What’s Really New in Wrightsville Beach Dining This Fall

Drive down Pavilion Place this month and you will pass a building that has housed several restaurant and nightlife concepts. It opened as a brewery. It became a nightclub. Then a coastal kitchen moved in next door. Now a former college basketball coach is turning it into a Caribbean bar and grill. If you only paid attention to the headlines, you would think Wrightsville Beach's food scene is in constant upheaval.

Recent changes include several concepts at Pavilion Place, expansions by established businesses, and other new local businesses.

Recent Changes at Pavilion Place

Waterman's Brewing Company opened in 2017 in the former Fibber McGee's space at 1610 Pavilion Place, built around the coastal lifestyle and its own house beer. It closed on September 30, 2025. Co-owner Don Weber told local reporters the shutdown reflected broader pressure on small breweries, pointing to fewer beer drinkers and the industry's shift toward seltzers and even THC-infused drinks as competitors for shelf space.

What came next split the space in two: Shipfaced, a nightclub carved out of part of the old brewery floor, and Sammy's Seas Coastal Kitchen next door. Both had closed by summer 2026, part of a wider run of bar and brewery closures across the Wilmington area that year.

The address and its neighboring space have been associated with these concepts:

The newest entry comes from a familiar name off the court. Former UNCW and N.C. State men's basketball coach Kevin Keatts and business partner Clayton Gsell bought the building and are opening Cabana Bar & Grill there, described as bringing island flavor and tropical cocktails to a neighborhood bar and grill format. It is a new concept from new owners, following the businesses that previously occupied the space.

Jimmy's Wrightsville Beach Expands Inland

As concepts changed at Pavilion Place, Jimmy's Wrightsville Beach expanded inland.

Jimmy's has held down 5 N Lumina Avenue for years as the kind of dive bar where regulars know the bartenders by name, the slushies are the whole point, and a black lab named Kruiser has unofficial mascot status. Owners Jimmy and Keaton Gilleece did not touch that formula. Instead, they partnered with longtime Jimmy's employee Jared Sales to open Jimmy's Inland at 3818 Wrightsville Avenue in Midtown Wilmington, in the space that used to be Coat of Arms Lounge.

The new location carries over the pool tables, darts, arcade games, live music, and the signature Jimmy's Slushies, alongside a beach-bar tradition that transfers well inland: Carolina Panthers Sunday watch parties. The grand opening ran from 1 to 6 p.m. on August 30, 2026, with live music, giveaways, and food from Chef Nick Chavez of King Neptune Restaurant catering the event, a nod to another Wrightsville Beach name that has outlasted plenty of newer concepts around it.

Jimmy's expansion is a different kind of local change from the concepts at Pavilion Place.

Shark Bar Adds Red Cat Sushi

A few blocks from Johnny Mercer Pier, Shark Bar & Kitchen took a third approach entirely this year: addition instead of replacement. Rather than closing to relaunch under a new name, Shark Bar built out its second floor into Red Cat Sushi, a new sushi bar serving modern classics with a Carolina twist from chefs Louie and James, open from 3 p.m. daily with a half-off sushi happy hour running 3 to 5 p.m.

The ground-floor menu of oysters, wagyu smash burgers, and Maine lobster rolls stayed exactly where it was. The sushi bar simply gives regulars a second reason to come back later in the evening, on a night when the original menu might not have been the draw. This is a different kind of addition from Jimmy's and the concepts at Pavilion Place: Red Cat Sushi adds a new dining option within Shark Bar's existing space.

What the Quieter Weeks Actually Change

September and October on Wrightsville Beach strip away the crowds without stripping away the reasons to be here. Morning SUP Yoga runs each Sunday through September 27, and Yoga on the Crystal Pier continues most days through BeUnlimited Yoga, both easier to actually get a spot in once the summer rental turnover slows down.

The kitchens lean into the season too. King Neptune, open since 1947, keeps its Bacon Wrapped Scallops in rotation as a cooler-weather favorite. The Bridge Tender still does its Intracoastal Waterway view better than anywhere else on the causeway. Ceviche's brings Panama-style dishes into the fall specials mix. And if you just need a six-pack and some snacks before an evening on the Loop, the new Bevvy Mart has opened to cover that exact errand, a small addition but a genuinely useful one for anyone who lives here full time rather than passing through for a week.

Where This Leaves a Wrightsville Beach Regular

None of this requires a special trip. It requires choosing among the island's dining options when deciding where to spend a Thursday night in October.

• If you want established options, King Neptune and Shark Bar's original ground floor are both on the list.
• If you want to see what a longtime beach name looks like inland, Jimmy's Inland on Wrightsville Avenue carries the same slushies and the same Sunday football tradition to Midtown.
• If you are curious about the newest concept a few minutes from the beach, Cabana Bar & Grill is planned for Pavilion Place, with former coach Kevin Keatts and business partner Clayton Gsell behind it.
• If sushi is the move, Red Cat Sushi upstairs at Shark Bar runs from 3 p.m. daily, with the happy hour window worth building a walk around.

Wrightsville Beach's dining scene includes expansions by established names as well as new concepts at Pavilion Place. That is worth knowing whether you are deciding where to eat this weekend or trying to understand how the island's dining options are changing.

If you are thinking about what it actually means to live near this kind of neighborhood rhythm, year-round, not just for a summer week, Maxx Jackson can talk through what that looks like on the ground. Schedule a consultation when you are ready.