A longtime Dilworth restaurant has opened a second Charlotte-area location
A longtime food and drink favorite in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood has expanded with a new location — and the customers are pouring in.
For more than 20 years, Dilworth Neighborhood Grille has been a community gathering space for family dinners, hanging out with friends watching sports. Now, its second spot has opened with similar vibes in Fort Mill’s Baxter Village.
Dilworth Neighborhood Grille has taken over the corner space where Killington’s once operated and Beef O’Brady sat before that. The completely renovated space offers big-screen TV views from every seat — there’s even one hanging at the entrance.
Owner Matt Wohlfarth told CharlotteFive that’s exactly where he started the renovation process — hanging cardboard cutouts to ensure the space was built for that view, along with expanding the size of the kitchen to add room for a pizza oven and increased efficiency. Other changes include opening up the space and rearranging walls, some of which are now painted Carolina Panthers blue.
The restaurateur is known for giving Panthers owner David Tepper a hard time. (His taunting signs saying things such as: “Please Let The Coach & GM Pick This Year” have not only been featured in the Charlotte Observer, but also The New York Times and Bleacher Report.)
But he’s a hands-on kind of owner himself. During the restaurant’s first lunch service on Monday, he was bussing tables, ducking behind the bar to greet repeat customers and talking business with electricians, whom he then seated so they could get a bite to eat afterward.
You’ll find familiar bites on the menu, including its famous Dilworth Crab Cakes, all-day brunch options, pizzas and wings, plus spiedies, a regional New York favorite of grilled and marinated chicken served on an Italian hoagie bun.
With capacity for about 200 diners, the Fort Mill location is much smaller than the original Dilworth Neighborhood Grill location, which can hold about 1,200. But it’s already proving popular with the crowd in tight-knit Baxter Village crowd, where Wohlfarth actually lives, too.
The restaurant opened Friday for dinner service, and by Monday lunchtime, the bar was full and the dining room was getting crowded.
“Dilworth is a neat little neighborhood. This one’s even better,” Wohlfarth said.
“We’ve been open three days, and some people have been here every day. I think they’re going to come tonight and the next night and the next one. And they all know each other. It’s like this is the extension of their town. This is their living room, in a sense, and they’re inviting their friends over.”
Dilworth Neighborhood Grille
Location: 940 Market Street #110, Fort Mill, SC 29708
Location: 911 E Morehead St, Charlotte, NC 28204
Cuisine: American
Instagram: @dilworthgrille
