La Fia Bakery Market Bistro

This was our first time at the restaurant. The food was really wonderful! Three of us at the delicious Roasted Beet Salad. We all loved it. We also enjoyed our entrees and the wait staff was extremely attentive and very professional. We enjoyed the experience and will definitely be back! Thank you!

Great atmosphere, lighting, & décor. Menu has enough variety without being overwhelming. Nice selection of wines. Food was excellent. Service was good.

Short visit for Mother’s Day weekend to see my sister race in Wilmington marathon.
Was not sure what to expect coming from NYC taste buds but wow, was superbly amazed by this place.
First we had reservations at 7pm but stopped in earlier to see if they could seat us. We had an hour to order and eat at 6 and went for it (it was my husband and 7 and 11 YO girls mind you)
Started with octopus appetizer which had a delicious tomato type purée that was fantastic, cheese and charcuterie app (spreads or chutney were wonderful); husband order a shrimp croquette type app also delicious; entrees: husband had the steak and it was amazingly flavorful and cooked perfect at med rare, I shared with the girls the risotto with braised short ribs (risotto in point and not too heavy but wasn’t too impressed w/​shirt ribs and last had gnocchi with mushrooms and a perfectly light cream sauce which was the best dish of all. Gnocchi was so fresh and not too dense.
We finished every bit of the food and in just an hour! Place was outstanding!

I’m a big foodie from Toronto, Canada and have high expectations. this place was beyond delish, atmosphere, service, food. I ordered the crispy fried crab and shrimp croquette, the house smoked salmon (my fav) and the pan seared halibut nicoise. Will definitely try to make a trip here every time i’m in town!

La Fia boasts a menu that really poses a challenge to foodies like me because I want to try everything on the menu! As the waiter explained it — «it’s an entire menu of specials». I ended up opting for variety so I ordered the scallops, grilled octopus, and curry cauliflower — all of which totaled to $ 32, the price of one entrée. A great deal for the amount of food and variety!
Scallops: Ordering scallops at a restaurant is like buying a lottery ticket — you could be in for the treat of your life or you could end up overpaying for a few small bites. This one fell somewhere in the middle. The three scallops were juicy and I loved the candied orange that accompanied them. However, the purée and fried chickpeas tasted off to me, and left my mouth with a less than pleasant grease.
Grilled octopus: GET THIS DISH. I don’t know what ingredients they had on this or what magic they used to cook the octopus but each piece was so tender and came with a burst of complex flavors. Even the toast on the side was delicious (probably doused on butter but worth it!). If they have this on the menu when I come back, I am definitely ordering it a gain.
Curry cauliflower: Decent as far as cauliflower dishes go though not mind-​blowing. I appreciated the shaved almonds that added a crunch to the dish. However, they should had used less oil — not everything needs to be doused in oil or butter to taste good!
All in all, a pleasant experience and impressive portion sizes for «first course» dishes. I’ll be back!

A fantastic choice for a corporate lunch (or date night dinner) in the «LoMa» — Lower Market area of «downtown» Wilmington, DE. I had a lunch salad ($ 16 — ouch but so good!) with pesto shrimp, pine nuts and fusili (just enough).
They also serve delicious La Colombe coffee beverages (I got a latte to go).
Too pricey to eat here every day for lunch but once every few weeks I will be returning for sure! Fresh ingredients and lovely service.
So pleased.

Had dinner here last Saturday night before a show at the Grand. Excellent, attentive service. Great wine list (small, but well chosen), lovely, eclectic menu and reasonable portions. Really looking forward to our next visit. Be sure to make reservations on the weekends.

Have eaten lunch here a couple times and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. I had portobello sandwich and a burger. Both are great. It’s tight seating in there so I suggest you make reservations, even for lunch. It’s a tad pricey but worth it.

I came here expecting the service and quality of food that I was reading in the reviews, but I was very unpleasantly surprised unfortunately. I am probably one of the most low-​maintenance people in terms of expectations when it comes to food (I will eat literally almost anything) but every dish me and my date ordered was either 1.) Completely different from what we had ordered or 2.) Thrown together and very unappetizing. I politely informed the staff that the food we had received was not the food we had ordered, in which case I was rudely and abruptly told that I was wrong and that I had ordered the wrong item… Afraid not — I went in knowing what I wanted to try and ordered it. Mistakes happen, and I completely understand that, but to basically get shut down and told that the error was mine — and then to offer no help or suggest any solution — is absolutely ridiculous. Once we got all the food we had originally ordered — and once again let me re-​iterate here my low-​maintenance expectations of food presentation — it was downright awful. It’s almost like they purposely neglected our dishes just because I had brought an error of theirs, politely, to their attention. The incorrect dishes we had been served before looked great! …but they were not what we ordered!
Finally, the price is the final nail in the coffin of my commitment to never return. For the service, or lack-​there-​of, and the poor quality food, the restaurant is extremely over priced.
There are much better options in Wilmington and honestly, many other places for that matter that you would probably spend a little bit more in gas to get to, but make up for it in way more appetizing food and much better service.
Steer clear, or at least approach with caution!

Try the Yachtsman for your cocktail — a great drink — at this nice find in Wilmington. Dinner was cozy: décor is simple and service was steady, although the waiter was more professional than he was friendly (and I seek both). It was restaurant week, so a three course pre fixe menu was our only option. Fortunately, it was quite good. To start, I had seared scallops with a sweet corn salad on the side, well prepared and a tasty combination. I sampled my partner’s grilled octopus and it was meaty and well grilled. My entrée was the lightest gnocchi I’ve ever had (in a good way), with a toasted pumpkin seed granola on the side to add a touch of sweetness. It worked. Dessert was butterscotch pudding, something I truly love but where La Fia’s extra foodie touches were unnecessary. All in all, a very good quality meal in this sleepy city.

It’s actually a 3 Unilocal star restaurant, but for the high prices it loses one.
Service was courteous but confused. We got there at 7:30 and the barman already left for home. We ordered a strawberry sorbet of the menu, and a peach sorbet came out of the kitchen with an apology that the server didn’t know that they didn’t have the strawberry that night. The peach sorbet wasn’t good, and they didn’t charge us for it after we made it known.
For a restaurant/​bakery, the bread was stale, bland and subpar. The beef tartar had too many capers. The grilled octopus was chewy and flavorless. The pork fish was actually decent but it was served on undercooked check peas, and cost $ 28.
The décor was nice. The place was completely empty except for us and at one point the background music stopped. The server apologized and said that their music player ran out of battery and that they couldn’t find the charger. Maybe thr barman took it…

I like this place, but I can’t get past the neighborhood it is in. I’m surprised more people haven’t mentioned this in their reviews. The homeless people stare inside and it is extremely hard to enjoy an expensive meal when there are hungry people staring at you from 5 feet away. The menu is very au currant, which I like, because I like trying new things. Some are better ideas than others however. Execution is hit or miss.

Another great dinner at La Fia. We started with the cheese plate. Requested no meat. Very, very good. Then the grilled octopus and smoked scallops. Both small plates were outstanding.
The only problem I have ever had with la Fia has been with portion sizes of their large dishes. I don’t want to take anything home. But when you are paying $ 20+for pasta… you should be real full when you are done.
So I had the homemade pasta with cracked black pepper and some kind of cheese. It was outstanding… buuuut I could have easily eaten another serving.
My wife had the mako shark. I would order any other fish on a menu before shark. I loved it. She was pretty full from all the apps so I ate most of hers. No doubt the best shark I have ever had.
I always recommend La Fia. But always tell people they must have soup to nuts to not leave hungry. With a bottle of wine our bill was $ 145. Expensive. But worth every penny.

This is my favorite Wilmington restaurant. When you are sitting inside you almost feel like you are in a city. I’ve gone once for dinner and once for brunch. Food was very good. Service was very good. Bloody Mary’s and wine selection were very good. I recommend making a reservation.
Although it is possible you may not get quite as big of a portion as you would at another nearby restaurant I do think the quality of the food is much higher. For me that is very important.
I’m pretty sure there are no televisions inside. So don’t worry about your dinner companion staring over your head while they pretend to listen to what you are talking about.
If you haven’t been here yet and find yourself driving to Philly to eat a good meal, this place is worth a try.

Absolutely one of the best dining experiences ever. Only second to the dinner I had there he day before. I am from NYC and frequent some of the best restaurants.
I was visiting Wilmington and found this place. The first night we had the octopus app and the and then the rabbit ragu and the pork and rabbit tenderloin. Just phenomenal. The ragu was unbelievable… so good we came again the next day…
We had:
Octo app
Smoked scallop app (very good)
Garden salad (one of the best salads ever)
Rabbit Ragu
Black Cod with Yuzu… This was was of the best flavor profiles of any dish I’ve ever had. It was mind boggling. I wanted it again and again.
Cocktails also VERY good and the wine list is adequate for any dining experience.

The food was a five and the service was a four. We did sit outside though and were easily forgotten.
We had the rabbit and hanger steak, on point, the food was awesome. Their appetizers were great, had the duck and beef tartar, super good.
We would go back for sure just sit inside.

Ate here for the first time over Memorial Day weekend. Oh boy I was missing out. Everything we ordered was absolutely fantastic. From the grilled Octopus to the beef tartare. Everything was amazing felt more like a 5 Star, $ 250 per person, restaurant in NYC, not a restaurant on Market street in Wilmington, DE. Will be back very soon. Complements to the chef.

La fia is exactly what Wilmington needed.
Came here for a lady date during Wilmington restaurant week. I’ve seen pretty mixed reviews on Unilocal so decided that a prefix was a better option and I went with the burratta, gnocchi and shared the butterscotch pudding and cheesecake desserts options.
The burratta was nice but needed a little more salt in my opinion. There was a nice balance of acidity with oven roasted tomato. I stole a bite of my friends ceviche and it was great.
The gnocchi were perfection and served in a morel cream and garlic sauce. It went perfect with the wine we ordered .
Dessert left a little to be desired the cheesecake was good but how can you mess that up and the butterscotch pudding was not overly amazing I guess I was expecting something along the same caliber as the salted Carmel bundio .
Service was impeccable, but I knocked of a start for two reasons, the desserts didn’t wow me and I’ve never had an old fashion made with multiple ice cubes and shaken in a Shaker. I was very much perplexed and think this bar needs a large ice cube tray, long bar spoons and a training session stat (or take old fashions off your drink list)
I’d return for dinner or lunch sooner than later and read a review for brunch that looks promising

Looks like the posted hours on here are incorrect (as I unfortunately learned after tromping through the dark, cold, snowy and not so savory neighborhood)…
From the website:
Bakery Hours
Monday — 10:30−5
Tuesday — 10:30−5
Wednesday — 10:30−5
Thursday — 10:30−5
Friday — 10:30−5
Saturday — 10:30−5
Sunday — Closed
Bistro Hours
Monday — 11 – 2:30
Tuesday-​Thursday — 11 – 2:30, 5 – 9
Friday — 11 – 2:30, 5 – 10
Saturday — Brunch 11 – 2:30, Dinner 5 – 10
Sunday — Closed
Bistro is closed from 3 – 5
However, I’ve been here a number of times and the food and drinks are consistently very good — this place is one of the top establishments in Wilmington (though unfortunately that is not saying much as there is a serious dearth of quality dining establishments in the area). I work out of the Dupont Hotel quite often and it’s not a very safe walk from one place to the other, though it is only about 5 blocks away.
(Unfortunately this is not just my paranoia, it has been called Murder Town USA for a reason and «Wilmington once again ranked third on the FBI’s annual list of most violent cities among cities of comparable size» see
– anyway my point is just be careful out there! Get there safe and enjoy the food.

Been here a couple times for lunch. If you have a bigger group I’d recommended getting a reservation as it gets pretty busy here. I got the shrimp pesto salad my 2^nd time here. My first time I got the mushroom soup.
Shrimp pesto salad ($ 15) — lots of cheese (which I like). There was not much shrimp in here but tons of pasta. Pesto flavor was really good.
Mushroom soup ($ 8) — prob not worth 8 bucks but it was pretty good, lots of mushroom in the soup. Great for a cold day.
Service is friendly!
Came here for a 2^nd time and got the turkey rueben– delicious!