SouthBound — Restaurant in Charlotte

Southbound has been a regular spot for my friend-group, but I think that's about the change. Our latest experience there was so bad that I don't have any desire to return for awhile. I've been saying since day 1 that this place has mediocre food. The best thing I've tried are the tacos, but they are so small it's not filling for someone like me. I need at least 3 to even feel like I've had something to eat, but then again they are about 2 bites each and done in a matter of minutes. I tried ordering order food on the menu with little success. Everything is just okay... nothing is awful but nothing is very good either. It's generic and bland and seems overpriced. Their chips are good, and I enjoyed the queso, although it's very expensive. Their salsa is awful though, some of the worst restaurant Salsa I've even had. The best part is probably the drinks. If you're just in the mood for a marg, this is a decent spot, but it doesn't deliver on much else. Overall, the food is average. Now the reason we won't be returning now is because of our most recent service experience. Our waiter started off by forcing some banter with our table. He thought he was being funny, but mostly came off as rude to everyone. It also took up a lot of time and it seemed like he meandered through taking our orders. Luckily for him he got all the orders right, that was fine, although it took over an hour to actually get any food. Even the drinks (just some water for me) took about 20 minutes to be served. The worst part of this story occurred when it was time to leave. I've never seen a worse handling of checks in my entire life. He messed up more than half the checks at our table after waiting an additional 40 minutes to even bring them out. We then explained the mistakes again but he literally couldn't figure it out. One of my friends with us WROTE DOWN EVERYONES ORDERS and gave it to him so he could get it all straight. She literally did his own job for him. Eventually, after about 3 attempts, he was able to get it right, but it took an extremely long time. Not to mention I noticed him drop some chips at a table next to us as well. The food here is average, and the service is subpar. I would not recommend trying this place, seek out better Mexican food...

We almost came to Southbound a few weeks ago - right around the time it opened - but ultimately opted against going after reading less-than-stellar reviews. This time, we decided we'd give it a try. Even on the way there, we discussed just going to Bakersfield (which we already know we love) instead, but we decided we needed to give Southbound a chance. We're glad we did!!! We got there after 8:30pm on a Wednesday and it appeared to be packed, however there was no wait. It looked slammed and we did park in an overflow lot behind it (there is a LOT of parking), but the place is just so big that it can hold a LOT of people. I had already read about the concept on their website and knew this was a Mexi-Cali Santa Monica vibe. I think they nailed it. It's different from any other restaurant I've been to in Charlotte, and the free flow between the outdoor dining area, indoor dining, bar, and kitchen made it feel like we were eating al fresco. It almost felt like being at one of the local breweries. Jeff was a fantastic server. He took great care of us and doted off his recommendations. I had the chilaquiles and they were amazing. My husband had 3 different tacos and liked them all as well. We had an appetizer of guac and chips along with every salsa from the salsa bar - I thought it all was delicious. We got more food than we could finish and a couple rounds of drinks (beers for him, margs for me) for $50. This is definitely comparable to what we spend going to similar places - not at all overpriced in my opinion. We could have had an appetizer and dinner (without eating it all) for under $30 for two people if we nixed the drinks. The other staff we encountered were very warm and friendly - the hostess, the food servers, even 2 waiters that were not our waiter thanked us for coming and wished us a good night on our way out. It is definitely the type of place that I want to go back to and hang out - meeting friends after work or on a Saturday for some day-drinking. We love Mexican-inspired food and steadily rotate some of our favorite establishments depending what we're in the mood for, and we are excited to add...

Y'all. It was all wrong. Some friends from out of town were in Charlotte for the ACC Tourney and we decided to go some place in SouthEnd because it's near my work (where they parked and I'd drive them to Spectrum). I'll preface this by saying that it was the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day so it was insanely busy. The Hostess was incredibly helpful and friendly. Our waitress was nice but she was new (she told us) and it showed. She sat down to take our order (which is normally "whatever" but it was super awkward) and kind of got things wrong. Our friends both ordered (and were charged for) 16oz pours but they received 12oz. She never gave us silverware, we had to ask multiple times. And I am allergy where onions and I aren't friends. I made it clear about that. The burrito came with onions. Sent it back. Onions again. Literally waited like ten minutes for that silverware. Then the drinks we ordered took forever because apparently they'd just been sitting at the bar waiting for her to get them (One way I knew is the ice had melted in the mule I ordered). The food, to be honest, overall wasn't terrible. Our friend got a salad with this lime oregano dressing that was incredible! The salsa was all right. Honestly, the more I write the more I realize that this experience was mainly terrible because of our waitress.

And final thing, after I told her the burrito still has onions she just said, "Oh, really?" and dipped out. We were all so confused. But at the end they didn't charge us for the burrito and the manage comped one other thing.

So not terrible food but service is pretty daggone important. This was our third visit and the service always seems mediocre. Won't return; just go to Mac's instead. We were going to buy the wait was...