Review of Front Street Brewery, Wilmington

            After spending a night at the beach, Megan and I were looking for a place to have lunch before heading home.  After driving into downtown Wilmington, we decided to try the Front Street Brewery.  Now, we’ve seen the Brewery around dinnertime and it is always packed with people.  That is a great sign.  So, since we were there a few minutes before it opened at 11:30, we decided to wait and eat.  The inside of the Brewery is impressive.  To the left are the massive beer tanks, as this is the only restaurant and brewery in Wilmington.  To the right, upstairs, and beyond the bar are more tables.  It really is much nicer inside than I expected. 

            Since we skipped breakfast, we ordered the Pub Fries with chili as an appetizer.  They came out piping hot, crunchy, and perfectly seasoned.  The queso and chili combination also went together very well.  While the chili’s meat to bean ratio was heavily in favor of the beans, it as still very fresh and satisfying. 

            We both ordered a cup of the Cheddar Ale Soup.  One easy way to judge a brewery’s restaurant is by how good their beer-cheese soup is.  The Front Street Brewery has excellent soup.  It is rich and creamy and has the bite you would expect from the Scottish Ale.  This is one dish I guarantee I will order every time I go to the Brewery.  This restaurant definitely gets an A+ for their soup. 

            Megan and I both ordered Pulled Barbecue sandwiches.  Hers was the traditional pork, while I got the pulled chicken.  Both barbecues were incredibly moist, delicate, and deliciously cooked, but they lacked spices normally associated with a barbecue.  Both were then topped with their house-made Scottish Ale Brew-BQ sauce.  The sauce is actually very impressive.  It is tomato-based with an average thickness and the great beer bite.   My only problem with it, is that it only tops the barbecue, instead of being mixed into the barbecue.  So you never really get the flavor of the sauce in every bite.  The coleslaw is a thick cut, mayonnaise-based slaw.  It also is missing much flavor, though it did have ample crunch.  Since the brew-bq sauce is tomato based, I think the sandwich would have benefited from a vinegar-based slaw. 

            I really enjoyed our experience at the Front Street Brewery.  The service was good, the atmosphere was fun, and the food was above average.  I guarantee that the next time I am in Wilmington around lunch, I’ll be heading back to the Front Street Brewery.

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price