The Original Salt Works — Restaurant in Wilmington

First timer at the Original Salt Works for lunch and I was pleased, overall. This is a cash only, hole in the wall diner just minutes from Wrightsville Beach and conveniently located next to Wrightsville Beach Brewery, if you're feeling froggy and want to grab some suds afterward. The vibe inside is very unique but cool at the same time. Think, Tennessee country store meets a Waffle House meets a beach bait and tackle shop...but cleaner. Here's how it went down as a first time visitor.

FOOD: Gabriel's Combo Club with fries & double cheeseburger with lettuce, mayo and a side of onion rings. The star of these 2 meals was that burger. Juicy, flavorful and hot smashed patties with just the right seasonings. The melted American cheese was perfect and there was just enough to blend well with the double patties. The lettuce was crisp, the mayo was adequate and the bun was soft and fresh. I really enjoyed the taste of this. The onion rings were nice with a golden batter and plenty of steaming hot, sweet onion strands inside. I'd consider this burger in a blind taste-off for the city of Wilmington. Next time, that's getting ordered, fully loaded. The Gabriel's Club was very good but for some reason, it was delivered to the table with no lettuce or tomato. I recall our very young server asking what condiments I would like on it so I simply said mayo. I'm wondering if she thought that meant no ingredients other than mayo?? I wanted to ask for the lettuce and tomato but she was very busy serving other tables around us so I chalked it up as a learning lesson. Next time, I will be VERY specific as to what ingredients I want on my ordered item. I never considered lettuce and tomato, condiments, but apparently, Salt Works does. The fries were super hot and tasty but there were so many, I ended up leaving half in the basket from being so full. With some modifications and crystal clear instructions to our next server, this may be a lot better. SCORE: 3.9 STARS!!!

SERVICE: We had a mix of 2 young, female servers today and both were very friendly. Refills came once and our food was delivered in a timely manner. I'm still unsure why the Gabriel's Club was delivered without veggies on it, but I'm guessing something got lost in translation. You pay at the door on your way out (remember that this is a cash only establishment) and you're on your way. Aside from the whiff with the missing veggies, the AC vent directly above us began to drip water droplets on the table and once on top of my wife's head. About 7 large droplets fell from the overhead ventilation grate over the course of our meal. I made the young hostess aware as we were leaving since this could potentially be a serious sanitation problem and she acknowledged that they were aware of it and this wasn't the first time it had happened. She even made her follow co-worker aware of the issue again as well. I'd probably make a stong recommendation of getting this fixed for multiple reasons. SCORE: 3 STARS!!

OVERALL SCORE: Great little spot with plenty of potential to create a consistent 5 Star experience. Because that burger was so...

I wouldn’t give not one damn star. I have been wanting to try The Salt Works since i moved here last year. We have tried on several occasions to get in before they stopped serving breakfast at 11:45 and we haven’t quite been able to make it in on Sunday in time so one time we had to eat lunch and it was decent and the girl was friendly. However after today me and my boyfriend have decided that we WILL NOT be trying again. I was dropped off at the door to go ahead and grab our table and when i walked in i was told to be seated anywhere. I sat at the front and and a waitress approached me and asked what i would like to drink and i asked if we could still order breakfast (11:40AM) she said no we stopped serving breakfast at 11:45 i pulled out my phone and showed her that it was 11:40 she gave me a dirty look and said ill go ask my boss but we are not serving breakfast anymore. (Boyfriend walks in) As she is asking him shes giving a dirty tone and attitude (he is handing a customer bacon) he says just serve them. She walks past us throws the menus in between us on the table (we are standing in front of the table) and says NOTHING. After seeing the attitude he decided we were DEFINITELY NOT eating there anymore. I love little hole in the wall restaurants because they always have the friendliest service and the BEST food and this is JUST a hole in the wall LUNCH place don’t try for anything else because you will not get it here. The owner of this restaurant today has changed my mind completely about this place and so has his staff. Go to Causeway down the street, its highly recommended and thats where we are...

Me and my wife came here because we saw all of the positive reviews so we figured why not, lets try them. When we arrived we noticed it was quite small and there was one booth open, thankfully we came when we did because about 20 mins after we showed up we noticed multiple parties waiting for food by around 2 pm. When I try a new place I like to keep it standard and order a burger with fries or onion rings. This time I chose the onion rings. We waiting somewhere near 50 minutes for our food which was just too long in my opinion. When we finally got out food, thinking back on the reviews I read about this place I was expecting to get a pretty good burger. That was not the case, the patty was thick but I know my burgers, and im almost certain these are pre-frozen patties. It tasted absolutely derelict. The lettuce was one of those pieces that looked like it came straight off a tree, and im almost positive it was a wal-mart bun, not even a brioche bun. Now onto the onion rings, these onion rings are the worst I have had to this date in our almost 3 years of living in Wilmington and trying new places. The rings were just plainly dipped in a fry batter and thats it, extremely basic. We wont be coming back, and I guess im going to have to start having to take these reviews from people with a grain of salt, because people are clearly...