Advice from Charlotte locals

[ericr0319]

I am coming up (from Florida) for the Car/NYG game. Never been to Charlotte before, but have been a fan since 1995. What areas do you recommend to stay in? I am thinking Air BnB rather than hotel, but I want to stay in a safe/hip area. Coming with my girlfriend so this is important to her. I am 30 and she is 27, so looking for an area with walking distance to younger bars and restaurants. We are coming the Friday morning so we can enjoy the city/weekend. Any recommendations are great. I live in downtown Tampa, so I know all downtowns have their rough patches. I am just trying to avoid that. Thanks!

[RoaringRiot]

Stay in NoDa, Southend, or Uptown. 

[TheCasillas]

Happy to host you Eric. Luckily  Uptown Charlotte rough patches are hard to come by. I have been to downtown Tampa, and let me tell you are in for  a treat.

If you are staying uptown, what are you guys looking to do? Do you drink recreationally? Are you a upper class eater? Do you like breweries? There really isnt much history here, so museums wont be an option. Mainly food and drinks are going to be our biggest attraction.

[TheCasillas]

10 minutes ago, RoaringRiot said:

Stay in NoDa, Southend, or Uptown. 

Why not plaza? Dilworth? Elizabeth? Midtown? Park road?

[Jeremy Igo]

25 minutes ago, ericr0319 said:

I am coming up (from Florida) for the Car/NYG game. Never been to Charlotte before, but have been a fan since 1995. What areas do you recommend to stay in? I am thinking Air BnB rather than hotel, but I want to stay in a safe/hip area. Coming with my girlfriend so this is important to her. I am 30 and she is 27, so looking for an area with walking distance to younger bars and restaurants. We are coming the Friday morning so we can enjoy the city/weekend. Any recommendations are great. I live in downtown Tampa, so I know all downtowns have their rough patches. I am just trying to avoid that. Thanks!

There really isn't a downtown rough area like Tampa has.

If I were you I would just stay uptown and take the light rail to places you want to go. Hotels uptown are as safe as it gets, walking distance to stadium, and a short walk or light rail to cool places .

[dpm0409]

Tampa huh....man, being a Panthers fan and living in another NFCS city would be tough.  Although as of late, Tampa would be the most tolerable, seeing as how they haven't been good in recent years.

[RoaringRiot]

3 minutes ago, TheCasillas said:

Why not plaza? Dilworth? Elizabeth? Midtown? Park road?

Because he said he wanted to be able to walk to hip bars 

[TheCasillas]

14 minutes ago, RoaringRiot said:

Because he said he wanted to be able to walk to hip bars 

He certainly can't walk to NODA from uptown. Plaza is technically closer to uptown than NODA. Not here to argue, but there is much more to do in Plaza than NODA. Every area has their own hidden gems.

 

South End will be the go to.

[RoaringRiot]

Just now, TheCasillas said:

He certainly can't walk to NODA from uptown. Plaza is technically closer to uptown than NODA. Not here to argue, but there is much more to do in Plaza than NODA. Every area has their own hidden gems.

Who said anything about waking to NoDa from uptown? Plaza is great - not sure why you’re defending it like I said something bad about it. It just wouldn’t be in my top three. Plaza is not hip it’s hipster.

[TheCasillas]

9 minutes ago, RoaringRiot said:

Who said anything about waking to NoDa from uptown? Plaza is great - not sure why you’re defending it like I said something bad about it. It just wouldn’t be in my top three. Plaza is not hip it’s hipster.

My bad man, totally missed that you said those were your personal top 3. I also thought he said he wanted to be in walking distance uptown, I was wrong. I was defending the distance to Uptown with the assumption they were staying there.  Plaza and NODA are both good spots.

[ericr0319]

whoa, whoa, whoa. no reason to fight guys. Yeah..Tampa has its patches for sure and cannot stand the fans. Although I love the Lightning. Yeah, I was looking at Uptown but its spare for this weekend. The damn Giants/New Yorkers jack up the prices. Was going with another couple who areGiants fans, but they bailed after our flights were booked, or I would have picked another game. Tampa has tons of breweries so we like those, relaxed bars (not dives or club scene), and our food preferences are pretty open-minded (prefer not chains and local chef inspirations). How is the area North of Brookhill, around 160 and 49, but south of 277? Idk if that makes sense but on the map it's plotted almost like a square/triangle baseball field dimension. A lot of nice Air BnB there and they say you can take a train in to Uptown? How is the public transportation there? 

[backINblack28]

Southend or NoDa for sure.  Southend more for bars/restaurants, NoDa for music/art (and plenty drinks/restaurants too)

As far as NoDa, Cabo Fish Taco/Sabor Latin Grill ($5 margsss) are good dinner places and then you can always check out some of the bars. The new brewery down there Divine Barrel is awesome.  Birdsong, Heist, Bold Missy all decent choices as well.

As for South end, Wooden Robot/Triple C are great and Unknown has a great balcony view of the skyline as far as breweries go.  Rosemont bar is a cool place with some decently priced flashy drinks like adult capri-suns and Cheerwine slushees and has a ton of huge TVs and some live music.

[backINblack28]

2 minutes ago, ericr0319 said:

whoa, whoa, whoa. no reason to fight guys. Yeah..Tampa has its patches for sure and cannot stand the fans. Although I love the Lightning. Yeah, I was looking at Uptown but its spare for this weekend. The damn Giants/New Yorkers jack up the prices. Was going with another couple who areGiants fans, but they bailed after our flights were booked, or I would have picked another game. Tampa has tons of breweries so we like those, relaxed bars (not dives or club scene), and our food preferences are pretty open-minded (prefer not chains and local chef inspirations). How is the area North of Brookhill, around 160 and 49, but south of 277? Idk if that makes sense but on the map it's plotted almost like a square/triangle baseball field dimension. A lot of nice Air BnB there and they say you can take a train in to Uptown? How is the public transportation there? 

Lightrail is great.  Uber/Lyft can get you anywhere that can't.  The area you're talking about is the heart of south end basically and will have you pretty close to the heart of the bar scene.

I'm not sure if you've been to Munch's down there in St Pete but do it if you haven't.  Cash only breakfast place straight from the 1950s.  As far as up here, that area has some great breakfast places.  Tupelo Honey Cafe, Crispy Crepe, Famous Toastery.

[ericr0319]

1 minute ago, backINblack28 said:

Southend or NoDa for sure.  Southend more for bars/restaurants, NoDa for music/art (and plenty drinks/restaurants too)

As far as NoDa, Cabo Fish Taco/Sabor Latin Grill ($5 margsss) are good dinner places and then you can always check out some of the bars. The new brewery down there Divine Barrel is awesome.  Birdsong, Heist, Bold Missy all decent choices as well.

As for South end, Wooden Robot/Triple C are great and Unknown has a great balcony view of the skyline as far as breweries go.  Rosemont bar is a cool place with some decently priced flashy drinks like adult capri-suns and Cheerwine slushees and has a ton of huge TVs and some live music.

Okay, I think Southend is where I see a lot of the Air Bnb. From a map it looks like where Brookhill, Dolworth, and Wilmore meet.