Plaza Fiesta Carolinas

How sad that this wonderful playground and cultural center closes today. Cabela’s should keep this beloved playground and some of these stalwart businesses as part of their complex. There’s certainly enough room to accommodate both, to the benefit of each other. Adiós, Plaza Fiesta!

This is one interesting place. Walk in the door and you’re not in Ft Mill, you’ve been transported to Latin America. This mall features interesting décor, functioning fountains and a feeling of spaciousness. Services include a BB&T bank, a large food court with food ranging from tacos to subs to Chinese. The children’s play area extends all the way to the roof! Too bad I can’t play in there! Located across from Carrowinds.

Every town needs a mall that’s on the way down and for the Charlotte area, it’s the Plaza Fiesta. I’ve been away for way too long and I think that in my absence, it’s gone over. Though maybe that’s just me. They seem to do pretty well with the big play area and the video game area for the kids parties and there are quite a few smaller independent shops with candies from Mexico, dresses that seem focused on a certain population group and hair dressings for same. And a Bass Shoe Outlet Store.

If you’ve been looking for «real» Mexican food… here’s your place. Five stars for the food offerings at Plaza Fiesta!
Taking a trip to Plaza Fiesta for the food is worth it. If you’re coming here to shop at a mall… well…let’s just say I’m laughing as I think about the look on your face as you enter. Not where you do you «mall» shopping.
Besides the great food options… there is an incredible play area that costs $ 5. The little ones will get slap-​worn-​out. I wouldn’t do justice to how large the play area is by describing it here… let’s just use the word behemoth. Yes… that will do… behemoth.
For the older kids… and yes… this might also refer to adults, there is an arcade… and a fairly decent one at that.
Plaza Fiesta is actually five stars for me, if you discount the fact that it is indeed a mall.
As I write this review… I wonder if I have enough time to get there and back for lunch today… hmmm?

The main attraction of this mall is most definitely the giant indoor playground for kids. The cost $ 5. There is also a decent arcade for older kids (not included in the $ 5).
Feel free to bring the family for lunch as there is also a decent food court where you can sit and watch your kids at the playground. Great Mexican food as well as pizza shop and a Subway.
There is even a party room to host your kids birthday party.
The actual shopping here is not great. There is a decent bass outlet store for shopping. Otherwise it’s Hamrick’s and some mom and pop stalls selling Hispanic and Latin American goods.

The last time I was in this building was when it was known as Crossroads mall. That’s been a while but as much as inside was hyped to change, it really hasn’t changed much.
The best thing about this mall is the food court which has several independently owned places. The other good thing about this mall is the ginormous kids play gym. I guess they were trying to compete with Carowinds next door.
Other than that, parts of the mall have a street-​like feel with building facades but many storefronts are empty and the ones that are open are junky.
I always thought this mall was a waste of space. But with a decent food court, may not so much of a waste.

Lots of places to eat. Lots of things to do. Living in NY most of my life I loved the Latin flavor

If you are a parent of a young child (3 – 10), Plaza Fiesta’s play area should definitely be on your list as a place to take the kid (s) to burn off large amounts of energy. For only a couple bucks kids can play on a 4+ story play set with large slides and tunnels for a couple hours in a secure, fenced/​gated area.
Within the enclosure there are plenty of chairs/​benches for parents to sit and watch, read, or peruse Facebook & Unilocal :)
Outside of the play area there is a decent video game arcade, and local restaurants to eat at. All and all a nice spot to stop by for a couple hours to let the little ones burn off the energy and wind down.

WOW. how times changed!!!
I remember coming here many crescent moons ago.
Now… it’s A LOT different from my fond memeories. Now my old memories WILL BE refilled with new. more UP-​TO-​DATE fond memories.
My daughter’s birthday was this weekend so, I descided to try this place out (Much to the surprise of my kids and friends. I was told about this place from a friend).
I was blown away by the size of the place (arcade) only to walk through to find this mammoth size kids (and some adults) jungle gym.
$ 4.00 per person = WINNINGGGGGG!!!
We stayed for over 2 hrs and the time flewwwww by. As I sat watching and enjoying the views I noticed to many food stations. Sure to satisfy anyones wants and needs for grubbage.
Chinese Food
Ice Cream Shop
Subway
Italian Shop
a few Mexican Food
Pizza Shop
Enjoy. I will be back mos def

The old Cross Road (aka Carowinds) Mall. I think the only thing left from it’s previous incarnation is the old Hamrick’s (and that’s a review all unto itself about how it reminds me of old, country, 80’s, Sears stores). But, from what I understood, the Cross Roads mall suffered a slow and painful death and Plaza Fiesta came to try to revive it.
I don’t know if it did though. For the most part the place is pretty deserted outside the main playground/​food court area. The layout is a simple grid of large vertical hallways and smaller horizontal ones. The large ones have names like Avenue of the American while the little ones each have the name of a Spanish-​speaking country.
They hallways have a variety of stores that range from ethnic eateries/​pastries, shoe stores, hispanic/​latin products, cell phones, sound equipment, Quinceañera dresses, knock off clothing, brand clothing, and others. The anchors, untraditionally, include Hamrick’s, a Tae Kwon Do schoo, and a small Latin grocery store, a Van Heusen Outlet and a Cowboy Clothing store. One of the most unique stores though is definitely the Botanica, which specializes in Latin American folk medicine, religious candles and statuary, amulets, and other products culturally regarded as magical or lternative medicine. Strolling the hallways is a very interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon once or twice… but after that, you’ve pretty much seen it all and the fascination wears off.
The food court is really good. They have some pretty unique eateries here that you won’t find in any other mall. They have a Mexican restaurant with pretty traditional Mexican food (not really dishes though, more like tacos, subs, sopes, etc), A Ceviche stand, a Greek restaurant and others.
The food court also houses the biggest/​tallest indoor playground in the Southeast. Our kids LOVE this thing. It’s like a massive hamster maze with slides. If you have kids, try it out. It’s a pretty cool concept. You buy your kids a bracelet and you throw them in the fenced-​in, round-​the-​cloock guarded playground. The kids are not allowed out unless their bracelet matches yours. So, short of someone from the Colombian black market chopping your hand off, you’re pretty safe to get your kids back… whether you want to or not. Their arcade is pretty awesome as well, a little pricey, but unlike most other places that still have arcade rooms, all the games work!!!
They also have special rooms to hold parties. Becky and I have held two parties here, one for Girl 1 and one for Boy 3. We were fortunate enough to get great service from the girls who run the arcade/​party room and the parties were a success at a very reasonable price.
They used to have a Latin-​themed music store… but that went out of business. Which sucks cuz they also carried some awesome books in Spanish that you can’t really get anywhere in Charlotte.
It does seem like the mall is flailing though. Stores seem to appear and disappear every time you go and customers are scant at best. I do not know if this is going to last much longer but it seems the only business they get is on weekend. I could be wrong.
I enjoy coming here and bringing the kids. Hopefully they’ll be around for while.

Very hot! Poor air conditioning.

Our family enjoyed a fun lunch outing to Plaza Fiesta this past Saturday. The food court has a great selection of ethnically diverse and fresh food. I’d highly recommend the tacos from La Poblanita Taqueria. The highlight of our visit was the kids climbing, jumping and playing on the incredible indoor playground. It costs $ 4 for about a 90-​min session, but it is worth it if you are looking for fun activity to give the kids a break from the summer heat. They do b-​day parties there too.

I have been to Plaza fiesta numerous times for the great food and terrific immersion into the Latin cultrue! Our family enjoys all of the events they hold and so forth. So, this is a wonderful place to bring family! On the other hand, we just had my daughter’s birthday party in the Happy Zone party area. That was a total disaster!!! The host was apparently new and had no idea what she was doing! Very rude, antisocial, no personality and not enthusiastic for a children’s party at all, her name was Farrar by the way. 3 times the party got interupted to say they needed the room and we needed to get out!!! Horrible time management! I was completely ripped off when it came time to pay! The party package includes arcade time for all of the guests which we did not get to utilize because our host vanished and all the guests had left since we kept getting warned that they needed to use our room for another party, the cashier then says oh here’s your cards! TOO LATE!!! VERY DISAPPOINTING to my guests and the birthday girl! She then states «oh you need to request an experienced host next time!» Ummm really? Shouldn’t every one know how to do their job? Ridiculous response! The manager was very careless as well when I tried to speak with him to get some better service and advise him of the mess! He only responded with «oh we’re working on that!» Working on what? trying to teach your hosts how to provide good service or what? horrrible horrible service and complete disorganization! Plaza fiesta is a wonderful place but the Happy Zone party place really is not! Please investigate your party and host really well and I would even rethink your situation on having a birthday party with them! They really need to work on how to host a party! What a shame and disappointment! Nothing against the rest of the establishment!

So this place is literally 2 mins from my house and yesterday was my first time there. I was excited because my hubby is puertorican and it just so happens that it was like puertorican day or something so they were playing music, people were dancing and they had raffles for you to participate in. We had fun.
There are a million places for you to eat here with a nice selection of food. all of the restaurants offer something different. there are also places you can shop, clothing stores and little market like places. Plus there is a huge ass jungle gym in the middle of the place for kids; its seriously like 3 stories high. even i wanted to play in it. Overall its a cool place to explore, shop, eat and play. check it out if you haven’t!

I just go to plaza fiesta for the food court. I’ve been three times and there are some good places. My favorite so far is the greek place. It usually has good specials and the gyros and greek salad there are great! Good for lunch!

I spent an hour or two wandering around Plaza Fiesta a couple weekends ago after being very disappointed with Trader Marc’s flea market down the road. We were all pretty hungry, so we were stoked to see the huge food court in the middle of the Plaza, next to the three-​story jungle gym ball pit thingy.
There’s some good food to be had here, and cheaply. Colombian, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Peruvian, Churros, whoa. A number of places with veggie burritos, quesadillas, veggie «plates» (beans and rice, salsa, veggies, plantains, egg over easy), awesome. I chose a burrito with extra jalapenos that ran me $ 4. It was simple, clean, and delish. My pal who had gotten a beef plate from the peruvian joint let me try the (three!) different salsas that came with his meal, and they were distinct and flavorful. And who can deny the deliciousness of fried plantains? Not I.
There are a couple of mexican/​latin american grocery places here too, some cell phone shops, a bakery, clothes, western gear, etc. Also a Subway and some random Greek Place, as well as a pizza joint, kind of odd. Some empty stores, which made the space a little echo-​y and eerie. The insanely huge jungle gym looked like something out of a fantasy I’d probably had at age 4, and had a super cheap entrance fee. The feel of this mall is very disney, as it’s designed to look like a «typical latin american plaza» complete with stucco, tiled roofs, hanging flags, etc. Kind of like walking into the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot. Entertaining.