BellyUp! to Charlotte’s Best Bars

Dilworth · new american, southern

Bonterra is a restaurant and wine room inside a converted church at Cleveland and East Worthington in Dilworth. The building went up in the late 1800s as Atherton Methodist Church, the first permanent place of worship in the area, got its brick exterior in 1914 and was renamed Dilworth Methodist Episcopal Church South. It later housed the First Church of Nazareth and Greater Providence Baptist Church before it became a restaurant. Chef Blake Hartwick cooks classic American food from local farms and says he wants the food to speak for itself. The wine room and cellar host wine pairing dinners, and the phone number spells out 704-333-WINE.

Starmount · cuban

El Puro serves upscale Cuban food with cocktails and live entertainment on South Boulevard, in a room styled after 1950s pre-revolutionary Havana. There is a stage and a dancefloor. It runs to midnight on Friday and Saturday and is closed on Mondays.

NoDa

Idlewild calls itself a little cocktail bar and means it. It is on E 36th Street in NoDa, it takes no party larger than six, it allows no children, and it runs to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations go through Resy but walk-ins are welcome.

Uptown · small plates, cocktails

Middle C Jazz is a jazz club on South Brevard Street in Uptown that calls itself an intimate New York style club with Southern hospitality. The kitchen is run by Dressler's Improv Kitchen and serves small plates alongside the cocktail list. The room books mainstream, smooth, contemporary, R&B and funk players and has hosted Chris Botti, Curtis Salgado and Karen Briggs. Downbeat named it one of the World's Great Jazz Venues in 2026 and the Charlotte Observer named it Best Live Music Venue in 2024 and 2025.

Uptown

Sophia's Lounge is the bar inside The Ivey's Hotel on North Tryon in Uptown, in a room the hotel describes as high-design opulence with vintage panache and European flair. It serves crafted cocktails, sharable plates and desserts, and it runs to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. Charlotte Magazine named it Best Upscale Cocktail Bar.