop-in diner Nick Jonas. The always-buzzing restaurant leans Italian, but international influences and techniques pop up in nearly every dish, like an avocado that’s been preserved in yuzu butter with pineapple mostarda.

More recently, the Bardea team opened Bardea Steak next door. With a massive menu of rare breeds and a $180 steak tasting, it’s not your grandfather’s steakhouse.

The Quoin

A fresh opening in town recently came from the team behind Wm.

Mulherin’s Sons, a Fishtown spot for pasta and wood-fired fare. The Quoin, a hotel and restaurant in a lovingly renovated downtown brownstone, specializes in the same delicious northern Italian cuisine as its Philly sibling.

Before dinner, visit Simmer Down, the glowy speakeasy-style bar downstairs, for a well-made cocktail; after dinner, cap the night upstairs at Wilmington’s only rooftop bar.

La Fia

Locals know to go to this classic bistro for well-sourced charcuterie boards, excellent wines by the glass, and internationally influenced dishes like duck confit with sesame granola and yuzu kosho.

Philadelphians will remember owner Bryan Sikora from his beloved BYOB Django in Queen Village, long closed. He opened La Fia before Wilmington’s renaissance began and has kept it going strong ever since.

Every Wednesday, enjoy a three-course menu for $46.