Have you read my Yume review or my Junebaby review?
Met with much hype, the opening of NC Red was something I kept seeing everywhere online. This is Bruce Moffett’s fourth restaurant under the Moffett Restaurant Group, and the way his other restaurants are met with high regards, I thought NC Red would live up to the hype – I was wrong. Tucked in the neighborhood of Plaza Midwood, NC Red is situated on a tight street with little to no parking. They do not take reservations, so we went on a weekend night around 6:30PM and sat outside so that we wouldn’t have to wait. Beware, if you do decide to sit outside the fans won’t do much for all the sweat and heat you’re going to endure. The inside dining space is on the smaller side which is probably why they have crazy wait times. One thing I did like was how you could look into the kitchen as soon as you walk in to your left. I like restaurants that give you the open feel into the kitchen and I really like that about NC Red.
Now, let’s talk about our service. I’m not quite sure if our waiter was new, young, or both. He seemed nonchalant about everything and didn’t have any recommendations or positive input for our dining experience. We asked for water which took forever (we ordered our cocktails and oysters at the same time we asked for the water). When we got the water we didn’t get any ice so we proceeded to ask for some. It took him about 15-20 minutes to get the ice when he finally got the ice we had already drunk down all of our waters but that wasn’t any of his concern as he walked away anyway. 45 minutes later (yes, you read that right), our cocktails arrive and we finally get an opportunity to ask for some more water – we still didn’t have any oysters. The cocktails were lackluster. I got the “Paint Me Like One Of Your French Girls” cocktail and I wouldn’t recommend it at all. My friend ordered the “Summer Dad Bod” cocktail and it was also just alright.
Don’t worry, our oysters finally came out around 10 minutes before our food arrived. I’m not an oyster kind of person but I will say that these oysters were good. I don’t understand how raw oysters took an hour or longer and that’s my biggest gripe but I would recommend people to come for oysters and happy hour.
When our food actually came out they forgot two of our dishes, the biscuits, and the seafood cakes. Which, honestly they could have kept because they both were underwhelming. The biscuits come with a sauce/butter that doesn’t add or take away from the biscuits. The seafood cakes were more like hush puppies (we ordered hush puppies and they tasted just a like) than they were “cakes” – they also had no seafood taste and were very breaded.
The baked seafood casserole was enjoyable. If I ever dine at NC Red again, I’d order it. The mac and cheese left alot to be desired. The Lobster Roll (the bread could have used a little bit more work) we ordered was just okay and at $22 it needs to be more than okay, and it isn’t surprising because I haven’t had a good lobster roll in Charlotte yet. The prices of this place honestly do not match the experience we received.
After our food was out, service was still lackluster. I would have liked to have been checked up on some more but I personally doubt I’d go back to give it a second chance. One of my friends does want to go back and try the hot chicken which could be good. For the wait that this place has and the status that the chef/owner has, I would say it is not worth it. If you do want to try them out, I’d recommend going when they are slow or in about a couple of months when their “hype” has completely died down and they have a chance of catching up.
I am going to start sharing more of my dining experiences/reviews on my website as well. I often find myself with awesome pictures of food but having a crappy experience that I’d rather not share on social media. But that’s changing, I want to be as honest and as raw with my audience especially if someone is taking my recommendation on something! I’d rather your experience be great when mine was bad than the other way around! If you have any questions or comments feel free to message me!
Xoxo,
Wynee
PIN THIS!
