Charlotte Filter: Best Mid-Upscale Restaurants

December 25, 2008 11:36 AM

Give me your best mid range to upscale restaurant in Charlotte, either Uptown or accessible by the new Light rail. Atmosphere (three late 20s professionals going, so not romantic), crowd, great, interesting food are the criteria. Probably looking something 'hip' and loud.
posted by sandmanwv to food & drink (4 comments total)

Upscale: Capital Grille on Tryon (in the Bank of America IJL building). Usually open on holidays; crowd is high-end though perhaps a bit older than your group. Very upscale steak house with fine wines and cigars.

Hip: Hom (Feast, Liv, Play) is one of my favorites. Almost pretentious with its big-city concept, it is unusual for Charlotte. The food is great, though not upscale-type grub, and it has three levels: Feast (for food, obvs), Liv (for hanging out), and Play (for dancing). It has a mac-daddy outside area that is very awesome, and it is almost 70 degrees here today so, if they are open, it would be great to sit outside. The staff there are very friendly and fun. Good wine selection and pretty hip for here.

I vote for Hom; I really like it there and always meet interesting folks and it is the most Manhattan-type place I've found in Charlotte.
posted by Punctual at 1:08 PM on December 25, 2008

I would vote for Cajun Queen, it is just outside of the city and located in an old house. There is usually a live jazz band. The food and drinks are great.
posted by bignerds at 7:22 PM on December 25, 2008

Answers from my brother who lives in Charlotte:

Blackfinn is a new place, kind of like a bar, but classy and 'hip,' nonetheless. A bit sports-oriented, but still nice, loud and for your age-group (he's in there, too).
He seconded Capital Grille.
posted by azarbayejani at 11:43 PM on December 25, 2008

Being neither young, hip or loud, the places that come to mind for me are mostly in the steakhouse genre:

Capital Grille has my favorite calamari and creme brule in Charlotte, but it feels more conservative/corporate than hip.

Morton's (in the Carillon building on Trade Street) at one time had a pretty active bar scene, at least at happy hour, and the food is quite good. There's also a Ruth's Chris and a McCormick and Schmick, both on S. Tryon within a couple blocks of the square. Because they're chains, they're somewhat generic in a very upscale kind of way.

There's a new Brazilian steak place that just opened - Chima - at 139 S. Tryon. No idea if it's catching on yet or not.

Also, McIntosh's on South Blvd - you can get off at the East Blvd LYNX station.

Haven't been to Hom, which punctual recommends above, but the Epicentre (where it's located) is turning out to be a really interesting collection of bars and restaurants, very popular.

I'd also throw in Cosmos, at the corner of 6th and College. Eclectic menu and crowd.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 8:26 AM on December 26, 2008