Bougie vs. budget: Here’s where you can find the best breakfast in Charlotte
“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper,” said the late, great American nutritionist Adelle Davis.
Though Davis was most likely referring to portion sizes, there are in fact many Charlotte spots where you can indeed spend like a pauper and eat like a king, or spend a lot to get a lot.
Breakfast can be tricky for restaurants. In Anthony Bourdain’s 2007 autobiography “Kitchen Confidential,” he likened brunch service to punishment for chefs because of its repetitiveness, among a list of other grievances.
It’s also highly competitive: Morning crowds are already hangry, and if one place disappoints, then there’s always another ready to earn the business for next time.
But when breakfast staples are done right, you leave with a pep in your step.
No two places are alike, so I explored a few bougie and budget spots worth getting out of bed for.
My criteria was largely the same as last time’s bougie vs. budget burger edit:
Traditional breakfast or brunch: I sought a traditional, full sit-down breakfast or brunch offering, not a derivative or express version of one, like a breakfast wrap.
Homegrown, locally-based: The restaurants had to be homegrown and based locally in the Charlotte-metro area, not a national franchise.
Budget breakfast
Eddie’s Place
Location: 617 S Sharon Amity Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211
Breakfast: $9.75 Two egg breakfast with sausage patty and biscuit, $4.95 side of two pancakes
If you’re lucky enough to catch Eddie’s in the Cotswold neighborhood on a weekday morning then you’ll find a peaceful, stress-free ambience made even more welcoming by fast, friendly and attentive service.
Weekends on the other hand are another story, with lines out the door — and understandably so.
At breakfast, though the decor says tavern, it’s still one click bright enough indoors to maintain your circadian rhythm.
The piping hot coffee is bold and bottomless, and the breakfast portions are large and reasonably priced.
The pancakes are fluffy, soft and chewy, the sausage is comforting and the biscuit is probably one of the best in Charlotte.
One much-appreciated detail is when your server asks whether you want that biscuit “buttered and grilled,” to which the only answer is a resounding “Yes.”
Honorable mentions
The Dive N
Location: 109 N Polk St, Pineville, NC 28134
Breakfast: $7.25/$9 one/two egg breakfast with bacon, sausage or livermush; hashbrowns or grits; and toast or biscuit
When in South Charlotte, a visit to The Dive N is a must if you need to tick the breakfast box.
It’s not fast nor fancy. (Dine-in patrons are served with plastic cutlery on styrofoam or paper plates.) And the breakfast eggs, sausage, bacon and crunchy hashbrowns deliver that greasy satisfaction that only true breakfast diners can offer. Carpe diem! The toasted square white bread absorbs that all up.
The one I thought was homegrown
Original Pancake House
Location: 4736 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28210
Location: 915 Charlottetowne Ave, Charlotte, NC 28204
Breakfast: $6.99 stack of blueberry pancakes, $2.99 sausage patty
I’ve always thought OPH was homegrown. But I was wrong.
While it is locally owned and operated, this Charlotte institution that slings pancakes worthy of its namesake is actually part of a national chain that started in 1953 in Portland, Oregon, with locations throughout the U.S.
Come to think of it, I may have actually eaten at one in Atlanta when I lived there, but I can’t remember — it was a hazy morning after.
Resembling nothing like the similarly titled “international” house of pancakes, the deliberate old school branding is its charm — and also what attracts long queues of just about everyone from everywhere, which also makes for delightful people-watching.
Here’s a pro-tip: On the day, check the wait time and hold your spot in line directly from Google Maps.
Inside, the dining spaces are large and tables turn quickly, even with 20 parties ahead of you (about a 20-minute wait).
Once seated, coffee service is prompt and flows freely. Platters, however, can be slow to arrive during peak hours.
While the $4.99 price tag for a concentrate OJ caused a stir (and is actually pricier than the OJ at the bougie spot mentioned below), meals here are otherwise worth the wait.
Bougie breakfast
Supperland
Location: 1212 The Plaza, Charlotte, NC 28205
Weekend brunch: $65/adults, $25/kids 12 and under, free for kids 2 and under
Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
At $65 per person, this decadent, buffet-style brunch is possibly the most luxurious breakfast offering in Charlotte that isn’t part of a hotel stay.
It’s for the times you need indulging, or when you need to appease friends and family.
Three “hot” stations toward the back of the grand, renovated church (normally the chef’s counter seating at dinner service) offer traditional proteins like bacon, sausage and frittatas, benedicts and potatoes, and filet, shrimp and veggie skewers.
I say “hot” because despite their best efforts at a brunch buffet-style service, by the time you are served and make it back to your table, these items are lukewarm to cold.
More impressive is the center buffet spread of pastries and bites. Here, you’ll find salads, deviled eggs, ham and a classic Southern sweet ambrosia salad, which was a surprising favorite from this section.
You’ll also find daintily piped tarts, intricately-layered cucumber tea sandwiches, pink-rimmed shortbread cookies and Jell-O with a texture that is a couple steps up from the jiggly stuff you ate as a kid.
As if this wasn’t enough, even better are the passed-around items that include French toast with adorable heart-shaped syrup dispensers; fresh, sweet oysters and shrimp cocktail with pungent horseradish.
At that price point you’re well advised to go (very) hungry and early.
Honorable mentions
300 East
Location: 300 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
Weekend brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Another crowd pleaser, weekend brunch at 300 East is buzzy and decidedly cool.
You can grab your favorite breakfast biscuit sandwich here (like an egg & cheese, fried chicken, or B.E.C.) or grits with protein sides, but there are also unique offerings like a seared ahi tuna salad or crab cake benny stack. Should one feel in the mood for a grass-fed brunch burger, then this very much appreciated brunch menu item is an option, too.
Leluia Hall
Location: 1829 Cleveland Ave, Charlotte, NC 28203
Weekend brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Brunch service started last October at Leluia Hall, and since then, the menu favorites are the pull-apart monkey bread ($12) which looks less like traditional domed monkey bread and more a rectangular platter, the jerk duck benedict ($28) and a vast menu of seafood and steak items like market oysters, steak & eggs with 5 oz. prime filet ($59), lobster roll sliders ($34) or lump crab french omelette ($30).
Like Supperland, the space is in a restored old church building, which adds an elegant flair should the occasion require it.
