The Roasting Company - Montford — Restaurant in Charlotte

I stopped here one lunchtime with a couple of coworkers who recommended the place. After seeing the outside of the building, I was a little dubious --it felt like there should be a 50 gallon drum outside with a roaring fire and a couple homeless folk keeping warm. Once we got into the building, that thought didn't go away. The restaurant itself was a bit, hmm, used, maybe --lets just say it looked though it was in need of some updating.

When you walk in you're presented with a board and a bunch of menu items; right beneath is where you order. --If you've never been before, it might be helpful to checkout their online menu prior to going, otherwise you may be deciding on something in a split second --especially if there is a line behind you. Soon as you've placed your order, you're shuffled off to the side in true McDonald's style and you wait for your food the be thrown up on a grab-it-yourself servers shelf.

Waiting for the food I had all kinds of interesting thoughts flying through my mind on what it might be made from. However, that didn't have to last that long --it took ~4 minutes to serve up my hot lunch --a whole minute quicker than the average Chinese joint; that's impressive!

I got the food and I was very pleasantly surprised. It looked just like a home-cooked meal --not one which had been ordered in a restaurant. It smelt amazing, looked fantastic, and only took 4 minutes --that's enough to make Stouffers jealous! Again, to my surprise the food was extremely tasty. The chicken they use was actually off a full cooked chicken and not from a frozen bag. There was some salt in the meal that had been added for taste but not a crap load of MSG flavoring all over the rice to make it taste unnatural --it almost reminded me of when I was a kid and the food was made by mum.

This isn't your typical eat-out kind of restaurant. If you want a nice home cooked meal without cooking it; this is the place. It was a nice refreshing change from the typical lunchtime eatery you find.

I will certainly be going here again, I really did enjoyed the food, despite the interesting appearance...

I used to come here a lot (at least once a week). The cashier staff used to be very friendly, and I used to tip. Came here tonight to get a meal before the panthers saints Monday night game and got greeted by them to "what you want?" I told them what I wanted and asked how they are doing tonight and barely got a response without them asking me how I am. Very little eye contact. When my food was delivered to the bar the runner just put it on the table and didn't look at me or day anything when I said thank you. I got the brisket and rice and it was nothing special. The side of collard greens were missing flavor and the mac n cheese must have been in the pan for a long time bc it was dry. The hot salsa and hot pico's de gio was not hot and instead mild. Yall used to make it actually hot. I work in the restaurant industry and have been for a long time and I'm not picky with specific aspects of service or cultury. But, today there was so much small stuff that I had to write a review about it. My advice, go back to your roots and not be so "plain" with recipes and pay your cashiers more bc they are the face of your company. Luke kuechly doesn't know what hes talking about with this place. Maybe hes like me and hasn't been here in a long time. If you want better quality food, I recommend viva chicken, moosehead, and even carmella's pizza (yes carmelas pizza! Think about that! That's how disappointed I am). Overpriced, poor customer service, mediocre food. Get your sht together roasted chicken company!!! You've lost a customer!.... Bartender was very attentive and is the only reason I'm giving 3 stars compared to one, also I used to...

I agree with some of the other reviews: the food was lacking. This surprised us, as we heard good things about this place.

We sat at the bar for full service, and the bartender was very nice and attentive. That part was great.

We also enjoyed the atmosphere. At 5PM on a Saturday, it was less crowded than we expected. Seemed like there were regulars in there just hanging out and catching up. Very laid back and casual. However, they seem to have a fruit fly problem, as flies buzzed around my drink the whole time we were there.

The food was not necessarily bland, but didn’t seem well thought out / seemed slapped together or put together with an emphasis on speed over quality. Our guacamole looked like it was made yesterday and was starting to turn, and it was brought out in the plastic container it had been stored in. The hot honey sandwich had nothing exciting about it - the chicken was flat and thin, the tomato and green seemed added just to check a box, and the whole thing looked just quickly dunked in a bowl of hot honey. All the sides seemed like they were either not using quality ingredients or were bland. One bright spot with the food was the rotisserie chicken - that was good.

Overall, we were surprised that the food seemed so basic and low quality. That combined with the fly issue makes us unlikely to come here again soon. Though, we wish the best to the staff and hope this place improves because it seems like...