Hoppin' Charlotte — Restaurant in Charlotte

I've been a few times, the first time or two by choice. Then because I've tagged along with friends who want to go after that. The vibe is good and the pour your own beer concept is cool and a unique experience for now. The 3 star rating is for overall value.

The beers here are very expensive overall, and while they aren't overcharging you like some reviews say, I would definitely think they are partially banking on the fact that you aren't checking the price per OZ each time you pour a beer and calculating what a full beer costs.

The owner will reply and say they have beers in all price ranges, but I am willing to bet over half of the options on tap here are $.50+ per oz and work out to $8.5-9 per pint. It's a bit ridiculous considering most bars/breweries in the area charge you $7.00 or less per beer. When I walked in this weekend 8 out of the first 10 or so taps by the entrance were all $9 minimum per pint beers. You had to walk to their upstairs area to find any normal priced beers ($6-7/Pint). They keep it set up hoping you're going to not pay attention and pay for the expensive beers.

Then the checkout process is a pain, on a busy weekend night you're going to be waiting 10-15 mins to checkout for "free". They are again banking on the fact that you just throw your wristband in the "checkout bowl" and pay the added 15% gratuity for service you didn't receive since you are serving yourself.

If you like the pour your own concept, and don't care about how much you spend, it's a cool place. If you don't want to break the bank for beer, your money would be better served by going to literally any other place...

The concept of Hoppin is great—put on a wristband, pour your own tastes (or pints) of beers on either or two floors, choose between classic seating or comfortable lounging, and pretty easily find free parking in walking distance.

Main critique is that it’s pricier than I expected—you pay a premium for the option to pick and choose beers. And I found that it often took me 5-6 tastes to find a good beer. All to say, while there is a diverse selection of beers (from Sours to hoppy to stouts), the bar does not offer many of the best “staple” (or even best local) beers.

And while generally the busy, packed feel of the space might be expected for a good bar, I found the comfortable seating to be too limited (mostly upstairs in 2 corners), and as a result I spent a lot of time walking around and eyeing for a spot with my friends.

It’s definitely a younger, “white collar” working professional vibe. Compared to some other bars in SouthEnd or Noda, I did not find that making new friends came naturally—instead, guests tended to come with a partner or a group and keep to themselves. That’s not a criticism just an observation.

I have had good nights with friends and family at Hoppin, and have also had some good beers. But given the booming beer scene in Charlotte (and as a Charlotte native who still appreciates the novelty of that boom), I would pick 5-10 other bars...

This is a really awesome concept that I'm glad finally made it to Charlotte. I feel like they still have a couple of kinks to work out, but overall I liked it. They have a large selection of craft beer, a good wine selection, and two ciders. I would like to see a few more cider options, but am happy that they had a couple. They did have one bottled kombucha but the only reason I knew about it is because I read about it ahead of time There were still a lot of empty taps which I'm assuming will change as they are open longer. The technology is awesome and really easy to work (although some people are bad at pouring beer). It's really nice to be able to sample things and have as much or as little as you want of everything.

The only thing that may keep me from coming back and the reason it lost a star is because of how loud it was in there. It seems to be a common problem for the way most places are designed now, but I don't want to lose my voice by the end of happy hour because I had to yell to hear the person next to me. We were there on a Wednesday so I can't imagine how loud it's going to be on the weekend.

Overall, awesome concept and I'll probably be back, but will probably only go during...