Le Cavalier — Restaurant in Wilmington

This is both a story and a review. For many years, my wife and I have taken our now two adult daughters to The Green Room for a Christmas dinner. At various years we have added a fifth to our party. Sadly, The Green Room is no longer. So this year against my eldest daughters recommendation, I decided to see what new and exciting things The Cav had to offer. I must say, the e-mail confirmation was off putting. First there was a menu in the e-mail that invited me to review it ahead of time. This was not the menus offered when we arrived. The e-mail was also quite clear that there was a ten minute grace period for being late, whatever that meant. The room was maybe one third full. Anyway we arrived all decked out to a much more casual atmosphere in the newly decorated restaurant. The first impression was somewhat positive. The booth type seating looked inviting (although at the end of the night the individual chairs were deemed most uncomfortable). The new bar was impressive. The noise level was very loud. I’m guessing the removal of the drapes and the carpet were the reason. Once seated we noticed the very tired old exposed tile on the floor with cement patches in various spots. It was not attractive. Also noticed were the nice old chandeliers and their mismatched “new” lightbulbs throughout. Harrison, our waiter, was most attentive and pleasant. Sadly it was all down hill from there. The onion soup had ample cheese and bread but I could scarcely find more that a few onions and very minimal liquid under it all. The salad was so covered with grated cheese it looked like a snow covered mountain. The excess cheese was not a plus for overall edibility. Three of us were halfway though our meal when a bowl of not ordered soup was deliver to try and appease the forth in our party for not yet receiving her meal. It was turned away. It would have been more appropriate to ask first what may help the interim time she waited. The big question is why was a pasta dish with clams so late? My medium rare filet was not only over cooked, the side was obviously seared but seared so much it was uncomfortably crunchy! The amount of pepper was outlandish and it was all I could taste. The tall lanky man that nervously paced the room all night did ask how my food was and my polite but true response was promptly ignored. The purée potatoes were too soupy and lacked flavor. The lamb dish was dry and had non-existent sauce to help. The duck was way too raw. The dessert choices were minimal and we tried the lemon tort. Although it had some flavor, the content of the pastry shell was too soft. There were four different staff that waited on our table. Silverware was cleared and not replaced without asking. It was clear they didn’t communicate with each other and it was haphazard. We left silently. I suppose no one wished to make a disastrous situation worse. It was way too much money for several meals that were not even mediocre but bad! So, I am again disheartened that the elegance of The Green Room is gone, but I’m more upset that a long-standing family tradition will die over a want-to-be French cafe that resembled no cafe I ever visited in France. It saddens me my family did not enjoy this night out. I so much wanted a good experience. I was willing to overlook my meal and even more, but there were too many issues to ignore. 😟 Robert DiGiacomo,...

This place is also a feast for your eyes. They have their feet back under them and they are ready to run. TLDR? I would call this place a can't miss experience.

I was a little worried when I googled "fine dining in Wilmington" and The Melting Pot was 3rd on the list. Fortunately I kept scrolling and found this gem.

In town for only one night, I did not want to strike out. Reading some of the other reviews gave me pause, I gather they recently re-toolled and relaunched and had a rocky patch... think nothing of it, they are now firing on all cylinders.

Hunter, our waiter, took excellent care of us. He is young with just the slightest bit of timidity creeping in around the edges. But he knew his stuff and was on the ball. He might have just been trying to keep his voice down, sound carries very well in the room because of all the hard surfaces and it can get a tad noisy. However it is worth it to see master level craftsmanship. If the food sucked I would have been happy to eat there for the historic room alone.

By the way, the food did not suck. The menu seemed just a little sparse, but still there were many things we wanted to try… so we tried them all. The butter that came with the bread basket was sprinkled with what I am guessing is flur de sil or flur de mer... maybe it was just plain kosher salt, but it wasn't missed and much appreciated. Cold Seafood tower- a little small and pricy but very well done. I am not sure I would pay that AGAIN but very glad I had it once. Mussels- how Mussels should be done. I really liked that there wasn't too much sauce and what there was was thicker than the runny mess that usually accompanies them elsewhere. Also liked the big slices of garlic. Steak tartar-cubey little chunks not ground to an indistinguishable mash. Not over caperie or all onioned up. The richness and creaminess of butter. Paté- served on the toast already, unexpected but acceptable. Finished with a "stone fruit" jammy type thing and topped with micro greens. A very nice dish. Filet Mignon- says its served with truffle but it was undetectable. At $65 it better be great and it was. Filet should be able to stand on its own, this one absolutely does. The red wine reduction it's served with complemented the steak and did not overpower. Chicken provencal- I wish more places took their chicken dishes as seriously as they do. Infused with herby savory flavors throughout, not just on the surface. Good crispy skin, juicy meat. It's a full half chicken and all parts were cooked to perfection. The apple and olive chutney/gravy/sauce was something I will be describing to my cooking friends for a long time. The sweetness of the apple, salty of the olives, richness of the meat juices and floral herbs was balanced and delightful. Hunter took such excellent care of us all evening, we were able to take our time but the food, timelessness of the service, and detailed surroundings left us plenty to talk about. The only thing I wish we would have tried were the cocktails to see if the bartenders are as adept as the wait staff and chefs in the kitchen. The extensive wine list suggests that libations are as important to them as sustenance. I will be going out of my way to tell people about this place. You should go out of your...

A good friend invited me last minute to celebrate her birthday with dinner at Le Cavalier. I was excited as I've been wanting to visit the restaurant for awhile. The restaurant is simply stunning. There isn't anything else like it in terms of interior, to my knowledge, in the city. The hostess and our server, Harrison, were polite and welcoming. It was a Saturday evening and the dining room was maybe half full. After our party of 4 trickled in, we began ordering. Service seemed a bit slow (especially for a night that wasn't busy) but we were enjoying each other's company and didn't mind. The food was good, nothing spectacular. I ordered the gnocchi with crab - it was full of shells. Dessert was good and coffee was delicious and hot. My main complaint is that each of us had stomach aches the following day and I suffered from severe symptoms of food poisoning. I reached out the the restaurant via contact sheet on their website. Jonathan, the manager, reached out via email asking if we could have a phone call. It's been over a week and after a string of confusing emails (some of the confusion is my fault) I still haven't received a call from anyone from Le Cavalier. I'm disappointed as they seem not to care about their guests and may have questionable practices in the kitchen.

Edit 3/24/2022: Adding one star. Mark, a senior director of PM Hotel Group, reached out to me via email due to my original review and the manager’s failure to get on a call with me after a disappointing experience. Mark was very hospitable and responded in a timely manner. We got on a quick call and I shared my experience with him. I also learned that there had been changes in management which explained why I never heard back from Jonathan. Mark extended an olive branch by offering me a complementary dinner whenever convenient for me. I decided to take up this offer on Saturday, March 18th. I dined with a different friend than the first dinner. She and I both have many years of FOH/BOH experience in high end/fine dining. We were warmly welcomed by a tall gentleman at the host stand. Unfortunately, it took nearly 10 minutes for us to be greeted by a server once we were seated. I had to get the host’s attention to make him aware that no one had greeted us. The host took our drink order and T., our server, finally greeted us shortly after. The service was better for the remainder of the meal. The food was good. I cannot rave about anything in particular but flavor, plating, and temperature met my standards. By the end of the meal, I will say it was a much better experience than the first time (especially not getting sick this time.) My friend did mention that she found it interesting that the manager never came to check on us during the meal. I would go back but maybe to sit at the bar. Beautiful place....