Cousins Italian Deli — Restaurant in Wilmington

I recently had the opportunity to enjoy the weekend dinner at Cousin’s Deli with a group of friends. These reservations get booked out literally months in advance so I had made this one several months ago. We all arrived within a few minutes of the dinner time and were seated. For these dinners, there is one seating each night, and everything is served family-style. The restaurant is extremely full because there is limited space and tons of people who want to enjoy it. We were a group of 6. Dinner is also BYOB so we had a few bottles of wine among us. Our first course was a yummy bruschetta that was super fresh and flavorful. This was then followed by a plate of delicious appetizers which included eggplant rollatini, arancini, sauteed mushrooms, and shrimp. It was super delicious and tons of food! You are able to bring home leftovers so no need to stress about wasting food. Then we got a salad that was huge! It had pepperoncini in it which several of my friends loved. After that was the pasta course. We were served pasta a la vodka. It was an interesting sauce, much lighter than I’m used to for this dish. The pasta was delicious! Then came the main entrée course of chicken piccata. This serving was MASSIVE! Three different people took food home! The dessert plate came out with three different desserts on it- carrot cake, biscotti, and cannolis. You can also order coffee to go with the dessert course. Everything was very tasty with very generous portions. The only big downside to the evening is how loud it is inside- I literally couldn’t hear my friend two seats down. Just comes from being super a popular experience in a restaurant not originally created for this set up. Still highly recommend! Big items to know: You can take leftovers home BYOB Parking in the lot right next to the restaurant Super loud inside...

Friday lunch visit for two and we were able to walk right up to place our order (The Pisa on a long roll with a side of antipasto salad). Found a table no problem but there were plenty of other customers there too. They brought our food out within 10 minutes and it looked great. The bread! Oh that bread! Sturdy with a light crust and a surprisingly great texture—picture a French baguette crossed with an Italian peasant loaf. It held up fine as I munched on chips and took bites of a pickle spear between bites of my sandwich. I’d whack someone for that bread recipe!! The antipasto salad stole the show here though. Chunks of salami, celery, cheese, roasted red peppers, and olives for the base of this Mob Boss of a side dish. It was all marinated in a perfectly balanced vinaigrette dressing that was most certainly house made. Absolutely gangster! The interior was quite dated and needs a refresh badly but that is the ONLY negative thing I can say about this place. The lunch menu is loaded with creative hot and cold sandwiches as well as a few side choices and they offered cannoli for dessert too. I hear the dinner service is akin to Sunday dinner at Nonnie’s house so I’ll be...

LorraineT808 (74 reviews) Wilmington, North Carolina We had heard from many locals that Cousins has a wonderful dinner on Friday and Saturday nights for $25 per person. You can call ahead to find out what the menu for the evening will be. Bruschetta was first, followed by a hot antipasta course, salad with homemade dressing, pasta, main course, and dessert. You can bring your own wine (no corkage fee) and beer. We had made reservations and our group of five was greetly warmly. The food was wonderful and plentiful. Leftovers were cheerfully boxed. We will be back! Date of visit: November 2013

This review is still true 10 years later. We just enjoyed a great dinner and the review above is spot on. The price now is $36 and our granddaughter was $18. We had one person gluten free in our party and they took really good care of her. We have been to many great wine dinners over the years but this BYOB Italian dinner stands tall among these dinners. Believe the hype. It...