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My family and I visited Greensboro, North Carolina this weekend to see the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament sweet sixteen games, held at the Greensboro Coliseum. We were staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Greensboro Coliseum Area and drove here Thursday night. When we got here, we noticed a Darryl’s Restaurant very close to the hotel. I had to wonder if this was the same chain of Darryl’s Restaurant that I had been to when I was a kid.
So let me back up a minute and take you down memory lane.
Darryl’s Restaurant History
So I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. I moved there when I was four years old so most of my earliest memories are from living in Charlotte. And as far back as I remember, I remember going to Darryl’s Restaurant.
Darryl’s Restaurant was always a special place to go to for a meal. They always had fun eclectic decorations. I was always fascinated by looking at these decorations. They used to give out coloring pages and boxes of Darryl’s crayons, and I would keep these crayons around and use them later. So the Darryl’s logo became synonymous with crayons to my sister and me.
I really loved how the restaurant was two stories and if you sat upstairs, you could see downstairs. And the most special booth to me was the booth that overlooked the rest of the restaurant. Getting to finally eat in that booth was a really special memory for me.
But like a lot of good restaurants, the one in Charlotte closed and I hadn’t been to it in years. So I thought, could it really be the same one?
But the moment we walked in I instantly recognized the eclectic flavor of Darryl’s.
Which of course made me wonder. Was this chain just no longer in Charlotte and was still in Greensboro? What was the story there?
What Happened to Darryl’s Restaurant?
So Darryl’s Restaurant was first established in 1971. At its peak, it had 36 restaurants in 9 different states. So this Darryl’s Restaurant in Greensboro is the same Darryl’s chain I used to go to as a kid in Charlotte.
But Darryl’s in Charlotte wasn’t the only Darryl’s that was closed throughout the years. Over the years, the chain was bought and sold over a number of times. And more and more Darryl’s Restaurants closed.
But luckily, this story does not have a sad ending like sadly a lot of restaurants do. There is still one remaining Darryl’s Restaurant. That is Darryl’s Wood Fired Grill at 3300 Gate City Boulevard in Greensboro, NC.
And they’ve done a great job restoring it. In fact, back in 2010, it underwent a $2 million renovation to get Darryl’s back to its former glory. And as someone who went to the restaurant all the time as a kid, I can say they definitely did a great job with that.
So while I wish there was still a Darryl’s in Charlotte near where I live, I feel so lucky I get to experience Darryl’s again.
Darryl’s Experience & Atmosphere
And the experience of Darryl’s Restaurant to me really is the best part. I just absolutely love the decorations. They are all so unique.
I love all the nostalgic decor, like old-fashioned radios and a British phone booth.
I love the room with all the classic movie posters.
The tables surrounding the bar. are great, too. They have TVs around the bar so I could watch a baseball game in the background while I ate.
And I love the upstairs area.
It still has that famous booth like I remember as a kid!
Darryl’s Service
We were seated early on and our waitress was really nice. Unfortunately, there was a bit of wait after we gave our order before our meal came out. Our server informed us that we had placed our order right after a party of twenty so that delayed our order. So I was happy they at least informed us why it was a wait.
Darryl’s Food Review
But once the food came, the food was, for the most part, very good. I’ll start with the best food.
Best Food
One of the best items was a Filet Mignon. You can see a 6 ounce, medium-well steak below.
My favorite was the Cajun Shrimp Dinner.
I actually misunderstood from the menu that it would be regular Fried Shrimp with a Cajun sauce you could dip the shrimp in. I haven’t eaten a lot of Cajun spices, so I wasn’t sure I would want Cajun-flavored shrimp. So I wanted the option to be able to not dip them in the sauce.
But as it turned out, the shrimp itself had Cajun spices on them. And guess what. It was delicious! It was hot and spicy and made my mouth hot afterward. But I really liked the taste. And I don’t always like hot food. But that’s how good the Shrimp was. When I go back to the restaurant, this is what I will order again.
Another great menu item is the Grilled Shrimp Skewer.
It is listed as a specialty item and you can add it on to an entree item for an extra cost. I thought it would be more like a side but the portion size for this was actually very good.
And the food was delicious. The shrimp was really good. It was seasoned and had a little pepper, but it wasn’t too spicy. It wasn’t as spicy as, say, their Cajun Shrimp.
The rice was the best part, though, of the Grilled Shrimp Skewer. It was seasoned and really delicious.
Side Orders
A lot of the entree items come with a side option. They have a lot of different side orders you can choose from. A couple of the best side orders were mashed potatoes and beans.
The beans were good. There was hamburger meat mixed in which gave it a special, unique flavor.
The mashed potatoes were really good. It was mashed red potatoes with pepper but it wasn’t too spicy. They kept getting better and better and I really liked it.
The French Fries were a bit mixed. They were really delicious and had a really great taste. But unfortunately, a few of the Fries were overcooked and too hard. When I go back to the restaurant, I’ll choose mashed potatoes over the French Fries as my side.
Food I Wouldn’t Order Again
So now for the menu items that we did not care for. I’ll start with the French Onion Soup.
When this menu item came, the server said if it was overcooked let us know and they would make another one. And maybe that was the problem with the French Onion Soup. It had a funny taste. And French Onion Soup is a favorite dish of my family’s, too, so it’s not like we were unfamiliar with the taste of how the soup normally is. But we didn’t want to ask for another soup because of the taste. So I do not recommend this menu item.
Another menu item I do not recommend would be the French Dip sandwich.
It had a weird aftertaste. There was something in the sandwich we did not care for.
Conclusion
Darryl’s Wood Fired Grill is a great restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina with a wonderful and interesting history. Its unique decor and atmosphere make eating there more of an experience than just a meal. And while we did not like every menu item here, there were a lot of really delicious food on the menu.
So if you are in Greensboro, I definitely recommend eating here.
Nearby Hotels
Darryl’s Wood Fired Grill is located near a cluster of hotels. These hotels are very convenient to not only Darryl’s, but the Greensboro Coliseum and Four Seasons Mall. Click on our links to get a great rate for these hotels:
- Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Greensboro Coliseum Area
- Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Greensboro, NC
- Drury Inn & Suites
- Best Western Plus Greensboro/Coliseum Area
- Howard Johnson by Wyndham Greensboro Near the Coliseum
- Baymont by Wyndham Greensboro/Coliseum
- TownePlace Suites by Marriott Greensboro Coliseum Area
- Red Carpet Inn Greensboro
