Sage Kitchen & Cocktail at Smokehouse CLT — Restaurant in Charlotte

I came to Sage for dinner with my husband, and our friends this past Saturday at 7pm. I chose this restaurant based on the Instagram post I saw. And we were all very excited initially. I don't believe in posting bad reviews before reaching out to an owner or manager first. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's business. But this really should be addressed. I did reach out, and recieved a generic answer that the issues would be addressed. We arrived at 7pm and the kitchen was all out of oxtails. Ok, so we ordered a few apps and jerk chicken for dinner. Over an hour later and we only received 2 apps about 20+ minutes apart. We ordered 3 beers and one cocktail and after waiting an hour we could have ordered more drinks but the wait staff and bartender had gathered together behind the bar and kept to themselves each staring at their cell phones. We had to call someone over to request utensils and we were VERY surprised to receive plastic forks! $39 plates and $18 apps, we expected metal utensils. After SO much time passed we had to walk up to the bar and cancel our dinner order. Even after all that time I paid over $60 for our portion of the tab. No apologies, no consideration on the tab. My group had to walk over to another restaurant to finally get something to eat. It was not a good experience and not worth the $$...

Sage Kitchen & Cocktails is an absolute treat—stylish, vibrant, and serving up food that’s as beautiful as it is delicious. The menu strikes a great balance between creative and comforting, and every dish we tried was thoughtfully crafted. You can tell the kitchen takes pride in what they put on the plate. Special shoutout to the short rib and the truffle fries—chef’s kiss.

The cocktails were also a highlight—fresh, well-balanced, and clearly made with quality ingredients (and love). This is definitely a place where the bar program actually earns the “Cocktails” in the name.

The atmosphere is modern and relaxed, perfect for a date night, dinner with friends, or just treating yourself to something a little special. It’s elevated without being pretentious, which we loved.

So why not five stars? Service was friendly, but a bit slow at times. Nothing major—just a few moments where we found ourselves wondering where our server went or waiting a little too long for that second round. That said, everyone was pleasant and professional, and it didn’t take away too much from the overall experience.

Bottom line: Sage is still a go-to spot with fantastic food and drinks, and we’ll definitely be back. One or two small tweaks and it would be an easy...

This place needs a lot of work in my opinion. Apparently they’re rebranding from being the smokehouse and I definitely like the direction they’re taking. However here’s some things I think could improve.

Service - slow to greet. They have no host stand which made it confusing on how to get a table, but we found out that you have to go to the bar to get a table. We also had to ask for silverware after receiving our food. The bartender was kind though.

Food quality - the food isn’t anything spectacular and not the place to go to for anything authentic. I had the jerk chicken plate with cabbage and rice & peas. The best part to me was the cabbage.

Structure/Ambience - like I said no host stand, but also the bar just looked a mess. Almost like a pop up bar at a small club. To mention, they were also out of 3/4 cocktails they have on the menu. I also felt the music was too loud for a restaurant, but doesn’t matter too much. They really need more seating as well, we were pretty much only subject to the bar because half the restaurant...