Perla Raw Bar — Restaurant in Wilmington

Atmosphere of this restaurant is amazing. When we arrived tonight, the breeze was perfect for outdoor dining even though it is a warmer summer evening. The decor inside is beautiful with a bunch of glass pieces on the wall. We were greeted with warm hellos by the hostesses and promptly sat at a table with couches outside.

Yall, the couches were comfy + had pillows and a blanket for each bench. There were also fans that kept air moving in the area even when the breeze decided to stop.

Our waitress was friendly and bubbly, but the wind blew a menu and tumbled a freshly filled glass of water directly onto me and all over the table. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice if our waitress had cleaned it up. Instead, that task was left to me. My then-soaked napkin was never replaced with another fresh and dry napkin, nor was it offered.

The happy hour oysters had an incredible brine. We loved that it was served with a house-made hot sauce and an amazing vinegarette. If you’re a fan of horseradish with your raw oysters like we are, be sure to ask for it - it isn’t automatically served with them.

Shortly after our oysters were delivered, our waitress knocked another full glass of water on me and the table again. It definitely wasn’t the wind this time, though. Although she was again apologetic, she once again didn’t offer to clean up the mess that was created.

We ordered a few of the taco specials. We weren’t delivered all of our tacos at first (my son was shorted one), but that was corrected within 10-15 minutes.

We tried the swordfish, shrimp, and fried oyster tacos. All were amazing. Even my picky 11 year old devoured them.

We also ordered a side of the truffle fries with the garlic aioli to share. Do yourself a favor and skip them. They were overcooked and lacked flavor. You also can’t taste any garlic in the “garlic” aioli.

I’m disappointed in the service we received. We weren’t even asked if we were enjoying our food after it was delivered, and it wasn’t so busy that our waitress wouldn’t have had much time to do that. I’m also disappointed that management didn’t come over to say sorry after the second glass of water was spilled on me. Why should a customer need to be loud and difficult in order to have someone from management come over when there have been multiple incidents at a single table?

Not sure if I’ll be back again at this time.

Pros: $1 oyster Happy Hour House marg with Tajin rim Restaurant atmosphere Outdoor seating

Cons Both water incidents Truffle fries and aioli Service, or lack thereof

Also PRO TIP FOR THOSE WITH FOOD ALLERGIES - check the menu carefully…there are a LOT of dishes with peanuts and treenuts. While some can be removed from the dish, others can not (like the peanuts from the...

Had dinner last week at Perla Raw Bar with my husband and another couple.

It was our first time here, and maybe second or third time for our friends.

Adam, the manager, greeted us as we entered and was super friendly.

I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant with tables spread out, the high ceilings, the beautiful glass flowers on the wall and those hanging, the inviting long bar (16 - 18 seats), and even the beautiful tiled floor in the bathroom.

I started with the tuna tartare, a great combination of crispy rice, Brussel sprouts and topped with the raw tuna. My friend highly recommended it to me and I'm glad she did. It was a unique combination of flavors and textures.

My friend ordered the shrimp spring rolls. They were pretty small but she said they were excellent. My other friend ordered the cucumber salad, which he shared with my husband. Both enjoyed it.

We all shared a side order of truffle fries (I love anything with truffles), which came with a garlic aioli, although I really didn't taste the garlic. We decided to get a second order of truffle fries.

For our entrees, my husband and I both ordered the Southern Seafood Stew, which had one large scallop and a few of each of shrimp, mussels, clams, and fish (I think it was cod). This was on top of rice grits along with a red sauce. The menu stated braised cabbage, but I didn't see any at all.

One of my friends had the salmon with gnocchi, wild mushrooms, etc. My other friend ordered the fish and chips (first time eating fish and chips), which came with coleslaw and salt & vinegar chips.

Everything was excellent, flavorful, and cooked perfectly.

When we got our entrees, our truffle fries had not yet come out of the kitchen, so we told Caitlin, our waitress, not to bother to bring them out.

Everything is a la carte, making this a somewhat pricey place to eat. However, the food was excellent, the atmosphere lovely, and with the great service by Caitlin, it's worth it.

I want to return to have lunch on their patio. I noticed the bar has seating on the outside, as the glass windows...

We were sat first at a table near the bar. Patrons standing at the bar were much too close to our table. The table is too close to the bar. When we asked to be seated elsewhere we were shown to our new table, but no other staff was informed which was confusing for our new server. The oyster shooters were terrible. The shot was a bad flavor and the oyster was huge and nasty and tasted like it was sitting in warm osyter ocean water that had been dumped from an old clog Birkenstock, one of my friends actually gagged and spit it out and felt sick the whole evening. We were mortified, told the waitress and when we asked what type of oyster it was, hoping we hadn’t ordered that variety our waitress told us it wasn’t even on the menu. Our straight up martinis were not made well. The server thought Belvedere was gin, and no vermouth must have meant only vermouth. The normal oysters were not to our liking. They were all too large except for one kind and a bit off in flavor. The waitress returned some knowing they were enormous and we had requested small briny oysters. The Tuna Tartare was not enough tuna and the Brussels sprouts overpowered the whole dish, it was more like a poke bowl sample in a mold . Overpriced and just not good, overall. The atmosphere was fine, decor-wise, but overall it was too noisy, they did not account for the high ceilings or use any opportunities for sound proofing, which is hard for someone that can’t hear well. Will not be going back. If you’re looking for raw oysters Flying Machine Oyster Bar is a MUST 10/10 recommend, I wish we had gone back a second time...