7th Restaurant & Lounge

I've been here twice now and after a 2nd try I will not be returning.

I don't live in Charlotte, but come often to visit friends. My first visit I came with 3 other friends to get brunch on a Saturday before the Rich & Bennett St. Patrick's Day Bar Crawl since it's a short walk to where the kick-off block party was. This past Saturday I returned with a 2 other friends for brunch before the same event.

The restaurant was rebranded recently and is now called "Don's." Not much change to the Brunch menu options, but the prices for a few items have increased so check your menu.

Before I discuss why I won't be returning, I will say that I did not have an issue with my servers or the actual restaurant staff at all. They were great both times. I feel the issues I experienced were due to management and organization.

March 2023 visit:

We made a reservation online about a week prior to our visit. On our way to the restaurant we were unfortunately caught in the road closures due to the St. Patrick's Day parade. We called the restaurant to let them know about our delay and ended up having to get out and walk to the restaurant. We were only about 10 minutes late, but I'm aware that even being 10 minutes late can cause a huge disruption due to other reservations and walk-ins. With that being said, we ended up waiting well over an hour as well as many other people, even people who were on time for their reservation. It was clear the systems were not functional or effective.

March 2024 visit:

Since we had a long wait last year, we decided to give it another try but make an earlier reservation. We got caught in the road closures again this year, but when we arrived the restaurant wasn't packed or crowded at all. The host greeted us and checked us in then let us know our table was almost ready, but that we could take a seat at the bar. We went to the bar and ordered a drink and didn't have to wait that long for our table to be ready (no complaints there).

Our server quickly greeted us and and asked if we wanted anything else to drink and took my friend's drink order. We looked at the menu prior and knew what we wanted so we went ahead and ordered our food. I ordered the Breakfast Sampler with scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, and pork bacon. One of my friends ordered the Salmon & Grits. My other friend wanted whiting and grits, but since that wasn't an option she asked if she could get a side of grits and an order of the whiting. Apparently this was a menu option prior to the rebranding so our server figured out getting that for my friend.

My friend who ordered the whiting and grits received her meal first after about 10 minutes. The rest of us hadn't received our meals and after a few minutes we told our friend to go ahead and eat so her food didn't get cold. Then after about 10 or so minutes my other friend received her Salmon & Grits...The server who brought over the Salmon & Grits let us know there was some issue in the kitchen and that my meal (Breakfast sampler) was coming up soon. I waited another 15 minutes for my food to come out. Now in that time I saw tables get their chicken & waffles, wings, fries, etc. who came in and ordered after us. I ordered 3 scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon...there's no way that should've taken longer than all of those other dishes even with a kitchen error or issue.

I finally received my food and it was below mediocre. The eggs were nothing special, the bacon was paper thin and greasy, and the potatoes were slimy. I don't know if it was too much oil or what, but they were not appetizing. I waited almost 40 minutes for that?! I ate because at that point I was starving and needed something to eat before doing a bar crawl so I really didn't have any other option.

We were told that we would receive a 15% discount by the server who brought our food then asked if we could speak to the manager and were told that he was the one who was in the kitchen cooking. Our actual server worked something out and we received a 50% off discount (and made sure to tip her what she was owed without a discount because she was great and very apologetic for something that was not her fault).

Lastly, I don't mind paying for quality food and service, but this food is overpriced. The Breakfast Sampler which includes: 3 eggs, potatoes or grits, and turkey or pork bacon is $18. $18?! That's way too much for less food than you get at Waffle House. The Salmon & Grits with a cajun cream sauce cost $30. Literally just salmon, grits, and sauce.

Below mediocre food...slow kitchen service...and unreasonable prices.

Don't recommend and will not be back.

Location and Service Yes!
Food No.


This is my second visit and I am not at fan. Chicken and Waffle: Chicken cooked in old oil. Waffles soft (not Belgium) cream cheese frosted thick not sweet just cream cheese.

Drink: The Uptown: Long Island, this was good.

Mac & Cheese... I would not recommend. It is over seasoned and not edible.

I love to support black owned establishments but tonight I am disappointed to say this was not a good experience I will not return.

Try for yourself hope your experiences are better than mine.

Lemon pepper honey wings are thee best. All the other appetizers/starters are good as well. The staff was good. Only 4 stars because the chicken and waffles was blah. The waffle didn't have any flavor and the chicken had like a freezer burn after taste.i would definitely go back when I visit again

This is not my first time at this restaurant but may be my last. We were there for my friend's birthday dinner which was a large party which is fine we made prior reservations. Now mind you reservations were at 7 pm on a Saturday night. There was one server for the entire restaurant, one bartender and maybe one chef for all i know. It took almost 30-40 minutes to get all of our drinks out. One of my friends ordered a French 75 and it had ICE in it, she sent it back. She returned in about 2 minutes and i am pretty sure they just drained the ice and put it in a new cup. So we called the manager over and she remade it. One of my friends never got her food until we were leaving...why if all of us ordered at the same time did one person not get their food until we were leaving at 9:30 pm. I ordered a side, an entree and a drink my bill was $80! That's a bit much for lack luster service. Our server was doing the absolute best she could and i commend her because I don't know if I could do it. They remodeled and rebranded to "Don's" I am not sure who Don is but he needs to make a better experience for his customers. I hate that this was the experience my friend had to have on his birthday.

"7th restaurant was a delightful experience, with their savory salmon balls and reasonably priced mimosas. Don't forget to try their mouthwatering chicken and waffles as well!" Service was quick, food is hot, and music was musicing! Definitely a return visit for the wings!

my friend had a birthday dinner here about a week ago and the service was absolutely HORRIBLE. we arrived at 7:15pm and didn't leave out until 9:30pm after being only one of three other parties in the entire restaurant. i ordered a meal al la carte -- 6oz salmon, side of collards and a side of mashed potatoes... while waiting, every other of member of our party received their entree while i continued to wait... and wait... and wait a little more.

i asked my server, who is obviously overworked and underpaid, what the eta on my meal was and she reassured me that it would be out shortly... after waiting for another 15-20 minutes, i asked if the chef could pack my meal to-go and if i could please speak with the manager. the manager finally comes over about 10 minutes later, the restaurant is not busy at all, and says that a discount was applied to my bill. she apologized, i thanked her and waited on the tab... the waitress brings my tab and i was only offered 10% off -- 1.90 off the salmon, 90 cents off the sides. i asked to speak with the manager again and she comes back over and tells me that's the maximum amount that she's able to offer. this ended with me sending the entire meal back and leaving empty handed because i refused to pay for the dinning experience that i did NOT have.

not to mention, a 6oz salmon is $18 via al carte... the same 6oz salmon if $9 if ordered with a salad... this is a piss poor establishment.

Eat a snack before you come because you are going to wait!

Came here for a Sunday Brunch at 2:15PM, we had reservations, and our table of 4 was quickly seated. Our server greeted us and brought water to the table quickly. We ordered a bottle of champagne and 1 mimosa carafe, which came out timely. Once we got our drinks we were ready to order our food. Around the table we had a variety of meals, there was two orders of catfish and grits, chicken and waffles, french toast, and 3 fried chicken wings. All of which are fairly simple meals and it took just under 65 minutes for us to receive our food. Crazy right? Our server was very apologetic but at that point we were just ready to eat. When everything got to the table it was fresh and piping hot but the taste was just OK. The restaurant wasn't super busy but I'm not sure how much help there was in the kitchen. I used to frequent 7th a few years ago when I was in the area more and it was always pretty slow service on busy nights but not like this. I love to support black owned restaurants and won't count them out but there is definitely room for improvement.

New to the Charlotte area and had friends in town, and we decided to visit 7th. We didn't have reservations and were told a 45min - 1hr wait for a table. This was okay, as we were waiting for a friend anyways. That hour turned into an 1hr 45 minute wait by the time we were seated. The collard green dip was honestly probably better than our main food. The food was okay, just not really worth the almost two hour wait.

It's Sunday so we Brunch'N. February is Black History month and we selected to dine at 7th Restaurant and support local.

This black-owned business is located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte across from the Spectrum Center. When we arrived at 11am we were surprised to see they had free parking. Since we were the first customers there we actually got to pick out seating. Our server took our drink order and returned swifty with a pitcher of orange mimosa and water.

We ordered their famous and highly recommended chicken & red velvet waffles, fish & grits and 7th Sampler.
We were both very pleased with the portion size and the food was well seasoned and flavorful. We'll definitely be returning soon.

The service was amazing Ally was our waitress she was very attentive and so sweet she really made us feel at home! The food was really good definitely in our top 3 for restaurants to come back too. The vibes were awesome in there song after song was definitely a hit we loved every minute of it. Thank you so much to this restaurant for making us feel so welcomed on our last day of our trip!