The best of the best: Check out the 2025 CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice winners
All year long, our team dishes out behind-the-scenes scoops and the freshest updates on the Charlotte area’s food scene — sprinkled with moments where we get to hear more about your favorite spots.
With our CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice contests, we get to spotlight fan-favorite restaurants and bars around the area, picked by readers for readers who vote for the best of the best in different culinary categories.
This year, you told us the best places for fried chicken, cookies, Indian food, french fries and more. We’re hungry just thinking about it!
So if you’ve been looking for some delicious dining spots to check out, here’s a look back at who you voted for as the very best in 2025.
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.
Best fries in Charlotte: Angry Ale’s
Location: 1518 Montford Dr, Charlotte, NC 28209
Boasted as “a true Charlotte original,” Angry Ale’s has been a staple neighborhood bar and restaurant for more than 20 years. With a menu designed to have something for everyone, Angry Ale’s has classic bar bites and a blend of comfort food with elevated, high quality dishes — including its fry lineup.
“People love our food. We’ve got a big variety of stuff. We’re known for chicken tenders and burgers and, of course, our french fries,” general manager Rich Lange told CharlotteFive.
“What I think what people love about our fries is that they’re always hot and crispy, and we also have seasonings you can choose from, so they’ve always got a topping on them.”
Along with seasoned steak fries, here’s a look at the other loaded fries on the Angry Ale’s menu:
- Dirty South fries, loaded with house-smoked pulled pork, queso cheese, barbecue sauce, grilled onions and charred jalapenos
- Luigi’s pizza fries, loaded with pepperoni, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with homemade pizza sauce
- Montford hot fries, loaded with Montford hot fried chicken, fried pickles, mixed cheeses and honey ranch drizzle.
“We get recognized in a bunch of these polls that [CharlotteFive] and The Observer does, but french fries — we’re really excited to be at the top,” Lange said.
Best cookies in Charlotte: SWIRL Dessert Bar
Location: 2822 South Blvd B, Charlotte, NC 28209
As a kid, Maria Kremer had big dreams about running a bakery. Now, the Johnson & Wales University alumna can say she’s the pastry chef and leader of one that offers the best cookies around Charlotte.
SWIRL Dessert Bar first opened its doors serving made-to-order cupcakes in the Oakhurst neighborhood in 2019 before expanding with more menu items and a new spot in South End.
Though its OG location is no longer open, the dessert bar has become popular pit stop for cupcakes, ice cream treats and — of course — its cookies.
“We make all of our cookie dough by scratch by hand every single day, and we bake the cookies fresh every day,” Kremer told CharlotteFive. “Customers can come in, choose frostings, toppings and kind of make their own crumble cookie.”
Aside from crafting your own custom cookie, other flavors on the menu are:
- Churro: Snickerdoodle cookie with caramel frosting, churro cake bites and caramel sauce
- Classic: Chocolate chunk cookie with vanilla frosting, mini chocolate chips and chocolate sauce
- Debbie: Oatmeal raisin cookie with vanilla frosting, candied pecans and caramel sauce
- Grace: Snickerdoodle cookie with vanilla frosting, coffee powder and caramel sauce
- Grizzly: Brownie cookie with cookie frosting, brownie cake bites and chocolate sauce
- Rainbow: Sprinkle cookie with vanilla frosting, birthday cake bites and white chocolate sauce
“We want to say thank you so much to everyone that comes in and supports us every day. ... Every cookie that’s bought definitely keeps us going.”
Best steak: Chophouse 101
Location: 101 West Ave, Kannapolis, NC 28081
“We started from the bottom. Now we’re here.” That’s how Carlos Hernandez describes the journey of owning what’s been voted the best steak spot in the Charlotte area.
After working in different restaurants and running a food truck in the Queen City, he brought his culinary skills to the heart of Kannapolis with Chophouse 101.
“We did our searches and there was not a steakhouse in Kannapolis. So I was like, ‘Let’s do it,’” he told CharlotteFive. “My mom told me, ‘You want to try it, go all the way.’”
Located about 30 miles outside of Charlotte, the restaurant is located in the West Avenue district downtown in the space formerly home to Restaurant 46, the Salisbury Post previously reported.
Catering to multiple cravings, there are eight steak options on the menu, including T-Bone, New York strip and ribeye — all local farm-raised, grain-fed meats that are aged for 35 days or more, according to the restaurant’s website, before being “generously seasoned and chargrilled to perfection.”
“We prepare steaks in the morning. We make our cuts and just grill it, flip it and put it on a plate. Our seasoning makes it special. And the sauce — our Chophouse 101 sauce — that’s our secret recipe,” Hernandez explained.
All steak options are cooked to order and include a choice of two sides, along with freshly baked sweet rolls and cinnamon butter.
Along with its savory steaks, the restaurant also offers a taste of seafood, burgers, pasta, cocktails and more.
Best bagels: Family Dough Bagels
Location: 7102 Brighton Park Dr #500, Mint Hill, NC 28227
A direct reflection of its name, Family Dough Bagels is a family-owned and operated shop by native New Yorkers offering a taste of New York-style bagels.
The Mint Hill bagel shop, about 11 miles outside of Charlotte, was established in 2022. Since then, it’s been a staple spot for scratch-made crispy and chewy bagels.
“We opted to train and study with a master bagel maker up in New York. We did a lot of research,” David Sconzo, owner of Family Dough Bagels, told CharlotteFive.
“We kind of took our masters class in bagel making and then we brought it down here and crafted it ourselves to what we love… We’re just a bunch of New Yorkers making bagels.”
With an “artisanal approach using only the highest quality ingredients,” Family Dough Bagels offers freshly baked bagels plain or with cream cheese, butters or spreads, its website details.
But if you want to level up your breakfast or lunch, there are also several bagel sandwich options on the menu, including the Lox NYC made with fresh Acme Brooklyn lox, cream cheese, red onion, tomato and capers.
Best sports bar: Blinders
Location: 225 W Tremont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28203
Think of a Las Vegas-style sportsbook, the energy of a sports bar and the design aesthetic of a cocktail lounge — and that’s what you can expect at Blinders, one of Charlotte’s newest sports bars and now the city’s very best.
The new sports spot in South End opened its doors this spring, CharlotteFive previously reported, bringing what owners say is the biggest sports viewing screen on the East Coast outside a stadium or casino right to the Queen City.
“Charlotte has never seen this before,” operations manager Larisa Yanicak told CharlotteFive.
“It is nearly 60 feet wide and 15 feet tall, very Vegas style. We have different configurations — at least nine at the same time we can do. We can do 20 screens at the same time, so this is a unique experience.”
With a “gourmet approach” to game day bites, Blinders’ menu features a lot of tapas-style shareable plates, like Philly cheesesteak sliders, egg rolls, nachos and more, plus salads, dips, burgers and cocktails.
“As an avid sports fan myself, I want a bar with energy,” Yanicak explained. “So the DJ matters, the CO2 matters, the energy of the guests matter. It’s really fun when everyone here is watching their game and they all start screaming.”
Best Indian restaurant: Desi District
Location: 8524 Pit Stop Ct NW, Concord, NC 28027
Location: 11812 Carolina Pl Pkwy A, Pineville, NC 28134
Location: 120 N Cedar St #765, Charlotte, NC 28202
Just one year after opening, Desi District is taking the title as the best Indian restaurant around Charlotte.
The Texas-based spot came to be from a group of friends and self-proclaimed food and travel buffs with a craving for “quintessential Indian street food which had a modern streak to it.”
Now, Desi District is bringing the flavors of Indian cuisine to 13 locations in the U.S. Its Pineville location, which opened last fall, was the very first in North Carolina. Since then, Desi District has also expanded to Concord and uptown.
‘Serving more than food. We’re serving culture’
Offering “Indian food intertwined with a global approach,” the menu is made up of more than 350 items, like biryanis, tandoori selections, curries and more, along with Indo-Chinese dishes, burgers, shakes and desserts.
All of its fast-casual restaurants are open for you to dine in or grab a bite on the go, but the Pineville location also has a market stocked with a special selection of Indian snacks, spices and other ingredients.
“We are very proud to serve the Charlotte metro, and we are very happy and excited to be ... the best Indian restaurant,” Shyam Padamati, co-owner of Desi District’s local location, told CharlotteFive.
“This is not just a restaurant, not a store. It’s a place where we celebrate food, culture and community.”
Best of Charlotte: Coffee Shop | Chicken Wings | Doughnuts | Burgers | Ice Cream | Brewery | Pizza | Sushi | Tacos | Food truck | Bar | Ramen | Brunch | Patio | Barbecue | Pie | Fried Chicken | Fries | Cookies | Steak | Bagels | Sports Bar I Indian Food
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