Charlotte restaurant unveils new look: This is ‘to remind people where I come from’
Aqua e Vino, a 10-year-old Italian restaurant in the Strawberry Hill area of Charlotte, just reopened after four months of closure and renovation. And it’s gone from a beige den to a blue beauty, with a new, history-packed feel.
Vintage amaro posters frame the walls, turquoise wallpaper reminds diners of the south of France and hand-drawn sketches by chef and owner Gabriele Grigolon give the space a rich, personal touch.
The food at Aqua Vino has always been “100% Italian, like my accent,” Grigolon said. But he felt the formerly drab ambiance didn’t quite match the deep history and quality of antipasti, primi and secondi on the menu.
On the menu, expect seasonal specials and classics like:
House-made seasonal cavatelli or gnocchi with burrata cream
Spanish octopus a la plancha or Piemonte-style beef tartare
Veal loin with baby artichokes
Dover sole with lemon butter sauce
48 ounce Porterhouse steak
Rotating crostinis
Classic cocktails, spritzes and an extensive Italian wine list.
The buildout
He wanted to create a restaurant design that mirrored his Italian and semi-French-influenced cuisine.
So, Grigolon turned to regulars Anna and Shannon Burton — who own Bliss Design Build in Charlotte — to help revamp the space.
Grigolon sat down at the Burtons’ table during dinner service at Aqua e Vino and said, “I gotta redo this place. Will you help me?”
The answer was an immediate yes, despite Bliss Design Build focusing primarily on residential and commercial business spaces.
One problem to solve: The restaurant needed more seats.
“We used to have a waiting list for three to six weeks and turn away over 40 people a night on the weekends,” Grigolon told CharlotteFive.
“Charlotte’s a little strange the way they dine,” he told me. “Everybody comes at the same time and finishes dinner very early.” This high demand in a truncated period differs from what he was familiar with in Italy and Paris.
The new build-out was a two-phased project. First, in November 2023, the restaurant expanded and acquired the neighboring space that was once a nail salon. With that expansion, the restaurant doubled in size, from under a dozen tables to now 60 available seats, plus outdoor tables and a bar.
But, this January, the design renovation that the final component to the buildout began.
“He was very intent that it wasn’t overdesigned and that the food is the star of the show,” Anna Burton said.
It makes sense — cooking food has been Grigolon’s life’s purpose. He boasts an impressive culinary history, having trained under Alain Ducasse in Paris at Il Cortile and having worked at the two Michelin-starred Aimo e Nadia in Milan. When he landed in Charlotte 20 years ago, he was the executive chef for Conte Restaurant Group.
The look at Aqua e Vino
The final feel: a warm, art-deco and Monte Carlo-inspired space.
The design complements the food but doesn’t pull attention away from the plate, Grigolon said. There are now:
Plush art-deco booths
Expansive mirrored walls
Patterned turquoise wallpaper from France
A cork wall from 1940s Spain lining the bar
Decorative, ambient lights.
Most importantly, those blue-green walls are lined with vintage posters that Grigolon has collected for years — they’re the centerpiece of the design.
“Each one has something connected to my past,” he said.
“It’s to remind people where I come from,” Grigolon said, having been born in Torino, Italy, and worked in Milan, Monte Carlo, Paris and the south of France.
“The food is very personal to him, and therefore the design was personal,” Anna said. “He was loudly involved all the way through.”
To know Grigolon is to know a bold, gregarious chef who doesn’t miss a day of service, regulars told CharlotteFive. He hugs familiar customers and shakes hands with newcomers in the middle of dinner. His staff stays unbelievably loyal, with a kitchen team that’s followed him for over 10 years.
And every Saturday, he is still the very one slinging cappuccinos and pastries in the front of the house.
One regular, Giancarlo Vasselli, who comes often for a cappuccino on a Saturday breakfast, said, “You don’t go anywhere at a successful restaurant and find the owner and the chef doing that anymore … these guys are really the only truly authentic Italian place in Charlotte.”
There’s a lot of this authentic identity infused into the space. In the back of the restaurant, guests will see sketches of food on plain white paper — real sketches of Grigolon ideating and planning out recipes.
Another one of his drawings hangs toward the front of the restaurant — it’s a handwritten New Year’s Eve menu from 2017, which each guest received at the dinner.
For some owners, time away from work for four months means time away from work. For this chef, that was never going to be the case. He was there at the restaurant working hands-on with the design team.
Even 10 years of ownership and serving as executive chef, Grigolon still won’t miss a day.
Aqua e Vino is open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. Reservations are taken by phone at (704) 364-4445.
Aqua e Vino
Location: 4219 Providence Road #3, Charlotte, NC 28211
Cuisine: Italian
Instagram: @aquaevino
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This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
