Chelsea Tavern - Wilmington

It was supposed to be a special day for my friend. I was not greeted when I entered. They seemed short staffed. Not sure why we needed to book a reservation on Open table. There was three other patrons there. The waitress appeared to be waiting tables inside and outside with no assistance. In my notes I asked for cake with Happy Birthday on it. I had to remind the waitress in-front of my friend which defeats the purpose of being special.

Great new summer menu. Food was great. All four of us enjoyed our meals. No complaints.

Although it’s a “tavern,” we came for the food and weren’t disappointed. Nice menu with lengthy weekend brunch, great service, and a lovely courtyard had us back for a second meal in as many days. And the portions are huge. It’s one of the few restaurants that seem to be open on Sundays in downtown Wilmington.

Great bar food, but nothing too exciting. It was really hot, but our server was nice!

Some friends came in from out of town on 7/15/23. I had made reservations the week leading up to their arrival. The air conditioning wasn't working for a week or so according to the employees and the air conditioning wasn't working the night we went for dinner. None of this made me aware to me so when we got to the restaurant it was like eating inside an oven. What made matters worse was that our waiter was terrible. Left our cold drinks at the bar for 15-20 minutes while we were sitting at our table sweating. Food was good....but we were so sweaty and gross it really didn't matter how good the food was, we just wanted to get out of there.