Review Essex Bar & Bistro - Charlotte

5/2023 I sat outside because the weather was nice! The food was great! The cheesecake was good, but the raspberry puree sold it! I love the feel of this restuarant. Definitely a highlight of my trip to Charlotte! I'll be back! Update: 9/2023 I came back as promised! Just as good as I remember!

One of the best meals I have ever ate in my life. I had the Korean Steak. The menu is quite different and many options I have never seen before. Everyone in our party was happy with their meal. Only issue is ,wish they gave out menus not qr codes. My phone data was running slow and couldn't load the menu.

Presentation and Taste: 10/10. The ambience was perfect and warm for a cold night! Get the flat bread first- the sauce was so delicious and the bread was baked perfectly- not a burnt edge in sight. The lamb had the perfect texture and we got it both medium and well done. The drink was an old fashion- very strong! Get an appetizer if you’re going to drink so you can walk straight leaving the restaurant 😂. We are definitely going back!! Enjoy

If I can be a little picky, I wished those falafels were warm inside and kind of crispy outside. But the taste was really good and the sauce was AMAZING! And chicken curry was great too! A little bit salty but I liked it a lot. I want to say thank you to our server Kaitlyn who picked my drinks and made me happy! She was so kind to us and knew my taste! We will definitely going back again soon!

Enjoyed our dinner meal. Short rib ravioli and the margarita flat bread were tremendous. Margarita was strong and delish

The patio is what brought us to Essex Bar & Bistro. It was a fantastic afternoon and the patio looked great to sit out and enjoy the people on the plaza. We had street tacos and pizza and the drinks were great. Be sure to ask questions if you don't know what something is. I ended up with a full glass of tequila. It was good! Just unexpected. The service was great and really enjoyed the experience.

Our hotel recommended this restaurant and we had a lovely lunch during the St.Patricks day bar crawl. The service and food were incredible and started off our anniversary weekend in the best way. Everything was incredibly flavorful and we honestly enjoyed the food so much more than other places we had to make reservations for. We had tacos (shrimp and fish) and a few mules. It’s definitely a must return on my Charlotte list.

Here on a slow night. The atmosphere is very nice and cozy. The food was delicious. They have a uniquely diverse menu. It was hard to choose just one entree. Will definitely return.

We enjoyed an impromptu lunch with 10 people and we were able to get seated right away. Service was fantastic and the location is great. The patio is lovely. Food was excellent with lots of options to delight a variety of different needs. The fried artichokes and pistachio and pesto pizza were amazing!

Great experience, 5 in the party, ate Tapas style, you can have a large meal but we chose not to. Food was very good, with interesting choices. Cocktails were well made as well.

First time at Essex for a large group lunch. The apps and food were fantastic! I enjoyed our time there. The service was good but not out of this world, could have been a bit more attentive to the large group. Would happily eat here again for a lunch with a smaller party. Butter chicken was a large portion and the bread was a interesting touch. The tacos were also great.

A friend and I had lunch on 5/4/23, and it was delightful. She had the roasted beet salad and I had the Mediterranean bowl. We both thought they were delicious. The outside seating was wonderful, although the inside looked just as inviting. And the service and our server were fabulous. I would definitely recommend and I will definitely go back.

I had the chicken brie l’t and holy moly was this sandwich amazing! Everything paired together SO nicely. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of all the food because everyone dove right in but from what others in my party said we were all very impressed with what we ordered. Docking a star because the shift change on 4/13 which we had to endure was highly uncomfortable and made us feel like we were a huge inconvenience. Otherwise, inside of the restaurant was gorgeous and outside seating on a beautiful day is highly recommended!

This place is amazing. The service was superb and super friendly employees. We went there for restaurant week in Charlotte, NC. The place is super spacious and has multiple seating options; tables, booths, semi-high chair tables and you can always sit at the bar, which takes quite some space. The service was fast and good which excellent good. I would recommend this place and will be going there again. Prices are on the higher side. It still affordable. Parking uptown Charlotte is always a pain, but they had valet parking, so no worries there.

Went to dinner this past Saturday night to celebrate my sisters birthday. After sitting for about 10 minutes, we were informed the bathrooms are now out of order due to a water issue and the restaurant would be closing soon (guests were being sat the entire time we were eating, still sitting people when we left). They gave us an option to stay or leave. We decided to stay considering it was 8-830 on a Saturday night and it would be impossible to get a reservation somewhere else, along with continuing to seat people. About 15-20 minutes later we were told they were no longer serving cocktails, only beer and wine. We were confused why they were not serving cocktails especially because later we saw the table beside us receiving cocktails. A few minutes later, we noticed the temperature in the restaurant got very hot. Looking around, people were fanning themselves with their menus. They shut the AC off. At this point, we definitely felt annoyed with how our dinner experience was going but never once complained about it to our server. At this point, we were just hoping to finish up quickly and leave. As we asked for our checks, our server, Amber M, dropped them off in silence and didn’t say anything, just placing them on the table. After taking a look we were confused on why we were being charged a 20% service gratuity, there was only 4 of us at the table. We asked the manager about the gratuity charge and he said she shouldn’t have done that and he will have a talk with her. With all of the inconveniences going on with the restaurant that night never once did a manager come up to our table to apologize or even apologize about the server trying to charge us a service gratuity. The entire experience was awful and disappointing. We have all worked in the food industry and we know things happen that you cannot control but this was absolutely ridiculous. And I have never worked or been in a restaurant where the manager doesn't at least check in with tables or even walk around on the floor for that matter. Food was okay, service was terrible.

We we're in town for the ACC Championship, looking for a place to have lunch. Walked by several places with several-hour wait times...and happened upon this restaurant. They were able to seat our party of nine immediately; we took a quick look at the menu and decided to stay. The staff could not have been nicer. The place was pretty slammed, as most of the spots within 10 blocks of the stadium were, but they were working just as hard as they could to serve us. It did take a good bit of time for our drinks. It seems there was only one bartender - and of course everyone there was ordering alcohol, so that is always an issue. You can always second guess a place and say they should have more staff working, but you never know how many might have called in sick, or just not shown up, so we tried to keep an open mind. The food was good and actually plentiful. One of our number had a little mix up with the burger, but I'm pretty sure it was just a misunderstanding with the kitchen and pretty typical for such a busy day. Overall I was impressed with the staff and how nice they were, in spite of the increased demands for the day. The food was decent. We would probably visit again if we visit Charlotte in the again in the future.

I found a long straight hair in the cheese of my flatbread. After my server told the manager, he came to tell us that no one in the kitchen had hair like what was found and that it looked like it could be my friend’s hair - basically accusing us of planting it. I’ve been here many times with multiple groups of friends but will never be back.

This is one of my favorite restaurants but service 7-28-18 was not on point. Asked 4 times for lemon for my water before a different server brought it. We were seated 5pm and barely got out by 7:15pm to make a 7:30 concert. My husband ordered espresso and it was cold. Dessert was minimal for Queen’s Feast. I don’t think they could cut a price of cheesecake thinner. We had 1st timers to the restaurant and they were under whelmed.

Great service, great recomendations, a really good cup of coffee, and the food is chronic! If you haven’t been I would definitely recommend this place. Side note the playlist was top notch👌🏼

I dined there for lunch 8/22/17, approximately 11:30ish and seated at the bar area. The female bartender sanitary habits are deplorable. I watched her make 2 sangria drinks. She proceded to grab the blueberries 1 by 1, cuffed them in her closed bare hands before placing in the drink. Then she grabbed the orange slices and slid them inside the drink to the bottom of the glass, her barehands clearly touching the sangria a customer is about to drink. And the two customers that ordered the drinks were sitting right there in front of her drink the sangria. gross

Food is amazing! Seriously, this food may be some of the best in Charlotte! However, and I've been here a number of times, but this time the service was really bad. And I'm in the industry so for me to say this is kinda a big deal. It takes a lot for me to complain but even my girlfriend mentioned it. So, I still recommend this place because of the good, it really is amazing, but the service was horrible.

The best food ! The best location ! The best service ! Absolutely 5 � restaurant !!!!!

The food was great... had the ribeye medium rare and it was on point... seasoned well! Seemed as though the staff was short but they worked it out. Would definitely go back at a later time. Compliments to the Chef!

Party of 8 on a Saturday evening, with reservations. The restaurant was indeed very crowded, but took 45 minutes to get our drinks. More staff should be on hand for busy weekend nights. Entirely too loud. I could only enjoy the company of the people sitting immediately beside me. Forget having a conversation with someone across the table. The food was very good which is why I give a 2 star review instead of a 1 star. No desire to return.

Food was tasty but service wasn't that great and they weren't even busy at all when we were there yesterday evening. The server needs to be more attentive. If she's not doing well when it's not busy, can't imagine how she is when it is busy

Food was good, service was awful. The restaurant wasn’t busy, but our server was lackluster at best. He took our order and we didn’t see him again until he dropped the check on the table without a word. Won’t go back.

Visited before the Rod Stewart concert for Queens Feast. Very good meal and our server was great as well.