Dram Yard — Restaurant in Wilmington

My wife and I went there for our anniversary. Reviews were mixed but we thought we’d give it a try. It was a Monday night and we got there shortly after opening. No trouble getting a table. The waitress was very attentive and explained how the place “works”. Apparently all items are share-able. We perused the menu and ordered a bottle of Cab. Wine was good - although it's a $14 retail bottle they sell for $50. The menu is rather eclectic. Not sure if this their angle, but it felt eclectic just to be eclectic. We started with a salad. It was an interesting combination of greens, carrots, ginger etc, with a turmeric honey dressing. The salad was bitter. You have bitter greens with bitter turmeric, and bite-y ginger and not enough honey to offset it. Most folks know that Turmeric needs a fat to balance the flavor – I guess the Chef did not, or that’s the taste they were going for. I didn’t care for it. Wife ordered the potato cakes and I had the NY strip. She seemed to enjoy them but it didn’t knock her socks off. The Steak on the other hand was a disappointment. For almost $40 I expected a delight. It was not. The cut was thin and seemed inferior to the cuts I buy at the local co-op. Cooked medium, I found it a little dry and chewy and the sauce, although tasty did not compliment. Never mind, that’s all you get with the steak. Something – anything, would have been nice on the side. Some fingerling potatoes, anything. I assume this is back to the “share-able” plates. The grilled tomato garnish on top was fantastic and I actually preferred that to the steak. Our waitress said that she’s heard that before. On to dessert – the Chocolate Ganache. Meh. Very, very rich and dense and a lot of dark chocolate flavor but it tasted like baking chocolate and not nearly enough sugar to soften the bitterness. (a common theme with the chef). The teaspoon of whipped cream on the side wasn’t nearly enough to offset the bitter and bite-y flavor. We didn’t finish it. Overall I’d normally say the experience was fine, but I am being particularly hard in this review because the price was over the top. $160 for two of us and frankly it wasn’t worth it. I don’t mind paying money for good food (Roko, Gran Cru, etc). But this was way too expensive for the quality and lack of cohesiveness of the dishes. Overall it really just felt like the menu was designed to be odd on purpose to make it seem chic, but in my opinion, it just didn’t work. Weird for weird sake and pricey for pricey’s sake is not what I am after when I lay my money down. At the end of the day, the dishes have to make sense and the food needs to taste good, and if you are charging what you are charging it needs to be really, really...

Made reservations for 6pm on their grand opening day, a Thursday. It was hard to find street parking so ended parking in the parking lot ($1 per hr) across the street. The restaurant's interior decor and design is an eclectic feel, from the elephant door handles, plants strung up high, painted green palm tree ceiling, to the faux gold utensils.

For appetizers, we started with the pickled vegetables ($5), which included sliced cucumbers, carrots, jalapenos, baby capers, and cumin seeds. The jalapenos were my favorite-they were not spicy (although may be spicy for anyone who is sensitive) and had a touch of sweetness.

A second appetizer we tried were the chickpeas panisse "fries" ($11), which are fried rectangle-shaped chickpea flour cakes. They were 1-inch thick so the inside was mushy. The exterior was crispy. I prefer it to be thinner and crispier. The dip served with it absolutely tantalized my taste buds. My husband disagrees (he's crazy). It's a roasted lemon aioli topped with harissa oil and minced cilantro.

For entrees we ordered the seared duck breast and Peruvian lamb chop. The duck breast came chopped with crispy skin, topped with crispy julienned scallions and served on top of a hoisin flavored sauce. It was good. The lamp chop was okay. Be prepared for a lot of fattiness. It was cooked perfectly to my request, medium, and came with sliced tomatoes, sauteed onions, and cilantro.

Husband ordered the bourbon smash ($10), a mixture of bourbon, sugar, fresh mint leaves, mashed blackberries, and a touch of lemon. He enjoyed it. They definitely did not skimp on the bourbon!

To end the meal, we got the giant apple fritter for dessert. It's basically a funnel cake with chopped cinnamon flavored apples, topped with whipped cream and a strawberry sugar powder. Couldn't taste the strawberry flavor. It would have tasted better if it was uniformly crispy.

The restaurant was only about half full during our dinner and it was pretty loud. I can't imagine what the noise level would be if it was full. So it might not be a good setting if you're looking for a quiet romantic meal. If you do come here, it might be a good idea to get reservations, just in case.

It was cute how the bill was served in a hollowed old school book. Staff were friendly from beginning to end. This is a great place to try creative dishes. I hope they expand their entree menu...

This is a must stop in Wilmington. As a Brunswick County Resident, I have stumbled upon this place a few times, never to eat, only to have an evening cocktail in the garden. It never disappoints. I had family in tonight so we visited Wilmington and as I like to do, I told them we had to walk to have a cocktail before we called it a night at the garden bar. Tonight's experience lived up and exceeded all expectations. The bartender John, whom I mistakenly called a "bartender" (He didn't correct me, I corrected myself as while discussing with my family as we were walking back to our vehicle - because he was a true "mixologist") was by far the best "mixologist" I have ever come across. Basically, this is how it worked, he asked us what we liked. What is our go-to liquor, what is our taste, what mood are we in, where do we want to imagine we are - and then he made us all unique cocktails based on our answers. Each one took us where we wanted to go. It was pretty special. I do not write reviews. I vowed to never write a negative one because I run a business and the majority of the negative ones are from unreasonable people that is not worth the time to go back and forth online trying to defend yourself. But this visit compelled me to speak up. This is not some AI bot, paid review, or friend of the company, or John the "mixologist". I just believe that if you are going to visit Wilmington, and you want to have a cocktail or two and relax - this is pretty much the best spot you could ever visit. Our experience with John tonight was outstanding, but I have stopped in here three times before. It has yet to ever disappoint. It was such a great visit, my wife and I have decided to plan a date night in the future and stay at the hotel and grab dinner as well. I hate building up my expectations, but from what I have seen, I cannot imagine they...