Blueberry’s Grill — Restaurant in Wilmington

Visiting Blueberry’s Grill at Lumina Station in Wilmington, NC was a less than desirable experience. My social media has been hyping up this location for over two months and though the area/restaurant itself is GORGEOUS - so 10 out of 10 for how serene that shopping center is and for how beautifully decorated the restaurant was - this restaurant was overrated and very underwhelming on all other fronts.

It all began when my sister, her little 4 year old, and myself walked up to the makeshift hostess area (which consisted of two employees sitting on tall chairs outside the main doors looking over a tablet), they said a curt “hello - how many?” and we joked and said “2.5” they said “Inside or Outside or First Available?” (There was a strong breeze and a slight chill since it was 10am) and so we said “ummm we will wait for a table inside, if that’s ok.” They took our number and name and said it shouldn’t be long. We walked away for a moment & then quickly received a text saying our table was ready. We walked past those two outside team members inside & stood there while a few women walked in and out from behind the actual hostess stand. Finally one of them acknowledged us and said “did you get a text about your table?!” We said “Yes ma’am we did!” And she said “follow her she’ll seat you” and so Meaghan walks past us without a smile or acknowledgment or anything and takes us outside to a small two person table and puts down our menus and silverware. We paused and kindly said “oh no ma’am - we asked for a table inside and there is three of us - my nephew needs his own chair.” Meaghan stared at us like we were an inconvenience for questioning the table and said “umm does he need a high chair or do you want me to bring you another chair?” My thought was “there isn’t enough room at this table for two let alone three - we can’t sit here.” A second later someone from the far end of the patio area says “put them back on the list and we will get them seated in a moment” sooo back on the list we go but only for a moment and when my phone buzzed with our table is ready alert again - we walked back inside to hopefully get seated at a table inside with room for at least 3 people. Once again here comes Meaghan to seat us outside but this time at a three person high table. We didn’t say anything we just sat down because we didn’t know if it was the young kids at the front door who didn’t hear us correctly about our seating preference or what may have caused the miscommunication but we were hungry and just wanted to order this highly anticipated food.

Victoria was our waitress and she was gorgeous/beautiful smile and seemed nice - she didn’t really offer any recommendations just simply said “what can I get for you today?” And we said “Waters and chocolate milk please ma’am” (the chocolate milk was chocolate sauce and milk for $4.41 - we should have definitely brought our own 🤦🏻‍♀️) When Victoria returned with the drinks we ordered - the famous Blueberry Hushpuppies, an order of Chicken and Waffles, and an order of sweet potato pancakes w/ a side of home fries. Here is the quick overview of the food - the chicken was dark but it wasn’t dark meat it was over fried and as silly as this sounds the grease tasted old, the waffle was mediocre, the pecans in the sweet potato waffles were so big (like bigger than usual size) they could choke you (I’m all for creative culinary liberties but to Blueberry’s Grill cook team I say - please do better… chop those freaking pecans up some before throwing them into the sweet potato pancake batter, my lordddd 🤦🏻‍♀️) and the flavor of the sweet potato pancakes was non-existent…like seriously those two pancakes had no flavor besides when you dipped them into the syrups they serve you on your plate, the blueberry hushpuppies would have been better if there wasn’t whole kernels of corn in them - that was strange honestly.

All in all for $60+ we won’t visit again but they aren’t hurting for business so it doesn’t really matter to be honest. This restaurant caters to a certain demographic so...

Wanting to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary a bit differently this year, my wife and I decided to drive an hour to try out Blueberry's Grill for brunch. We are so very glad we did; the staff went out of their way to make our time with them exceptional. When checking in at the door we were greated by "Heha" ( I hope I spelled her name correctly) who took the time to listen to us even though it was crowded. Then, while waiting for a table, we asked a staff member walking by, "Ellie," if it was possible to order a coffee as we explained this was our first time visiting and we were celebrating our 43rd anniversary. She happily led us to the bar and asked "Morgan" to take good care of "her new friends". Despite being non-stop busy at the bar, Morgan finished up what she was doing and asked us what we wanted. She too listened attentively and made sure she knew exactly the type of drinks we wanted, which were excellent by the way. A short time later we were seated and met our waiter, Judah. Here again, Judah took the time to listen and answered our questions. Our food arrived promptly and was absolutely delicious. During the meal, an unexpected celebration mocktail arrived with Ellie checking on us. Later, at the end of the meal, my wife asked Judah how much a souvenir Blueberry's coffee mug cost. We were pleasantly surprised when he brought back 3 to choose from with the understanding that it would be a special memento for us to remember this day. It has now been three days since we enjoyed our first time eating at Blueberry's Grill and we can't stop talking about it. Although the speciality dishes were above amazing and the service was super in every way, it was the friendly staff members I mentioned earlier that made our 43rd wedding celebration meal fantastic and unforgettable. For that we are deeply grateful and will certainly visit Blueberry's Grill in Wilmington a great many more times...

We came as a group of 4 ladies and sat outside. We wanted to try several seasonal drinks and several meals, and split them, to maximize the experience as our first visit to Blueberry's!

We were visiting from the Northern Virginia/DC area, where there is a lot of foodie culture and an expectation of dietary swaps - the latter more so than I expected may be possible in the south. We were really pleasantly surprised. With some dairy allergies and low sugar dietary needs at the table, we still could eat so much, and we loved it all.

Judah, our server, was so pleasant and very helpful with suggesting dishes or swaps for our needs. We never were in want of anything at our table before he came to check on us and provide it - refills, side plates for sharing, drink top ups, a table fan to keep bugs away, etc.

We got the chicken and waffles, the classic eggs Benedict, a steak skillet, creme brulee waffles, a crispy chicken sandwich, and an omelet, among our group. (We came ready to eat, after a long drive down the evening before!)

Not only were all the dishes well plated, but everything had great texture (like, crispy but tender chicken and waffles) and we were all pleased with our portion sizes. For my drink, I'm not a huge fan of sugary sweet alcoholic beverages: I tried the pear martini thanks to Judah's help choosing, and it was flavorful and refreshing; not syrupy sweet.

Highly recommend for the beautiful photo ops indoors and on the back patio - sit inside if you come peak midday and you sweat easily. And highly recommend to travelers visiting the area for the first time. Plan ahead, because this spot is popular - and they live up to their...