The 10 best African restaurants in Charlotte

African food around Charlotte runs from Ethiopian injera platters on Central Avenue in Plaza Midwood and east Charlotte to Liberian potato greens on North Tryon Street, Ghanaian takeout in the Historic West End, Malian and Senegalese plates on The Plaza and lamb chops with Eritrean honey at an Uptown restaurant and bar. This list covers 10 restaurants in Charlotte with Ethiopian, Eritrean, Liberian, Ghanaian, Nigerian and pan-West African kitchens, from $15 doro wet to $58 lamb chops. It is for diners new to the cuisines, vegans who want a full platter of vegetable dishes and anyone hunting for jollof, egusi or kitfo. Entries are listed alphabetically, not ranked.

How we chose

Every restaurant here passed a Mecklenburg County health inspection in 2026, between March and late October, and puts African dishes at the center of the menu, except at Amina, where East African dishes share the menu with Mediterranean plates. Picks are based on how long each kitchen has operated, who runs each one where that is published, menus and prices from the restaurants’ own sites or posted menus (OpenTable for LAGZ), and coverage from Charlotte Agenda and Axios Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer, QCity Metro, Creative Loafing and the Southern Foodways Alliance. Caterers, pop-ups, food trucks without a fixed schedule and counters inside groceries were left out, along with several older restaurants that could not show a 2026 inspection. A search of nearby counties’ inspection records turned up no African restaurant outside Mecklenburg. No restaurant paid to be included. Prices and hours were last checked on October 29, 2026, and a few prices come from earlier coverage, as noted.

Abugida Ethiopian Cafe & Restaurant

Mother and daughter Shito Negussie and Yodite Tesafye run this family Ethiopian cafe in Plaza Midwood, according to the visitors bureau’s Charlotte’s Got A Lot, and Charlotte Agenda reviewed Abugida as a new, family-run restaurant in March 2017. The menu runs from doro wet, a chicken leg simmered in spiced butter and berbere with a boiled egg, to a feast platter, and the website advertises weekend brunch, patio seating, fresh Ethiopian coffee and Ethiopian beer and wine.

Why we chose them

• The Abugida Feast is $28, with chicken or beef wet and nearly every vegetable dish.
• The Vegetarian Sampler is $16 on the posted menu.
• Gluten-free injera is available for $3.
• Mecklenburg County inspectors gave the kitchen a 98 in March 2026.
• Hours start at noon Tuesday through Sunday, and Mondays are closed.

Address: Charlotte (Plaza Midwood) — 3007 Central Ave.

See the full directory listing

Amina

East African and Mediterranean dishes, from Eritrean-style sambusa and steak tibs to flatbreads and berbere honey wings, share the menu at this Uptown restaurant and bar, which opened in spring 2026 after Axios Charlotte first reported the project in October 2025. Charlotte native Chianti Peek, who has cooked for former Panthers player Cam Newton and former Hornets player Kemba Walker, was named to lead the menu before the opening, Axios Charlotte reported. Weekly specials include Taste Tuesdays and a $55 three-course R&B Wednesday dinner, according to the restaurant.

Why we chose them

• Eritrean-style beef or lentil sambusa is $13 on the dinner menu.
• Honey rosemary lamb chops with Eritrean honey are $58.
• A 20% gratuity is included on every check.
• The restaurant validates two hours of parking.
• The restaurant is closed Mondays and stays open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Address: Charlotte (Uptown) — 225 E. Sixth St., Suite C

See the full directory listing

Enat Ethiopian Restaurant

The name means mother in Amharic, and owner Tina Tedla named this east Charlotte restaurant for her own mother, Beke Alemu, according to the restaurant’s website and a 2022 Charlotte Stories report. Enat opened in Charlotte in 2017 and added a fast-casual counter at Optimist Hall in May 2022. The Plaza flagship is the sit-down room with the full menu, where tibs come classic, spicy awaze or crispy derek style.

Why we chose them

• The meat platter of beef, chicken and lamb tibs with three sides is $47.
• The vegan platter of eight vegetable dishes on injera is $17.
• Both regular and gluten-free teff injera are available.
• The Plaza flagship is closed Sundays, while the Optimist Hall counter is open daily.
• A July 2026 county inspection gave The Plaza kitchen a 97.

Address: Charlotte (east Charlotte) — 4450 The Plaza, Suite D, with a counter at Optimist Hall, 1115 N. Brevard St.

See the full directory listing

LAGZ Restaurant Bar and Grille

Nigerian dishes anchor this west Charlotte restaurant, bar and lounge, from asun, nkwobi and isiewu to egusi, efo riro and banga soups, according to the restaurant’s OpenTable page. The same page lists a full bar, a patio, weekend brunch, live entertainment and a private room. County inspectors gave the kitchen B grades in late 2024 and early 2025 and A grades since.

Why we chose them

• Isiewu is $20 on the restaurant’s OpenTable menu.
• Egusi or efo riro soup is $16.99 on the OpenTable menu.
• The suya platter, with three kinds of suya, salad and a side, is $25.99 on OpenTable.
• The kitchen earned a 94 on a June 2026 county inspection.
• The restaurant doesn’t take reservations through OpenTable.

Address: Charlotte (west Charlotte) — 2539 Little Rock Rd.

See the full directory listing

Mama Gee’s

Ghanaian staples such as kelewele, Accra kenkey with tilapia and fried yam with tsoofie come out of this family-owned takeout kitchen in the Historic West End, according to the restaurant’s online ordering menu. The counter had served the community for about a decade when Axios Charlotte named Mama Gee’s one of the city’s must-try takeout spots in August 2023. County inspection records at the address go back to at least October 2013.

Why we chose them

• Ghana jollof with three pieces of dirty chicken is $16.50 on the online ordering menu.
• Accra kenkey with tilapia is $22 on the same menu.
• The county permits the kitchen as a takeout stand, so plan to eat elsewhere.
• The ordering page lists noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, plus a late Saturday session.
• Mecklenburg inspectors gave the kitchen a 97.5 in August 2026.

Address: Charlotte (Historic West End) — 509 Beatties Ford Rd.

See the full directory listing

Queen Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant & Bar

Ethiopian food and a lounge share this east Charlotte address, where county inspection records for Queen Sheba go back to at least August 2013. Charlotte Agenda included the restaurant in a 2017 roundup of the city’s African restaurants for the wats served on injera. The house kitfo, beef tartare with onion, peppers, jalapeño, butter and mitmita, comes raw or cooked, and the menu also lists gored gored and derek tibs.

Why we chose them

• Queensheba Kitfo is $17.99 on the posted menu.
• Beef or lentil sambosa is $7.99.
• The Queen Sheba Veggie is $17.99 on the posted menu.
• The website lists different hours on two pages, so call before a late visit.
• The kitchen scored 94.5 on a July 2026 county inspection.

Address: Charlotte (east Charlotte) — 4808 Central Ave., Suite C

See the full directory listing

Red Sea Restaurant and Bar

Eritrean and Ethiopian food has come out of this restaurant since the early 2000s. Creative Loafing reviewed Red Sea in July 2002, a couple of months after the restaurant opened in a 33-seat room on East Independence Boulevard, and the restaurant later moved to a larger space. Sources disagree on whether Red Sea opened in 2001 or 2002 and on who owns the restaurant.

Why we chose them

• Ye beg tebs, cubed lamb, is a popular dish, East Mecklenburg High’s student paper reported in 2023.
• Tsebhi derho, chicken legs served on injera, is another favorite, the same profile said.
• An April 2026 county inspection scored the kitchen a 91.

Address: Charlotte (east Charlotte) — 4301 Monroe Rd.

See the full directory listing

Tima African Restaurant

Co-owners Fousseini Sacko and Mariam Togola were both born in Mali, moved to Charlotte in 2015 and earned culinary degrees after Sacko turned to catering when the pandemic cost him a job, the Charlotte Observer reported in 2024. The menu draws on Mali, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Liberia, and the restaurant sits on the same stretch of The Plaza as Enat.

Why we chose them

• “All the meat is halal,” Sacko told the Observer.
• Tieboudiene red jollof rice and dibi-suya are $23 each on the 2026 menu.
• Yassa poulet is $19 on the 2026 menu.
• Hibiscus and baobab juices are $4 each.
• Hours run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with Mondays closed.

Address: Charlotte (east Charlotte) — 4438 The Plaza, Suite E

See the full directory listing

Zanzibar Cafe

Despite the Tanzanian name, this kitchen north of Uptown was serving Liberian food, with potato greens, fufu, bitterball and jollof rice on the menu, when Charlotte Agenda included the cafe in a 2017 roundup of the city’s African restaurants. Zoewee’s, another Liberian kitchen on this list, is on the same stretch of North Tryon Street.

Why we chose them

• An American side menu of burgers and wings ran alongside the Liberian dishes in 2017.
• The most recent county inspection, in July 2026, scored the kitchen a 96.5.
• Inspection records under the current county permit date to January 2021.

Address: Charlotte (North Tryon Street) — 3720 N. Tryon St., Suite 101

See the full directory listing

Zoewee’s

Swen Harmon and his wife, Konor Kandakai, both from Liberia, lost their first restaurant during Liberia’s civil war and lived in New Jersey and Ohio before they began serving Liberian food in Charlotte in 2007, according to a 2017 Southern Foodways Alliance oral history. Kandakai persuaded Harmon to leave a manufacturing job of about 10 years to open the restaurant. QCity Metro described Zoewee’s as mostly carryout, with a no-frills setting, in 2025.

Why we chose them

• Charlotte Agenda listed cassava leaf, palm butter, fried plantains, potato greens and fufu in 2017.
• QCity Metro recommends the whole fried fish and the potato greens with smoked turkey.
• Mecklenburg County gave the kitchen a 98 on an October 27, 2026, inspection.
• Call ahead, and call early, QCity Metro advises.

Address: Charlotte (North Tryon Street) — 4112 N. Tryon St., Suites D and E

See the full directory listing

Prices, hours and opening status last checked October 29, 2026. Call ahead where an entry says to.