Best Anniversary Restaurants in Wilmington (2026)
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The Wilmington anniversary pick for 2026 is Le Cavalier — the gilded 1913 Green Room of the Hotel du Pont reborn as a French brasserie, the most romantic room in the state. Runners-up: Bardea Steak, House of William & Merry, Bardea Food & Drink, Café Mezzanotte, Harry's Savoy Grill.
Wilmington's best anniversary table is not a new restaurant — it is a century-old room that someone finally cooked up to. Le Cavalier kept the Green Room's gilded bones and lost the stiffness. Six tables, ranked for the milestone.
Six Wilmington Tables for an Anniversary
The most romantic room in Delaware, and it took a century to get the food right. Le Cavalier turned the Hotel du Pont's 1913 Green Room — carved oak, gilded chandeliers — into a French brasserie when Tyler Akin reopened it in 2020, chef Chris Reed now running a fourteen-ounce steak au poivre at sixty-two dollars. The architecture is the date. Book it for an anniversary that wants grandeur without the old white-linen stiffness.
The headline anniversary in town, and a genuine national name. Bardea Steak, Antimo DiMeo's downtown steakhouse at 608 North Market Street, has been ranked among North America's Top 50 Steakhouses, plating dry-aged cuts sold by the ounce and a chef's tasting menu. It is the splurge that earns the milestone. Book it for a landmark anniversary where the point is the best beef in Delaware and a serious wine list.
The destination anniversary worth the drive out of the city. James Beard nominee William Hoffman and Merry Catanuto cook contemporary American from nearby farms inside an 1890s farmhouse at 1336 Old Lancaster Pike in Hockessin, the forty-eight-dollar duck breast their signature. It is personal in a way no hotel room is. Book it for an anniversary couple who will happily trade downtown for a farmhouse and a chef who lives upstairs.
The anniversary for a couple that wants energy, not hush. Antimo DiMeo's original room at 620 North Market Street — a two-time James Beard semifinalist and a USA Today Restaurant of the Year for 2025 — plates scallop-XO spaghetti at twenty-five dollars and king-crab risotto. It is the livelier Bardea. Book it for an anniversary that prefers a buzzing room and remarkable pasta over a quiet white-tablecloth evening.
The quiet anniversary that has not missed since 2003. Sergio Pellegrino has run the dining room at 1007 North Orange Street for over two decades, handmade pasta and a twenty-four-dollar bolognese in a room calm enough to actually talk. Longevity downtown is its own review. Book it for an anniversary that values a quiet table and a dependable kitchen over the newest name in the city.
The old-school anniversary, carved tableside. Harry's Savoy Grill has slow-roasted and carved prime rib at 2020 Naamans Road since 1988 under owner Xavier Teixido, three cuts from ten to eighteen ounces and a clam chowder that never changed. It is comfort and ceremony at once. Book it for an anniversary couple who want the classic — prime rib, a martini and zero reinvention.
How to Book
Bardea Steak is the hardest anniversary table in Wilmington — book two weeks out for a weekend. Le Cavalier's Green Room fills early for Friday and Saturday; House of William and Merry serves Tuesday to Saturday only and is a twenty-minute drive to Hockessin, so reserve ahead; Café Mezzanotte and Harry's want a few days' notice.
Le Cavalier, Bardea Steak and Bardea Food and Drink cluster downtown — the Hotel du Pont on 11th Street and the Bardea rooms on North Market Street. Café Mezzanotte sits on North Orange Street downtown, Harry's Savoy Grill is north in Brandywine Hundred on Naamans Road, and House of William and Merry is out in Hockessin.
Frequently Asked Questions
For 2026 the pick is Le Cavalier, the French brasserie inside the Hotel du Pont's gilded 1913 Green Room, where chef Chris Reed cooks a sixty-two-dollar steak au poivre under century-old chandeliers, the most romantic room in Delaware. Bardea Steak, a Top 50 US steakhouse, is the splurge alternative.
Le Cavalier's restored 1913 Green Room, with carved oak, gilded chandeliers and the du Pont name, is the most romantic dining room in the state. For a more personal setting, House of William and Merry's 1890s Hockessin farmhouse, where the chef-owners live on the property, is the intimate destination alternative.
House of William and Merry, in an 1890s farmhouse at 1336 Old Lancaster Pike in Hockessin, is worth the twenty-minute drive: James Beard nominee William Hoffman cooks farm-driven menus with a signature forty-eight-dollar duck breast. It is the area's best destination anniversary outside downtown Wilmington.
Book Bardea Steak about two weeks ahead for a weekend, as it is the hardest table in the city, and reserve Le Cavalier's Green Room early for Friday or Saturday. House of William and Merry serves only Tuesday to Saturday, so book ahead; Café Mezzanotte and Harry's Savoy Grill usually need a few days.