The 10 best places for soul food in the Charlotte area

Soul food in Charlotte runs from a Green Book-era takeout window on Beatties Ford Road to a sit-down room steps from the Belk Theater in Uptown, with cafeteria lines, counter-service fried chicken and a plant-based kitchen in between. This list covers 10 places to eat it, most on the west and north sides of the city, plus one Southern kitchen in Belmont. It is for anyone who wants smothered pork chops, collards, yams, mac and cheese and fried chicken done the way regulars expect, and for visitors who want to know which of the city’s long-running soul food rooms are still worth the trip. Entries are listed alphabetically, not ranked.

How we chose

Every restaurant here was confirmed open in the fall of 2026 through the business’s own website, a live ordering page or dated 2025 and 2026 coverage. Picks are based on how often each place shows up across independent local sources, including Queen City Nerve’s Best in the Nest polls, Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best, QCity Metro, Axios Charlotte, CharlotteFive and the MICHELIN Guide, along with how long each restaurant has been cooking. Several well-known names were left off because they have closed, including The King’s Kitchen, Floyd’s and La’Wan’s, and a few others could not be confirmed open. No restaurant paid to be included.

Cuzzo’s Cuisine II

University City, 9601 N. Tryon St., Suite F

First cousins Andarrio Johnson and Anglee Brown grew up in the South Carolina Low Country, started with a food truck in 2014 and opened their first restaurant on Tuckaseegee Road in 2016, QCity Metro reported. Cuzzo’s Cuisine II followed on North Tryon Street near UNC Charlotte in February 2022.

The menu leans toward seafood and Low Country cooking. The restaurant’s website lists lobster mac and cheese and shrimp and grits as signatures, alongside wings, fish, tenders and shrimp, and Axios Charlotte noted in 2021 that fried chicken at the Tuckaseegee Road location came in jerk, barbecue and Cajun flavors. Cuzzo’s suits a group that wants full plates and a seafood option at the same table.

The restaurant is closed Mondays, and online ordering for pickup and delivery runs through the website.

Haberdish

NoDa, 3106 N. Davidson St.

Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown own Haberdish, whose name nods to NoDa’s textile mill heritage, according to the MICHELIN Guide, which lists the restaurant. The room has exposed beams and denim-covered banquettes. Queen City Nerve named the couple its 2025 Best Restaurateurs and pointed to Haberdish’s Southern fried chicken.

Haberdish is more Southern comfort food than strict soul food, and the kitchen is built for sharing. MICHELIN singles out the deviled eggs, fried chicken, house-made tater tots, mac and cheese and banana pudding served in a Mason jar. The cocktails and shared plates suit a night out with friends more than a quick lunch.

Brunch is served on weekends, and pets are allowed on the patio.

LuLu’s Express

Historic West End, 2400 Tuckaseegee Rd.

Jay Davis, a Baltimore native, opened LuLu’s Express on Tuckaseegee Road in November 2019 and gave the restaurant the LuLu’s Express name in 2023, Queen City Nerve reported in a December 2025 profile. Charlotte Magazine reported that the name honors his mother.

Maryland-style crab cakes and crab fries are the calling card, and the restaurant’s website bills the rest of the menu as soul food: fried chicken and fried catfish platters with two sides, plus collard greens, mac and cheese, yams and seafood mac. Davis has since added turkey wings and a smothered pork chop, and has planned a stuffed Cornish hen with three sides as a Sunday dinner, according to Queen City Nerve.

The website lists daily hours and online ordering for pickup and delivery. Older listings showed the restaurant closed on Tuesdays, so check before making a special trip.

Mert’s Heart & Soul

Uptown, 214 N. College St.

James and Renee’ Bazzelle opened Mert’s Heart & Soul on North College Street in 1998, according to the restaurant’s website. The restaurant is named for Myrtle Lockhart, a regular at their earlier restaurant, according to Blumenthal Arts. Queen City Nerve readers voted Mert’s Best Soul Food in 2024 and 2025, and Charlotte Magazine named the restaurant the city’s best Southern or soul food every year from 2010 through 2018.

The cooking draws on the Low Country and Gullah traditions, according to Blumenthal Arts. The Soul Rolls, chicken, black-eyed peas, rice and collards wrapped in a wonton, were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Salmon cakes, red beans and rice with smoked turkey kielbasa, shrimp and grits and fried chicken fill out the menu. Mert’s is a full-service, sit-down restaurant, and AAA put the cost at about $20 to $30 per person in 2023.

The restaurant sits close to the Belk Theater, an easy walk before a Blumenthal show, and the website takes online orders.

Mr. Charles Chicken & Fish

Statesville Avenue corridor, 3100 Statesville Ave., with locations on Dalton Avenue and in East Charlotte

The business behind Mr. Charles Chicken & Fish began as a convenience store called the Big Apple on Statesville Avenue, QCity Metro reported. Michael Rhynes Sr. founded the restaurant in 2006 with his best friend Corwin Alexander and Corwin’s father, Charles Alexander, the Charlotte Observer reported in 2024. Michael Rhynes Jr. now runs the business, which has grown to three locations on the restaurant’s website.

The fried chicken is the reason to go. Axios Charlotte praised the dark amber crust and the fried okra, ranked the chicken fourth in the city in 2021, and QCity Metro once put Mr. Charles first on its list of soul food favorites. A two-piece white meat dinner is $17.90 on the website, which also lists chicken and waffles and collard greens.

The Statesville Avenue original is counter service only and open weekdays, so go to the Dalton Avenue location for evening or weekend meals. Dalton Avenue has live music on Friday and Saturday nights, the Observer reported.

Nana Morrison’s Soul Food

Southwest Charlotte, 2908 Oak Lake Blvd., with a second Charlotte location at 3824 Corning Place

Shawn and Kiana Morrison opened the first Nana Morrison’s Soul Food in 2011, and their children now help run the family’s locations, WCNC reported. The restaurant was first known as Nana’s Soul Food Kitchen.

Service is a cafeteria line with rotating daily specials, which suits anyone who wants to see the food before ordering. Chicken comes baked, fried, smothered, curried or barbecued, and the line also carries fried fish, smothered pork chops, meatloaf, yams and greens. The website posts the specials for the week, including meatloaf on Wednesdays and turkey wings on Thursdays.

The Oak Lake Boulevard location is open every day from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the restaurant’s website.

Nellie’s Southern Kitchen

Downtown Belmont, 36 N. Main St., Belmont

The Jonas family, Kevin Jonas Sr. and Denise Jonas and their four sons, opened Nellie’s Southern Kitchen in Belmont and named the restaurant for Nellie Jonas, the Jonas Brothers’ great-grandmother, according to the restaurant’s website. WCNC reported that Nellie worked in the cotton mills. The restaurant fills about 10,000 square feet at the corner of Main and Catawba streets, in a former antique and consignment shop, Charlotte Magazine reported.

Nellie’s is a Southern kitchen more than a soul food counter, and OpenTable lists a price range of $31 to $50. Chicken and dumplings is the signature, alongside fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits, fried chicken and mac and cheese. The restaurant suits a special-occasion dinner or a weekend brunch.

Reserve through OpenTable. A house band plays from 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to the restaurant’s OpenTable listing.

Original Chicken & Ribs

Historic West End, 1100 Beatties Ford Rd., across from Washington Heights

The takeout window at Original Chicken & Ribs was listed in the Green Book from 1963 to 1967, and the Blackmon family has owned the restaurant since at least 1969, according to the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. Third-generation owner Jermaine Blackmon told WBTV in February 2026 that the restaurant still operates with the same name, location and family as in the Green Book era. Queen City Nerve named Original Chicken & Ribs the best old restaurant in the city in the 2024 critics’ picks.

Everything is takeout and cooked to order. CharlotteFive pointed to the whole wings served without sauce, the Fat Boy burger with two patties, slaw and chili, a bologna sandwich, croaker and flounder. Toast lists menu prices from $1 to $15.

The restaurant is closed Mondays. Ordering online through the website or calling 704-332-2902 ahead cuts the wait.

Sol’Delish

University City, 9211 N. Tryon St., Suite 1

Chef Latell Brice, a Pittsburgh native, opened Sol’Delish with Marilyn Brice and Mac Stephenson in late July 2023, Charlotte Magazine reported. Brice described the restaurant to the magazine as “a soul food joint for a New Southern city.”

Charlotte Magazine’s 2023 coverage listed baked turkey wings and seafood mac and cheese with lobster and shrimp, and the current to-go menu prices entrees from $16 to $28, with turkey wings, seafood, steaks and crab cakes alongside mac and cheese, yams, greens and cornbread. The plates suit diners who want a sit-down style meal to take home.

The North Tryon Street storefront now runs as a takeout location and is closed Mondays, according to the restaurant’s ordering page. Order ahead, since QCity Metro noted in 2023 that plates took about 30 minutes.

Taste of Soul

West Charlotte, 2200 Thrift Rd. (pickup only)

The plant-based kitchen Taste of Soul cooks vegan soul food out of a shared commercial kitchen on Thrift Road, and Queen City Nerve readers voted the kitchen the runner-up for Best Soul Food in 2025, behind Mert’s.

The Soul Bowl, with grilled mushrooms or a house patty, black-eyed peas, kale greens and candied butternut squash, costs $16.99 on the restaurant’s ordering page, and a barbecue jackfruit plate is the same price. Vegan mac and cheese is $9.99, and a 10-ounce peach cobbler is $7.99. This is the pick for a vegan or a mixed group where not everyone eats meat.

Service is pickup only, and the menu runs on a limited schedule, currently Wednesdays and Thursdays, so order ahead online.

This list was last checked on October 7, 2026. Spot something out of date or a place that belongs here? Send corrections through our contact form.