Columbus Inn

What a great space! I came here with a large work group and we were put in a private room with barn doors that separates it from the bar area. The room had a fireplace, which was welcome on a cold night.
I had the winter sangria and it was pretty good. Apple, pear, ginger. Yum!
We had a limited menu, with a choice of soup or salad and a sandwich or pizza. I had the beet salad as my appetizer and winter pizza (squash, walnuts, Brussels sprouts). Both were great. For dessert I had sticky toffee pudding, which was also great, but I was definitely eyeing the sample plate that many of the others ordered.
I almost deducted a star because one of our waiters pretty much refused to give recommendations (I might like different things than you, I like both of those, those are both so different, etc.) But I’m chalking it up to inexperience and letting it slide. The other server was happy to provide recommendations and very accommodating when one of the soups was sent back.
If I was local, I would try the brunch and come back for dinner.

Great atmosphere, food was delicious. Pricey but well worth it. Had shepards pie, portion was more than I could eat. It did get noises, but not too loud to enjoy. Would definitely recommend it for Wilmington.

We rented one of the 2^nd floor private rooms for our wedding reception. Prior to the reception date, Admin at Columbus Inn was very helpful & resourceful with helping us set up and decorate the room perfectly for the occasion. The food at night was awesome, both appetizers and the dinner. Our room was set up perfectly with a beautiful bouquet center piece and tableware that matches our wedding color. Everyone had such a good time and we were still getting compliments on how nice the reception dinner was. I can’t thank CI, especially Admin, enough for making the reception of our special day a perfect one!

I attended a Christmas party here with RJ. This was my first time at Columbus Inn. The hors d’oeuvres were delicious, especially the crab stuffed mushrooms and service was excellent. I chose the crab cakes for dinner and RJ had the steak. We both tasted each others, and the steak was juicy and cooked perfectly and the crab cakes were phenomenal. They were all crab meat and no filler. Since I didn’t take pictures, I can’t remember the dessert so it must not have stood out to me. The only problem was the very slippery floors. We saw someone fall and I was afraid all night long I was next with my 4 inch heels. I had to hold on to RJ to make sure I didn’t end up on the floor, too.

I have been to this place a few times now. 2x for happy hour/​dinner, and 2x for brunch. I would give 3.5 stars if i could.
summary:
Ambiance– nice. well decorated. I prefer the «pub» area to the dining room.
Food: happy hour/​dinner — good. Brunch – good over all but some inconsistency week to week.
Service – this is where they lost stars.
Happy hour— love it. Discounts on drinks and a variety of food items. I am vegetarian so i was limited to a couple of items, but theres lots for the rest of you. I can speak highly for the hummus (home made pita, what!) and pretzel nuggets. both fresh and delicious. Ive also tried a couple of the salads on the menu – good stuff. my dining parters enjoyed the kennett pizza and the tuna tostada thing. My only complaint — they screwed up the bill. THREE times over. not the end of the world, but very frustrating. Ultimately it was cleared up, but it took 3 rounds of errors.
Brunch– Experience #1 was excellent. so many choices, all so delicious! The server didn’t really have anything to do since its a buffet style and we didn’t order drinks.
Experience #2: good but not as good. A couple of items we liked weren’t there at all (understandable) and a couple were just not made well. mac and cheese was dry, potatoes overcooked and no onions like the previous visit. The deserts we tried were all quite dry as well. We did order drinks this time, and it took a solid 20 minutes to get them. My bloody mary tasted so salty that I returned it. The service is pretty good on taking plates away, but 20 minutes for a couple cocktails when there is no other service to provide it just ridiculous. This time on the check, the gratuity was included since we were a party of 6. I get it with the party of 6, but 20% auto gratuity for a buffet? and where the little bit of service we got was so slow anyway? cmon. thats a little much, eh?
So, Ill go back. The food is good and I do like the place, but the service left a lot to be desired on 2 of the 4 occasions I have been.

Underwhelmed by Columbus Inn’s brunch today. Despite having made a reservation, when we arrived, the hostess told us the only avail. Table was in the bar, yet the dining room was empty. She gave us a lame excuse that a party of 27 was booked in the dining for 30 mins after we arrived. However when we left at 11:15 the dining still had at least 4 open tables!
Our server Marcus was very good.
The food was just mediocre. Waffles were sponge, Cesar salad was no better than store bought, tenderloin was not very tender and served lukewarm. Overall the buffet left a lot to be desired for $ 26 per head.
However, despite the food being «mediocre at best» had it not been for the poor hospitality displayed by the hostess I would have taken the time to write this negative review.
If I make a reservation and the only table available is in the bar they should tell you that when you are making the reservation.
Based on how the hostess handled it, and given that there were 4 or more open tables in the dining room during our meal we won’t be dining at the Columbus Inn again.

Happy Hour on a Saturday?! I applaud you CI, my atypical working hours M-​F prevent me from enjoying HH during the week, so this was an extra special treat! Upon entering, CI didn’t have that old and stuffy feel that I was anticipating! Décor was mostly modernized and I really liked the lighting. We sat at the bar and the stools were super comfy. Bar patrons… seemingly locals, were friendly and liked my kohls sweater. (I have no actual clue if this is true and I acknowledge the irrelevance but let’s just say I didn’t feel out of place.
My date and I each enjoyed a cucumber martini. Yum! Martini’s intimidate me, but this one, I would order again and again, even if I don’t hold it properly, or do I!? We also ordered the pretzel bites, hummus, a salad and the tuna tostada. Most items were from the happy hour menu.
The house made pretzels were simple and tasty, served with a honey Dijon mustard. My only change would be cheese. Every soft pretzel has a cheese standard, trust me, it’s a thing. The hummus was served with house made pita and a nice variety of crisp veggies. Loved the consistency of the hummus and I wasn’t overwhelmed by garlic as I most frequently am. The salad was fresh, dressing was light and it took guilt away from the carb pretzel pita party! The tostadas, I could have easily eaten 2, as they were done perfectly!
CI loses one star for service only because of our tab. We were charged for non happy hour prices, approx $ 20 extra. We addressed it with the bartender who fixed it immediately. We received the new bill, wrong again, prices were different than on menu and were charged for 2 extra drinks. Although it took 3 times, it was fixed. A small hassle, but it happens.
We look forward to returning to seek the elusive 5^th star, fingers crossed.

Food is creative and delicious. Beautiful setting, and we really enjoyed the heated patio in early fall. Service on the patio was a little slow and the speaker system was a little shotty and made it hard to hear the person o the other side of the table. Recommend their scallops, which were cooked perfectly, and their recommended wines were very good as well. Cookies on the dessert menu are amazing, don’t pass them up for their simplicity. Recommend making a reservation in advance, especially if you don’t want to be on the patio, even though it’s nicely heated.

This was my first time at the restaurant. The hostess was friendly and very accommodating. The space has a casual, tavern-​like feel.
The food was fine, but I wouldn’t order the same dish next time. My guests said that their dishes were «fine» also.
Although energetic, the service was clumsy and unrefined. And it seemed to come and go — the server would disappear for very long periods of time. When my guest commented that she had been brought the wrong appetizer, the food runner actually remarked sarcastically, «If you say so!» Thankfully, the server brought the correct appetizer and took responsibility for the mix-​up. Also, all plates were consistently not cleared between courses, which was really just an inconvenience.
Oh, and my favorite part of the show: the server comes to the table after we had begun eating and says, «It looks like everything came out of the kitchen cooked perfectly!» Shouldn’t that have been a question???

The food was decent but the whole experience felt super rushed — like they didn’t want us there. Every course was served before we were finished with the last. We were looking to have a nice relaxing meal. And I saw the tables around us doing just that. We were rushed through drinks and four courses in 45 minutes. Clearly our search for a nice place for dinner in the Wilmington area continues.

What a fabulous place to dine. Go with friends or have a date night. The décor is excellent and the food was to die for.
I highly recommend this wonderful restaurant.

I had pork chops lolly pops — it looked and tasted like barf!!! They have a nerve to charge you $ 24.00 for 2 tiny pieces of pork (completely unseasoned) with cinnamon sticks, laying in a puddle of peach slices mixed with meager portion of grits — probably 2 – 3 tea spoons in size.
I had it as a take out, I wish I was dining in, I would give a piece of my mind to the chef. They are ripping people off, for the quality and the amount of food they serve.
Save your money, find better place that deserves your hard earned $$$.
Lana

Dining room has a nice atmosphere and décor, food was good/​ok, service needs work. Brought us the wrong dessert twice, staff seemed overwhelmed, even though it didn’t seem too busy.

This place is cozy and comfortable. Food is consistently good. I love the cheese plate and the mushroom flatbread pizza is amazing.

1. Atmosphere was nice.
2. Ordered house baked pretzel bites, scallops and pistachio crusted halibut. The two entrees were a little pricey for the amount of food in the plate.
3. Entrees took a while to come out. The halibut was borderline cold compared to the scallops. It was as if it had been sitting out while the other dish was being finished.
4. Waiter was very slow. A lot of time passed before he would check back.
5. Waiter kept including himself in every question. Example: What are WE ordering? Are WE finished yet? There were many other examples.

Great restaurant, one of the best in Wilmington. The food is incredible, the dining rooms are gorgeous, the only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because it’s a little pricey for the amount of food. But don’t let that away you from giving it a try.

I found the restaurant to be excellent I had a three course meal for restaurant week and every course was spectacular highly recommend make sure to get a bottle of the Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernet Franc it was an excellent wine and paired well with both beef and chicken. Service was excellent a water glasses were always full dirty dishes didn’t sit for more than a minute and a waiter was very nice.

Two meals (both group dinners) at this restaurant. The first was not great – I hated the mushroom soup, which is very thick and dark, but I am sure someone would like it. It was too gravy-​like for me.) The beef filets were well cooked, but sauced in some dark, thick, miserable glaze that detracted. Still, not bad. Salads are lovely – a cut above the usual bagged greens like dried autumn leaves. Desserts are obviously brought in and just standard bakery pastries.
The second meal was amazing. A lot of us chose the «Faroe Islands Salmon» (I presume this means Atlantic wild caught salmon.) It was served with brussels sprouts, diced butternut squash and «bacon» which was really pork belly in a balsamic glaze that was so good, the veggies threatened to outshine the salmon. The salmon was perfectly cooked even though we had a monster group of people. There was a schmear of some kind of sauce on the plate that was in the new style of plating but it was tasteless (they said something about brown butter vinaigrette but it was like paste.) Still, we raved over the salmon and there was actually too much of it – an 8 oz generous filet. Big thumbs up.
I tried the Caesar instead of the mixed greens and it was good but the croutons were the silly prepackaged-​looking kind; why do this when you’ve put delicious real Italian bread on the table and you could have diced up stale loaves to make your own? The desserts were again pre-​made pastries, not bad but not worth wasting calories over.
Service was excellent. Only they don’t serve coffee to the group and I’ve seen this multiple times, now, multiple places, so I assume it’s something new in banquet management – you don’t want people to linger over coffee, so you don’t serve it and they leave! Yay for you. I miss coffee after dessert – it’s traditional, it’s nice before you get on the road, and it’s another sign of the times where efficiency of running a restaurant is paramount and the guest experience must suffer.
The parking lot fills up early – a problem if you can’t walk on icy sidewalks. There is a popular bar and our group had no parking available even though we arrived well in advance of our event. Normally the lot would be about right for the restaurant, but when the bar is hopping, it is way too small, A problem in WINTER if you don’t want to risk icy streets in the dark. Or if you are dressed to the nines in high heels and it’s very rainy out. A SIMPLE SOLUTION would be for the restaurant to contract with some of the other businesses down the street (there is a car dealership, for example) and offer valet parking, knowing that the lot is very small, and knowing they’ve made reservations for far too many people for the lot when you consider the bar traffic on an average night. They have a marquee out front, so a valet service is certainly possible.

I had lunch with a party of 7. Food was great, service was way too slow. It’s not good having to wait 15 minutes for a drink to get refilled. Maybe it was just an off day. The Buffalo Cauliflower was awesome.

My DH and I visit here 3 — 4 times a month. Earlier Unilocal reviews mentioned inconsistent food. That may have been true in the past, but we have had consistently great food and great service, whether at dinner or Sunday brunch. This is one place we will continue to visit. I hesitate to point out any particular dish, but a personal fave of mine is the Chicken Bolognese. And I love the Shrimp Cocktail. My DH loves the Crab Cocktail — swears it’s the best he’s ever had. And the scallops are always top notch.
If you have not visited Columbus Inn before, or not in a long time, it is definitely worth checking out.