VIP access: A sneak peek at Charlotte’s hottest new restaurant, opening soon
Step inside Leluia Hall, and you can picture it already: Premium steaks and seafood towers, paired with expertly crafted cocktails and high-end wines in a bright, airy dining room accented with greenery and art deco archways.
The last few details are coming together after three years of planning, remodeling and renovating the former Dilworth church that has seen many lives since it was built in 1915.
The doors are set to open at the 150-seat restaurant the week of May 6. Reservations will open then, too.
Few restaurants in Charlotte have captured so much attention as long before their opening as Leluia Hall, hailed as a “surf-and-turf extravaganza” by Bon Appetit.
“Very soon, we’ll be able to open our doors and welcome everybody in here,” co-owner Jamie Brown — the mastermind behind the restaurant’s design and feel — told CharlotteFive.
The atmosphere at Leluia Hall
There’s a lot to take in, and we’ll guide you through it. (First, a primer on the name, Leluia Hall. It’s pronounced, “Lay-loo-ya.”)
If you’ve been to Supperland, the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group’s first venture into adaptive reuse, you’ll sense some familiarity at Leluia Hall: Wide-open spaces. Banquette seating. Statement wallpaper.
“They’re so similar. They’re so much like fraternal twins,” Brown said. “And we’re really just trying to make sure that this place comes to life in a totally different, fresh way.”
Upstairs, there’s a semi-private 40-seat mezzanine with a bar that evokes a choir loft. But it wasn’t original to the space — it came on board during the 1980s.
“That was just so that the Redd Sled Christmas Shop and Greenway Gardens could have more space to be able to sell their plants and Christmas items,” Brown said.
Eventually, you’ll be able to reserve spots in specific parts of the restaurant, including that mezzanine overlooking the main dining space and a patio outside, shaded with umbrellas.
Co-owner Jeff Tonidandel envisions the mezzanine space — dotted with hanging plants — as premium seating, saying: “It’s such a cool space up there, and I think those seats up there are going to be the ones that people want.”
Private dining will be offered in the intimate wine room downstairs, which holds room for 10 people or fewer amid 1,200 bottles of wine. The collection, held in climate-controlled casing, is being curated by wine director Michael Klinger.
“So, basically, having all these different areas that you can dine, you’ll be able to kind of change up your experience, but enjoy that same delicious food every time you come,” Brown said.
Tonidandel emphasized that the art deco-meets-coastal design, filled with natural light and touches of rich blue tones, at Leluia Hall won’t be like any other steakhouse you’ll find in Charlotte.
“We have windows, and we have all these plants,” Tonidandel said. “It’s a fresher, cleaner vibe, and we’re just embracing it and enjoying it.”
Leluia Hall’s food and drink
Supperland’s food and beverage leaders will shift en masse to Leluia Hall after more than a year of recipe testing and planning.
Diners will find a menu built as an ode to steak and seafood, crafted by executive chef Chris Rogienski and chef de cuisine Cristian Medrano, with assists from the rest of their team.
Five cuts of premium steak will be the star of the show, along with raw bar program that incorporates nearly everything you could dream of — oysters, crudo, ceviche and shrimp cocktail, plus indulgent seafood towers. Seafood entrees will also make an appearance.
“Our team has been working for the last year, really innovating and coming up with great ideas and formulating that menu,” Brown said. “It is just going to be fresh and lovely and innovative, and have a have a lot of cool new features.”
Beverage director Colleen Hughes, a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist, is designing the cocktail program.
She’s told CharlotteFive that Leluia Hall diners can expect complex flavors with a tropical influence that lean toward “escapism drinks” heavy on rum and pisco. The drinks won’t be like anything you’ve had before.
“We never repeat ourselves,” she said.
Leluia Hall’s opening
The journey to create Leluia Hall hasn’t been for the faint-hearted. It all began back in 2022, when Tonidandel and Brown bought the former church property from JD Duncan, who operated Bonterra restaurant there for 22 years. (That longtime favorite shifted to Phillips Place, later rebranding. But it didn’t last.)
Extensive work on the building included moving the entrance from its side back to to the original front and removing drop ceilings that covered the original beam work. Trusswork to shore up the ceiling and support the original beams was also added — architectural features you can see in great detail from the mezzanine.
Amid that top-to-bottom undertaking, Tonidandel and Brown put another enormous project on their plate: physically moving the 120-year-old Leeper & Wyatt building next door to Leluia Hall. Plans for the former grocery store haven’t been finalized.
All the while, crews have been following them and their work for a new television series, “Fork and Hammer,” produced by Charlotte-based Susie Films.
“It’s been a lot of work, and, yes, it’s been three years,” Brown said.
But at their tree-lined nook of Charlotte where Dilworth and South End come together, their excitement has been building for some time — along with their projects. Plans for parking have fallen into place, too, with
“I can’t wait to just kind of get it all going — get people in here and really feel the soul kind of come to life in this building,” Tonidandel said.
Leluia Hall
Location: 1829 Cleveland Ave, Charlotte, NC 28203
Cuisine: American, steakhouse, seafood
Instagram: @leluiahall
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This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
