Lupie's Cafe — Restaurant in Charlotte

I live 1-1/2 hours outside Charlotte, and always enjoyed eating at Lupie’s in the past; 20-25 years ago, I used to eat there about once per month when work took me to the area. To save time, I’m copying and pasting what I texted a friend that evening about my Lupie’s experience on 01/20/2025. Was in town for an OrthoCarolina appointment.

“It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve had the (only on Mondays!) meatloaf at Lupie’s - back then, I was down there for a long weekend at Boyd’s, tiling the kitchen/dinette/laundry, and we went there on a Monday for late lunch / early dinner. And the meatloaf was always SO good. But today 🤢. I’ve had heartburn from the maybe 1/3 of it I ate. It tasted like they had put lots of A1 sauce or something similar in the meatloaf; the flavor was very strong and off-putting and tasted nothing like any meatloaf I’ve ever had anywhere else, and certainly not like it used to be there. I’m still burping it and having reflux. It had chunks of tomato in it (good) but the onions in it were still VERY crunchy (not so good). Got sides of carrots and mashed potatoes w/gravy. Potatoes and gravy were fine - hard to mess that up. Carrots were HUGE slices about 1/4” thick X 1-1/2” diameter, overcooked to an orange/caramel-y tan color, and tasted slightly burned; if I remember correctly, they used to serve cooked whole baby carrots, and they were perfectly done. Cornbread was so dry and tasted like nothing but unadulterated yellow cornmeal. And vegetable spread! No butter. The only saving grace was the sweet tea, which was excellent, and the service - the waiter was attentive, and I didn’t complain to him about the food because he’s the waiter, not a cook. Just before covid closed everything down about 5-1/2 years ago, ten of us were there for dinner on a Saturday night before we then went uptown to Belk Theatre to see James Gregory. Everyone found their food very tasty. So I don’t know what has happened to the place, but I’m...

This has been on my list for quite some time so when we got back late on New Year's from holiday travels and didn't have time to go grocery shopping for the week, we decided to try this for dinner the next night.

Since they're known for their chili, we had to get it. They have 4 different kinds: Cincinnati, Texas, Vegetarian, and Southern. I really wanted to try them all in some kind of chili flight but there was no option for that.

We decided to try 3: Cincinnati with spaghetti, Texas with mac and cheese, and a cup of Southern. Both of us agreed that the Texas was by far the best, followed by the Cincinnati, and we did not like the Southern. The Texas was spicy and delicious with great flavor. It went great with the mac and cheese. My husband loves Skyline chili (from Cincinnati). We knew it wouldn't be the same, but judging it on it's own instead of comparing, it didn't quite do it for me. It was lacking a bit of flavor. I couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like about the Southern, but there was some flavor that neither of us liked at all.

All of them came with cornbread. I don't need my cornbread to be sweet, but this cornbread was very dry and lacking flavor.

You get a ton of food for the price. We mostly didn't eat the cup of chili we got since we didn't like it and both left stuffed.

It's a table service restaurant, but it's incredibly fast. They took our order and had our food out in less than 10 minutes. Once you're done eating you pay at the register.

I will say on the service side, our waiter was not very helpful with recommendations. We were trying to ask for recommendations on chili types and what would go best together and he didn't give us any help.

All in all, the food was cheap, fast, and some of it was quite tasty. I would come back again for the Texas chili but probably not...

Lupie’s Café has been serving up homestyle comfort food for over 36 years, and it’s easy to see why it’s still going strong. From the outside, the building gives off pure dive diner energy with faded paint, a crooked sign, and the kind of place your dad probably grabbed lunch at in the ’90s. Inside, the vibe is no-frills. Crinkled paper menus printed in black and white, booths that have seen better days, and a focus on food, not aesthetics.

They’re known for chili: Texas, Cincinnati, Southern, and Vegetarian…and yes, you can sample all four. The Cincinnati style had that Greek cinnamon-tomato flair (not my favorite). Southern was mellow. Texas brought the heat. I ended up mixing the Texas and Southern to balance things out. That combo got ladled over a massive bed of mac and cheese, then topped with a mountain of shredded cheddar and a scoop of sour cream. I skipped the raw onions and got a slice of cornbread on the side, which was a bit dry for me.

Service was top-tier. Genuinely friendly and tag-teamed by servers who kept things moving. One of them looked like Jack Black, which he admitted he’s heard before.

The menu is affordable and portions are huge. Every table around me looked like Thanksgiving. This might not be a weekly stop for me, but I’m glad I finally made it. Lupie’s is a nostalgic, no-BS staple that’s earned its...