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.
12 spots
Craft Tasting Room & Growler Shop opened in 2014 on South Church Street in South End's Gold District, founded by the husband and wife team Alyson and Dan Davis. It pours local craft beer and draft cocktails next to regional cheeses, charcuterie, pizzas and flatbread sandwiches. It runs outdoor movie nights on Thursdays and hosts private parties.
A fully vegan kitchen inside Building B37 at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Yorkmont Road, founded in 2015 by someone its own site describes only as a passionate vegan and environmentalist. It runs on a weekly meal plan: orders close Thursday at 2pm and are collected Saturday or Sunday, which is why its posted hours are only Friday through Sunday. CLTure describes the food as vegan comfort cooking, burgers, hot dogs and fried chicken sandwiches, with homemade desserts.
Euro Grille & Cafe is a Bosnian market on Central Avenue with a small cafe attached, which is how Our State's international dining guide describes it: a Bosnian market with a tiny cafe on the side. Charlotte took in a large Bosnian community after the 1990s war, and this is where that community shops and eats.
Optimist Hall fills the 1892 Highland Park Gingham Mill on North Brevard Street between Optimist Park and NoDa. The long brick mill and its 1895 smokestack now hold more than 25 food stalls, dine-in restaurants, a full-service bar, a brewery and shops. It is the kind of place where a group can split up for tacos, dumplings, barbecue, pizza or Ethiopian food and still eat at the same table.
A fresh-pasta shop and Italian deli that has been in Charlotte since 1992. Pasta is made in house and sold alongside prepared meals, specialty groceries, bakery items, wine and beer. The Park Road store is one of three in the city.
The newest Reid's, in Ballantyne, described on the company's own site as recently opened. Same format as the other stores ... premium meat, wine, local provisions, produce and prepared meals.
The Selwyn Avenue store, in the same short Myers Park row as Rada, The Jimmy and Selwyn Avenue Pub. Reid's sells premium meat, wine, local provisions, produce and prepared meals, and calls itself Charlotte's original hometown specialty food store.
A specialty grocer that also runs a deli, a hot bar and a full restaurant with lunch and dinner service. Its own site calls Reid's Charlotte's original hometown specialty food store. The company now runs five stores across the city.
Rhino Market & Deli has run on West Morehead Street in Wesley Heights since 2014, a corner market with a deli counter attached and separate phone numbers and hours for each half. Its own site calls it 'a family owned and operated business with over 40 menu items including vegetarian and vegan options' and says it was voted Best Market + Deli in Charlotte six years running from 2020 to 2025.
The Common Market describes itself as an uncommon convenience store, deli and bar: you can buy a six-pack, order a sandwich made fresh that day, and drink the beer on site. The Plaza Midwood store on Commonwealth Avenue is the one the neighbourhood built itself around. The company now also runs stores in South End, Oakwold on Monroe Road and Durham, with a Raleigh store listed as opening in 2026.
Known for years as 7th Street Public Market, this is Charlotte's original food hall and it now operates as a nonprofit small business incubator. The market says it has incubated more than 175 local businesses since opening. The 7th Street Station parking garage validates two hours free. The old domain 7thstreetpublicmarket.com now redirects here.
The Trolley Barn Fermentory & Food Hall is Legion Brewing's South End room, on South Boulevard beside the Rail Trail in the Atherton Mill area. Legion runs four rooms, all inside Charlotte: Plaza Midwood, this one, West Morehead and SouthPark. The company opened its largest production facility in west Charlotte in 2022.
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