Mess Hall ILM — Restaurant in Wilmington

I know Mess Hall has always had like a cult following with our locals & for good reason! They are delicious, centrally located, the atmosphere is right…however I have been 3x now since they reopened and I’m starting to think I have to jump off the bandwagon. My first experience I wrote off as hectic due to the recent reopening. 2nd attempt was a call in take out order. After being told to come get it in 30- I left 20 minutes after calling in hopes to grab a beer & pick up my food. I got there only to drive in circles looking for any parking I could take- streets, the multiple lots, surrounding streets…nope. Not a single available space. So I tried calling back to see if I could get someone to possible bring our the order I placed but after 4 attempts calling back without an answer I decided to leave without a drink or my food. The 3rd more recent attempt was today with my husband and son. We were not able to find lot parking in either lots but did manage to find a spot off the street as someone was pulling out. We got in and saw the 30 minutes for ANY food sign written, 30 min is okay- we ordered our food & went to the bar for drinks. It took just under an hour for our take out to finally show up. In this time we had a beer and watched countless people show up only to leave. They are getting slammed from phone orders, in person orders and a little take out window from the dog park and it is blatantly obvious their cooks are stuffing to keep up. Mess Hall has never been “quick eats” but after the location switch I can’t see us going back as frequently as we did prior too. Food is delicious as always! But long lines at the bar plus an hour+ wait for burgers that take 5 minutes to eat just isn’t practical. I’m glad we ordered to go though. We saw so many people coming with this families and young kids just standing there awkwardly in the cramped indoor space due to the...

Wilmington, North Carolina...watch out!! There's a new burger joint in town and it can compete against some of the best-voted burgers in The Port City.

FOOD: Samburger with Tots: After just over a month of being open for business, Mess Hall in the The Cargo District is not messing around when it comes to their burgers. Two lightly seasoned, ridiculously fresh patties with an encompassing char throughout the beef. Perfectly toasted, soft buns. The melted cheese, bacon, caramelized and crispy onions...everything...tasted as if it came fresh from local farmers and was cooked beautifully. The tots were plump, crispy, flavorful and a nice alternative to fries. In my opinion?? I have had some incredible burgers in my lifetime and even though this one isn't in my top 5, Mess Hall has the goods and is a worthy competitor in voting for "Best Burger" in Wilmington. Not kidding. SCORE: 4.8 STARS!!

SERVICE: Either Mess Hall hasn't had word spread about it yet or we just got lucky, but there was not one customer when we arrived. The staff were pleasant while we ordered and waited on our food. The back kitchen staff served up our dinner counter-side with a wonderful presentation and all went well. I was not blown away by customer service but was still served up to expectations. The establishment was very clean, masks and gloves were worn and food delivery was prompt and hot. SCORE: 4.7 STARS!!

OVERALL SCORE: Delicious, memorable, fresh and large burgers with plump, crispy Tots? Ummmm...yes, please. You'll be seeing me again for sure. Mess Hall will be a force to be reckoned with for the next title of "Best Burger in Wilmington". SCORE:...

Despite an 90 minute wait on a prior Saturday, my family enjoyed a delicious burger and decided to come back on a slower weekday. This time there was no line, but we were told that it would be "about 20 minutes or so." No problem, we ordered for dine-in and the young man gave us a number saying our food would be brought out when it was ready, so we went outside and found a clean table on the patio. When no one brought our food out nearly 30 minutes later, we became worried and I went in to check. The person who took our order asked if I was looking for order #72, to which I exclaimed "this was a dine-in order and I thought you were going to bring it out to us, how long has it been sitting here?" He simply shrugged his shoulders and replied "probably not very long." A young woman folding napkins nearby expressed a sentiment to him that I couldn't make out, but he promptly dismissed her. I took our order and went back out to the patio, but when we began to eat, my wife and I were both disappointed to find that the burgers were only lukewarm and the tater tots were cold. We were famished and opted not to request for them to be redone, but I discarded half my burger and barely touched the tots. This was a dismal experience compared to our previous visit (and we had to wait an hour and a half that time). I know restaurants are struggling to staff themselves with experienced workers and that mistakes happen, but this isn't a cheap burger joint and I don't appreciate being misled. Hopefully this was an...