Catalú — Restaurant in Charlotte

I hesitated to write this review, as I would surely like to keep this culinary jewel a closely guarded secret, to be enjoyed by the few who know of its existence. But after some procrastination, I’ve decided it’s only fair to share.

My husband and I dined at Catalú, a South End tapas restaurant, solely because Mario, one of the part-time staff in our building, mentioned that he worked there. We didn’t know what to expect and were pleasantly surprised to be blown out of the culinary water.

From our first sip of wine to the last bite of dessert, the meal was exquisite. We started the evening with an appropriate red wine blend, whose provenance I sadly can’t recall, and a dish of stuffed piquillo peppers that were amazing. Next came grilled steak, perfectly cooked and seasoned, and a dish of Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic butter) and a beet salad. The finale was a chocolate cake. Not just any chocolate, but a delicious concoction filled with cream and topped by a guava olive paste and pistachios. My husband and I pretty much fought over the last bite (see photo!). All of the dishes were creatively designed and expertly executed.

Both our food and our wine came recommended by our fun and attentive waiter, Emerson, and by Mario. (Mario was also on the wait staff that night, and dropped by to check on us, but we weren’t in his section). The rest of the staff we encountered were helpful and friendly. When we first arrived, there was a mix-up with our Open Table reservation (our fault). The restaurant was crowded, but the Manager, Jessica, came to the rescue and found a place for us at the bar. We also interacted with Maya, who was helpful and very nice.

The only downside to this amazing restaurant is the lack of parking- we circled like buzzards for about 30 minutes before scoring a spot. We later discovered that there is a bank parking lot across the street that everyone uses after hours, and it’s very close to the train station; our next visit will be a lot easier in terms of transportation.

All in all, this is a “Don’t Miss” Charlotte...

Went for drag brunch for a bday, and based off brunch not sure if I need to visit again. Just not wowed. If brunch is offered there needs to be more brunch options. The big complaint from the table was how salty everything was. I had the shrimp bisque which itself was tasty but came with a giant overcooked rubbery shrimp which was awkward to manage in a soup, and the soup was presented in a flat bowl that made it hard to actually get soup on the spoon, so the whole dish was impractical. Got the oxtail brunch hash and it was bland, the potatoes basically unseasoned and the egg on top almost cooked hard. My friend doesn’t eat red meat and ordered the same dish but without oxtail and add cheese. Honestly, when you order a dish without the main ingredient what do you expect, but it came out with maybe 10 unseasoned chunks of potatoes and a hard fried egg on top and no cheese. We all laughed and took pics because it was so laughable. I couldn’t believe someone in the expo window saw that and thought it was fine to send to an adult at brunch. Drinks were fine, though the mimosas are mostly OJ. We ordered a bottle of champagne to make up for it. Charcuterie board was sparse for the price. Honestly, all the food was sparse for the price. If the portions are that small it better taste damn good, and it was all just okay. Also it was so hot in the restaurant. My friend was sitting on her cloth napkin because her legs were sticking to the vinyl chairs. 20 bucks a person is steep for a drag brunch too. That should include a drink or something when fit not much more than that you can go see an actual theatre show. Just overall, our whole table was whelmed with the experience based off what we ended up spending. I will say our server was great and attentive and nice, and I was glad to see how diverse and open...

Too many issues not to mention. Wife and I had a 630 reservation and planned to eat small plates and then finish with the squid ink paella. Ordered the paella with drinks and proceeded to order our first set of tapas which were actually very good. Ordered a second round of tapas that took nearly 25 minutes to get (papas bravas and ceviche). Meanwhile a table of 8 that was seated at 715 immediately had 10-12 small plates within 5-10 minutes of sitting down. After finally eating our second round of tapas, our waitress asked if we were ready for the check or dessert even though the paella hadn’t been brought to us yet. At this point it is 8pm. Takes another 10 minutes to hear from the waitress while she ‘figures it out’. The table of 8 next to us have 4 paella’s on their table at this point and I see another one brought to their table. This table was clearly friends of the people working at the restaurant. When we hear from our waitress she says that the paella is almost finished and they are going to give us 2 glasses of wine for free to make up for it. We eventually get the paella at 830pm - 2 hours after ordering it - and it was bland and had almost no meat in it. My wife and I’s stomachs felt bad almost immediately that night and it continued for the next 2 days Perhaps we got screwed because the table next to us were friends of the Catalu employees/owners but the entire situation was handled very poorly and I do not plan to go back...