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Charlotte, North Carolina is a great place for a weekend getaway or family vacation. With so much to see and do, there is something for everyone. Come see where we stayed and what we ate on our trip.
Welcome to the next installment of our cross-country road trip. We started in Newport Beach to the Grand Canyon, drove to Memphis for a couple of days, stopping in Knoxville, Tennessee, and then Asheville, North Carolina.
The next stop on our road trip across the country was Charlotte, North Carolina.
I had actually booked a different hotel but as it got closer to the date of our visit, I saw that the brand new Hyatt Centric Charolett Southpark was opening up the day we were arriving.
Staying in new hotels can actually be risky. Sometimes it is a great stay, other times the visit can be riddled with problems because it is a brand new hotel with brand new employees that are still getting trained. Even worse, new hotels are notorious for pushing back their opening dates leaving you scrambling to find alternative places to stay.
We went into it fully understanding and taking the risk that the visit could be less than great. It wasn’t though. We had a great time.
The General Manager actually reached out before our visit and invited us to the opening party. We stopped in for the dedication but didn’t stay long because of darn Covid. Back then Emmy still wasn’t eligible for her vaccine (she has since received the initial two shots, a booster shot, and the updated bivalent booster) so we wore masks, stayed by an open door, and booked it out of there pretty quickly. Still totally fun!
Here are some quick pictures, a mini-review, and more info about the Hyatt Centric Charlotte Southpark.
We had connecting rooms as usual. Pete and I had a king room and the kids had a 2 queen bedroom. A couple of things to remember about Hyatt Centrics. They are very centrally located but that can come with a cost of a more compact room. Also, our King room had no door dividing the restroom from the main room- it was an open concept room, if you will. The girl’s queen room did have a dividing door. Some will love this, some won’t. I’m in team “dividing doors are better” but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
I thought the decor and colors were really well done! It felt upscale and comfortable all at the same time.
There is also a rooftop restaurant called Mizu and a breakfast/lunch/bar/lounge/coffee bar called IRO at the hotel.
Location-wise, it was right across from the mall, surrounded by other hotels, and steps away from food and services. When we were there, the area was still in various stages of occupancy and will just keep getting better. They for sure nailed the central location aspect of the hotel.
Let’s talk food in Charolette.
Remember we are a mixed dietary family with 1 vegetarian, 1 gluten-free vegetarian, 3 vegans, and a partridge in a pear tree (or at least it feels that way)!
Two places that really stood out to us in Charlotte for meals were Oh My Soul and Alchemy Charlotte. We also got some snacks and drinks across the street from Hyatt Centric Charlotte at the mall a couple of times.
Oh My Soul Charlotte was as adorable as it was delicious.
The food was homestyle and had so many choices. Everything we had was super delicious. They have an expansive patio on the back with loud music (I’m 100 years old so it was a bit much for me because I couldn’t hear anything anyone was saying) but I’m totally sure those that are into music like that would find it perfect!
What I really need to tell you is that the desserts looked dangerous.
Like take one bite and your life will never be the same- dangerous. Eat at your own risk! Of course, I did and well, my life is not the same. It is also all vegan. Like all of it is vegan.
Alchemy Restaurant & Bar in the C3Lab. This place is a bit fancy and a bit relaxed.
We sat on the back patio of C#Lab which is best described as a creative space featuring different mediums of art. While we were waiting for our table to be ready, we wandered through the exhibit and enjoyed every second.
The menu is not exclusively vegan, but they have an abundance of creative vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options.
The menu changes so what we had isn’t necessarily still available, but here is a look at what we enjoyed. It was so good that Emmy (who is not a picky eater- but is our pickiest eater) stole all of our last bites and ate them herself.
In between eating, shopping and just enjoying the Charlotte area, we drove around a lot to look at houses and some land that we own.
And anytime that we had to drive anywhere, Emmy would make us drive up and down this one row of houses. She called it “Richman Row” and she has vowed to move there and live in one of the houses.
She would actually be smart to do this if you compare the cost of housing in Southern California to these very beautiful estates homes, but I just don’t think she really understands what a cold winter is- even by North Carolina standards. (insert winky face).
We even took a picture on our big piece of North Carolina dirt. Not going to lie- it is pretty fantastic in Charlotte, North Carolina!
Next stop- Chapel Hill, NC!
