If you haven’t been to Wilmington, NC in a while, you may have not seen The Cargo District. It’s filled with bars, coffee shops, music venues, and Wilmington‘s first food hall. Find all the reasons to visit the Cargo District in Wilmington, NC here.
For more help planning your trip, check out all of our posts about Wilmington, NC.
I like visiting cities that are broken into different districts. Each day we’re there, we’re able to visit a different area that feels so unique.
Durham, NC is really good about this. So is Nashville.
Wilmington is trying to do the same thing by building social hubs around town. One of them is The Cargo District.
It’s repurposed shipping containers, which started as just a multilevel beer garden (which is just as cool as it sounds) and pop up restaurants.
It expanded to include a bunch of stores, like bookstores and a plant shop. And then freestanding restaurants and a cidery were built.
The Cargo District expanded to include Cargo West Food Court, which is Wilmington‘s first and only outdoor food hall.
Food halls are something we’ve seen in a lot of large cities. It’s kind of like a food court in the mall in that it’s a bunch of restaurants grouped together, however, unlike the mall, these are all in their own little buildings and are locally owned, not chain, restaurants.
If you’re wondering if The Cargo District is an area you should put on your list when you’re visiting Wilmington, this post will help you decide.
Reasons To Visit The Cargo District In Wilmington, North Carolina
Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.
The Rift
So I usually say that these lists are in no particular order, but this starts off with my favorite part of The Cargo District: The Rift (2144 Wrightsville Ave).
You walk in a very unassuming door in a black building to reveal what looks like a kitchen, with a kitchen table, cabinets, and refrigerator. But when you open the fridge door, it opens into a bar. There are elements of a house within the bar, like a fireplace area plus a bunch of pool tables and lots of seats.
Outside is a huge beer garden with a stage for bands, a large projection screen for televised events, tons of seating, and folding chairs available — just to look like you’re in someone’s backyard. It’s such a cool space and definitely one of my favorite places in Wilmington.
On the other side of the beer garden is Mess Hall (2136 Wrightsville Ave). The restaurant was originally in a different part of The Cargo District, but moved and I think this location is even better. It has a to go window that faces the beer garden, so you don’t even have to go inside, but there’s also a large dining area if you do want some AC.
Mess Hall is known for its burgers. My favorite is the McWhat?, which is fried chicken tenders on top of a hamburger so that I don’t have to choose between the two.
If you’re visiting when Mess Hall is serving is Buffalo chicken loaded tots, I highly recommend those.
Fermental
Fermental (600 S 17th St), when it was in Ogden, was my dad’s favorite bar in Wilmington. It was a small bungalow where each room was filled with tons of bottles of beer or wine. You bought whatever you wanted to drink, and then went outside where there were wooden patio tables and a bocce ball court.
The land, where Fermental was, was sold to a developer who put a oil change place on it. But, Fermental found a new home and an old gas station on the outskirts of The Cargo District.
The building is cool, but it lacks the charm that the bungalow had. It feels kind of similar to any other taproom inside.
But, I really like the outside space. There’s a stage for bands, tons of seating, and considering it’s off of a major thoroughfare, very quiet and chill back there.
Fermental has a ton of weekly events, like a weekly wine tasting on Wednesday, food trucks and bands on the weekends, and more.
CheeseSmith
CheeseSmith (624 S 17th St) is a grilled cheese restaurant. I know that sounds ridiculous. A whole restaurant just serving grilled cheese.
Please don’t knock it till you try it. Actually, don’t knock it at all. Just try it.
There are a bunch of different options of grilled cheese, and pretty fancy ones the Black & Blue, which is brie with house made jam.
CheeseSmith started as a food truck, got so popular that it opened a brick and mortar restaurant in The Cargo District, which became so popular that they actually opened a second location. So, like I said, go try it.
CargoCade
When I was growing up, there was an arcade in my town. It was the spot for birthday parties. It was geared towards kids because it was all video games and a small snack bar. Not that I was trying to drink any alcohol when I was a child, but I don’t remember them serving alcohol.
That’s the difference between an arcade and barcade. Barcade is part bar and part video games. And that’s what CargoCade (615 S 15th St) is.
The game cost between $1 and $1.50 and it’s all the classic games you’d expect, like pinball and Skee Ball and that basketball game. All that’s missing, in Pete’s opinion, is Golden Tee.
There are a bunch of tables where you can sit and hang out too. But, you want the one table that’s next to TV because then you can borrow N64 from the bartender and play that as long as you want.
End Of Days Distillery
End of Days Distillery (1815 Castle St) was the first distillery in Wilmington. It opened in February 2020 and we went the week it opened. The world changed drastically almost immediately after that, but five years later, it’s still doing great.
End of Days makes its own spirits in house and serves cocktails made from them.
It has a concept kitchen, which is basically a pop-up for chefs in the area to showcase some of their new items before deciding if they should appear in the restaurant or not. It’s really unique and a way to assure that all of your trips to End of Days are a little bit different than the others.
Bahn Sai
Bahn Sai (2162 Wrightsville Ave) is a Asian fusion restaurant. The fusion part is the ’90s.
I know. That sounds ridiculous. But once you step inside the neon restaurant playing The Karate Kid on its television screens and you order a rice bowl, or if you’re really lucky, you’re there on a date when they offer ramen) it all starts to make sense.
The food is delicious and definitely worth checking out.
Astro Dogs
For a long time, everyone I knew was eating Korean corn dogs except for me. There was nowhere in Wilmington to have one. I had to wait until I went to Las Vegas and I dragged Pete into Chinatown so I could try one.
So imagine my excitement when I found out Astro Dogs (609 S 15th St #102) was opening a brick and mortar restaurant in the Cargo West Food Court in The Cargo District.
A Korean corn dog can be either a full dog, full mozzarella stick, or half dog half cheese that’s breaded in rice flour instead of cornmeal. So, if you’ve ever had mochi and you know that chewy texture, that’s very similar a Korean corn dog’s texture.
You can choose from almost a dozen different sauces, and a handful of toppings like potato (which is traditional), Doritos, Hot Cheetos, and more. I highly recommend that you do the half dog half cheese with Sriracha chili sauce and potatoes.
Cargo West Food Court
Astro Dogs is part of the Cargo West Food Court (615 S 15th Street), but I had to give it its own spot because it was very excited for it to show up.
But, if you’re going out with a bunch of people who are not as excited about corn dogs, there are a ton of other options at the food hall.
There’s Seoul Sushi, I Love Empanadas, Zeke‘s Bowls (which serves green bowls and açai bowls), Sunset Slush (which sells Italian ice), a barbecue joint, a fried chicken establishment, a vegan restaurant, and more.
Each has its own shipping container-turned-restaurant that it cooks in, but a communal space of tables and chairs, including Adirondack chairs around a fire pit — which is the best seat in the house if you’re not actually eating.
There are events that are held there, including the Wilmington Coffee Fest, held annually in the fall.
Alcove Beer Garden
So Alcove (348 Hutchison Ln) was one of the OG establishment in The Cargo District. It’s a multi-level outdoor beer garden. You can either sit on the ground level, which is also home to Blue Cup Roastery or you can go up a flight of stairs to a shipping container with seats.
I know that sounds wild. We thought so too before we went, but it’s actually a really cool space and they did a great job.
In the front of Alcove is Beat Street, in the space where Mess Hall used to be. If I’m being completely honest, we had tacos at Beat Street that we’re just okay. And I was really looking forward to it because it’s owned by the same people who own the We Are True Blue restaurant group, which is some of our favorite restaurants in town.
So, we suggest picking up food from somewhere else in The Cargo District and bringing it to Alcove.
Go Shopping
There are a ton of shops in The Cargo District. I have been in a few of them, but I’ve never actually bought anything in any of them, so that’s why they’re all grouped together on this list.
Should you support local and check out the shops? Yes. Did you go to The Cargo District specifically to go shopping? Probably not.
I really like looking in the plant store when I’m there, but we always end up at The Cargo District as part of our night out, so I don’t want to carry a plant all around Wilmington.
There’s also a salon in there, but it’s by appointment only so it’s kind of hard to suggest it as a reason to go there because you can’t just drop in.
But like I said, check it the stores because maybe you’ll find something that you can keep in your car for the rest of the day.
Barzaare
Barzaare is wild. I know. I’ve called a bunch of these places wild, but nothing compares to Barzaare (1610 Castle Street). I mean, bizarre is basically the name.
It has been in Wilmington longer than we have, longer than The Cargo District was even a named area in town.
The first time we went, there was a spoken word circus performing. I was there and I don’t even know how to explain it to you.
Barzaare really embraces the bizarre part of it, holding events like the circus and midget wrestling.
You really never know what you’re gonna get there. Except for tacos. They always have a daily deal on tacos. So go for the tacos and the drinks, stay for the uniqueness.
The Cargo District: Frequently Asked Questions
It’s located in downtown Wilmington, between 15th Street to Forest Hills.
It has three main areas: Cargo East, Cargo West, and Cargo Central.
You can see a full Cargo District map to get a better lay of the land.
Have you been to The Cargo District in Wilmington, North Carolina? Let us know your favorite shops in the comments.