Looking for a little soul in Charlotte? You can find it right in the heart of Plaza Midwood, at Soul Gastrolounge. The restaurant is upstairs and has an indoor/outdoor seating option. They don’t take reservations so going on the weekends may land you with a lengthy wait time (it’s INCREDIBLY popular) or you may be able to find a seat at the bar a little quicker.

We grabbed the last two seats at the bar and were immediately impressed with the beer and cocktail selections. All of the food is tapas style and they recommend 2-3 choices per person.

The options are so creative and inventive, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few. I’m thinking we’ll go back with a party of 8 next time and order one of everything.

Since it’s tapas style, everything comes out at different times (meaning you should share or one person will be eating while the other drools and waits). We ordered the greenbeans, pork belly and watermelon tacos, a salmon and avocado sushi roll and proscuitto bruschetta.

Everything was delicious but the pork belly tacos took the cake. They were perfectly sized, 3-bite tacos and while they look plain with just the pork and watermelon, the flavor was out of this world. The sushi was a bit large for our liking. It was hard to eat the pieces without them falling apart or spilling out of my mouth. But the flavor was good.

Since we weren’t starving, we stopped with just four items. I might suggest ordering one or two more on a night that you’re feeling a little hungrier – it also depends on the food choices you make, some are obviously more filling than others.

We were more than pleased with our first experience at Soul Gastrolounge and cannot wait to return. I highly recommend adding this to your Charlotte restaurant bucket list, especially if you have out-of-towners coming in and you want to wow them and their tastebuds.