Sort-Of Staycation: Weekend in Uptown Charlotte

For Christmas this year, my parents bought G and I season passes to the local performing arts theater here in Charlotte. It’s awesome because it allows us to see five different musicals that come to Charlotte throughout the year. We saw Les Miserables (amazing!) in December and Phantom of the Opera was this past weekend.

Because this gift was no surprise (my mom had consulted us before she purchased to make sure the dates worked for us), for my Christmas gift, G planned a weekend in Uptown Charlotte around the day that we were to see Phantom.

We had SO much fun spending the weekend in Center City/Uptown Charlotte, because even though we live in Charlotte and <15 minutes from Uptown, we rarely go there because hate dealing with the parking tbh.

I figured I would share some of the details of our weekend, so if you are maybe visiting the area or even if you live in Charlotte, you can have a few recommendations of what we enjoyed!

Saturday:

Our Saturday morning was relatively normal because we slept in extra long and then worked out at the gym. After that, we grabbed lunch at the cafe in our gym and then made our way into town.

Accommodations:

Garrett booked us a room at The Dunhill Hotel, which is right across the street from the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center/Belk Theater (where we would see Phantom on Sunday). It’s the only historic boutique hotel in Charlotte, so if that is something that you find intriguing, it is the place to stay! We stayed in a regular room and it was relatively small- which wasn’t a surprise being that it is a historic hotel (it opened in the 20s!), but we had great views from the 9th floor! The room was cute, the bed was comfortable, and there were two comfy robes for us to lounge in, so we were happy campers!

Once we got settled in our room, we headed out to go explore and grab some drinks before dinner. For January, it feels pretty great here in Charlotte, so I was able to rock a light tee, leather jacket, and jeggings.

Drinks:

We started off at Connolly’s on Fifth, which has a chill vibe because it’s an Irish pub. It apparently gets pretty crowded in the summers though because of their nice outdoor space. It is a tight area though, so I don’t think it would be as enjoyable if it was packed! Connolly’s also didn’t have a great beer selection, so after a couple drinks we headed out elsewhere.

We found ourselves at Fitzgeralds Irish Pub next (clearly a trend for us haha) which had more of a sports bar feel than a traditional Irish Pub feel. They did have a better drink selection though, more open space, and more seating. We didn’t stay long though because we had dinner reservations to make!

Dinner:

It was Charlotte Restaurant Week (aka Queen’s Feast) last weekend, which is an awesome deal if you are wanting to try out an upscale, trendy restaurant in Charlotte. It is $30 or $35 per person and gets each person a three course meal (sometimes it includes a drink too!) at participating restaurants. Queen’s Feast normally occurs twice a year for two weeks at a time, so check to see when it is, and plan your life around it haha.

We somehow got reservations at Luce, an upscale, authentic Italian restaurant across from the Dunhill. It’s a pricey place, but it is well worth it! I got the crab cakes with an arugula salad for my first course, while G chose fried ravioli stuffed with beef and topped with a balsamic reduction. Both were fantastic! For my entree, I went with the pasta with beef ragu, meat balls, veal, and short ribs. Geez louise, it was tasty. I’m normally not one to choose red meat, but this was too good! Garrett chose their cheese ravioli (can you tell he like ravioli??) which he enjoyed as well. Tiramisu is my all-time favorite dessert, so I obviously had to choose that for my dessert. It certainly didn’t disappoint! Garrett went with the chocolate torte, which was really good and beautiful, but was a bit too rich for me. Overall though, service was good, food was amazing, and the restaurant was beautiful. We will certainly be back!

Sunday:

Breakfast:

On Sunday, we got up and embarked on the search for breakfast. We found Mert’s Heart & Soul, a low-country style restaurant that has actually been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives. G was feeling brave and got a pulled pork omelette, which was surprisingly amazing! We also both got their home fries, which were seasoned great and perfectly crispy. I got scrambled eggs, home fries, country ham (where my country ham fans at??), and a biscuit. I’ve determined that people either think country ham is salty trash, or they are true southerners and see it as a delicacy. I am a part of the latter, so I thoroughly enjoyed their country ham on a buttery, soft biscuit. I was super happy with my whole meal, and as was Garrett.

Time-Killers:

The musical wasn’t until the afternoon, so we walked around Uptown a bit longer. We went over to the 7th Street Public Market, just to look around. It’s mostly food, but there was a little bit of Charlotte themed decor, art, and clothing for sale as well. We also walked over to Amelie’s which is a french-style bakery and coffee place. It’s very popular and cute, a little pricey, but overall pretty good! I ordered the lavender lemonade and and G got a salted caramel apple cider. It’s the perfect place to take a instagram worthy snap 😉

Theater:

Finally our main event for the weekend was there, so we made our way to the Belk Theater. Phantom was great, they did a really great job with the set and even had the chandelier drop! So if you are visiting Charlotte, check to see if there are any shows coming to the Blumenthal. They really put on some great shows there!

Late Lunch/Dinner:

To finish up our weekend, we went to a restaurant right next door called Sea Level. We had such an amazing meal there. The service there was incredible– we had a fantastic server who was super nice and helpful, and the food was equally incredible. If you like shrimp and grits, I highly recommend them here! I very much enjoyed mine.

 

I hope this helps you plan your own stay-cation here or upcoming visit to Charlotte. What are your favorite places to hang out or eat at in Uptown? If you have recommendations of things to do in Uptown, share in the comments below!