A Charlotte foodie’s guide to rooftops, barbecue and waterfront eats
Welcome, transplants. Whether you just signed a lease in South End or you’re still living out of boxes in NoDa, Charlotte’s dining scene has plenty to explore. Today’s CharlotteFive newsletter rounded up a weekend’s worth of essentials — the kind of list you’ll want to save before your parents come to visit. Here’s what caught our eye.
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Evan, CharlotteFive’s food writer, built a sprawling guide to eating and drinking your way through Charlotte. First stop for any newcomer? Carolina barbecue. North Carolina is famous for its pork ‘cue, and there’s a longstanding statewide debate about whether vinegar-based or tomato-based sauce is the better match for smoked pork. Evan points transplants toward 📍 Midwood Smokehouse for the Carolina Pork (hickory-smoked chopped pork dressed with Eastern NC vinegar sauce), 📍 Mac’s Speed Shop for a 12-hour slow-smoked pulled pork sandwich, and 📍 The Smoke Pit, which recently opened a Charlotte location and turns out brisket and Lexington-style pulled pork.
Craving a skyline view for the Instagram grid? Evan’s rooftop picks include 📍 Fahrenheit (his top pick for skyline views — book brunch ahead), 📍 Nuvole Rooftop Twenty Two (his favorite uptown rooftop, worth pairing drinks with the wagyu beef sliders), 📍 Merchant & Trade (dress code, no reservations — arrive early) and 📍 Mizu for rooftop sushi with skyline views. For neighborhoods where the people-watching is unbeatable, Evan sends you to South End, NoDa and Plaza Midwood — think 📍 Culinary Dropout on the Rail Trail, 📍 Cabo Fish Taco in the middle of North Davidson Street, and 📍 Common Market Plaza Midwood for a quick bite and local craft beer.
Bonus for Michelin fans: Evan flags 📍 Haberdish in NoDa (Michelin-recommended, known for massive fried chicken tenders and craft cocktails), 📍 Lang Van (Charlotte’s only Michelin Bib Gourmand, serving Vietnamese) and 📍 Hello, Sailor on Lake Norman, a Michelin-recommended waterfront spot with seafood-focused plates and a patio that feels like a beach club.
👉 Read Evan’s full weekend guide here.
The CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice contest is down to the Top 5 for best nachos across Charlotte, and voting is open to narrow the field to the final two. Readers nominated 30 restaurants, whittled it down to 10, and now it’s crunch time, Heidi reports.
“Myra and I are building EVO to become one of those go-to spots where people feel at home, but elevated.” — Edmond “Roc Well” McMiller on founding EVO Kitchen & Co. in Steele Creek with Myra Wilson.
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Yes, in July. Start planning those matching holiday shirts: the 59th Annual Southern Christmas Show — recognized as the largest holiday show in North America — returns to The Park Expo and Conference Center from Nov. 11-22. Tickets are on sale now.
Yelp put 📍 Sleepy Poet Antique Mall on its list of 50 used furniture shops that prove “cheap can be chic.” Worth a wander if you’re still furnishing that new apartment.
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Find out what’s happening, what’s new and what to eat: @cltfive on Instagram, @cltfive on Threads, @cltfive on TikTok and @charlottefive.com on Bluesky.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.
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This story was originally published July 23, 2026 at 3:00 PM.
