Follow-Up on the Queen’s Feast – Charlotte Restaurant Week

The Queen’s Feast – Charlotte Restaurant Week came and went, and we definitely made the most of the opportunity enjoy Charlotte’s fine culinary offerings. As previously mentioned, we chose one favorite and one new restaurant. We hope this would produce at least one excellent meal, and thanks our wonderful company each night, we had two delightful dinners.

First, I want to break down our advice:

• Take a look at the menu online before deciding on the restaurant, as the menu will be restricted for the event. If you have something in mind or dietary restrictions, this will help make your decision easier.
  This one holds, as a solid recommendation.
• Some places are a better deal than others so we try to go places where a regular entrée  would be around $25 dollars. Visiting restaurants with entrées  that are normally only $15 significantly decreases your savings! We view restaurant week as a time to try out some more expensive places that we would not normally go to for a guaranteed $72 dinner (including tip). This helps us build a roster of restaurants for special occasions when we are willing to splurge a little.
  Don’t forget about taxes, our average price was around $80 with tip. Also, check their regular menu compared to restaurant week menu. At 5Chuch, the savings came out to roughly $3-5 regardless of what you ordered from the Restaurant Week menu, despite them having several higher-priced items on the menu.
• Make a reservation. The good restaurants will fill up quickly, even for weekdays. I would recommend calling ahead at least a few days in advance, but just to be safe we reserved space a week ahead. Several participating restaurants use OpenTable.
  Our OpenTable reservations meant we didn’t wait either night.
• Additional tip: Plan for an all evening affair, and go with friends. Dinner took a couple hours both nights, but with great company, we barely noticed.

5Church – Erin and I both had the hanger steak, and it was incredible.  The horseradish mashed potatoes were a marvelous accent, and everything was cooked wonderfully. Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy their food, but there were a couple bumps throughout the evening. They ran out of one item our table ordered, the servers kept trying to serve Erin and I wine we never ordered, and the desserts came out after the checks.  However, they were very flexible when one of our party regretted not ordering their incredible s’mores dessert, and were more than happy to let her change the order. Overall, we still enjoy the food at 5Church, but I suggest visiting outside of restaurant week to have the best experience.

Copper – I think my preference for Indian food is like my preference for Mexican food. I want it spicy and authentic, and I seem to enjoy holes-in-the-wall over larger establishments. We sampled much of the menu, as we all shared the dishes. In general, the lamb was decent, the naan was great, and the chicken was incredible. However, the overall experience probably will not merit a date night in the future.

Charlotte Restaurant Week afforded us two nice evenings out with great friends and co-workers, and we will definitely do it again. However, next time, we will keep it to one restaurant, and my vote is Sullivan’s.