Bridge Tender Restaurant

Very professional service and delicious seafood classics.
Hearty Shrimp & Grits places Juicy shrimp in a delicious creamy sauce over two perfectly textured pillows of cheddar grits. Move over Charleston, this is low country cooking at its best!
Clam chowder was packed with clams in a lite creamy broth perfectly seasoned.
Coconut shrimp were jumbo size and delicately crusted, served alongside a sweet exotic marmalade.
Cesar salad is a solid classic with crisp romaine, crunchy croutons and creamy dressing.
Other members of my party enjoyed succulent bloody prime rib, and a crispy pan seared tilefish special in a lovely tomato sauce.
Best seafood experience I have had in a while. I will remember this restaurant for a while.

We enjoy dining here whenever we are in the area. I would definitely give 5 stars based on previous visits. However, this time the appetizer never made it to the table. Then the waitress would disappear for about 5 minutes after any request for more beverage or the bill.

Recommended by friends, we came for our 22^nd anniversary. Crab dip, Stuffed Flounder, and the Chef’s Trio were all beyond delicious! Views over water were stellar, ambiance was perfect and all of the wait staff were super friendly and ready to serve. Oh! We even got a brownie to celebrate and it was so yummy! We left happy and satisfied and knowing we will be back!

Went here recently after stopping at the marina on the way down the ICW. Everything was great. The bread was amazing. We had the mahi pasta dish, the Mediterranean chicken and the steak stir fry. All were excellent and moderately priced.

This is my first time I wrote a review for a business on Unilocal,I am usually one to let things go but my experience was terrible. I wanted to treat my girlfriend to a nice dinner for her birthday so I booked reservations on Unilocal Seat Me, in the special instructions I indicated it was her birthday. When we arrived to the restaurant no one acknowledged that it was her birthday. Honestly not the end of the world but what happened next was disgusting, the food arrived which looked fantastic. During dinner multiple cockroaches were running on the table and all over the booth. We did not panic because I did not want to create a scene, we asked to speak to the manager and he arrived promptly. He said sorry would you like to move and sit somewhere else, keep in mind I turned the light on my camera and showed him multiple cockroaches on the booth. We agreed and picked up our plates and drinks to move to another booth. Meanwhile the table next to us got up and walked out. The GM came up to our table 5 minutes later to explain that the building is old and they do their best to control the insects. He then told me he would accommodate us for the inconvenience. She said nothing about the situation and left the check with us. He reduced the check by 50%, which in my opinion was ridiculous, I work in the customer service industry and the goal is to get the customer to come back and give you another chance for a better experience. The GM said are you sure you don’t want desert and we said no thanks and left. I can’t believe the situation was handled in this manner, I understand things happen but it is what you do to try to make things better and to get the customer to come back. Unfortunately the only memory we made this evening was that cockroaches ran across the table during dinner.

I wanted two stars… my wife three so I will take her advise.
Good location but the food is disappointing. I had a steak and it was not touched by salt or pepper before being cooked– let alone during.
My wife had the fillet and was also left feeling let down.
The food is average.
Our server was fantastic.
Will we be back? Meh…

I was excited to have a friend from Asheville visiting Wilmington. Bridge Tender was within walking distance from her conference hotel. It featured an elegant environment and nice lighting.
We were given complimentary bread and what I think was olive oil and balsamic vinegar by our friendly and polite server. The bread nor the dipping oil had much flavor, but the gesture was welcome.
I eat shellfish on occasion and had been wanting some oysters. A fried oyster platter was featured with broccoli and a baked potato. The waiter explained that the baked potato came with bacon, butter, sour cream and cheese. I opted out of the bacon. The, dish arrived with plump, crispy oysters, vibrantly green broccoli and the potato. Everything was prepared perfectly.
I enjoyed seeing my friend, and Bridge Tender provided a most lovely setting for a delicious meal and good conversation.

This place is tucked back in off Airlie Rd and is a hidden gem. The food is excellent priced higher but the quality and portions are great. The waiters and waitresses are very personable. This place is great to take family or go on a date. A must try if your visiting and trying to find a good place to go!

Great place to take a large group. They have excellent service and great food! Their steaks are delicious!

I went to a work dinner with a pretty large party this past weekend and over all I would I say I was pleased with the food and the atmosphere, however I believe that 20+ you people should have someone checking in for our drinks pretty frequently. That was not the case this past time, I asked the waiter about our drinks we had ordered, at this point going on 10 minutes, her response was «he has to make drinks for the whole restaurant» with a attitude might I add. When she finally brought out my drink it was extremely sloppy and dripping everywhere. We were constantly looking for a waitress throughout our meal and our water/​tea glasses were always empty.
As far as food goes I would say its on point and well worth the money!

Out of the four of us at dinner we were split between 4s and 5s. I voted 4 and since I’m the Unilocaler it’s what we went with. Here were the highlights:
–Good service
–calamari and ahi tuna were great
–Loved the Asian inspired feel
–split the check for us and a meal for us
–the shrimp and lobster pasta had generous portions of seafood
–Rice patties were delicious
–the bread starter was fresh
–scallops were great
–wine was good and reasonably priced
Only downside is that it isn’t on the ocean.

Beautiful view of the water. My wife and I sat outside and has such a great time. Their crab cakes were so full of crabmeat and delicious. Their seared tuna was done to perfection and the sea scalloped were so tender and succulent.

Went to the Bridge Tender in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Two Couples for lunch and the food was o/​k, have had better and have had much worse and the atmosphere outside was o/​k BUT $ 8.50 for a draft beer at lunch — ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!! Of course no beer prices are posted !!!
As a 10 year NC resident originally from NJ and a frequent patron of NYC establishments we are familiar with high prices but this is outrageous! l
Would We go back – NO !!!
Bill Ramsden

We dined here a year ago so I can’t recall exactly what we ate (me: salad and pasta of some sort and him: steak au poivre), but I can clearly recall being underwhelmed. Trust me… if you only have a short amount of time in ILM, move this towards the bottom of your list. Yes, the view is very pretty (I like to end on a positive note).

I had shrimp and Mahi Mahi. Thought fish and shrimp were overcooked. Nice ambience, great service. we also got grouper entrée which was nice presentation.

Really nice location, staff, food, and ambiance.
Our waitress (a Polish native) was extremely nice, very knowledgeable and professional. My boyfriend and I both had drinks, and entrees with delicious fish, which I would really recommend tasting if in the area.
It is a fancier/​older place but very suitable for a romantic or just a better dinner option with a great view over the water.
They did not have an espresso machine though, which I was told they would try to acquire soon! I am planning on going back to check ;D

This restaurant wants to impress, and impress it does. I do not often write reviews but I felt this restaurant really deserved it. My husband and I come to Wilmington maybe 4 or 5 times per year on business and each time we go back to our favorites (Like Hops Supply Co.) and try a few new places. Last night we tried Bridge Tender and we will certainly add it to our list of favorites to come back to.
Appetizers: we tried the Oysters Rockefeller. The app was good but odd because it is not served on the half shell but in an interesting dish that looks like a fancy metal deviled egg server. I probably would not get it again and would instead get the Calamari.
Starters: Clam chowder is phenomenal and the house salad with white balsamic is good too.
Entrees: Shrimp and Grits were delicious but the seered tuna was absolutely amazing. It is sushi grade so make sure you order it rare. The tuna is literally OMG Amazing.
Desserts were meh, forgettable, but the rest of the meal was great.
The atmosphere, the view, the service, the food were all 5 star worthy and exceeded my expectations. We will be back to this one!

Very nice atmosphere overlooking the Wrightsville Beach waterway. The bread and olive oil dip that comes standard with the table was amazing. You’ll definitely get two rounds of bread and dip. We ordered the sunset special. It came with clam chowder which was one of my favorite clam chowdera ever. So creamy, hearty and full of chunky clams and potatoes. It has a wonderful rosemary flavor to it. I would come back just for a bowl of this shit.
We got the coconut shrimp appetizer which was well worth it, the shrimp were huge and orange marmalade was on point! It was one of my wife’s favorite coconut shrimp and the biggest shrimp she’s ever eaten.
I ordered the horseradish encrusted tuna which was really tender. I got it medium rare and it came out very rare but tasty still. The horseradish sauce made it. The cooked spinach was tasty but needed some salt. The sticky rice had no sauce so I put the olive oil mix on it. That made it good.
The olé lady ordered the crab cake which was A little on the Sweetside mixed with smoky. I liked it and it was very tender and had real crab meat in it but I probably wouldn’t get it again. The homemade remoulade was really good though. Hers came with a side of fries. They were steak fry-​ey and hot as shit. Glad we got ketchup with it. The wifey liked the cole slaw. Shes a coleslaw connoisseur and she gives it a three out of five.
We each got a dessert that came with the special. The key lime pie was so f’n light it tasted like a sherbert. So fluffy. Perfect balance to the ultra decadent napoleon brownie. Score!
The fudge brownie napoleon was so rich and creamy. Decadent ending to a nice experience. The sauce and warm brownie and melted ice cream and candied walnuts and…
We ordered the Pinot Grigio Villa Pozzi which was awesome for a white! I gotta buzz after one glass!
Ill b back.

Group of 40 people
Served all of us same time
Food was excellent
Service was great
Nice view of the intercoastal waterway

5 stars for location in the water — (choose outdoor seating, duh)
3.7 stars for food. Good, but still far from boca bay quality (which seems to improve every year).
Example: nice olive oil herb dipping sauce, server with, hmmm, what is this? Wonder bread?
How do you have a nice little wine list and good entrees and provide crustless bread? I’m being a bit harsh — hoping management reads this and makes it better. So easy to fix. :)