A favorite for decades has been named the best fried chicken in the Charlotte area
Fried chicken is the signature staple for Southern comfort food — and you can find the very best Charlotte has to offer at one of the city’s oldest restaurants.
Of all the fan-favorite chains, new soul food favorites and longtime local spots, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find a restaurant around town that doesn’t have fried chicken of some kind on the menu.
After taking nearly 50 restaurant nominations and several rounds of voting, our readers have declared the ultimate spot to find the crispiest, crunchiest, flavor-packed fried chicken for our first 2025 Readers’ Choice contest.
Best fried chicken in Charlotte: Original Chicken ‘n Ribs
Location: 1100 Beatties Ford Rd, Charlotte, NC 28216
Of all the restaurants that come and go, Original Chicken ‘n Ribs has been a staple of Charlotte’s food scene for decades.
The local carry-out spot, now run by third-generation owner Jermaine Blackmon, was originally opened in 1952 by his grandfather.
“If you know anything about history, we were in (The Negro Motorist) Green Book and the only company that’s in Charlotte that’s owned by the same family, same name and in the same location that’s in there,” Blackmon explained.
“In the Jim Crow era, they had the Green Book that really gave African Americans a travel guide to be able to eat, sleep, get haircuts, fuel — you know things like that — to where African Americans could do that with dignity and not have to be ashamed of being ostracized and things of that nature.”
Now, over 70 years later, his family’s restaurant is still serving up a “vast array of sandwiches and platters with an urban flare” — like its barbecue and pork chop dinners, Fat Boy double cheeseburgers and Southern fried chicken “seasoned to perfection” with its own in-house seasonings.
“I’m totally shocked by the support that we have from the community and my clientele that I was voted to be the best chicken in Charlotte without even knowing it,” Blackmon told CharlotteFive.
Finalist for best fried chicken in Charlotte: Londa’s to Go
Location: City West Commons, 1540 West Blvd Suite 102, Charlotte, NC 28208
It’s a new name, but you’ll be served up the same soul food flavors you’ve known for years at Londa’s To-Go, formerly known as Londa’s Place.
The takeout-only spot, which opened last year in West Charlotte, is the latest venture from its namesake co-owner, Yolanda Crowder — who is no stranger to the food scene.
She started serving up her signature Southern staples at Londa’s Place about seven years ago, after breaking into the business alongside her husband when they opened the Koffee Kup Cafeteria.
But in 2024, she shifted her business model and Londa’s Place became known as Londa’s To Go, which still has a full menu of comfort food classics like candied yams, collard greens and, of course, crispy fried chicken with a special combination of specific spices.
“Anybody can cook chicken, but we want to make sure that whenever you touch chicken, you put some love back into it. So if you don’t have love in it, and when you’re rubbing your seasonings and your ingredients, then you’re just serving chicken. So we want to serve more love than we serve chicken,” chef Robert Nichols told CharlotteFive.
With a mission for “serving soul food the way you’ve always wanted,” Crowder said her heart is just overjoyed for her restaurant to be voted as one of the best in Charlotte.
“I’ve said for years, Londa’s Place has the absolute best customers in Charlotte — actually the surrounding areas,” she said. “They followed me from Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road. I was over there for seven years, and we closed the dine-in and they followed me over here to the takeout to-go location and they are just so supportive. We just couldn’t do what we do without them.”
Best of Charlotte: Coffee Shop | Chicken Wings | Doughnuts | Burgers | Ice Cream | Brewery | Pizza | Sushi | Tacos | Food truck | Bar | Ramen | Brunch | Patio | Barbecue | Pie
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
Alex Cason contributed reporting.
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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