131 MAIN is a Blakeney dinner option for steaks, seafood and American dishes cooked over a hickory wood fire. The covered porch and fire pit give you another way to enjoy the evening. Dining-room reservations are available through Resy; the bar and patio take guests first come, first served. The restaurant is cashless, so bring a credit or debit card.
300 East has been serving East Boulevard in Dilworth for more than 35 years, in the Street Car Station Shops. The kitchen works seasonally with an emphasis on seafood and local sourcing. It runs weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is patio seating, weather permitting, and patio tables cannot be reserved. Guy Fieri filmed it for the Indulgent Dishes episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Abugida is a family-run Ethiopian room on Central Avenue that describes itself simply as a 'Family owned authentic Ethiopian restaurant'. The food is eaten the traditional way, scooped with injera rather than cutlery, and the kitchen keeps a wide range of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free dishes on the board because Ethiopian fasting cooking is built that way. The cafe also serves a full coffee ceremony, poured at the table with frankincense burning alongside it.
Alexander Michael's has been a Fourth Ward neighborhood tavern since 1983, inside the brick Crowell-Berryhill Store that opened in 1897. The room kept pieces of Charlotte with it: the bar and back bar were made from solid oak doors taken from the old Independence Building, and the beer cooler came from a Charlotte grocery store around 1920. Come for a burger, a beer and a building that survived when much of the neighborhood did not.
BellyUp! Charlotte / Over 50
Good places to eat and drink in Charlotte, minus the nightclubs. When a spot gets loud later or draws a lot of kids, the card tells you.
8 spots
This is the original Amelie's, and the company says so plainly on the location page: the NoDa shop is the Original, the Icon, the Heart of Amelie's history. The room is decorated with Eiffel Tower legs peeking from the walls and local artwork, and the company's own description is a vibrant arts-district backdrop with just the right amount of quirky chaos. There is a full pastry case, a cafe menu, a barista station and outdoor seating, and it stays open to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Amelie's has since added Park Road, Carmel Commons, Uptown, Plaza Midwood and Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Copain's Ballantyne brasserie starts the day with pastries and coffee, then serves French dishes through the evening. The Stream Way location offers full table service with bar seating and a patio. Dinner reservations are available through the restaurant's own site.
A French bakery and bistro in SouthPark, open since 2007. It calls itself a casual-gourmet neighborhood restaurant built on French culinary traditions, and it runs a full bakery alongside the dining room. Brunch is the service it is best known for, and it books live jazz on Sundays.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A fully vegan fast-casual room on North Davidson Street that calls itself Charlotte's first vegan restaurant in the Arts District. The menu runs to waffles, wraps, burgers and pastries, and the kitchen leans on South African dishes alongside soul food. CLTure names Tallulah Duffin as the owner. A second grab-and-go counter, Oh My Soul On The Moo've, is mentioned on the site without its own address.
PopUp Bagels serves hot whole bagels to tear and dip in schmears at The Bowl. This is the Stream Way location in Ballantyne, separate from its Plaza Midwood shop. Order from the branch link for pickup at the right room.
A scratch bakery and cafe that calls itself a local, family owned bakery and keeps a standing plant-based and gluten-free line rather than occasional specials. The Elizabeth shop on East 7th Street is the room proposed here; the company also runs Dilworth, NoDa, Ballantyne and Harrisburg shops. Its own site is careful to say the bakeries are not gluten-free facilities.
Sunflour's NoDa shop is tucked on Jordan Place off the main North Davidson strip. Same daytime-only hours as the rest of the company, 7am to 4pm daily, and the same counter of fresh-baked pastries, cakes, cookies, brownies, English muffins and sandwiches.
The Salty's Ballantyne cafe serves donuts and specialty coffee alongside savory breakfast and lunch dishes. Its own branch page describes a bright dining room and outdoor seating. This is the Bowl Street shop, separate from the South End and Plaza Midwood locations.
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