Corkbuzz Charlotte

I’m not into big reviews so I won’t say much be I was a big fan of the place. The service was a little slow for my liking but the food was awesome! Everything we had was great. I will return

Two girlfriends and I had reservations at Corkbuzz during restaurant week. I will go back because I’m dying to try the braised short ribs and I very much enjoyed the food and wine. The beginning of our experience was not great in that my friend had made reservations a couple weeks prior for a party of six, then changed to a party of 3. She called at 4 pm on the day of our 6 pm reservations just to confirm. On the way to the restaurant, she received an email that our reservation had been cancelled. The staff was very nice and accommodating, and we enjoyed the wine recommendations and charcuterie while we waited at the bar, but this is the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars. Big faux pas to inadvertently cancel a reservation, imho.
The food was very good. Do not visit without trying their house made ricotta and apple chutney with a nice full-​bodied red. Heaven in the mouth. The truffled salami was awesome as was the very unique crisp yet creamy smoked Gouda. Their house made Dijon was also outstanding, if we’re being detailed.
Apps: we had the Smoked trout dip, Brussels sprouts and Wagyu Beef carpaccio. All were good. The smoked trout dip came with house made chips and though good, was my least favorite as I felt it was similar to other dishes elsewhere. Just not that special. The Wagyu beef carpaccio was quite good as was the presentation with a poached egg in the center. My favorite was the Brussels sprouts — grilled with fennel, marcona almonds and tossed with cheese curds it was delicious!
I had the pork tenderloin, cooked medium and it was absolutely cooked to perfection and the apple slaw was a perfect compliment. One of my friends had cornmeal-​crusted catfish which I do not believe it is on the regular menu but it was also delicious. My other friend had the shrimp orecchiette and it was quite good — very hearty ‘comfort food’ type dish. We also got the ham-​hock tater tots (great!) and roasted spaghetti squash (not my fav). All was very good and we really were too stuffed for dessert. But…
We tried the ricotta doughnuts, chocolate chip cookie sandwich with hazelnut ice cream and apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream. The ricotta donuts were sugared donut holes with a ricotta cream. Good but like the cookie, not over the top delicious. I was hoping for more of the regular house-​made ricotta, yum. My favorite was the apple cobbler — sugar biscuit crumble, very tasty.
All in all Corkbuzz was a nice little wine and venue. A little pricey but what you expect in the area. The space is tight and acoustics maybe need to be softened, but overall I’d recommend for the food, service and wine list. Enjoyed.

My review may be slightly misleading because it is solely about the private event space. My book club recently met at Corkbuzz, and it was a fantastic choice. The private room is indeed private. The door and walled-​off space definitely helped reduce the noise from the restaurant, and the room has its own sound system so you can choose to listen to music or not. One of the amazing things though was that there was not a charge to use it on a weeknight. Another awesome thing was the service. The waitstaff was very pleasant and very accommodating to our group. They let us control the pacing for the evening and did not rush us to order or to get out. I look forward to dining in the main restaurant space soon.

I am not sure how Laura Maniec and her team decided on Charlotte as their first non-​NYC location but let’s just thank her for choosing us.
If you are a transplant looking for someplace with an upscale NYC vibe or a local foodie who demands a great food experience, get to Corkbuzz. The food is elevated but not over complicated. I’ve been for lunch, drinks and a 4 course private Jax Wine dinner. The burger I had at lunch was thrilling. The wine selections are things you won’t find in most places. The folks here all know a lot about the wines too. They can help you find the best one for you to try but do branch out.
The Jax Wine dinner included the Co-​Owner CEO Dan Parrott who explained each of the wines with each course. There was a bonus glass the wines were available for purchase after the dinner. Each course of the food was delicious. The fried oysters and Tilefish was a perfect first course. The Wagyu Beef was beautifully tender.
Try it for dinner, or one of their private wine events. now. And take Über or a cab please.

I want to love Corkbuzz but instead will say I like it (have been there 3 or 4 times since its opening). I went to Corkbuzz on opening week for dinner with a group and the kitchen was slow which is to be expected for a new restaurant. I ordered the Roasted Chicken and a glass of wine and both were good. None of us had any complaints about the food or drink.
The next few times I went to Corkbuzz, I was with a group of girlfriends where we ordered mixed drinks, wine and appetizers to share. The wine list is extensive and awesome and predictably pricey — especially given the location.
The good…
–The food (Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cheese plates, spiced nuts, olives)
–The wine
The not so good…
–The slow service (continued over multiple visits)
–The very loud, ridiculously loud, dining area
The nit-​picky…
–Given the pricey wine list and high rent locale, I am not that impressed with the décor and space. Corkbuzz reminds me of a basic space that you’d find in a hotel designated lounge/​wine/​hangout area. It reminds me of a lobby.

When I first heard this place was moving in a year ago, I literally watched for updates, started following them on Twitter, doing drive Bys seeing if the coming soon sign had a date, cyber stalking press releases… you get the idea. I was obsessed with finding out when they were opening…
…and then they did…
My first experience here was really incredible. My hubs signed us up for the Burgers and Rosé wine tasting. Although they had my hubs reservation wrong, they caught it and called him twice to apologize and to reconfirm. So problem solved even before we got there and they were sooooo nice about it.
We arrived a little earlier than planned and sat at the bar and ordered a glass of bubbly. Bar tender was professional, and was nice. Told us about the prosecco that we ordered and offered us a taste to see if we would like it.
Off to the tasting event we go!
We move into a long dinning room with an elegantly decorated table. The rosé had already been poured into 6 different wine glasses all sitting on top of numbered spaces… so you could quickly reference which wine you were drinking. Hard to explain but so well organized and beautifully presented.
I felt awkward because I am just starting out my journey in learning about wines so I just knew that everyone that had signed up for this class were going to be wine know-it-alls…boy was I wrong. The atmosphere was relaxed and everyone was nice, engaging, and there to have a good time and learn! The guy teaching us went through the history of rosé, where it started from, how it’s made and the regions of the wines we were tasting. So much fun and I actually learned something! Most wine tastings are not as knowledgable or its a distributor trying to get you to buy a certain wine but don’t know anything about the process. Not this fella… he knew his stuff! After tasting the six different wines, our food came out and we kept getting top offs of whatever wine you wanted to try again… and again… and OMG. Lol!
I almost forgot to write about the food!
The burger was had was ridiculous in a good way. Nice fat juicy burger with some type of garnish that was amazing. Totally impressed.
The wine prices are RETAILLLLL not restaurant rip off. I bout two bottles. So well worth it!
I seriously will be celebrating my birthday, Christmas, sunny days, wine down Wednesday’s at this establishment. There is a patio for our door seating, and complimentary valet because parking is a bit challenging in that location. The restaurant interior is small however I think that’s pretty cool. It forces more intimate conversations in smaller groups.
*standing and clapping* Well done Corkbuzz. You had me had hello.

Excellent service with very knowledgeable bar staff.
Nice outdoor seating area but the ambiance inside is where it’s at. Great place to bring a group. You can hear each other talk and not be on top of the tables next to you.
Reasonable prices for a wine bar.