Fran’s Filling Station

The food was pretty good but the service was awful. We were put in a side room that was incredibly cold and cramped. Our waiter struggled to get to our table. We had to repeatedly ask for refills, rarely were we asked if we needed anything. The whole waitstaff looked disorganized. We will not be returning.

We had simple catering for an office, boxed lunches and beautiful salads. Everyone was so happy. Cookies were still warm. Fresh, flavorful, fantastic. It made lots of new fans, can’t wait to go to the restaurant.

Wonderful atmosphere and amazing food! Highly recommend this neighborhood gem!

This place is amazing. Fran is awesome and you can tell how much thought and passion she has for the food she prepares. A must try in Charlotte.

Excellent lunch location. Delicious food and wonderful wait staff. We enjoyed Lianne. The burgers were terrific. Get the basil ranch on your salad. You will not be disappointed.

This place was awesome food was amazing and unique.

Great burger! Neat place for meat eaters and vegans! A lot of choice for each.
I had the sloppy burger w/​fries, excellent meal fries were perfect staff was perfect. Sweet tea was horrid. Seriously, fix that, it changes the meal entirely.
Great seasoning on the fries and cooked perfectly.

Fran’s Filling Station is one of my fiancé’s and my favorite spots to go for a romantic dinner. The ambience inside the restaurant is just perfect for us, and the food is terrific! I highly recommend the mussels with butter & white wine sauce, but truly you can’t go wrong with any of the dishes here!
The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and very kind, and I love that they are so accommodating. They seem to always remember our preferences and they have provided us with specialized meals more than once.
Excellent service, atmosphere and food!
Highly recommended!

We made reservations for 10pm knowing they closed at 11pm. When we arrived, we were the only ones in the restaurant so service was very swift & our waitress was lovely. Both my boyfriend & I ordered a special; he got a ravioli and I got a burger… both were great.
My only complaint is that if a business says they’re open until 11pm, they should remain open until 11pm. By 10:30, candles were blown out, flowers were taken off the tables and the computer monitors were being turned off. From the time we walked in the door it felt like we were there too late to eat. Staff was leaving, things were being cleaned and it was only 10pm on a Friday night. It sounds as though another reviewer showed up for dinner and found the doors locked, I would not be surprised if the lock was turned as we walked out tonight half an hour before closing.
I only make this a point because the mission of this restaurant seems to be one that really wants deliver on atmosphere and the late night visitor doesn’t get it… perhaps this restaurant should consider closing early if it doesn’t want late business.
Otherwise, food was great & staff seemed friendly. The décor was chic, it seemed clean would make for a great date night.
Best advice? Arrive early & check out the specials!

Disappointed to hear great reviews only to show up for dinner to find this place closed with no note on the door and no message on the number listed for the place. Bummer.

DEAD ROACH IN MY SALAD. That I found halfway through. Will not be returning.
It’s a shame because I think overall the food is good. I had actually been here the week prior and ordered the same salad, Arugula Berry with Grilled Chicken, and it was amazing — so good I had to come back. I have to say this time around, aside from the dead bug, the salad was missing the blueberries and the chicken was pretty dry compared to last time. My mom, who ordered a sandwich, had to change out the bread because it felt and tasted stale (her chicken was great though, as were her fries). I’m normally not a picky diner, and hate to complain having worked in restaurants before, but this entire experience was just off. The bug sealed the deal, and I won’t be returning.

Fran’s Filling Station, what a hidden gem. Fran’s has been on my bookmarks for a while so when I saw my new Meetup Group was going I was so excited and said ‘Yes’, count me in.
I arrived and joined Jeff, another Meetup member at the bar. Watermelon margaritas were the special cocktail so I chose to go with that, and it did not disappoint. I did enjoy a second, ha ha!
After the rest of our group arrived, we were seated at our table, which had been prepped prior to our arrival and was in the middle of the restaurant, overlooking the bar and store front windows.
Of our group, we ordered a variety of items, burgers, pizzas and veggie sides, which everyone loved! I chose the pesto chicken pizza, which was cooked to perfection. The crust is more like a thick flatbread, crunchy crust with a perfectly cooked center. There was a great amount of chicken and the pesto was great!
I definitely look forward to getting back soon, to not only check out the bacon wrapped tots, but the brussel sprouts, they looked amazing!

Four years later and I am still a fan of Fran’s although until recently it’s been over a year since I’ve been there.
Fran’s has been renovated a bit since my visit last year. It’s been painted a gray/​blue color, they built a bar in the back outside of the kitchen pickup window and there are a few pub tables there. The have a new room for groups off to the side apparently taking over part of the space next door.
With the bar addition, they added a beer cooler and additional taps which feature all local breweries.
Foodwise, Fran’s still rocks. The menu has changed a bit but there are still the standards like meatballs and bacon wrapped tater tots. On my two recent visits here, I had the fish tacos which were excellent. The fish changes depending on what is available. I’ve also had the panzanella salad which was amazing with beets, sweet potato, shaved brussels sprouts. Other people I was dining with had the lamb burger which they raved about, and flatbread pizzas.
So if you haven’t been to Fran’s in a while, definitely come back and check them out! Very happy to have them in my neighborhood. And with the recent bar addition, I have a local place to just chill and have a beer.

We love Fran’s! We have visited 4 or 5 times the last couple of months. The food is delicious– I always get a different salad for lunch. Tonight I had dinner there for the first time and got the fig, goat cheese, and Brie flatbread. It was amazing! My boyfriend always gets the burger, which comes with the yummiest fries.
The service is great! Our waters are always full and the servers are pleasant and not pushy. I also really enjoy the ambiance. From the paint color, the lighting, and the flowers outside– it’s just very relaxing and pleasant.
If you haven’t tried Fran’s, you need to give it a shot! It’s a great place to add to the mix.

This place is excellent for dinner with your main squeeze or a girls night or even an after work snack! Fresh, creative food and a beautiful bar I will definitely come back again and again! Fran made sure my meal was everything I needed and what a doll!

Things have changed for better at Fran’s! The food has always been delicious, but now the service rocks too. They’ve hired more servers and expanded the dining area in addition to giving the place a fresh coat of paint and new lighting.
I’m so glad we gave Fran and her awesome crew another chance. We now come here a few times each month and couldn’t be more pleased.
Our menu favs: the beef skewers, burgers, fig goat cheese flatbread, butternut squash lasagna, Brussels sprouts, and pretty much any of the daily specials.

The Bacon wrapped tater tot sampler was great. Lots of bacon and sugary stuff on sticks… nicely done.
For dinner, we got some burger that was on a pretzel roll, and it was enjoyable. Maybe it was a little bit too greasy, but it’s a burger, so I cannot really say much there. The fries were maybe a little bit under fried, but they were ok.
Fran’s was a little bit of a weird place for me. It was good, but some reason it left us a little flat. It’s kind of like a 1^st or 2^nd guy off the bench… solid role player, hustles and plays D, but you are not looking to play this guy in any meaningful crunch time minutes.

Came here for a friend’s birthday party. We were seated at a long table in the back. I ordered an appetizer to share with the table: the fries with blue cheese and fines herbs. They definitely needed a good salting, even with the sprinkles of blue cheese. For my entrée, I got the eggplant Parmesan. I appreciate that it was just plenty of eggplant and sauce. No pasta to wade through. However, it didn’t stand out to me. I had forgotten what I had eaten by the time I wrote this review.
Service was a little slow, but we had a big table. That is understandable.
I am glad that I gave Fran’s a try and will come by again.

There was good, then bad, then good then bad so I landed at 3 stars for good old Franny.
The Good? The bacon-​wrapped sweet potato tots. I sucked those things up like a hoover — they were so good and I was SO hungry. They took awhile to come out so I was ready grub.
The Veggie burger on a pretzel roll was very good. The tomato chutney and feta on top made it very tasty. I ordered a side of brussel sprouts and they were okay… not necessarily chopped or cut or cooked the way I like but they were decent.
The Bad? They apparently had some computer issues that night and we were there for nearly an hour and a half before our food came out. Ridiculous. We ordered burgers! The waitress checked on us a few times but it still was so annoying. Fran eventually came out and let us know what happened and that everything would be out soon. She offered to buy us both a beer for waiting, which truthfully was the least that she could do. She was nice but not very warm.
My husband enjoyed his burger but it was small. The fries that are the «best in Charlotte» were some of the worst I have had personally. Maybe they were in a rush because we already waited an hour so they didn’t cook them all the way through? They were fresh cut which I appreciate but they were limp and smelled like the skin of a potato which just grossed me out. You know that skin/​dirt smell you get when peeling a potato? Yeah, that smell.
The prices were high for what we ordered. I just wasn’t that impressed. I guess I wasn’t sure what to expect… it is somewhat of a diner/​café/​nice restaurant. It definitely wins the award for being most unique… I’m just not convinced that is a good thing.

This place is a little tricky to find especially since there is two side by side strip malls so even with my GPS I pulled in the wrong one. The sign is small and hard to read as you drive by so be watchful or you will miss it!!! Some of the reviews I had said service was bad or it was unclean. I experienced neither I will say it was pouring rain so it wasn’t super crowded that night. My waitress was very friendly and helpful. The place was very clean as far as I could tell except the bathroom was kinda run down and needed some fixing!
We started with maple bacon wrapped tater tots. The bacon was perfectly cooked and crispy, and the maple glaze added sweetness to balance the salty. They were sooo good I will say a little pricey I think 10 bucks for 9?
I ordered the California style burger with havarti cheese and avocados (amazing combination). I have no idea what bread they used but it was a great burger I hope to go back and try more of the menu!