three10 — Restaurant in Wilmington

I dined here with my wife and daughter on a busy Saturday night. We had made reservations through OpenTable. When I made the reservation, I could only choose outside seating, but I added a comment that I wanted inside seating if available, and luckily I got an email from the restaurant saying they were able to grant that request.

I really wanted to like this restaurant. It has a great vibe. There are 10-12 tables in the front of the restaurant, and a small bar fronting the kitchen in the rear. You can see a lot of the kitchen activity, which I think is great, and the kitchen seemed to be very calm and orderly. The dining room was quite loud when we arrived, but quieted down later in the evening as people left.

We found plenty of free parking at an empty grass lot just a few steps down from the restaurant. We first showed up about 20 minutes early, and there was a line of 6-8 people at the hostess station (which is located in the back, so the line basically went right through the dining room). No one was at the hostess station, so after a few minutes, we decided to leave, get a drink down the street, and come back closer to our reservation time. That worked out fine - the line was gone and the hostess was back when we returned, and we were seated within five minutes.

The service was odd. After being seated with our menus and water, we waited for 10 minutes or so before the hostess came back to ask if anyone had helped us yet (there were at least four servers in the restaurant that I counted). When we said no, she apologized and took our drink and appetizer orders. Later, the hostess came back to take our dinner orders. We had to ask about the specials, which she told us about. Later, our actual server brought us our food and finished up the rest of our service. It was a little disjointed, but overall, the service was friendly and efficient, so I can't complain. One complaint: our table was by the door, and whenever a server walked by, the whole table would shake due to the flex in the old hardwood floors. I don't know if the whole restaurant was that way, but it was pretty disruptive at this table.

We enjoyed our "small plates" of hush puppies (five large pups on a plate with a chili-based sauce) and tuna tartare (homemade chips - delish! - with chive-topped tuna). Both were nicely presented and tasty.

The "large plate" menu was quite limited and matched what we had looked at online. We ordered the Diver Scallops, the Seared Yellowfin Tuna, and the Smoked Mushroom and Baby Corn as our main meals. Again, all of them looked delicious (sorry, I didn't take photos, but they were Instagram-worthy!). The portions were not exactly large, but they were adequate. I had the scallops, which were served on quinoa with roasted pepitas. They were just OK -- overall, I found the dish to be on the bland side. There just wasn't much taste to the quinoa or the scallops themselves, honestly. My daughter had the tuna and enjoyed it, although I didn't try it. The smoked mushroom dish was bizarre, in my opinion. My one taste of it was like taking a bite of a campfire. It was THAT smoky, and I'm truly not exaggerating! My wife ate most of it, but she admitted it was very different. I don't think I could have eaten more than a few bites - it was just too overwhelmingly smoky. I joked that they should serve it with s'mores on the side.

We didn't try the oysters, specialty cocktails, or desserts. The entree prices varied from $19-$41. Including two beers and a sparkling water, our total bill was about $125 before tip.

Overall, I can't say it was a bad experience. The ambiance was very nice, the restaurant seemed well-managed (other than our service snafus), and we enjoyed our evening. But I was disappointed in the food, given the prices. If I had sat at the bar, ordered a cocktail, and had oysters and a small plate or two, I might have had a five-star experience. As it was, the entrees were sort of a disappointment. I might try the duck confit or crispy-skin bass next time, if there is...

I had so many things to talk to my friend about tonight. I had to make a list so I knew we needed to go out to dinner to get through the list. When she said she was available in the evening I thought okay. We can finally go to "three10"! I was surprised if she had already picked out what she was probably going to have for dinner, but the recipe that included pickled watermelon rind had her going. I hadn't looked at the menu. I was a little surprised there were so few things on the menu and that there were no specials, but the waitress explained that they want to do what they do really well. And they do. I decided to try the mushroom gumbo and added shrimp. We weren't in a drinking mood so we just had water, the water was beautifully presented and gorgeous glassware. It was a very comfortable dining room, I was surprised at how open it was. The bar looks like it would be a fun place to sit and watch the happenings. We chose to eat inside because it was still hot and humid in August, but there were plenty of people who sat outside and inside was robustly full. It took a little while for a meal to come, but we had plenty to talk about so it flew by. The pork chops. Chops take a few extra minutes. The waitress told us. I was surprised that we didn't get any bread, but I missed it on the menu that they had several things you could purchase. But we were fine. The meals as you can tell from the picture were beautiful. The flavor was outstanding. My mushroom gumbo with shrimp was flavored so perfectly I didn't need any salt or pepper, And while there was a bit of heat to the dish, it was not overwhelming that you had to put out a fire with water or bread. It was very well done. The portion size was doable. I was hungry, it was delicious and consequently there were no leftovers to take home. I'm usually a leftovers person but the portion size were just right. My friend loved her pork chops. Lots of flavors were present in this remarkable dish. We decided that we would try both of the desserts that she told us about. I wish I could remember their names but if you look at the pictures ask her if she has those. She described the cheesecake as a different kind of a cheese. Almost like a Brie merged with a chocolate mousse, topped with sesame seeds and candied orange rind. It was so rich, but so good. You could share it with someone else and still feel like you got a great conclusion to your meal. The one my friend ordered it was very exotic. I wasn't familiar with all of the ingredients other than blueberries, but it was delicious. We got the bills and they were on the pricey side. I find it hard to say whether something is expensive right now because of the nature of inflation happening in the cost of food. I am sure it was properly priced, you just need to have more money in your wallet right now to go to a nice restaurant. Restaurant. Was definitely worth the money. I hope they do well. They say that they change their menu seasonally, so I will look forward to checking in in a few months and seeing what else they might have on their menu. Give them a try, North 4th Street is such a great part of town, and...

I think the Three 10 restaurant opened in October 2021 and is located at 1022 N Fourth St., in the Brooklyn Arts District of Wilmington. It is housed in a historic bungalow that dates back to the 1920’s. The dining room and porch renovated, and a new addition was built to hold the kitchen.

We ate outside on the porch because it was such a beautiful evening, so I can’t comment on the interior dining areas.

I started the evening with their Peal & Eat Shrimp (1/2 lb. Old Bay shrimp, house cocktail sauce, brown butter dijonnaise, lemon) which was fantastic. The shrimp by itself was large, tender, and tasty but when you dipped it into the brown butter dijonnaise it became exceptional. I paired it with a Paloma cocktail. This cocktail contained silver tequila, elderflower liqueur, and grapefruit.

Next, I had a Butter Lettuces salad which contained radishes, fresh herbs, pickled onion, and bourbon candied pecans in a buttermilk dressing. The salad was delicious by itself but paired with a Silver Gimlet brought the salad to the next level. Oh, the bourbon candied pecans were so good, if they ever opened an on-line store and had these as an item, they would be their number one seller, fantastic.

For the main course I had their Grilled Yellow Tuna – Vadouvan spiced, peanut romesco, grilled carrot, slaw, and cilantro. It won’t replace a good baked stuffed lobster, but it’s a good second place. It was delicious, cooked medium with a good sear.

My wife ordered their Carolina Gold Hushpuppies, which she loved. They were covered in a pepper jelly sauce which was delicious. The hushpuppies were crisp on the outside and soft and moist inside,...