You have your choice of restaurants in Charlotte, NC, and depending on your mood, you can find just about anything to satisfy your appetite. But the restaurants that do more than simply satisfy hunger bring out a flavor that lingers on the tongue and lures you back for more. These restaurants rank at the top of many review sites because they struck the perfect balance between atmosphere, location, service and, of course, food.
Food is not just about price, portion size and texture. There is also the cultural exchange or nostalgia that adds a flare to a customer’s experience. Culinary tourists seek out new foods while Charlotteans desire convenience of the location as well as rapport with the staff and managers. In either case, both visitors and locals rate authenticity as essential to their overall opinion of restaurants in Charlotte, NC.
Downtown Charlotte offers cuisine that spans the world, and one cuisine both locals and visitors should most certainly explore is soul food and Southern lowcountry. Steeped in rich history and flavor, soul food and lowcountry are quintessential American cooking that brings people from all walks of life together.
Not to be confused with one another, Southern lowcountry cuisine features more seafood with some chicken and pork than soul food restaurants might. The menu at Mert’s Heart and Soul, for example, boasts nearly a full spectrum of what Southern lowcountry cuisine entails. Collard greens and corn bread can be found at both, however, and are oftentimes considered the flagship sides of authentic Southern cooking.
Perhaps one of the most wonderful results that come from authentic cuisine is the social bonds people across regions, countries and generations form. Service is more than how quickly the drinks were refilled and atmosphere goes beyond décor. A phenomenon observed in virtually all cultures is that people bond over food. Restaurants in Charlotte, NC, have the perfect location with a small town feel and a big city draw that can therefore provide customers with a wide variety of options without sacrificing a sense of shared community.
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