Baku

Went to visit my son and daughter in law who now live in Charlotte. My son told me this was one of his favorite restaurants. He was right, this place was amazing! The service and the food was top notch. Everything was done to perfection. The restaurant was packed so I’m not the only person who thinks this way!

Easily my favorite restaurant in Charlotte. I am dumbfounded by some of these negative reviews. The cocktails are always delicious and the food is insane.
Baku is the best special occasion/​fancy pants dinner spot in town. We’ve dined downstairs with friends and family — and found cozy spots upstairs by the bar for a more intimate feel. In my experience, it’s best to go with a few people who are down to share, drink, and hang out. On nights that we dine here, Baku is the main event and we’ve never been disappointed.
Our favorites include: Salmon belly nigiri (the best food ever), Spicy hamachi rice crispy treat, chicken wings (yes, I’m serious), Toro Tar Tare (pricey, but worth it), all of the prawns, wagyu filet, and the black cod. The desserts are pretty good and completely beautiful, but you probably aren’t doing Baku right if you still have room for dessert at the end of the meal… just sayin.

This is the best sushi I’ve had in south Charlotte. Been here twice. Very fresh and well prepared. They have great by the bottle wine/​sake specials. Posh and trendy atmosphere. It draws all sorts of crowds… I’ve seen business people by their lonesome eating and working, couples night out, and large group parties. The upstairs lounge is really a great place to unwind and also eat. Parking isn’t too bad. Enjoy.

They are open for brunch now in Sundays!!! Open at 11am — 3pm! The brunch is amazing!!! Price is right at $ 36 per person and $ 14 for 12 and under. Amazing food!!!

We went to Baku for their brunch buffet today and I would NOT recommend their brunch to anyone. We paid $ 36 a person and we were very disappointed with their food selection. According to their brunch menu, they make you think you getting sashimi and nigiri part of their Buffet but instead we were told is $ 2 a piece if we would like to order their sashimi/​nigiri. If you read their brunch menu carefully, there is NO WHERE in the menu mention is a up charge. Don’t waste your money on their Sunday brunch!

Great service, flavorful food. Perf for groups that are looking to share lots of small plates and have an experience trying interesting foods. Always get the crispy rice with spicy tuna on top, and the tuna tartare with taro root chips hit da spot. The king crab legs make you feel like a Kween and the pork dumplings are everything u want in a dumpling. Love yourself and come here with cash to blow, fun people and a free spirit. While you’re having a good time with ur crew, food will be poppin up at your table as its ready. Once one dish is chowed down, the next one is on the way. Keep dat lineup rollin

This is hands down the best restaurant I’ve been to in Charlotte. In fact, it might be the best restaurant I’ve ever been to. It has great aesthetics, great music, phenomenal drinks, and incredible food. The service is on point and all servers are very knowledgable about the menu. I’ve never been disappointed by this place. Do yourself a favor and take your next date to Baku. (Just don’t forget your wallet!)

Cool ambiance, lots of variety on the menu, but pretty pricey. It’s a tapas place so things come out of the kitchen at different times regardless of when you order. A few items everyone should order: the pork belly just melts in your mouth, asparagus nice presentation tastes even better than it looks, sweet corn definitely for sharing, black cod small portion but super delicious, chicken meatballs sauces are so tasty.

I went here for my birthday on a Monday night with friends and my boyfriend’s coworkers who go here at least once a week because they love it so much. They had half off bottles of wine which was a great way to go for the table. We got a ton of different appetizers, small plates, entrees, etc. to all share. I will admit the miso soup wasn’t as warm as I’d like, but the absolute best parts of the meal are the pork belly, the cod, and the salmon. I am not even a big fish person but they are INCREDIBLE. The chocolate dessert was really great too, and overall not a very expensive meal considering how much food we ordered for 6 people. Definitely would recommend it!

Went here for a girls night out and was definitely worth it! Ambience was perfect and noise level wasn’t too bad. Seems like A great spot for a ni ch the out with friends or date night. Come with a larger group to share dishes, more of a social setting.
Warm towels to start the meal is a tradition I could get used to. Drink list was crafty and tasty. Food, no words do it justice… scrumptious to say the least! Will be back.

Well. I will say firstly this was a very unique visit.
It was the second most worst place I’ve ever visited. Why?
The food was brought out in all different orders and I was eating alone while my wife and others were watching me. They claimed it was because everyone ordered what we did. But the problem with this was every course was the same way.
And to kick this, everything was cold! Had to send it back and even the people serving had no clue where to bring things. They also didn’t even tell us what things were. Thank god I was not allergic to tuna or id be in the hospital or worse dead!
Management needs to get fixed here. Before id ever go back again.
The manager attempted to make this «better», he wants to give us desert. The desert menu was out of date supposedly and they don’t have hot tea. More so, they don’t have hot green tea in a Japanese restaurant!
Be warned stay away!

Went for restaurant week, was not impressed.
Salad was spring mix with Asian dressing, my fav dish, sadly. Dumplings were below par, filet was semi cold. My friends got the sea food choices (I’m allergic) and weren’t impressed either. The staff was nice, but they forgot our entrées twice :(
I’m thinking they were having an off day, oh well. Won’t be returning.

Wife pick Baku today to try during restaurant week. The restaurant has a very nice relaxed atmosphere and very clean restrooms. We didn’t know this was a tapas restaurant and the portions are, IMO very small compared to other Tapas restaurants. The food was EXCELLENT! Our server Dave was very attentive and answered any and all questions we had. He also made recommendations on the restaurant week menu and explained the ingredients and how it was made. I recommend eating a snack or something before you go or look forward to digging down close to your knee to pay the bill.

Fresh and tasty. A different type of sushi than I usually go for but very good rolls and sauces. I generally go with traditional sushi and they don’t vary from the menu. Small vat of sake so you will have to order a couple. Pretty pricey for my liking.

Being Japanese, I know sushi and this sushi wasn’t top notch. The butterfish wasn’t «buttery» but hard to chew. It wasn’t super flavorful. However, the cooked items were delicious, notably the cod and scallop dumplings. The sauces for the skewers were great, but again not sure about the quality of everything. Food presentation was great.

Looking for good chinese or sushi in Charlotte? We found the best spot and we have declared it Our favorite restaurant in North Carolina.
Our server was wonderful, happy and made the best recommendations. Ask for Jolina, bring your appetite and enjoy!!!

The only reason we went to Baku was because our neighbor gave us a gift card there. For some reason I wasn’t interested in it, but now I am really glad we got that gift card, because it was a really enjoyable experience.
We sat upstairs in an area that seems like the bar/​lounge section, and it was nice. Our server was lights out (baseball reference). She was on top of everything, extremely friendly and helpful, and all of her suggestions were great. It was Friday night, so I am guessing she was on their A squad.
The menu has tons of small plate variety, and it seemed like everything we ordered was great. Chicken meatballs, NY strip tataki, corn, kimchi, pork dumplings, etc. Our server said they cook the food over some imported hot stones (I only eat off the finest stones)…which I guess is a good thing, because everything tasted great.
For dessert, I highly recommend the truffles. There are a lot of good things happening in this dessert. The presentation of the food is excessive and awesome (ice everywhere, food floating on various towers, and I think I saw some gold bullion in the background). The actual dessert tastes great, too. The truffles taste like chocolate batter and they come in this almond brittle cup. There is also this ice cream perched on top of an ice sculpture, which is no slouch either.
We’ll definitely be back to Baku in the near future,

Ba-​Who I say Ba-​Who and the answer is Baku which is a MUST DO. Corny Huh well I’m so high off good eating that I came up with this chant.
This place is AMAZING. The food, The Service, The Ambiance, The people (Staff & Customers). A to Zinc
My girlfriend invited me out to check this place out for a late Birthday outing (my bday was in August) and I informed her that I had this place bookmarked to try and she ensured me that I would not be disappointed.
We sat upstairs in the savvy bar area at the actual bar, the bartender was amazing we talked about everything under the sun including the drinks in which I had a Gin Martini with cucumbers which we so refreshing and tasty.
Chef Vince came up and spoke with us and ask what we did and did not like and he would come up with some platters for us and bring them up personally or send them up via a waitress. SCORE
We started with Tore Tar Tare with a quail egg and rice crispy treats on the side (not your snap crackle and pop over sweeten treat, but instead a steady consistent tasty compliment to the Tare Tare). The quail egg to mix with the Toro Tar Tare was AMAZING it switch up the texture and flavor as I ate a couple scoops prior to adding the quail egg and once it was added OOOOO MMMMM Goodness. Next up came the edamame which we had tossed in spicy sweet sauce which was DE-​LIC, next up was Grouper Tempura Yes I said GROUPER TEMPURA. There was a method to eating this as it was suggested by the server to sprinkle some of the crushed salt provided first then add some ginger she finally some of the dipping sauce that was a perfect method and it was OOO so GOOD. We also had a chef Vince creation sushi roll which I’m sure had salmon. For dessert the chef created a fleet of desserts from Mango cake to 5 Flavors of sorbets to fresh fruits ALL were YUMMY.
I can’t wait to have DATENIGHT with my husband here as it was an amazing experience and one of my Top5 in Charlotte for sure easily.

This was the third dinner at Baku and we really enjoyed all aspects. I love the food here and the drinks are well done. I noticed and it is true that this is an expense be place to eat… We tasted and did not over order and our bill was not outrageous.
I always believed that the last thing you want to be cheap is raw fish :)
We will continue to dine here for special occasions.
Sorbets were incredible too.

John W, our server, was absolutely phenomenal. Since the menu was slightly intimidating, John took his time to walk us through the menu, hinting at what we may or may not enjoy according to our unique palates.
We started the night with a decadent cucumber mint martini which was refreshing after just milling about South Park Mall. The Martini was followed up by the crispy calamari. This calamari was paired with a chipotle mayo sauce and a grilled lemon. The kick of lemons acidic juices added an extra layer of flavor atop the delicately fried, perfectly seasoned, squid pieces. I cannot rave enough about the calamari served here. I find that calamari, if not quality squid, is chewy and rubbery. However, at Baku this was not the case– the calamari was buttery and smooth, it melted in my mouth.
Next up: the seasonal tempura vegetables. Unlike most tempura, the chefs only fried a thin crust around the various veggies, which complemented the vegetables flavors instead of overpowering them. This dish, akin to the calamari was served with a grilled lemon but instead of a mayo based sauce, it was a miso-​soy-​herb medley. Absolutely stunning.
We continued onto one of the salads, the roasted eggplant and tomato to be exact. This dish was another piece of art. The dish was a mountain of Japanese eggplant cut into small ovals and roasted to perfection. The seedy consistency of the eggplant was paired with crisp heirloom tomatoes that waited at the bottom of the eggplant mountain, acting as sort of a foundation for the plate. I decided to cross-​contaminate here and dipped the eggplants into the miso-​herb sauce that came with the vegetable tempura.
Lastly was our sushi– and boy was it worth the wait. We had an order of Gokujo Tuna and Forbidden. Both were presented beautifully. Forbidden was wrapped with black rice, a nice change of pace from the normal sticky sushi rice. The black rice added an extra crunch to the roll. The gokujo tuna roll had a wonderful underlying heat that amped the flavors up a bit. This heat is reminiscent of a wasabi type heat– one that comes through your nose and mouth then tapers off slowly. Paired with this heat was the yuzu sauce, a citrusy sauce that truly pulls the plate together.
Overall, Baku was phenomenal. I look forward to coming back.