Sidestreets Deli & Bakery — Restaurant in Charlotte

I will probably NEVER return after last night's bakery experience. I was kind enough to only take a back shot of this employee so the establishment could address her directly, but I am afraid my experience could be commonplace.

My boyfriend and I first ate sandwiches, soups and a couple cold salads. The sandwiches were delicious. After eating, we went to the bakery counter and ordered two slices of cheesecake to take home. The employee DESTROYED the pieces of cheesecake making them look horribly unappetizing. After throwing them in a box instead of an appropriate container, I mentioned half of the pieces were still left on the pan. She still stickered the box closed. I demanded seeing the pieces because half was left on the pan from each piece. At that time, she took the sticker off, opened the box, took the server and scraped off the pieces remaining on the pan then just threw them in the box on top of everything. Again, she shut the box and refused my requests to see the cheesecake she'd served up for us. When I opened up the tied up mess I knew why. $6.75 per slice for her to just throw it in there and me to have to fight her to even get a full slice.

Then, I needed to order a few gluten free items for a friend who has a severe gluten allergy. I came to Sidestreet just for those gluten items. My anger grew REAL intense as I watched what unfolded. I ordered 2 pieces of GF Lemon Cheesecake. She went to use the same server as was used on the other cheesecake and had to be instructed that such was cross contamination. After getting a clean server, I realized she hadn't had gloves on the entire time and she used her UNGLOVED hands to push each piece of cheesecake into their container with her fingers (that's when I took this image). Who knows where they had been or the last time she washed them. I had also ordered 4 cookies. She luckily used a piece of parchment style paper to grab them, but still no gloves. Followed by a blueberry goat cheese scone at which time she decided was breaking apart with the paper so she just grabbed it with her UNGLOVED hands! I usually would absolutely lose my mind, but it didn't appear that the store had a manager on site, it was only 3 younger folks, her being one of them.

So, I'm hoping management does see this as it will be reported to the health department. Having employees handle food with no gloves and not being trained in cross contamination when ordering items for someone with potentially severe allergies (which she does have) is beyond bad business and the employee needs to be reprimanded accordingly. Forget the $45 to end up with essentially trash and lemon cheesecake that she destroyed and served as a blob. Shameful.

FOLLOW UP TO THIS REVIEW: Not shocking at all, but the business was going to speak to the employee, watch video of the transaction and then reach out to me! Interestingly enough, it's been 48 hours and I haven't heard even a word. NO SURPRISE. I took a series of images to use when reporting to the Health Department. Maybe then they'll take it seriously. I don't know this employee from Adam. It's not a personal vendetta at all. It's simply disgusting to touch someone's food with your bare hands when gloves are provided within your reach. Also, shameful that the ONLY aspect of the review that they could address is her touching the food and what they view to not be "cross contamination." I'll leave that to each person's individual discretion. However, what about just throwing the cheesecake like slop in improper containers and leaving half of it on the plate. How about her poor attitude and refusal to show me the slop I was served due to her laziness? I spent almost $90 in total in one night between sandwiches, soups, potato salad, pasta salad, drinks and bakery items yet this establishment can't reach out with any more than a simple comment stating they'll review the video. I'll HIGHLY recommend AGAINST them moving forward if this is how they treat their customers....

Average food at above average prices. After reading the great reviews about this place I was fairly disappointed in the food. I ordered the corned beef & Swiss which comes on rye bread and has honey mustard on it. I also got a bowl of the potato bacon soup and a slice of mint mocha cheeesecake. The sammie was of average quality. The beef was excellent which is really the most important part right? The size was a little bigger then your average supermarket loaf, so if you want quantity over quality this probably isn’t your place. The soup was the most disappointing part of the meal. The pieces of potato and bacon were sizeable and looked really appealing at first glance however the potatoes were undercooked and even tasted like they hadn’t been thoroughly scrubbed beforehand. The cheesecake was also a healthy size but more appetising exponentially. I will admit this was my first time there and I’m always willing to give a place a 2nd chance so upon my next visit I will change my rating should the meal warrant it.

Also please realize that there are only a couple tables inside so the eating in is a huge gamble. I was also disappointed in the price. I bought 2x of my above order for myself and my partner. The tab was about $40 after the tip. I’m not above paying that to eat out but as of right now I don’t believe this place was worth it. My gf, also trying this for the first time agreed...

This is a great little place to stop in for a nice variety of sandwiches, soups and bakery items. I actually failed to take photos of the food but did get some of the interior. The place is split into a bakery side and the deli side. They have separate check out registers, but I think they are owned by the same entity/person. The food is in the ~$10 range for the various sandwiches for the most part. The bakery side is between $2.50-$3 per item.

We got the chicken salad sandwich on french bread, which I would not do again as it was a bit hard for the sandwich. The chicken salad is made of real chicken and will be like you made it at home. We also got "The Kramer", which was amazing. The bread was some type of cheese bread and the inside was very tasty with enough sauce and meat. I would look at the menu for more details on the sandwiches. We did do a combo with the chicken salad which was supposed to be half a sandwich and a cup of soup, which we tried to seafood gumbo. The gumbo was flavorful but spicy, so be warned.

We also tried to of the turnovers. One was the apple and the other was cherry. The cherry needed a bit more filling but the apple was just right.

If you want a more homemade experience when going out, this place is...