For more than six decades, carhops have been balancing trays stacked with burgers, hot dogs and more old‑fashioned goodness at Merritt’s Burger House. Since 1958, it’s become a local landmark at 2338 Carolina Beach Road in Wilmington.
Today, it’s one of the few authentic drive‑in restaurants left in North Carolina. You can pull into one of the covered parking spots during lunchtime service and one of the servers, who may have been working there for decades, will take your order and deliver your meal.
There’s a lot of what you might expect to find at a ’50s era diner, but Merritt’s also offers a taste of traditional Southern dishes, and some unique to the coast…