The 12 Hottest Restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina
Table Of Content
Named for the 2001 romantic comedy Amélie, this bakery is one of the most interesting coffee shops in town thanks to its clutter of mismatched tables, overstuffed chairs and that huge, faux tree hanging from the ceiling in the corner. Light meals include salads, sandwiches and soups (the signature soup with spinach, asparagus and leek is heaven), and a must-have pastry item is one of those cute macarons in the bakery case. Anticipate artful, seasonally inspired dishes with ingredients often sourced from local farms and dairies.
Church and Union CharlotteArrow
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.
This NC restaurant ranks among nation’s best new dining spots. Why fans crave it - Charlotte Observer
This NC restaurant ranks among nation’s best new dining spots. Why fans crave it.
Posted: Wed, 29 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Little Mama’s Italian
Work through the line at Yafo Kitchen, a fast-casual Mediterranean concept that shines as the local version of Washington, D.C.-based Cava. Soak up the bright and classy atmosphere (white and blue tones are reminiscent of the sand and sea) over fish and shellfish delivered daily. The restaurant works to keep at least 12 types of oysters on the raw bar menu around the clock. Sandwiches and entrees range from the crab cake BLT to the poke bowl with tuna and salmon. With lots of accolades on his resume already, chef Greg Collier turned to his roots with Leah & Louise. Here he’s serving up the Soul Food inspired by the foods back home in Memphis, like chips made from chicken skins and smoked rabbit with grits.
Essential Places to Eat in Uptown Charlotte
According to Chef Sam Diminch, the “seasons write the menus” at Restaurant Constance, a 10-table, no-concept restaurant. Born out of Diminch’s Your Farms Your Table Restaurant Group and named after his daughter, Restaurant Constance is highly focused on quality, local produce, and the power of connecting over a meal. Expect an evolving raw bar, inventive desserts, and a vast and creative non-alcoholic cocktail menu with your reservation.
Church & Union
Charlotte may be hours away from an ocean, but Fin & Fino takes its role as a “social seafood house” seriously. The restaurant receives a daily delivery of its fish and shellfish—all of which were raised or caught sustainably–to make its roster of seafood dishes. Not to mention, there’s an impressive, playful cocktail menu; Call of the Clam, Endless Breadsticks, and Papa Was a Rolling Stone are all options to wash down your delicious meal. Shopping centers are usually filled with chain restaurants serving 2-for-$20 meals that taste fresh out of the microwave, but every once in a while, you find a gem like Prime Fish. The restaurant has only 20 seats, and you’ll want to take a date to the L-shaped sushi bar to watch the chefs prepare edomae-style sushi with yellowtail from Japan, salmon from Denmark, and tuna from Spain. You can’t go wrong with any of the sashimi and nigiri, but the special rolls are also so good and include Southern influences you won’t find elsewhere.
NODA / NORTH CHARLOTTE
Little Mama in SouthPark is his upscale sequel to the ever-popular Mama Ricotta’s. But the thrill of shuffling downstairs to your kitchen to forage for lunch has definitely worn off. Now that some of us (most of us?) are back to morning commutes and afternoon slumps that don’t include binge-watching HGTV makeovers, it’s time to return to going out to lunch. Whether you pick it up to go or take a seat while you take a break, a lot of new options have popped up. The menu in this lounge-y hangout just got a makeover thanks to the onboarding of chef Greg Collier, known for his Rock Hill brunch hot spot The Yolk, and his leadership with the pop-up dinner series called Soul Food Sessions. Under the prowess of former Top Chef contestant Jamie Lynch, the Charlotte-based eatery has grown in popularity and expanded to Charleston and Atlanta.
OPTIMIST PARK
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.
Beef ’N Bottle Steakhouse
Not too long ago, if the New York Times came to town and named a Charlotte spot among the best restaurants in the country, Charlotteans just might have lost their collective minds. But while that’s still an honor, locals weren’t all that surprised when the paper did just that in 2022, naming Leah & Louise to its list of the 50 best places. Thing is, several restaurants on the list below are worthy—we figure the paper just couldn’t bring itself to name more than one from Charlotte. Luckily we’ve got that covered, with the 10 best spots in the Queen City to try right now.
Mert’s Heart & Soul
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.
Take one look at the chicken sandwich served at Haberdish—a lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch spot in the NoDa neighborhood of Charlotte—and you won’t be able to think about anything else. Part Southern kitchen, part cocktail bar, the restaurant harkens back to the neighborhood’s history as a mill town, and its menu features dishes made with the same ingredients and techniques that have been used for centuries. If the food menu is the definition of straightforward Southern comfort (the fried chicken is a crowd favorite), the cocktail menu is its inventive, whimsical cousin.
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 elegant establishment boasts farm-to-fork oysters grown in North Carolina, as well as other fresh seafood offerings sourced from the coasts of the Carolinas when available. Settle in for oyster shooters (there’s the Oyster Jammer with vodka, pale ale and mignonette), fish tacos, and steam buns, plus house favorites like fried catfish and paella with the daily catch from North Carolina. The most amazing aroma wafting along the North Tryon Street sidewalk by day or by night (it’s impossible to ignore after stepping out of a show at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center). This cash-only mobile restaurant serves hot food straight out of its walk-up window including chicken and lamb over rice with pita, falafel salad, Philly cheese steaks, and chicken gyros. Two dozen vendors in the city’s first food hall include offerings from several of the region’s favorite chefs, like Charlotte’s own The Dumpling Lady and fried chicken spilling out from a fluffy bun at Charleston’s Boxcar Betty’s. A space brightened by big windows inside and a large patio outside creates a vibe that’s more of a destination than just a simple food court.
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.
The entire South is obviously obsessed with meat and animal products, so Sanctuary Bistro, with a rotating all-vegan, gluten-free, and organic menu, is a really welcome addition to the restaurant scene. This is a place where stuff like soy, tofu, and mushrooms mimic the textures, richness, and meatiness of meat and cheese. In other words, you won’t have to sell dishes like jackfruit bourguignon or crispy tofu au poivre too hard to your cousin who only eats chicken tenders. We like Sanctuary best for a weeknight dinner, where we can post up in the dining room at the bar. And since it’s located in a shopping center, there’s always a parking spot.
Plus, you really can’t go wrong with a side of guacamole or choriqueso with fried corn tortilla chips. The Flanken is beef short ribs topped with horseradish gremolata at Supperland. Click on the restaurant names to learn more, with our own dives linked, where applicable. The next time you’re brewery-hopping in South End, shopping for art in NoDa, taking a walking tour of the historic homes in Dilworth, or hitting the museums in Uptown, use this guide to find all the best places to eat in Charlotte.
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