Dinner for $20: The Diamond Restaurant

The Diamond Restaurant, which originally opened in 1945, is a great throwback to old Charlotte. I went with three friends on a Thursday night and we sat down right away.

The menu is surprisingly large and includes a few vegetarian options, including a black bean burger. Also, there is the wonderful option of having breakfast anytime.

Generally speaking, I have breakfast for dinner only when for some strange reason I’m eating dinner (or let’s be honest, a second dinner) after 1 a.m. No particular reason — it just happens on occasion. But only on weekends.

The dining room is set up parallel to Commonwealth Avenue and the booths have springy cushions that inspire those who are sitting on the inside to bounce their way into their seat.

For starters, I pilfered some fried pickles from my companions and they were excellent. I don’t actually like pickles unless they’re fried and dip-able.

For dinner I had the half-fried chicken, which comes with two sides and a biscuit, corn bread muffin or yeast roll. For the sides I went with macaroni and cheese and hush puppies.

The mac and cheese is under the vegetable sides on the menu, so I figured that would be the healthy portion of my meal.

The fried chicken was awesomely crispy and hot. There’s nothing more disappointing than cold fried chicken. The mac and cheese was good, but the hush puppies were the highlight of the meal.

If they served those hush puppies in a cup like Dunkin’ Donuts serves Munchkins, I would take a cup of them with me everywhere I went.

To drink I had a Triple C Greenway IPA, because the hoppiness of the beer complimented the fried cornmeal of the hush puppies.

Okay, that last sentence was completely untrue. In reality, I just wanted an IPA.

My total tally was $10.25 for the fried chicken meal and $5 for the beer, for a grand total of $15.25.

With the total price that far under $20, I was inspired to chip in the extra quarter for a second beer. As always, tax and tip aren’t included.

Photos by Clayton Hanson.

Clayton Hanson enjoys naps and pizza. He’s also the author of two novels. Follow him on Twitter@SnuffyMcDuffy.

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 10:06 PM.