This Charlotte restaurant is a time machine back to the era of car racing’s rule
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Charlotte’s Classic Eats
As new restaurants open every day in Charlotte, it’s easy to forget about the old standbys, the places that have grown up alongside the Queen City. Our Charlotte’s Classic Eats series highlights the places that you have frequented for years, reminding us why they have stood the test of time.
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At Shuffletown Grill, stepping through the doors takes you back in time to an earlier iteration of Charlotte, when car racing dominated local sports — long before the Hornets and Panthers existed.
The drive-in-turned-diner has been serving up hearty comfort food to Charlotteans looking for a filling meal since 1957, working its way into a firm hold among Charlotte’s oldest restaurants.
Inside, memorabilia covers the walls, highlighting drag racers of yesteryear, while incorporating portraits of Marilyn Monroe and kitchy signs that say things like “Mind your own biscuits & your life will be gravy.”
Diners chat up the staff — and each other — as they dive in to platters and sandwiches paired with sweet tea or hot coffee.
Even if you’re new here, you won’t be a stranger for long.
Dining at Shuffletown Grill
The restaurant opened as an ode to the Shuffletown Dragway, a nearby drag-racing strip that got its start in the 1950s and closed in the 1990s.
Now, the Shuffletown community that stretches back to the pre-Civil War era has become what we know as the Mountain Island Lake neighborhood, situated north of I-485 in Charlotte between Mt. Holly and Huntersville. Lore has it that Shuffletown Grill’s building was constructed by the Rozzelle family, who settled in the area in the 1780s and operated the ferry that Rozzelle’s Ferry Road was named after.
Shuffletown Grill opens every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, except Sundays, when the restaurant closes at 2 p.m. Diners will find an enormous menu of family-friendly options to choose from, from French toast and eggs in the morning to fried pickles and chicken tenders at night.
Customer Helen Jones estimates she’s been eating at Shuffletown for at least 15 years. Breakfast is her favorite, but she orders something different off the menu all the time.
“The breakfast is superb,” she said.
A few minutes later, Jones bowed her head in prayer over a club sandwich while Bruno Mars’ “Risk it All” played in the background.
Under new ownership
On weekdays, owner Jose Maruri heads in at 2 p.m., right after the lunch rush, to prepare for dinner. He took over the restaurant about a year ago from longtime owner Andy Zavalis.
A “massive” amount of regulars keep the racing-themed restaurant in business, Maruri told CharlotteFive.
“We still got some drivers that come in and say, ‘Hey, that’s me in the picture,’” he said.
He spent a few years in the kitchen before taking over, so he’s familiar with feeding the crowd. Even on a late weekday afternoon, customers keep rolling in and finding themselves a seat.
“We build up relationships with people, and it’s just like everybody knows everybody know each other,” Maruri said.
Lyda and Phillip Edwards are fairly new to Charlotte, but the couple first came to Shuffletown Grill on the recommendation of friends about a month ago.
‘We’re not disappointed,” Lyda Edwards said on their repeat visit.
“They said they had the best burgers,” Phillip Edwards added, as his wife interjected: “They are!”
The food at Shuffletown Grill
Maruri said those burgers are among the restaurant’s most popular items, along with cheesesteaks, fried fish and spaghetti. The old time classics like chicken livers and gizzards are still flowing out of the kitchen with frequency, too.
Meals here are still affordable — with the most expensive things on the menu reaching $17.95: the rib-eye steak breakfast platter, or 12 jumbo shrimp, Cajun pasta or penne chicken and broccoli in a white wine cream sauce for lunch or dinner.
At breakfast time, home fries — something new that Maruri brought to the table — have been a big hit. Stacks of pancakes and with sausage, bacon or livermush are also top sellers.
“Oh my God, livermush. We sell a lot of livermush,” he said.
“It gets very crowded Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings, now that we extended the hours. People come out to church and then meet here.
“Usually, we have a line out the door,” Maruri said. “You know, a lot of people like that because they see that they know everything is fresh. We try to do it the right way.”
Shuffletown Grill
Location: 10220 Rozzelles Ferry Road, Charlotte, NC 28214
Cuisine: American
Instagram: @shuffletowngrill
