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The tight menu includes chicken and vegetarian “steaks,” Italian hoagies, and a couple of breakfast sammies, including one with Taylor’s pork roll. Prices are a little higher than you’d pay at Philly’s Gino’s or Pat’s (a cheesesteak, fries, and soda runs $25 after taxes), but you do get free refills on the soda while you wait. A mix of modern and Southern styles, this quaint hotel restaurant brings approachable dishes like cast-iron biscuits with bacon jam, deviled eggs, a fried chicken sandwich, rice grits with seasonal vegetables, and more. Customshop has been serving farm-to-table dinners since 2007, which is around the same time that people across the country realized their food comes from farms. We’re only sort of joking, but this is one of those restaurants that celebrates North Carolina’s extremely good and varied produce. Come for dinner and definitely get a vegetable-focused small plate or two before moving to a seafood or pasta main.
17 Essential Places to Eat in Uptown Charlotte
Sustainably caught or raised seafood is the star here, headlined by the $150 Penthouse, a tower of oysters, mussels, shrimp, scallop ceviche and butter-poached lobster tails. There are plenty of non-seafood items here too, like the duck breast and wagyu flatiron, but the truly adventurous eaters should opt for The Treatment, a $65 chef's choice sampler that includes a $5 donation to charity. You don’t need to book a ticket to New Orleans to get your fix of Cajun dishes. Instead, head to Eddie’s Place in the Cotswold neighborhood, where she-crab soup, muffuletta sandwiches, and po’ boys are menu staples.
Reid's Fine Foods
After indulging in the miso mac and cheese, wagyu pot roast, and sausage gravy croquettes, guests can head downstairs to the restaurant’s speakeasy, which offers first-come-first-serve seating as well as pre-booked coursed cocktail tastings. Good Wurst is a carnivore’s paradise that dishes up all kinds of housemade bratwursts, dogs, and sausages. We like it for a casual lunch when we want something more filling than a salad (and with substantially less lettuce). Head on up to the counter and order the currywurst frites with a fried egg to share and a really great reuben, which comes with homemade sweet-and-spicy pickles on the side.
Beef ’N Bottle Steakhouse
Don’t be shy about blanketing everything — the remnants of crispy crust or the lush burrata — in that bonafide Sicilian olive oil or the dipping trio, featuring a crushable Calabrian chili red sauce. While Pizza Baby is in its infant stage, finding its footing with busy nights and new employees, it has promising potential as a fun adult pizza party. Richly spiced stews, warm incense, and East African art make this Eastside spot feel like walking into a well-kempt home. Diners use their hands as well as rolls of the soft-as-lace flatbread injera to scoop and dip into dishes like crispy bits of beef tibs, or stewed chicken doro wat made with spiced butter, onion, and whole boiled eggs. An Ethiopian coffee ceremony perfumes the air as fresh coffee beans are roasted and poured tableside as an after-dinner treat. Joe and Katy Kindred’s Davidson restaurant Kindred was the area’s first to get serious (and well-deserved) national attention.
Mert's Heart And Soul
Injera, a spongy flatbread, is used in place of utensils, to scoop up lamb and beef tibs (cubed beef sauteed in vegetables and Ethiopian spiced butter), gomen (Ethiopian collard greens), and other specialties. At the end of the meal, guests can continue to soak up the ambiance while sipping freshly brewed coffee—poured tableside. What is it about Philadelphia’s favorite sandwich that drives Charlotte so wild?
Beef 'N Bottle Steakhouse
Start with the queso chipotle dip before veering toward the tacos, all served with black beans and red chile rice. For something slightly lighter, the house salad with jicama and corn comes in a monstrous portion. Don’t skimp on the drinks — margarita and sangria pitchers are both available for sharing. Uptown Charlotte stretches across just over two square miles and towers with hotels, office and apartment buildings, museums and, yes, restaurants. Here are 17 essential (and local) places to peruse, ranging from upscale to low-key.
Readers Choice: Vote now for the best ramen in Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Observer
Readers Choice: Vote now for the best ramen in Charlotte, NC.
Posted: Fri, 16 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Sweet Lew’s BBQ
Coquette, a French buvette by the team behind neighboring Mariposa, is a quiet patisserie by day and a buzzy dinner service/wine bar by night. It’s convenient (minus Uptown parking) in its walkability to popular uptown Charlotte event spaces and offices, and in its open-all-day hours, with caneles and tea at the ready. The white negroni with Lillet Blanc or a classic French 75 sips well with the minerally Prince Edward Island oysters, and balances the richness of the duck fat fried chicken and coq au vin. Inside, it feels dressed up in blue, gold, and pink, fairytale-esque, and ornamented with marble tabletops. The menu can seem pricey, but it’s packed with local ingredients and it’s all meant to be shared, like a family dinner at a table loaded with deliciousness.
Calle Sol is as dependable as a 1998 Toyota Camry—it’s the restaurant we turn to whenever we want a guaranteed excellent lunch or dinner. For lunch, go with a Tampa- or Miami-style Cuban sandwich with a side of fried sweet plantains. And even though you might have other responsibilities, you should still pair it with an off-menu spicy margarita that uses muddled rocoto chili peppers. This spot sits on a corner in one of Charlotte’s most walkable neighborhoods, which means it’s always buzzing, and you should definitely make a reservation. There’s no parlor — you’ll either get it to-go or sit at a picnic table — and the lines are already legendary. But Cheat’s gets the bread right (traditional Liscio’s Bakery rolls), and it slices the top-round steak in-house.
This uptown restaurant is just swanky enough, with black leather seats and faux cherry blossom branches hanging from the ceiling. T Breakfast, which turns the table into a breakfast buffet of fried chicken, bacon, eggs, donuts, biscuits, and jams. Highly sought-after food truck El Veneno has a permanent setup at Birdsong Brewing for Sunday brunch. The breakfast tacos are unlike any other, with scorched, spiced meats hugged by corn tortillas. Two killer breakfast options include the soft conchas enveloping barbacoa cheese, creamy avocado, and scrambled eggs, and the specialty sourdough jalapeno bagels with fried eggs, queso, and bacon.
Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush). From Southern staples to Ethiopian and sushi, there’s a little bit of everything in the Queen City.
All-day breakfast is another defining factor of the eatery—omelets, breakfast burritos, eggs Benedict, and chicken and waffles are a solid start to any morning. A “best restaurant” label doesn’t necessarily mean sky-high prices; in fact, Brooks’ Sandwich House—where cash is the only accepted form of payment—serves $4 hot dogs and $8-a-pound beef chili. The nearly 50-year-old, family-run roadside stop recommends getting your cheeseburger made “all the way,” which includes mustard, onions, and the house made beef chili. Since 1998, Mert’s Heart and Soul has given Charlotteans the gift of soul food—and a national audience got a peek at the restaurant on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives in 2015. Menu standouts include the Soul Roll (egg roll wraps with black-eyed peas, rice, collard greens, and diced chicken), the mini loaves of cornbread, and the fresh salmon cakes.
Shareable items include zucchini cakes and shishito peppers, while the entree list features Mediterranean spice lamb rack with tomato confiture, bacon-wrapped rabbit saddle with carrot puree, and beyond. There are lots of Italian restaurants offering fresh pasta, but not many make it the way Flour Shop does, which is right in the middle of the intimate dining room. Besides the pasta itself, the restaurant’s dishes include produce grown in the area and locally sourced meats.
If you’re feeling peckish afterward, consider ending the meal with a slice of pound cake. While new restaurants tend to get all the hype, the older establishments—the ones that have been greeting guests for decades—quietly and steadfastly serve their well-loved dishes day in and day out. Mama Ricotta’s, an Italian stalwart in Midtown, has been open for about three decades, and if you’re craving a chicken parm sandwich or a plate of penne alla vodka, it won’t disappoint. Part of Charlotte’s FS Dining Group, Mama Ricotta's sister restaurant, Little Mama’s, opened in 2020. Whether you’re meeting a blind date, your entire bird-watching club, or a coworker who’s always begging for an after-work Happy Hour, Dilworth Tasting Room is the place to go.
When Plaza Midwood brewery Resident Culture expanded to a cavernous space in South End, it found space for chef Hector González-Mora, whose breakfast taqueria had already attracted a following. González-Mora has thrived, and now El Toro Bruto has a full menu, from breakfast to lunch to dinner. It’s the kind of thoughtful Mexican cuisine that’s taken a while to find a home in Charlotte.
It was such a hit, it became the inspiration for the Kindreds’ breakfast and brunch cafe, Milkbread, first in Davidson and now at their stylish reimagining of the classic Central Avenue Dairy Queen in Plaza Midwood. Customers can sit down at the Davidson location, while the Plaza Midwood spot is a walk-up counter with limited outdoor seating. The doughnuts and cinnamon rolls, along with the crispy chicken sandwiches, prove that Milkbread has staying power. “Sustainability” and “heirloom ingredients” sound like culinary buzzwords, but they’re true North Stars for Chef William Dissen and his team at Haymaker. The Uptown restaurant whips up its offerings—which include PB&J pork belly, beef short ribs, and bacon fat beignets—using local farm deliveries, artisanal products, and a brick hearth. You may want to try everything on the menu, but the mac and cheese made with Benton’s country ham is a non-negotiable.
