Sante’

The food gets more flavorful with every visit! Adam truly creates masterpiece dishes. A real gem in Matthews. A family favorite for decades!

They had $ 7 martini specials and the lemon drop was wonderful. I had their osso bucco which was so tender you literally broke it apart with a fork. The spaetzle was light and a nice complement to the meat. I am not sure what I expected from chestnut spaetzle, maybe more flavor? However, it’s not a criticism as it was very good. I loved the ciabatta bread with garlic oil, and two tender pieces of garlic that I realized was soft enough to spread on the bread. After I ate it lol! I would say it’s intimate as well, I ate on the back patio which was nice. I want to try their appetizer plate next time and I think they’d do an amazing job with fish. I went alone with a Kindle book which is why I chose the patio but they had it setup inside for a big group i.e. a party. It’s a DATE place as well :) I went in work clothes but noticed that people wore casual clothing as well. I would definitely recommend this restaurant and will be going back, want to try a dessert too!

Amazing scallops in an intimate setting. Worth every penny, but I disagree with the «$$» rating, it should likely be $$$-$$$$.

Came for a business dinner with a top client. Ordered the filet mignon because I was in the mood for a steak. Typically not a filet fan, as they have little to no flavor. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE HERE! The flavor was extraordinary, very tender but bursting with what I would expect from a strip. The fingerling potatoes and onion straws were a perfect complement. What set the meal into the stratosphere were the roasted beets. Fresh from a farmer’s market, roasted to bring their sweetness out. Literally like eating candy they were so good. Will be back again, that’s for sure.

We ate there in December and attended their holiday Dinner Theater. It was delightful and the food fantastic! It is a great place!

This restaurant is fantastic.
All of the food is fresh and perfectly prepared.
The staff is wonderfully attentive without being overbearing.
I don’t know how to explain the atmosphere other than to say it is a small restaurant that can be romantic for a couple but they can also handle a large table of diners. We have done both and enjoyed both types of visits.
We do reserve this for special dates.
Let’s all support locally owned restaurants!

Consistently great food and good service. We try to visit a couple times a year and it is one of my favorite places. The red braised cabbage is a must!

SO GOOD. I went with my family to this restaurant and we had no idea what to expect. This is quite a romantic place but would still be nice to go with family and friends. The atmosphere of the restaurant was beautiful and very well done. I had chicken (i forgot the name) and my entire family agreed that it was some of the best they’ve ever had. I also got crembrûlée (spelling??) for desert, it was AMAZING. Everything looked and tasted amazing. I can’t believe I’ve lived in matthews my entire life and I had never been here. The service was excellent also. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ recommend this restaurant.

First let me say I have history with Santi going back 15 years. And, I love the place for its food and ambiance. This latest experience was marred by a sense being rushed out. In spite of spending over $ 200 for two, we felt rushed out the door by our waiter. Up to that point our service was very good, and our food was excellent. Too bad we felt we we where being ushered out the door.

Based on the good reviews — and the high prices — my spouse and I expected a great meal. We were so disappointed.
I chose the «Pumpkin Gnocchi Pasta with Merguez Lamb Sausage, Mushrooms, English Peas and a Sage Cream Sauce» and asked for grilled chicken on top instead of the lamb sausage. I was told that the gnocchi would be made with spinach instead of pumpkin.
What I got was a plate of mushy creamed spinach along with mushy lumps of spinach/​potato that were sort of fried/​browned/​blackend. It was barely edible. No discernible spices or herbs. Maybe it would have more flavor if I’d kept the lamb sausage instead of swapping for grilled chicken breast, but it doesn’t change the fact that for $ 21, this was a badly prepared and presented dish, and nothing like the actual menu item I ordered!
My husband chose the special: Scallops over risotto with vegetables at $ 35. Again, barely edible, uninspired and boring. Four Scallops over very plain risotto, a few spears of steamed broccoli on the side.
The overwhelming good reviews make me wonder (a little) if we should give it a second chance. The atmosphere is pleasant, and the service was fine. When we visit Matthews again, maybe we’ll try Sante again for lunch when we wouldn’t have to spend as much.
Blah food plus high prices, and the fact that their website is awful and partly broken, make it only 1 star for me.

A fabulous meal, exquisitely prepared, and served by courteous and attentive wait staff is what you can look forward to at Santé. Owners Veronica and Chef Adam Reed are welcoming and wonderful hosts. Chef Reed’s mastery of French style cuisine is evident in each carefully constructed and well balanced dish that comes out of his kitchen. This experience is not to be missed and is a true local gem in the heart of downtown Matthews.

Great food, great atmosphere. This is what a restaurant should be. This place embodies everything that is good about high end European restaurants, but right here in Matthews.

Excellent, chef quality food, wonderfully served in a friendly, gracious manner, all in a charming room.

I love this place, I just wish the prices were a little lower so that I could go more often. The quality is escellent and the portions are a good size.

Went here for my fiancée’s birthday dinner recently! I was so excited to give this place a try. Locally owned, right down the street and somewhere we had never been before! When we got there, the waitress seated us at a table near a window. There were only about 10 – 12 tables in the whole restaurant and I was actually surprised at how many people there were. It happened to be ½ off bottles of wine night so we ordered one of those. There were two servers both of whom were very sweet and accommodating.
We started with a featured watermelon and arugula salad, which was really good. For dinner, I had the steak and my fiancée had the featured dish (a grouper with a saffron couscous i believe). The first time my steak was over cooked, but they fixed it and sent back out a better medium rare. Everything had a good flavor, but what was the most disappointing was the prices for this type of food. We spent 100 dollars on a bottle of wine, a featured fish dish, one salad, and a steak. If it had been a filet or some other cut of beef, it would have been a little more reasonable to ask people to pay 24 dollars, but this was an 8 ounce skirt steak. I just don’t see the value in that. If this were a little more reasonably priced, this would be somewhere we would frequent a lot. I think they also get most of their vegetables from the farmers market across the street, which is nice.
It was just a bit disappointing. For the price, there are plenty more locally owned places with the similar feel to them.

They ran out of cobbler. Gee dang it, that cobbler looked good.

The atmosphere isn’t super fun, but that’s more on the clientele eating here. People watching ends pretty quickly when your subjects are married couples who eat in silence. Sad. We got the center table, which made me us feel like the life of the party!
Their wine list was pretty extensive (we settled on Château Ste. Michelle Riesling). The dishes here are as humble as the charming café-​inspired décor. Great veggie toasts, fish entrees, though the vegetables on the side aren’t very inspired. The attitude was welcoming and service was gregarious. Solid choice for Restaurant Week, but not a knockout.

I dined at Sante for the first time on Saturday, November 9, 2013. It was fabulous. Really fabulous. My dining partner and I began with the she-​crab soup. The portions were generous so we both tried not to eat all of it, trying to save room for the entrees. But that was impossible. It was the best crab bisque I have ever had. We nearly licked our bowls.
I followed with the pan-​seared sea scallops with black sticky rice and a lovely sauce. I’m not sure if it was the roasted carrot sauce that they show on their website menu, but it was delish. The sea scallops were perfectly cooked and **surprise** the food and plate were just the right temperature when they arrived. This is one of my pet peeves – too many restaurants don’t account for the time between kitchen and table, serving food that is nearly cold when it is supposed to be warm/​hot.
My dining pal ordered the lamb special. You know how it is when the food is soooo good that you forget to speak with each other? That was how it went at Sante.
The service was perfection and I love that the space is not noisy, even though it has many hard surfaces. We decided the ceiling tiles must be acoustic and that is why it stays so quiet, even when the dining room is full like it was on that night.
I’m not sure when I will be back in the Charlotte area again, but when I am I will make a bee-​line for Sante. You should, too!

Beautiful Romantic Dinning Room! Comfortable, Charming Romantic Patio! Intimate and did I mention Romantic? Everything was very good! Last night (Sunday) was my first dine here and this is one of the places I picked to taste for Charlotte Restaurant Week!
Gazpacho was the First Course — Chocolate Cake with Raspberry’s was the second and Beef Tenderloin (ordered rare served Rare!) with potatoes and green beans was the third course.
The service and food was all very good — Nothing was excellent! The décor might get five Unilocal stars everything else gets a solid 4 stars! I’ll be returning for sure!

First time I ended up here, it was on a whim. I was out at the Black Chicken wine bar for a tasting but found out that the tasting was moved to Sante for a special event. Sante was serving a 3 course meal with the champagne tasting. I figured that it would be a sampling of food with champagne — but I was amazed by the food — the presentation, quality and even quantity of food was superb. I almost didn’t notice the champagne (which is NOT like me). Everything was presented beautifully and it was all delish. Service was good, too.
I later went back during Queen’s feast (Jan 2011) with a large group and was «wowed» again. Everyone in my group loved it, too.
The atmosphere is nice — very romantic with the European feel with close tables. The pricepoint is a little on the high side — although the quality is worth it… but I save it for special occasions.