Getaway Cafe and Provisions in the Riverlights community, from the creators of Southerly Biscuit Company in Carolina Beach, proves that casual, quick dining and an upscale menu can work together.

Wilmington’s Riverlights community welcomed many new neighbors in 2022, one of the most exciting of which was The Getaway Café. Known as a café and provisions stopover within Marina Village, the restaurant serves fresh breakfast and lunch options for the Riverlights and Greater Wilmington communities.

Before opening the Getaway Cafe together in January of 2022, Coastal South Hospitality Group’s Craig Love and Annalee Johnston shared a long history within the restaurant industry. The business partners operated the Surf House for many years in Carolina Beach before opening the Southerly Biscuit Company in 2017. The Southerly’s fast-paced, casual style proved to be very successful, even when the pandemic altered the restaurant industry.

“After operating a more high-end restaurant like Surf House and seeing how the pandemic changed everything, we both felt like people were dining differently and changing their view on eating out,” Johnston says.

“With Southerly being a more casual model, we wanted to do something that was a hybrid of the two, meaning an upscale menu but still casual, grab-and-go and fast paced.”

Deciding they wanted to branch out and a pursue new opportunity, the partners set their sights on one of the area’s fastest-growing coastal communities.

“We had our eye on doing something in Riverlights even before the pandemic, because we could just see the potential in the area,” Johnston says. “It’s absolutely beautiful down by the water and such a cool community with easy access to everything.”

Johnston says the Getaway is unique because it’s what she calls “your everything spot.” The daily made-to-order breakfast and lunch menu includes hearty, gourmet sandwiches, healthy bowls, soups, pastries, coffee, beer and wine. Customer favorites include café staples such as avocado toast, a potato hash bowl, the citrus tuna salad sandwich, the fried chicken sandwich and the Cubano sandwich.

Breakfast sandwiches are made using biscuits baked fresh each morning, and the cafe’s artisan breads come from Little Loaf Bakery in Wilmington. Desserts include scratch-made muffins and assorted pastries and cookies. As for beverages, one of the restaurant’s most unique offerings is the Fromo — a frozen mimosa served from the eatery’s large rotating machine of icy Champagne and orange juice. Customers can choose to enjoy their meal at one of the tables outside, within the restaurant or while enjoying the view from the bar at the window. The Getaway also offers online ordering and grab-and-go service, which includes a selection of beer and wine available for retail purchase.

In addition to its regular dining options, the Getaway also offers catering and venue rental options.

The restaurant can hold 35 to 40 guests comfortably for cocktail-style events and will provide a full catering menu selection of food and beverages, including appetizer platters, sliders, sides and desserts. Guests can rent the entire space for the evening during the hours the restaurant is otherwise closed to the public.

“There are tons of different ways the community and greater Wilmington can use our space for all different things,” Johnston says. “People can host birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers, company parties or any other gatherings, and we provide all the catering and food. They get to just show up, decorate how they want and have a good time.”

Johnston hopes to grow the Getaway and continue to foster the relationship the restaurant has with the Riverlights community. From monthly wine tastings to neighborhood events such as oyster roasts, outdoor markets and home tours, Johnston’s vision is to showcase what the Getaway Cafe offers both within the restaurant as well as outside in the community.

“Our goal is to get our name out there and just continue to meet the people in the Wilmington area who haven’t found us yet,” she says.

Want to go?
Getaway Cafe and Provisions
109 Pier Master Point, Wilmington
(910) 660-4163
thegetawaync.com

Photography by Vinni Lorence